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The Lead with Jake Tapper
President Trump's Doctors Hold Press Conference; President Trump Set Return to White House. Aired 3-3:30p ET
Aired October 05, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:00]
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, it's going to create a lot of work and resources to try and make this happen within the White House.
Possible? Perhaps, but very challenging.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Very much, indeed.
Thank you, Sanjay.
Jake Tapper will pick up this very special coverage right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
And we begin with breaking news.
President Trump has just tweeted to the world that he will be leaving Walter Reed Medical Center a short time from now at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, he says.
The president, in his Twitter announcement, writing -- quote -- "Don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life. We have developed under the Trump administration some really great drugs and knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago" -- unquote.
President Trump there still downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. Don't be afraid of COVID, he says, a virus that has now killed, killed nearly 210,000 Americans, and infected 7.4 million people in the U.S., many of whom are still battling serious health effects.
As for the president saying he feels better than he did 20 years ago, that's great, though one has to wonder how much of that is because of the steroids he has been given.
Should the president be leaving for the White House? That's now a question. It's now a coronavirus hot spot of its own, of course, the White House. The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN earlier today, that coronavirus patients should isolate for 10 days after first showing symptoms, which means, if President Trump first showed symptoms last Thursday, he should be isolated until at least next Sunday, a week from yesterday.
Dr. Fauci of course, is not involved in the president's care.
Any minute, we are expecting to get an update from the president's physician, and we will bring that to you live.
Let's get right to CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House.
And, Kaitlan, the president says he will be leaving Walter Reed, which sources have been telling CNN he's been anxious to do. But, of course, by going to the White House, he is putting everybody at the White House at risk of catching a virus that he has.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the questions are, what is the White House going to look like with the president, who we know has coronavirus, there, alongside the first lady, who also has coronavirus?
As you have already seen, several officials in the West Wing are now adding to that growing list of people in the president's circle who have it.
So, the question and the reason that the president went to Walter Reed 72 hours ago, almost, not even there yet, is because officials were worried that, if something happened, that he would not be -- have access to that level of care that is afforded to him at Walter Reed. And that was the reason why they moved him, in case his condition deteriorated, and they would not want to move him later on.
So, of course, now the president is coming back, and his doctors are going to have to explain why they think medically that is the best decision for the president at this point, given we know how vulnerable people are still at this time of contracting coronavirus.
And as far as the president's message in his tweet saying not to let coronavirus dominate your life, it's important for people who are at home watching to remember that the president has his own helicopter to go to his own suite in his own hospital -- or his own floor of the hospital, where he received a drug, Jake, that fewer than 10 people outside of a clinical trial have gotten in the United States for coronavirus.
He has access to a level of care, understandably, that a lot of other people don't. So, when he's telegraphing that message about what a concern coronavirus is, it's important to keep in mind that he is getting the VIP of VIP treatments over the last few days.
TAPPER: Well, the American people can see that 210,000, almost, of their fellow citizens have died, according to this pandemic, because of this pandemic. And they should, in fact, be concerned about it and behave accordingly.
It's noticeable -- notable, however, Kaitlan, the president's not only saying he's being released. He's continuing to downplay the severity of this crisis.
And I have to say, there doesn't really seem to be any medical reason for him to leave. He's taking drugs, serious drugs, that require a regimen of several days, and hospitalization is required for at least one of them that I know of.
And Fauci says that, once you have shown symptoms, you need to isolate for 10 days. So I can't think of a medical reason for him to leave. We will talk to Sanjay Gupta in a second.
But, certainly, I understand he might feel like a political reason.
COLLINS: He certainly does feel a political reason, because we know that, since he's been in the hospital, he's been incredibly critical of the people who are speaking for him.
He does not like what they have been saying. He thinks that they are sending the wrong message. And, of course, the president has always believed that any kind of sign of something going on with your health is a sign of weakness.
And so he's been very frustrated with his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, after he revealed that the president actually had pretty concerning vitals. And he's been frustrated with his own medical team and what they have been saying publicly.
And that's probably why it was the president who announced he's leaving the hospital shortly before his doctors had the chance to speak with reporters and really explain the thinking behind this decision.
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So, he has been downplaying it because he's been eager to get back.
But, Jake, you have to wonder. The president is coming back. It's not like he's going to the hospital because something has happened. So, he is putting more Secret Service agents and staff at risk by having them transport him from Walter Reed back to the White House in just a matter of hours.
TAPPER: Not to mention, if you let politics dictate all your decisions when it comes to your medical care, what happens if, God forbid, he goes back to the White House and then takes a turn for the worse? Are they afraid to then take him back to Walter Reed because of this -- quote, unquote -- "perception of weakness," even if it would be in his best interests physically?
It's really astounding.
Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Stand by. We're going to come back to you.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is outside Walter Reed Medical Center.
And, Jeremy, Trump's advisers have been urging President Trump to stay in the hospital, which is, of course, the sound medical advice. Tell us about that.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, I was told by a source close to the White House that, as recently as this morning, the president's advisers were urging him to stay in the hospital.
They told him pretty clearly, listen, Mr. President, you don't want to have to come back here. And that is the overriding concern among many of the president's advisers, both inside and outside the White House, who are concerned about the prospects that the president's condition, as you have just said, Jake, could take a turn for the worse, requiring him to be once again flown back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for not just a first hospitalization, but what would be a second hospitalization.
And, obviously, they are concerned about the optics and everything that would go around that, not only just for the president's image as president of the United States to the rest of the world, but we are also less than a month out from a presidential election, Jake.
And this -- these are not the objects that they want. The president, though, is focused on the short-term optics. And that is what is so frustrating to many of the president's advisers is that he's -- while he feels better, he says -- he said in this tweet that he feels better than he did 20 years ago.
But while he may be feeling better, he's on several drugs that are helping him to feel better. But the concern is, what happens in a few days? And so many doctors, every medical expert that we have had on CNN has raised the concern that what happens between days five and seven, when there's this potential for inflammation, there's this potential for complication from the drugs, from the virus itself, all of that still weighing.
But, Jake, we are expected to hear from those medical experts, the doctors who are treating the president of the United States, including his personal physician, Dr. Sean Conley.
But, of course, Jake, we know that they haven't been sharing all of the information with us. And we are still waiting on many details about the president's condition, including, for example, what his lung scans and chest X-rays showed over the weekend.
We were told that there were expected findings. But we haven't been told whether the president has pneumonia or some kind of lung scarring or anything else. So, a lot of questions still to be answered, Jake.
Hopefully, hopefully, we will get some of those answers in the next hour.
TAPPER: All right, Jeremy Diamond at Walter Reed, thanks so much. We will come back to you.
We are expecting Dr. -- or Commander Conley, rather, and others on the president's medical team to update the United States and its citizens. And we will bring that to you live. I want to talk right now, of course, to CNN's chief medical
correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, I'm just a humble caveman. I have no idea about medicine. Is there a medical reason for President Trump to go home right now? Everything that you and I have been talking about since Friday would seem to suggest that he's on serious, serious drugs that you need to be in the hospital to take.
GUPTA: Yes.
Yes, he is. I mean, the -- some of them, a couple of them, he has not finished his course. Those are I.V. Medications. He will need to get them at the White House, which is unusual. Obviously, the White House is different than most houses.
But, still, that's unusual.
Jake, one thing I think is really important to point out is that we already knew that there was a -- that this was a -- he's a vulnerable patient, because of his age, because of his preexisting conditions. So there was already going to be concern.
And you and I were talking about that all day on Friday, the heightened level of concern. Since then, we learned that he dropped his oxygen saturations at least a couple of times, to the point where he needed to get supplemental oxygen. That's concerning.
Dropping your oxygenation at rest to that level, low level, that means his lungs were having a hard time keeping up. That put him in a different risk stratification. We know that that memo went out after the press conference on Saturday saying that he had had unstable vital signs for a period of time.
We know that he had spiked a fever. And, as you point out, we know he's on three medications, none of which are approved medications, two which have emergency use authorization for COVID.
So, it -- there's a lot going on there, Jake, is my point. One of those medications, steroids -- it's interesting, Jake, if I can explain this. You got a virus, you're getting an antiviral like remdesivir to try and stop the virus from replicating so fast.
You also give steroids in this case, because they are obviously worried about him, to some extent, to decrease the amount of inflammation in the body. Now, if you give steroids, it also suppresses your immune system, which means that the virus can replicate even faster.
Two points. One is, those are counteracting forces, which sometimes you have to do, but you want to do that in a hospital, so you can best sort of manage the care, pinpoint manage the care.
[15:10:03]
But the other thing is, the steroids may be making him artificially feel better than he actually is, treating very much the symptoms, not the disease. And that's why everyone keeps saying a few days from now he could have a bounce.
And you want to be in a hospital at that point. That's basic medical care. I don't think that, if he were anybody else in any other hospital being taken care of by pulmonologists and infectious disease doctors, that they would say this is a good idea.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Not to mention -- yes, not to mention, as we have mentioned, as you and I have discussed before, he's the -- as the commander in chief, he actually has authority over his physicians, who are all in the Navy.
It's not just Dr. Conley. It's Commander Conley. And I do wonder how much--
GUPTA: Right.
TAPPER: -- that is factoring into the doctors doing what he says, because, unlike a civilian doctor, like yourself, they actually have to answer to him.
I want to ask you more about the steroid, because he says: I feel better than I did 20 years ago.
You have expressed that that might just be because he is on the steroid. I have to say, a friend of mine was on this exact same steroid when he had pneumonia a few years ago. And this is just anecdotal, but it does mesh with what we have heard about other side effects of this particular steroid.
He said -- he said it made him manic. He said it gave him a lot of energy, but it was unhinged in a way. It affected his mood and it affected his attitude.
When you see President Trump making these decisions about his own health care, sending out a tweet like this, don't be afraid of COVID, it's just a fact that the steroid could be affecting his mood.
GUPTA: I think there's no question, Jake.
And we treat it -- even in neurosurgery, we treat patients with steroids all the time.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Here's Dr. Conley, Sanjay.
Sanjay, we will come back to you on the other side.
Here's Dr. Conley, Commander Conley. And we're going to listen in.
DR. SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here. Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve. He's
met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria and received another dose of remdesivir here today, and then we plan to get him home.
It's been more than 72 hours since his last fever. Oxygen levels, including ambulatory saturations and his work of breathing, are all normal.
Though he may not be entirely out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations, and, most importantly, his clinical status support the president's safe return home, where he will be surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7.
I'd like to bring Dr. Dooley up to review some more specifics.
COL. SEAN DOOLEY, WALTER REED MEDICAL CENTER: Good afternoon.
Just a brief update this morning.
As Dr. Conley mentioned, the president continues to do very well. His vital signs this morning were notable for a temperature of 98.1. His blood pressure was 134 over 78,a respiratory rate of 17 respirations per minute. His heart rate was 68 beats per minute, and his last oxyhemoglobin saturation was 97 percent on room air.
He currently does not endorse any respiratory complaints and, aside from our evaluation with the multidisciplinary team this morning, has maintained a full schedule, ambulating and working on the White House Medical Unit.
I will turn it over to Dr. Garibaldi and again discuss therapeutics. Thanks.
DR. BRIAN GARIBALDI, WALTER REED MEDICAL CENTER: Hi. Good afternoon.
And, again, I just wanted to echo the sentiment of what an honor it is to be part of this wonderful team here at Walter Reed.
Yesterday evening, the president received his third dose of remdesivir. He tolerated that infusion without difficulty, and his kidney and liver function continue to be normal.
Our plan is to give the fourth dose of remdesivir this evening before he goes back to the White House. And we have made arrangements to deliver the fifth and final dose of his treatment course at the White House tomorrow evening.
He continues on dexamethasone. And, again, the plan for today is to continue to be up and out of bed, eat and drink and work as he is able.
And I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Jason Blaylock, who's an infectious disease specialist and the chief of medicine here at Walter Reed, to give some updates on infection control. Thank you.
DR. JASON BLAYLOCK, WALTER REED MEDICAL CENTER: Good afternoon, everyone.
First of all, I just want to say what an honor it's been to be part of this medical team behind me and to care for the president.
Since the president's arrival at Walter Reed, he's received medical management that remains in line with national clinical societal guidelines for treatment of COVID-19 infection.
In addition, both myself and Dr. Wes Campbell, have worked very closely with various laboratories in the area, state-of-the-art facilities to include USAMRIID and RARE (ph), on obtaining advanced diagnostic testing to really inform the White House medical team of both the status of the president, as well as his ability to transmit virus to others.
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Also, we have worked very closely with the Walter Reed team to ensure that we are looking very closely at infection control prevention strategies and the right posture, so that the president can safely return to his residence.
And, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Conley, who will answer any final questions.
CONLEY: Thanks, Jason.
I mentioned it Saturday, but I'd like to reiterate myself, just how grateful the president and I are to the men and women of Walter Reed, our colleagues at Johns Hopkins, as well as the many federal, private institutions that we receive support from.
And so long as everything continues on the track that we're experiencing right now, at this time, as the president already tweeted out, is to get him home later today.
With that, I will take a couple questions.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) the president discharged back to the White House when he was given steroids? You have said that he's still on those steroids. Those medicines, as you know, that are usually given to COVID patients who are on ventilators or with low oxygen.
So did you overtreat him? And if he is still on that medication, how's it safe for him to return to the White House?
CONLEY: So, we send patients home with medications all the time.
He -- in fact, yesterday afternoon, he probably met most of his discharge requirements safely from the hospital. And he's returning to a facility, the White House Medical Unit, that staffed 247/ top-notch, physicians, nurses, P.A.s, logisticians.
And the unit here, the team here behind me is going to continue to support us in that nature.
QUESTION: Dr. Conley, what infection control measures are you taking, and how was it safe for him to drive around in a cloth mask yesterday?
And how is it safe for him now to return to the White House, where there have been so many cases? How is any of this safe?
CONLEY: So, the -- the president has been surrounded by medical and security staff for days wearing full PPE.
And, yesterday, the U.S. Secret Service agents were in that same level of PPE for a very short period of time. We have worked with our infectious disease experts to make some recommendations for how to keep everything safe down at the White House for the president and those around him.
We're looking at where he's going to be able to carry out his duties, office space. And I will just say that it's in line with everything we have been doing upstairs for the -- for the last several days.
QUESTION: Can you tell us, please -- on testing, can you tell us when he had his last negative test? Was it Thursday? Was it Wednesday? When -- do you remember when he had his last negative?
CONLEY: I don't want to go backwards.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) with contract tracing, for people who were around him (OFF-MIKE)
CONLEY: I understand.
The contact tracing, as I understand it, is being done. I'm not involved in that. So--
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) -- leave or was this something he pushed for?
CONLEY: So, we try to get patients home and out of the hospital as quickly as is safe and reasonable.
Every day a patient stays in the hospital unnecessarily is a risk to themselves. And right now, there's nothing that's being done upstairs here that we can't safely conduct down home.
QUESTION: You had to seven to 10 days was a window that you would be concerned about. I don't think we're there yet.
So, do you have concerns about potential worsening or reversal? And what are your plans for addressing that if it were to happen?
CONLEY: You're -- you're absolutely right. And that's why we all remain cautiously optimistic and on guard, because we're in a bit of uncharted territory when it comes to a patient that received the therapies he has so early in the course.
So, we're looking to this weekend. If we can get through to Monday, with him remaining the same or improving, better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief. But, as I said, 24/7, world-class medical care surrounding him down
there. We're not going to miss anything that we would have caught up here.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) physically going to be in the White House? And how -- what does that look like? How do you keep him safely quarantined?
CONLEY: I wish I could go into that more.
But I just can't.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: .. begin dexamethasone treatment?
CONLEY: So, that has something to do -- yesterday, we talked about that, the several little temporary drops in his oxygen.
And we had discussed that as a team, and elected to start it early, in case that persisted or worsened. The potential risks and side effects, we all discussed.
We looked at the data and decided that we'd rather push ahead on it than hold and risk the opposite.
[15:20:03]
QUESTION: What about C.T. scans and chest X-rays?
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: -- resume his campaigning?
CONLEY: As far as travel goes, we will see.
QUESTION: Dr. Conley, on his mental status, can you talk to about whether he has any neurological symptoms? Does he have any side effects from his medications, any fogginess from the virus?
CONLEY: No, I think you have seen the videos and the tweets, and you will see him shortly.
No, he's -- he's back, yes.
QUESTION: -- pneumonia or any inflammation in his lungs at all?
CONLEY: So, we -- we have done routine standard imaging.
I'm just not at liberty to discuss.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: So, you're actively not telling us what those lung scans show, just to be clear? CONLEY: So, there are HIPAA rules and regulations that restrict me in sharing certain things, for his safety and his -- and his own health and -- and reasons.
QUESTION: Can you share how many times -- you said his oxygen dropped several times.
Can you share how many times he was on oxygen?
CONLEY: We -- we -- yes.
QUESTION: You said you would check with nursing staff yesterday.
CONLEY: Yes, he -- yes. yes. So, he -- he -- the two episodes, like we talked about yesterday, and both times that he received a little bit of oxygen and recovered immediately.
QUESTION: Was it required? Was that oxygen required?
CONLEY: No, it wasn't required. He wasn't short of breath. He wasn't looking ill.
It was more of us trying to anticipate needs and see how he would respond. And, in both cases, he came right off. He didn't -- he didn't need it for very long at all.
QUESTION: Doctor, you were on board Air Force One for multiple trips. Are you at all concerned about your own exposure and exposure to the medical team?
CONLEY: I am concerned.
But, as the CDC says, there are caveats for essential employees, that, as long as you continue to test negative, you remain symptom-free, and you keep a mask on when you're out and about, which we do inside the hospital 24/7, then -- then you can carry on your duties, yes.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) We know the president is an inpatient man.
Has he been itching to get out of here?
CONLEY: The president has been a phenomenal patient during his stay here. And he's -- he's been working hand in glove with us and the team, and today got to the point he's holding court with the -- with those of us around him, the whole team, going over all the specifics, the testing, what the future is.
And we have been back and forth on what's safe and what's reasonable. And he has never once pushed us to do anything that was beyond safe and reasonable practice that we all first wanted.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) anybody on this medical team who recommended against the president leaving here and going back to the White House today or any White House staffers?
CONLEY: No. QUESTION: Doctor, the president said, don't be afraid of COVID. Do you agree with that? Should we not be afraid?
CONLEY: I'm not going to get into what the president says.
QUESTION: You said his heart, liver and kidney function was normal or improving.
Improving, does that mean that there were effects? And is it all normal? Like, what's up with that?
CONLEY: Yes, it's -- it's all -- it's all normal right now.
I would say he appeared to be a little dehydrated Friday. He got -- he was able to just drink and recover from that. And, yes, everything looks great.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) campaigning out in the country? What sort of things do you--
(CROSSTALK)
CONLEY: So, the big first thing that we need to do is that there is no evidence of live virus still present that he could possibly transmit to others.
And that's what the infectious disease experts and some of our partners, military-civilian entities, doing some of these advanced diagnostics, just to see, as soon as we can identify that.
Routinely, we talk about a 10-day window, CDC guidelines. But we -- we're checking him more routinely than just waiting 10 days. There's a possibility it's earlier than that. There's a chance that it's a little bit later.
But we will know as soon as possible. And then we will look at him clinically. How are you feeling? How you doing?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) decided not to use, administer hydroxychloroquine to the president during his time here?
CONLEY: We're -- I'm not going to go into all of our debates about specific medicines and therapies.
There are dozens of therapies that we were made aware of, that we considered, that we discussed and debated and looked at the existing literature on. And this is the regimen we chose.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) hydroxychloroquine.
QUESTION: On the symptoms of COVID, is he having some of the muscle aches? Has he lost his sense of taste and smell?
CONLEY: No. We were just talking about that, what symptoms he has left. And he -- he's -- he -- even the slight cough that he used to have, he
doesn't really complain of at all. He hasn't ever complained of muscle aches. And, yes, he's -- he's up and back to an old self, predominantly.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) talked about next Monday.
Just to be clear, how long will he still be actively shedding the virus?
[15:25:03]
CONLEY: So, this -- this morning, I believe, there was even an accounting by Dr. Fauci referencing a five-day -- the first five days of illness, that people are most likely to shed live virus.
There's a reason there's the 10 days, is because most people, by that time, after seven days, most folks don't have culturable live virus. They put it to 10 just to give some extra space. It's never 100 percent between everybody.
So, we will see. I can't -- I'm not going to put a specific number. But we look at that window, is all I would say.
QUESTION: Doctor, will the president be confined to his residence or will he be allowed to return to the Oval Office?
CONLEY: We're -- we're going to do whatever it takes for the president to safely conduct business wherever it is he needs to do within the residence and White House.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Is he on -- is he on blood thinners?
And, also, has he been using -- have you been giving him Tylenol, Advil, anything to bring his fever down?
CONLEY: Oh, that came up. Yes, I would like to say, he has not been on any fever-reducing medications for over 72 hours.
QUESTION: But what about the blood thinners?
CONLEY: Yes, he's on a routine regimen of COVID therapy. I'm not going to go into specifics as to what he is and is not on.
But--
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) the president had a mild cough, some nasal congestion, and fatigue on Thursday.
Now, back to my colleague Jen Jacobs' question there--
CONLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: -- the reason knowing when the president's last negative test is, is important, for that reason, your words, what you said, and also for the contact tracing.
But would you have recommended that, given those symptoms, that he go, that the president go to that Bedminster fund-raiser?
CONLEY: It's not up to me, necessarily, the president's schedule.
But I would say that it wasn't until after he returned that we really sat down, then knowing the -- the news of the day, that we really dove into, how are you feeling? What's going on?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) those were the symptoms he was experiencing on Thursday?
CONLEY: I'm not going to get into operations.
QUESTION: When was his last negative test and what was his viral load?
CONLEY: Everyone wants that.
QUESTION: Well, we have -- we have been exposed.
CONLEY: Yes, I don't -- I don't have his viral load.
Those are some of the diagnostics that we're sending out that will really tell us when it's safe for him to get back out and around people.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: -- say when the last negative test was?
QUESTION: Did he have any abnormal tests, any -- were any of his lab tests abnormal?
CONLEY: I'm not -- again, HIPAA kind of precludes me from going into too much depth and things that I'm not liberty or doesn't wish to be discussed.
At some future point, maybe, but today, sorry.
I think that's it.
Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, guys. so much.
CONLEY: Thank you.
TAPPER: You have been listening to President Trump's medical team at Walter Reed Medical Center giving an update, or something of an update, on his condition, as the president continues to battle coronavirus.
The president's physician there, Commander Sean Conley, was confirming that the president will, as the president announced on Twitter, be released from the hospital, though Conley said that President Trump is -- quote -- "not entirely out of the woods yet" and will continue to receive -- quote -- "world-class medical care 24/7."
The medical team saying that President Trump has not had a fever in 72 hours, will receive another dose of remdesivir before being discharged.
Dr. Conley, notably, continued to refuse to answer basic questions about the president's health, including about his lung scans, when the president first tested negative, about what medications the president is on now, and on and on.
CNN's chief medical correspondent joins me now.
Sanjay, first of all, what I got from that press conference, such as it was, was that Commander Conley was willing to share information that he thought reflected poor -- I mean well on the president's health, and refuse to give any information that he thought would reflect poorly.
He refused -- when continually asked about when the president last tested negative, he said, "I don't want to go backwards," which is something that a press secretary says, not something a doctor says.
When asked how would the president would be safe at the White House, how would he be safely ensconced, quarantined, he said he couldn't go into that. He wouldn't go into the lung scans. He said he won't go into specifics about what he is and what he is not on.
Are you confident that the president is safe to be discharged?
GUPTA: I don't -- I don't think we have the information here about, as you're pointing out, Jake, the most basic things.
Does the president have pneumonia? Don't know the answer to that. The president needed oxygen. How significant was the impact on his lungs? Don't know the answer to that.
We know that he's going to need to continue to get these medications, such as remdesivir and the steroids, at the White House, which is -- again, the White House is a different sort of house. I get that. They have a White House Medical Unit there.
But that's part of the reason he went to the hospital in the first place, was to be able to get these types of medications and being monitored while he was receiving them. Why -- why the change here?
