Donald Trump announced he had coronavirus early Friday morning and by that evening he was at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington seeking treatment, but the confusion over his health and just when he knew he had COVID-19 continued on Saturday.
Trump tweeted his diagnosis after midnight Friday morning, setting off a chaotic string of events in Washington. Several officials in the White House have tested positive, and many are scrambling to get results that were near Trump and his team over the last several days. Chris Christie, who helped Trump prepare for Tuesday’s debate and then appeared on network TV to analyze it, tweeted Saturday that he had contracted COVID-19 as well.
I just received word that I am positive for COVID-19. I want to thank all of my friends and colleagues who have reached out to ask how I was feeling in the last day or two. I will be receiving medical attention today and will keep the necessary folks apprised of my condition.
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 3, 2020
As the fallout of a White House super-spreader event continued to escalate, medical officials gave an update on Trump’s condition on Saturday morning as others around him reported they had also tested positive.
oh my god what a roster pic.twitter.com/vqJczczmmo
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) October 3, 2020
Trump had been quiet about his own status, only tweeting a handful of times in the hours since his COVID-19 testing results were made public. The president tweeted a brief video message on Friday after he was at Walter Reed, though it appeared to be shot in the White House before he left via Marine One.
The video drew plenty of reaction online, as did the subsequent news conference with medical officials on Saturday that put into question the timeline established by the White House about when Trump tested positive, how long he’s been receiving treatment and what exactly that treatment has been thus far. Doctors told reporters at the briefing on Saturday that the president was “doing very well,” but that was immediately contradicted by a pool report given to reporters that cast a much different light on his status and how important the next hours of his treatment are to his health.
JUST IN: A source familiar with the president’s condition tells reporters:
“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. We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) October 3, 2020
That report, which was given directly to several reporters, was supposed to be off the record but reporters soon realized it came from Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows.
UPDATE: Immediately after the press conference ended and before the anonymous statement was sent out, Mark Meadows briefed reporters without cameras—but he was caught on a feed asking to be off the record. pic.twitter.com/JyrhSmu1Y0
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 3, 2020
Other reporters echoed the much more dire predicament that second report indicated, reporting that Trump was expressing fears about the virus and there was real concern about his health.
Conversations w Republicans close to WH over last 12 hours indicate it’s been far more dire than WH has said. Before being taken to Walter Reed, Trump kept asking aides, “Am I going out like Stan Chera? Am I?” (Chera was Trump’s NYC friend who died of Covid in April)
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) October 3, 2020
Per source, Trump was told on Friday he could go to Walter Reed voluntarily, but he would be taken no matter what when his condition worsened. Doctors told Trump if he waited he could lose ability to walk to Marine One (optics of a wheelchair or stretcher obvs would be terrible)
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) October 3, 2020
That’s jarringly different from the medial briefing, let alone the tweets sent from Trump’s account on Saturday afternoon. Perhaps more troubling, though, was the doctor’s statement during the press conference that Trump was 72 hours — or three full days — away from his initial diagnosis and 48 hours away from his first treatment of an experimental drug cocktail the White House had announced he started taking on Friday.
President Trump’s doctor says he’s 72 hours into the diagnosis. Another physician says Trump received a special antibody therapy “about 48 hours ago.” The public found out 36 hours ago that Trump was positive — only after it was revealed an aide had tested positive.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 3, 2020
That disclosure would indicate that Trump tested positive well before Friday around 1 a.m. and he potentially went about business as usual while knowing his was COVID-19 positive.
This looks bad. pic.twitter.com/5Ewb3oLa11
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) October 3, 2020
The White House later attempted to clarify that timeline, saying the doctor that spoke was incorrect. But the release itself not only spelled “Regeneron” wrong, it incorrectly described the treatment the company says the president has received.
NEW: Regeneron spox Hala Mirza tells @CBSNews‘s @amybirn that it’s incorrect to call what the President has received “polyclonal antibodies.”
“It is two monoclonal antibodies. It was incorrect in the physician’s letter.” https://t.co/rYtEQlWQNm
— Sara Cook (@saraecook) October 3, 2020
That, coupled with an AP report that the president did, indeed, get supplemental oxygen on Friday afternoon as well as the conflicting report given anonymously to the White House pool reporters immediately after the press conference has made for an extremely confusing situation in Washington as the health of the president continues to be uncertain. What is certain is that the public is very much in the dark about the status of the president as he fights COVID-19, and it seems many in the American government itself seem to be equally confused about it all as well.