'I happen to think it works': Donald Trump defends hydroxychloroquine after Twitter deleted video saying it's a COVID cure
President Donald Trump defended the doctor who claimed that hydroxychloroquine is a 'cure' for coronavirus after her videos were removed by Twitter and resulted in his son's account being suspended.
Dr. Stella Immanuel has a long history of supporting conspiracy theories and Trump ended his Tuesday press conference when pressed about his own retweets of her claims about hydroxy.
'She was on air along with many other doctors,' he said. 'They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine. And I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came - I don't know which country she comes from - but she says she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients and I thought her voice was an important voice but I know nothing about her.'
The president was being pressed by claims Immanuel has made that include face masks not working in combating COVID, alien DNA being used in prescriptions, and that the medical community is trying to make a vaccine to make a person immune to religion.
Trump ended the matter by saying 'thank you very much' and leaving the podium.
President Donald Trump defended the doctor whose claims he retweeted that hydroxychloroquine is a 'cure' for coronavirus got removed by Twitter
President Trump defended Dr. Stella Immanuel, who has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories and who claims hydroxy cures coronavirus
In May the World Health Organization stopped its hydroxychloroquine trial. The National Institutes for Health similarly halted their trial in June after determining it provided 'no benefit' in the patients studied.
Trump admitted in May he was on a two week course of the drug as part of a regime to combat the coroanvirus.
He said on Tuesday that 'many doctors' think hydroxy is successful.
'Many doctors think it is extremely successful,' he said. 'The hydroxychloroquine coupled with the z-pack. And some some people think it's become political. I took it for a 14-day period. And I'm here. I think it works in the early stages. I think front line medical people believe that too. Some. Many. So we'll take a look at it.'
He pointed out he had no complications from taking hydroxy, which is an anti-malarial drug.
'The one thing we know. It's been out for a long time, that particular formula and that's essentially what it is, the pill, and it's been for malaria, lupus and other things,' Trump said. 'It's safe. It doesn't cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem. Felt no different. Didn't feel good, bad or indifferent.'
The president has come under heat for his handling of the coronavirus crisis and in recent weeks has tried rectify his reputation by holding solo coronavirus briefings, canceling some campaign events, and wearing a mask in public.
In his Monday Twitter spree Trump retweeted a video of Dr. Immanuel claiming hydroxychloroquine works in battling the virus, which has infected more than 4.42 million and killed more than 151,000 Americans.
Trump also retweeted two videos of Dr. Stella Immanuel speaking in front of the US Capitol on Friday with others calling themselves 'America's Frontline Doctors'. She claimed anti-malaria drug hydroxycloroquine is effective in treating COVID-19, despite other medical research disproving that
Donald Trump shared video of her speech twice, but the clip was taken down both times by Twitter citing a violation of the platform's coronavirus misinformation policy
Trump retweeted a slew of posts on Monday night all in support of the controversial drug, despite science and medical tests proving it isn't helpful in combating the virus
Immanuel demanded that the videos be reposted on social media
The video was published by the right-wing media outlet Breitbart News and showed Immanuel and others calling themselves 'America's Frontline Doctors' staging a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday.
She slammed 'fake doctors' who doubt the efficacy of the drug, and claimed it's a 'cure', adding 'you don't need a mask.'
'If some fake science comes out and says we've done studies and they found out that it doesn't work, I can tell you categorically it's fake science,' she said.
'I want to know who's conducted that study and who's behind it. Because there is no way I have treat 350 patients and counting and nobody is dead,' she said on how she allegedly treated patients with hydroxychloroquine along with zinc, and Zithromax.
However, her claims are contrary to the extensive tests that have been done regarding the drug.
Video of her fiery speech was shared on Twitter where it racked up over 14 million views on Monday, partly due to the promotion by far-right news organizations, but Twitter later took it down.
Facebook and YouTube also began to pull down videos of her claims, claiming it's spreading misinformation about the pandemic.
Immanuel demanded the social media platforms reupload her videos after they were taken down for spreading disinformation. She claimed God would crash their computers if they did not repost her speech.
'Hello Facebook put back my profile page and videos up or your computers with start crashing till you do. You are not bigger that God. I promise you. If my page is not back up face book will be down in Jesus name,' Immanuel said in a mistake-littered tweet Monday night.
While Immanuel has been embraced by Trump and his supporters, the pediatrician and religious minister has made some outlandish claims in the past.
She has often alleged that gynecological problems, like cysts and endometriosis, are actually caused by people dreaming about having intercourse with demons and witches.
Immanuel also claims scientists are working on a vaccine to prevent people from being born religious and asserts that alien DNA is used in modern-day medical treatments.
Donald Trump Jr. called Immanuel's viral Friday speech a 'must watch' and posted a link on his Twitter page, causing his account access to be limited by Twitter for violating its rules.
President Trump also posted a link to the video through a retweet but was not locked out of his account. Twitter did not explain the discrepancy.
'We've temporarily limited some of your account features,' the Twitter notice to the president's eldest son reads, adding it will be in effect for 12 hours.
'We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically, for: 1. Violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,' it continued.
Andrew Surabian, a spokesman to Don Jr., posted an image of the notice to Twitter Tuesday morning, lamenting: 'Big Tech is the biggest threat to free expression in America today & they're continuing to engage in open election interference - full stop.'
The ban comes as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, prepare to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
The hearing will focus on big tech companies and potential antitrust law violations in the industry.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is not on the docket for the hearing Wednesday.
While Don Jr.'s account is in this restricted state, he can still send direct messages on the platform and browse Twitter.
He will not, however, be able to tweet, retweet, follow new accounts or like anyone's tweets.
President Trump often lamented that there is social media bias against conservative voices.
'Twitter suspending Don Jr. for sharing a viral video of medical professionals discussing their views on Hydroxychloroquine is further proof that Big Tech is intent on killing free expression online and is another instance of them committing election interference to stifle Republican voices,' Don Jr.'s spokesperson Surabian said in a statement on the incident.
'While there is indeed much disagreement in the medical community about the efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine in treating coronavirus, there have been studies reported on by 'mainstream' outlets like CNN, suggesting that it may in fact be an effective treatment,' he continued. 'Those pretending otherwise are lying for political reasons.'
'[I]t is beyond the pale for Twitter to silence someone for sharing the views of medical professionals who happen to dissent with their anti-Hydroxychloroquine narrative,' Surabian concluded.
Earlier this summer, President Trump also earned his first ever blue exclamation point when Twitter flagged two of his tweets claiming there are heightened instances of voter-fraud with mail-in ballots as 'misleading.'
Another one of Trump's tweets was hidden, with a prompt to reveal the contents of it, this summer after he threatened protesters in the Seattle Autonomous Zone with 'force.'
'There will never be an Autonomous Zone' in Washington, D.C., as long as I'm your President,' Trump tweeted at the time, referring to an area that was occupied by protesters. 'If they try they will be met with serious force!'
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday morning also dismissed Trump's Monday night Twitter rant, which included his post of Dr. Immanuel's speech along with criticism of Fauci.
'I don't know how to address that,' the nation's top immunologist told Good Morning America regarding the president's tweet storm. 'I'm just going to, certainly, continue doing my job.'
'I, you know, I don't tweet, I don't – I don't even read them,' Fauci, 79, told ABC News host George Stephanopoulos. 'So I don't really want to go there.'
Trump went on a Twitter frenzy Monday night, including retweets of posts claiming Fauci lied to the country regarding hydroxychloroquine, which the president revealed he has taken as a preventative measure to stop him from contracting coronavirus.
Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, pushed back Tuesday morning: 'I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstances.'
Big Tech CEOs, Facebook Mark Zuckerberg (top left), Amazon's Jeff Bezos (top right), Apple's Tim Cook (bottom left) and Google's parent company Alphabet's Sundar Pichai are set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in an anti-trust hearing
Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, however, will not make an appearance on Capitol Hill for Wednesday's hearing
Trump also shared a retweet Monday claiming Fauci is 'misleading' the country by dismissing the drug touted by the president and instead endorsing Remdesivir
Dr. Anthony Fauci dismissed it Tuesday morning, claiming he doesn't tweet or read the president's posts. 'I don't know how to address that,' Fauci said
The president's Twitter storm included reposts of videos of a doctor who claimed the anti-Malaria drug is a 'cure' for COVID-19.
Several of the tweets he shared with his 84 million followers, however, were taken down by Twitter citing misinformation regulations.
The president's insistence that the drug does work come as the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for controlling and regulating all prescription and over-the-counter medications, pharmaceuticals and vaccines, said hydroxychloroquine is 'unlikely to be effective' in treating the virus.
'I just will continue to do my job no matter what comes out because I think it's very important,' Fauci said Tuesday. 'We're in the middle of a crisis with regard to an epidemic – a pandemic. This is what I do, this is what I've been trained for my entire professional life and I'll continue to do it.'
Fauci has advised six presidents since joining the National Institute of Health in 1984.
In Trump's Twitter spree he shared a post that claims Fauci is leading the country in the wrong direction by refusing to endorse hydroxychloroquine in combating the virus.
Trump has often promoted the drug, repeatedly pushing it as a therapeutic treatment, even though the FDA warns the drug has harmful side effects and in June revoked an emergency authorization for its use to treat coronavirus.
'Dr. Fauci has misled the American public on many issues, but in particular, on dismissing #hydroxychloroquine and calling Remdesivir the new gold standard,' the retweet said.
Fauci, once a fixture at the White House briefing room podium toward the start of the pandemic, has not yet been invited back for Trump's rebooted task force briefings.
Trump went into a Twitter frenzy Monday night sharing posts to his 84 million followers praising hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19, only for some posts to be removed
Trump retweeted a slew of posts on Monday night all in support of the controversial drug, despite science and medical tests proving it isn't helpful in combating the virus
'I happen to think it works': Donald Trump defends hydroxychloroquine after Twitter deleted video saying it's a COVID cure
!['I happen to think it works': Donald Trump defends hydroxychloroquine after Twitter deleted video saying it's a COVID cure]()
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