Trump Physician Shocked and Confused Everyone On Timing of President’s Covid Diagnosis, Now Says He Summarized ‘Incorrectly’
When did the White House get President Donald Trump‘s positive Covid-19 test result? That’s a question now being asked after the president’s personal physician Dr. Sean Conley held his press conference on Trump’s condition on Saturday afternoon.
During the presser Conley said Trump was diagnosed 72 hours ago and had begun treatment 48 hours ago, even though the announcement was made only 36 or so hours before the presser, but two statements have been issued since then attempting to clean up that discrepancy.
“You couldn’t help but be caught off guard, and it made us all come to attention when we heard 72 hours,” said CNN’s Fredericka Whitfield shortly after the presser ended. “This timeline now is not making any sense. You know, was that an error that the doctor made or is this revealing about when indeed they had a positive test of Covid for the president?”
Since that time, an unnamed White House official offered a “clarification” that president Trump’s personal physician was simply mistaken in how he characterized the important timeline of when the President of the United States was known to be positive for the coronavirus that is the center of a global pandemic. Which is quite a thing to misspeak about.
A White House administration official tells me that Dr. Sean Conley “meant it’s day 3, not yet 72hrs. Diagnosis made THUR night, Regeneron administered later that night (2 days ago), not 48hrs ago.” https://t.co/lqFbSOzopc
— Elizabeth Thomas (@lizzkatherine_) October 3, 2020
Moments ago, Dr. Conley issued an on-the-record statement clarifying what he intended to say.
President Trump’s doctor clarifies his statement earlier, saying he incorrectly said Trump was 72 hours into his diagnosis instead of saying it was “day three” of the diagnosis. Dr. Conley says Trump was first diagnosed the evening of Oct. 1, when he tweeted. pic.twitter.com/ZSyN7yclQa
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 3, 2020
The importance of the question is more than just about accuracy, it is a matter of whether the President knew about his diagnosis before attending a fundraiser (that included a buffet meal) and other activities before isolating. Dr. Conley now says that he simply misspoke when converting days to hours, for some reason.
“This morning while summarizing the President’s health, I incorrectly used the term ‘seventy two hours’ instead of ‘day three’ and ‘forty eight hours’ instead of ‘day two’ with regards to his diagnosis and the administration of the polyclonal antibody therapy,” his statement reads.
He clarified then that “The President was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on the evening of Thursday, October 1st and had received Regeron’s antibody cocktail on Friday, October 2nd.”
The buffet luncheon with the president was during the day on Thursday.
Watch above via CNN.
