Andrea Mitchell Grills an Agitated Peter Navarro Over ‘False Claims’ From Trump Admin on COVID-19 Treatment

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell had a crackling exchange with White House trade chief Peter Navarro over Trump administration claims about convalescent plasma that FDA chief Dr. Stephen Hahn later apologized for making.

Trump’s Sunday announcement of an emergency authorization for convalescent plasma — made during a press conference that also featured Hahn and HHS Secretary Alex Azar — was met with large helpings of skepticism that Trump was trying to manufacture some good news by pushing the unproven ahead of his convention.

That skepticism appeared to be at least partially vindicated on Monday night, when Dr. Hahn apologized for overstating the supposed benefits of the therapy.

“I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. The criticism is entirely justified. What I should have said better is that the data show a relative risk reduction not an absolute risk reduction,” he wrote on Twitter.

I have been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. The criticism is entirely justified. What I should have said better is that the data show a relative risk reduction not an absolute risk reduction.

— Dr. Stephen M. Hahn (@SteveFDA) August 25, 2020

On Tuesday’s edition of Andrea Mitchell Reports, Mitchell pressed Navarro about Hahn’s apology.

“He, along with the president, Secretary Azar, on Sunday night said that out of 100 people with covid, 35 were saved by convalescent plasma in a study. He now says that the criticism of those false claims, exaggerated claims, was entirely justified. That he should have said that there is a relative risk reduction, not an absolute reduction, and in fact the study was only a subset of a subset, not a randomized study,” Mitchell told Navarro.

“Now you are a PhD, an economist, you are an expert, you know a statistics inside and out. Emergency approval of using plasma this way reduces the possibility of having a proper randomized study and it falsely inflates hopes,” she added, as Navarro interrupted to protest.

“No, I don’t accept that premise, that to me is like a crazy talking point,” he said.

“Well, that’s what every expert, that’s what Mayo, the Mayo clinic, which did the study is saying that, and Dr. Hahn is saying that,” Mitchell continued, as Navarro kept trying to interrupt her. “Is Dr Hahn, let me just get my question out, is Dr Han wrong?”

“I thought that was the question,” Navarro said, to which Mitchell replied “No, the question is, Dr Hahn has said that he was wrong to say this.”

“On the issue of not being able to do randomized trials, I mean what is the calculus here, are we going to wait to use something that can save thousands of lives just so we can have a study that tells us what we already know, which is that convalescent plasma works?” Navarro scoffed.

“Yes, that is scientific practice, sir,” Mitchell said as Navarro spoke. “Excuse me, that is the way vaccines and drugs are approved. That’s the test, effectiveness is the test.”

“Andrea Andrea Andrea, this is an important debate for the American people and your viewers to have,” Navarro interrupted. “Do you want to wait for a therapy which likely works, to get these scientific studies which are going to take three six months or whatever, or do you want to do the right to try?”

He claimed that the odds of the treatment “being able to help you are close to 100%,” to which a stunned Mitchell interrupted “Close to 100%? That’s not correct.”

“Hang on the odds of this being able to help people is close to 100%, it’s not going to help every person,” Navarro conceded.

Navarro then pivoted to criticizing the Democratic National Convention, but drew another rebuke from Mitchell when he claimed that “when the president pulled down the flights from China on January 31st, he was called a xenophobe and a racist by Biden, yet that saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”

“Well that was out of context sir. That’s not the case,” Mitchell said. Biden’s reference was to President Donald Trump’s “record of hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering” during past crises.

She added that “40,000 people came in from China after he put that embargo. 40,000 people. there were so many exceptions.”

“Yeah and it could have been hundreds of thousands more,” Navarro said.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.