President Trump tweeted out a video from the White House Rose Garden where he says he has been ‘cured’ of COVID by the experimental drug Regeneron – then pitched the medication and promised to make it available to all Americans for free.
Trump released the outdoor statement today, hours before the vice presidential debate, after being out of sight for more than 24 hours after returning from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was checked in after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Wearing heavy makeup, Trump called getting the disease a ‘blessing from God.’
‘I think this was a blessing from god that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise,’ Trump said.
Trump went out to tout the experimental antibody cocktail Regeneron.
‘I heard about this drug. I said let me take it. It was my suggestion,’ he said. Then he proclaimed himself ‘cured’ and said he wanted every American to get the type of treatment he got.
Regeneron CEO Dr. Leonard Schleifer and Trump are acquainted: The CEO has been a member at Trump’s golf club in Westchester, New York, and his company also received $450 million in government funding in July as part of the president’s Operation Warp Speed plan to quickly develop a vaccine and other treatments for Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Trump also recently owned shares of Regeneron — as well as Gilead Sciences, maker of the antiviral drug remdesivir that the president is also taking.
Both stocks were listed as assets on Trump’s 2017 filing with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, though neither were holdings on the president’s most recent filing for 2020.
Trump is just one of 10 people receiving the drug, which is still in the experimental phase not approved by the FDA, and is intended to boost antibodies to fight the infection.
He’s receiving a series of medications, including a steroid that critics and some doctors have said could be making the president manic.
Trump kicked off the nearly-five minute video with an odd introduction that did not state his name.
‘Hi, perhaps you recognize me, it’s your favorite president,’ he said. It appeared from the makeup he was wearing a liberal application of makeup on his face.
‘And I’m standing in front of the Oval Office at the White House, which is always an exciting place to be,’ he continued.
‘I got back a day ago from Walter Reed Medical Center, I spent four days there, and didn’t have to, I could have stayed at the White House but the doctors said because you’re president let’s do it, I said fine,’ Trump said.
The video was posted Wednesday. Trump returned to the White House from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters at the White House the video ‘taken on the South Lawn earlier this afternoon’ – indicating the president was confused about what day it was when he spoke before the camera.
Trump made his first foray to the Oval Office since he came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
His Democratic rival Joe Biden said the way Trump was dealing with COVID was a ‘tragedy.’
‘I’m going to think before I speak,’ he told reporters in Wilmington where he was asked about Trump calling his diagnosis a blessing from god. ‘I think it’s a tragedy the president deals with COVID like it is something not to be worried about when already 210,000 people have died.’
Trump is also taking the steroid dexamethasone as part of his treatment for coronavirus.
The steroid is known to have side effects that can affect the brain and thought processes.
Doctors also warned that dexamethasone comes with risks of serious side effects, including mood swings, aggression and confusion.
Trump has been trying to project a picture of health after his diagnosis and as he trails Biden in the polls with Election Day less than six weeks away.
Biden wouldn’t comment on Trump’s mental health.
‘I have no idea and I’d never comment on the president’s mental health,’ he said when asked whether the medications Trump was on was affecting the president’s mental state. ‘I’m not qualified to comment on that.’