Again, Trump lauds malaria drug for virus
U.S. warns Russians using pandemic to spread its lies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump issued a defense Tuesday for the use of a malaria drug as a treatment for the coronavirus, hours after social media companies moved to take down videos promoting its use as potentially harmful misinformation.
Separately, U.S. officials said Tuesday that Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the pandemic.
The president, in a marked shift from the more measured approach he’s taken toward the virus in recent days, took to Twitter to promote hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and to criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert.
In a White House briefing,
Trump defended his decision to promote a viral video of a group of doctors promoting the use of the drug Monday, even though his own administration withdrew emergency authorization for its use against the coronavirus.
“I think they’re very respected doctors,” Trump said, adding they believed in the drug. “There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it.” The doctors, members of a group called America’s Frontline Doctors, took part in an event organized by Tea Party Patriots Action.
Scientific studies have shown that hydroxychloroquine could do more harm than good when used to treat symptoms of covid-19.
Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and others shared video of the event on Facebook and Twitter, prompting both companies to step in and remove the content as part of a push to keep the sites free of what they deem potentially harmful information about the virus — though not before more than 17 million people had seen one version of the video circulating on the web.
Many Republicans reacted with anger, filling social media with cries of “censorship” after Trump Jr.’s account was put on a timeout for sharing the video.
Simone Gold, one of the doctors, tweeted that “there are always opposing views in medicine.”
“Treatment options for covid-19 should be debated, and spoken about among our colleagues in the medical field,” she wrote. “They should never, however, be censored and silenced.”
Others stressed the differences between medical opinion and peer-reviewed scientific studies.
Many studies have found no evidence that hydroxychloroquine, when used with or without the antibiotic azithromycin helps treat coronavirus infection or prevent serious disease from it. They include studies commissioned by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization, and universities in the U.S. and around the world.
Because of the lack of benefit and the risks of serious side effects such as heart rhythm problems, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently revoked its brief authorization of emergency use of the drug for covid-19. National Institutes of Health treatment guidelines also specifically recommend against hydroxychloroquine’s use, except in formal studies.
Versions of the video are still circulating widely on platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, racking up millions of views. Facebook and Twitter said they have removed several versions and are working to take down others. YouTube also said it has removed the video from its site.
In the video, Dr. Stella Immanuel, a physician from Houston whom Trump described as spectacular, promotes hydroxychloroquine as a sure-fire cure for the coronavirus. She claims to have successfully treated 350 people “and counting,” including older patients and some with underlying medical conditions.
“You don’t need masks, there is a cure,” Immanuel says in the video. But in videos posted to her Facebook page, Immanuel regularly wears masks while preaching during religious events.
“I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her,” Trump said of Immanuel.
TRUMP ON FAUCI
In addition to sharing the video, Trump retweeted several tweets that attacked the credibility of Fauci, a leading member of the White House coronavirus task force.
Later, Trump appeared to back away from his criticism of Fauci, saying, “I get along with him very well” and even appearing envious of his widespread approval rating.
“He’s got a very good approval rating, and I like that,” Trump said, adding that Fauci and White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx work for him, “and yet they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me.”
Trump, in recent interviews, has described Fauci as “a bit of an alarmist” and accused him of making “mistakes” in his coronavirus guidance. But Trump also says he gets along with the longtime head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci said Tuesday that he’ll deal with the criticism by keeping his head down and doing his job. He also backed the conclusions of the FDA and others about hydroxychloroquine and covid-19.
Asked if he can do his job while Trump publicly questions his credibility, Fauci said the stakes are too high not to stay involved.
“We’re in the middle of a crisis with regard to an epidemic, a pandemic. This is what I do,” Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “This is what I’ve been trained for my entire professional life, and I’ll continue to do it.”
More than 4.3 million people in the U.S. have been infected by the coronavirus as of Tuesday, and the death toll is nearing 150,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
UPTICKS REPORTED
While the White House has begun to feel cautiously optimistic that the resurgence has begun to stabilize in parts of the Southwest, fears are growing about the potential for a significant uptick in the Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Colorado, according to a Trump administration official who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.
It’s fueled largely by a rise in cases among young adults, who have been hitting bars, restaurants and health clubs again.
Republican governors in Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina have all resisted calls to close bars and gyms or issue statewide mask requirements, though local officials have imposed some of their own restrictions.
“My reaction is that I’m disturbed. I’m disturbed by it,” Fauci said. Those two efforts and other best practices would help “prevent the resurgence that we’ve seen in some of the other Southern states.”
Also on Tuesday, the Small Business Administration’s inspector general raised concerns about potential rampant fraud in a federal disaster-loan program providing coronavirus relief.
The inspector general’s office said in an alert Tuesday that it’s been “inundated” with complaints, including more than 5,000 instances of suspected fraud from financial institutions that received deposits from the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The review identified more than $250 million in aid given to potentially ineligible recipients as well as $45.6 million in potentially duplicate payments.
WORLD INFECTIONS
Globally, more than 16.5 million people have been infected, and more than 655,000 have died.
In Europe, rising infections in Spain and other countries are causing alarm, weeks after nations reopened borders to revive tourism.
“Let’s be absolutely clear about what’s happening in Europe, amongst some of our European friends,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic.”
Governments are urging their citizens to be more vigilant, amid the lure of summer gatherings and vacations, while health officials warn that lax public attitudes are putting the continent on a dangerous trajectory.
A spike in infections has led Belgium to ramp up restrictions on social contact, while Spain has closed gyms and nightclubs in Barcelona.
Meanwhile, German health officials have called a rise in infections in the past two weeks deeply concerning.
“People are being infected everywhere,” said Ute Rexroth, head of surveillance at Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, which sounded the alarm on rising numbers Tuesday. “Weddings, meetings with friends, sadly, also nursing homes or health institutes. We are worried that this could be a change of trend.”
RUSSIA DISINFORMATION
In Russia, two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort reaching American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link between the sites and Russian intelligence.
Between late May and early July, one of the officials said, the websites singled out Tuesday published about 150 articles about the pandemic response, including coverage aimed either at propping up Russia or denigrating the U.S.
Among the headlines that caught the attention of U.S. officials “Russia’s Counter COVID-19 Aid to America Advances Case for Detente,” which suggested that Russia had given urgent and substantial aid to the U.S. to fight the pandemic, and “Beijing Believes COVID-19 is a Biological Weapon,” which amplified statements by the Chinese.
The U.S. government’s chief counterintelligence executive warned in a rare public statement Friday about Russia’s continued use of internet trolls to advance their goals.
Officials described the Russian disinformation as part of an ongoing and persistent effort to advance false narratives and cause confusion.
Though U.S. officials have warned before about the spread of disinformation tied to the pandemic, they went further Tuesday by singling out a particular information agency that is registered in Russia, InfoRos and that operates a series of websites — InfoRos.ru, Infobrics.org and OneWorld.press — that have leveraged the pandemic to promote anti-Western objectives and to spread disinformation.
An email to InfoRos was not immediately returned Tuesday.
The sites promote their narratives in a sophisticated but insidious effort that U.S. officials liken to money laundering, where stories in well-written English — and often with pro-Russian sentiment and anti-U.S. sentiment — are cycled through other news sources to conceal their origin and enhance the legitimacy of the information.
The sites also amplify stories that originate elsewhere, the government officials said.
Beyond the coronavirus, there’s also a focus on America, global politics and topical stories of the moment.
Information for this article was contributed by Darlene Superville, Amanda Seitz,David Klepper,Amy Forliti, Leah Willingham, Heather Hollingsworth, Marilynn Marchione and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press; by Mark Niquette of Bloomberg News; and by Loveday Morris, Michael Birnbaum, James McAuley and Fiona Weber-Steinhaus of The Washington Post.