President Trump trumpeted his support for hydroxychloroquine on Tuesday, defending a controversial doctor who said it was a cure for COVID-19, even though it is no longer authorized for emergency use.
He described Dr. Stella Immanuel as “very impressive” for promoting the drug even though Twitter had earlier deleted the president’s retweet of a video featuring her promoting the drug.
“I can tell you this: She was on-air, along with many other doctors — they were big fans of hydroxychloroquine, and I thought she was very impressive,” he said.
Trump waded into the controversy a week after he began a new format of coronavirus briefings. Gone is the lineup of coronavirus officials and the meandering 60-minute-plus appearances that frequently ended in bad-tempered clashes with journalists.
Instead, the president appears alone in the White House briefing room to deliver a key announcement — on Tuesday, it was a $765 million deal with Kodak to produce pharmaceutical ingredients — before taking only a handful of questions.
But his latest comments will reignite concern that conspiracy theorists are damaging public information messages about how to tackle the coronavirus by spreading misinformation about an unproven treatment.
Immanuel has previously attracted ridicule for claiming that alien DNA is included in medical treatments and that gynecological problems can be caused by people having sex with demons in their dreams.
She appeared as part of a group called America’s Frontline Doctors, who were participating in an event organized by Tea Party Patriots Action. They accused Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and Democrats of blocking access to hydroxychloroquine. Their comments also suggested there was no need for the public to wear masks.
On Tuesday, journalists peppered the president with questions about the growing online controversy. Earlier, Twitter said it limited access to the account of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., for 12 hours after he posted a tweet that violated the social media’s COVID-19 policy.
Other social media companies also removed the content in question.
Trump said he did not know why it was taken down.
“There was a group of doctors yesterday, a large group on the internet, and for some reason, the internet wanted to take them down … I don’t know,” he said. “I think they are very respected doctors. There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it.”
Trump had been an early supporter of hydroxychloroquine, touting it as a potential “game changer” and taking a two-week prophylactic course of treatment.
On Tuesday, he cited a Yale doctor who, this week, said the drug was key to tackling the disease.
“I happen to believe in it,” said Trump during the news conference, held in the White House briefing room. “I would take it. As you know, I took it for a 14-day period, and I’m here.”
“I happen to think it works in the early stages. The front-line medical people believe that too … some.”
However, last month, the Food and Drug Administration dropped its emergency use authorization of the drug after several studies found no benefit in taking it. One controversial study published earlier this month indicated a higher survival rate for patients taking hydroxychloroquine.
Fauci also cast doubt on the drug’s efficacy on Tuesday.
“I go along with the FDA,” he told ABC’s Good Morning America. “The overwhelming, prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease.”
