Politics

Trump claims hydroxychloroquine has ‘rave reviews,’ slams Columbia University

President Trump said the hydroxychloroquine he has been taking for several weeks has been getting “rave reviews” despite health experts claiming the anti-malarial drug can be dangerous or even fatal for people infected with coronavirus.

“Hydroxy has had tremendous rave reviews,” Trump told “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” during an interview that was scheduled to air Sunday on Sinclair Broadcasting. “I believe in it enough that I took a program because I had two people in the White House that tested positive.”

The president announced earlier this month that he began taking the drug after consulting with the White House physician.

Katie Miller, the spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence, and the president’s military valet tested positive for COVID-19.

At a White House news conference May 18, Trump said he heard “good stories” about the drug, adding “if it is not good, I will tell you, right. I’m not going to get hurt by it. It has been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus, for other things.”

A study in the medical journal Lancet published last week said a study of coronavirus patients found that those treated with hydroxychloroquine have a higher risk of developing an irregular heart beat.

The Food and Drug Administration has also warned against using the drug outside of hospitals or clinical trials because of the heart problems.

“Hydroxychloroquine [has] not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19,” the FDA said last month.

In the Sinclair interview Trump also ripped Columbia University after it published a study claiming that if the lockdown had been in effect two weeks earlier, as many as 54,000 lives would have been saved.

“Columbia University is a liberal, disgraceful institution, to write that,” he said.

“I saw that report from Columbia University and it is a disgrace that they would play right to their little group of people to tell them what to do,” he continued.

The Trump administration and states began lockdown efforts on March 15.

The US death toll from coronavirus has surpassed 92,000.