Contradictory messages on Trump’s illness stir confusion
Doctor reports ‘substantial progress’ after president’s symptoms described as ‘very concerning’ by chief of staff
WASHINGTON — The White House on Saturday created a startling amount of confusion on the status of President Donald Trump’s health and precisely when he contracted COVID-19 — issuing conflicting statements and injecting uncertainty into the nation’s understanding of the president’s well-being and who he and his associates may have exposed to the novel coronavirus.
At a news conference at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda on Saturday morning, Trump’s medical team suggested that the president tested positive for the virus earlier than initially disclosed by the president. Trump’s physician, Sean Conley, later issued a “clarification” through the White House on that timeline, as well as the time frame in which the president was administered Regeneron, an antibody cocktail that is part of the complement of drugs Trump has taken to fend off the virus.
Conley also declined to answer specific questions about the president’s health, including how high his fever rose in recent days, when he last tested negative for the virus and whether he was ever administered supplemental oxygen since being diagnosed. A senior administration official later confirmed that Trump was given supplemental oxygen at the White House on Friday before going to Walter Reed.
The White House released a new update from Conley on the president’s health Saturday evening, saying that Trump has made “substantial progress since diagnosis.” He said Trump is off supplemental oxygen, despite earlier not directly addressing the issue, and “while not yet out of the woods, the team remains cautiously optimistic.”
The questions raised by the news conferences, multiple memos and subsequent comments from White House aides further fueled a credibility problem that has plagued the administration from the start, as the statements only raised more questions about the president’s medical condition.
For his part, Trump tweeted that he was “feeling well” Saturday afternoon, his first comments of the day hours after his physicians told reporters that the president was in “exceptionally good spirits.” Early Saturday evening, he tweeted out a video where he said that “I came here, wasn’t feeling so well, I feel much better now.” Trump went to Walter Reed on Friday evening, and the White House said he is expected to stay there several days while doctors monitor him.
At the Saturday morning news conference, members of Trump’s medical team said the president is now feverfree and that they are “extremely happy” with the progress he has made. But Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, then told reporters at the event that Trump went through a “very concerning” period over the past day. Meadows also said the next two days will be key.
“The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” Meadows said. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
The statement led to confusion, both because of how it was made public and because it seemed to contradict what the president’s doctors said minutes earlier.
The statement from Meadows was originally distributed to the media through a White House pool report and was attributed to “a source familiar with the president’s health.” Two White House officials familiar with the statement, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue, later said it was Meadows who spoke with reporters. Meadows was also seen on camera pulling reporters aside to talk after the news conference ended. The Associated Press, which had a reporter at the event, also later identified Meadows as the source of the comment.
Meadows, who had stayed with Trump overnight Friday at Walter Reed, did not respond to a request for comment. The chief of staff told other officials on Saturday morning that the president was doing OK, according to White House aides.
Trump was angry with Meadows about his comments indicating the president was quite sick and has asked aides to reassure the public by offering rosy depictions of his condition, a senior administration official said. Meadows has been the only White House aide with Trump, giving him almost total control of the message.
The comments from the president’s top aide prompted finger-pointing in the West Wing. Some White House officials said they were not pleased with Meadows for briefing reporters anonymously about Trump’s health.
“It was of zero help to us,” said one of them, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal tensions.
A second official said: “We have not communicated with the public well on this.”
Several White House aides also said they also did not have confidence in what they were being told by other officials.
“I can tell you what I am hearing, but I honestly have no idea if it’s right,” said one senior administration official close to the president. “A lot of people aren’t even telling other people in the building the truth.”
Meadows’s stewardship of the White House during the pandemic is also facing some internal criticism after Trump’s diagnosis.
Three different officials said Meadows had not taken the virus seriously enough, not forcing staffers to wear masks and sometimes orchestrating large meetings around the president where officials did not use face coverings.
Inside the building, two of these officials said, he has pushed back against arguments made by doctors and has questioned the science behind masks. He has regularly traveled with extraneous people on Air Force One, the officials said, including his wife and family members.
“He is not someone who preaches that you should be scared of the virus,” one senior administration official said.
The question of transparency surrounding Trump’s health focused on two issues: the public’s right to know about the condition of the commander in chief and to what degree Trump and his aides may have exposed others to the virus who should know so they can tend to their own health.
“Consistency and accuracy on messaging the president’s health condition is important,” said Tom Bossert, the president’s former homeland security adviser. “And we haven’t seen consistency. I can’t speak to accuracy, and neither can you.”
Trump and his aides traveled frequently during the week and came into contact with many people. Since Tuesday, Trump appeared with thousands at a rally in Minnesota, debated Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden onstage in Cleveland and met with donors Thursday at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. He has also interacted with numerous aides, lawmakers and political advisers at the White House and on the road.
These events are potentially venues where the infection could have been spread to others.
“The president should not have attended the fundraiser and placed negligently all the people in attendance at risk of contracting the disease,” Bossert said.
Saturday evening, Trump posted a four-minute video on his Twitter account updating the public on his condition, acknowledging that “we still have steps to go” in his recovery.
“We’re working hard to get me all the way back. I have to be back because we still have to make America great again,” he said in the video.
Trump said he was given the option to stay at the White House but was told he would be confined to the upstairs presidential residence as he battled the virus — which Trump also referred to as “whatever you want to call it.”
“I can’t do that — I had to be out front,” Trump said. “I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs.”
The president is receiving remdesivir, an antiviral drug that has shown modest benefits for some people, as well as vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin.
The confusion flared as more people close to Trump confirmed over the past two days that they had tested positive for the virus. The latest people infected include Bill Stepien, the president’s campaign manager, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who was closely involved in preparing Trump for the Cleveland debate and was present at the White House over the weekend. Christie said later Saturday that he checked himself into a hospital in northern New Jersey.
Christie adds to the coterie of people known to be diagnosed with the virus who also attended a crowded, celebratory Rose Garden event on Sept. 26 announcing Judge Amy Coney Barrett as Trump’s pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. The others included Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, former presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins, and an unidentified member of the White House press corps. Pence and his wife, Karen, tested negative again Saturday for the virus, according to an administration official.