‘That’s an Inconsistency!’ Fox’s Heinrich Busts White House on Biden’s Tylenol Use – Was it For ‘Non-Fever’ Fever or Discomfort?

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich caught White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in what she called an “inconsistency” regarding President Joe Biden’s use of Tylenol.

Jean-Pierre briefed reporters Friday afternoon, and was joined by White House Covid coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, who helped field questions about President Biden’s Covid illness. Since the news broke that Biden tested positive for Covid-19 Thursday morning, the story has drawn intense interest from the political media, and judging from Friday’s torrent of probing and at times extremely granular questions, a lot of time has been spent making interns pore over WebMD.

But Heinrich, while challenging the White House to make Biden physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor available to the press, found what she called an “inconsistency” between O’Connor’s letter updating on Biden’s condition and what Jha and Jean-Pierre were saying about Biden’s use of Tylenol.

While attempting to demonstrate the need to speak directly with O’Connor, Heinrich stumbled into a dispute over the president’s “non-fever,” and the reason he was given Tylenol:

JACQUI HEINRICH: But when we’ve got questions about, you know, his symptoms progressing. He had a fever last night. His cough is now loose as opposed to dry.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So he didn’t he did not have a fever last night. Just to make that clear, I think Dr. Jha made that very clear night. 99.4 is not a fever. It’s not even a low-grade fever. So he did not have a fever last night. He treated it. He gave Tylenol. And I should actually let Dr. Jha speak to this more, because he is the medical doctor, which is why he’s joining me today at the briefing room. He gave the Tylenol for discomfort, which is not unusual if you have cold, but many of you have had COVID. We would argue that if we probably take the temperature of some people here, they might have a 99.4 degree Fahrenheit temperature. That is not uncommon, but I would let Dr. Jha speak to that more.

DR. JHA: But let me just talk about the, Dr. O’Connor. And so you’ve you’ve heard directly from him, as Karine said, in terms of the notes that he writes every morning. He and I, he and Dr. Fauci, all of us talk multiple times during the day. Dr. Fauci is the president’s chief medical adviser and obviously one of the foremost experts on infectious diseases. We speak very regularly. I’ve been connecting, speaking every day with the president today by face time. And you’re getting updates sort of about twice a day, right? You got one yesterday at this time. Early this morning, you got an update about how he was through last night. I was on TV at 6:40 in the morning. Did not think it was appropriate for me to call the president at 6:20 to wake him up and say, you know, how are you feeling? I think he’d be like, probably would tell me that he would be feeling better if I hadn’t called in walking him. So but you know, obviously he was seen early this morning. He was examined. And then immediately we put out information about the president’s status overnight. I’m not here to give you more information about that. The point is, like we’re giving you information on a very, very regular basis and we’re doing it as a team with all of us.

JACQUI HEINRICH: So you’ve described, when his letter has described his 99.4-degree non-fever as being treated with Tylenol. And now we’re hearing from you that he was treated for discomfort. That’s an inconsistency!

DR. JHA: So I’ll have to pull up that letter. But what I understand and spoke to Dr. O’Connor, spoke to the president and those of you who know, 100.4, as I’ve been taking my patients for 20 some odd years. 100.4 is what we consider a low-grade fever. 101.5 is what we consider a regular fever. 99.4 is very much within the normal range. Most people are between 97 and 99. People tend to have slightly higher temperatures later in the day and into the evening. This is often why we see fevers often come up for people who actually have fever in the evening. I told you yesterday the patient was patient. Well, the patient, the president — was feeling tired and he just didn’t feel as great yesterday. It feels much better today, by the way. And for anybody who’s ever had a viral syndrome, I assume many of you had a cold in your life. Many of you had COVID, many might have had a flu. When you just don’t feel great taking Tylenol, have you? That helps you feel better. And so Dr. O’Connor gave him some Tylenol early in the evening and, but noted because his temperature was 99.4, he just noted the temperature was 99.4. That was the highest temperature the president’s had in the last 24 hours, or since he was found to be infected. And and so he noted that as a, as a part of his treatments. But the president has had no fevers. 99.4 is the highest temperature the president’s had so far. And the president is continuing to do better and feel better today.

In the letter, O’Connor wrote “His symptoms have improved. He did mount a temperature yesterday evening to 99.4°F, which responded favorably to acetaminophen (TYLENOL). His temperature has remained normal since then.”

It doesn’t actually say why Biden was given the Tylenol, only that the temperature “responded favorably” to it. The letter also doesn’t say whether the fever caused discomfort, or mention the word discomfort, although the aggregate symptoms described could potentially be interpreted as “discomfort.”

Reporters and news outlets have consistently been pushing the White House for access to O’Connor, who could clear this up in a second. When former President Donald Trump contracted Covid, his medical team held press conferences — at which they told what turned out to be verifiable lies about Trump’s condition.

Watch above via C-SPAN.