House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hopes Donald Trump’s battle with coronavirus will ‘open his heart’ to the millions of families affected by the deadly disease across the US and inspire him to change course in his response to the pandemic.
Pelosi also urged the doctors treating the Trump to provide trustworthy information to the public about his battle, following a series of conflicting statements about the Commander-in-Chief’s condition.
Speaking Sunday on CBS’ ‘Face the nation’, the California Democrat reiterated that her ‘prayers are with the president and the first lady’, adding that she hopes it ‘really will be a signal that we have to do better in preventing the spread of this virus.’
So long as the president recovers, Pelosi said said the thing she's concerned about is ‘what impact will it be on coming to the table with us and doing what we have to crush the virus, listen to science, have the public-private role that needs to be done to crush the virus.’
‘I pray that in addition to his health that the president's heart will be opened to the millions of people who have been affected, hundreds of thousands of families who've suffered a death.’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hopes Donald Trump’s battle with coronavirus will ‘open his heart’ to the millions of families affected by the deadly disease across the country and inspire him to change course in his response to the pandemic
Pelosi also urged the doctors treating the Trump to provide trustworthy information to the public about his battle, following a series of conflicting statements about the Commander-in-Chief’s condition (pictured right, the president's top doctor, Dr. Sean Conley)
Pelosi also urged Trump’s doctors to be as transparent and as honest as possible when relaying information to the public about the president’s state of health and treatment, because maintaining trust is imperative.
‘We need to have trust that what they’re telling us about the president’s condition is real,’ Pelosi said.
She added she’s worried that the information the doctors are currently relaying to the public ‘has to be approved by the president. That’s not very scientific.’
During a televised address Saturday, Trump’s doctors offered a gleaming assessment of his conditions, saying he was ‘doing very well’ and was in ‘exceptionally good spirits’.
However, within hours, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows painted a more somber picture, warning that the next two days will be 'critical.'
‘The president's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,’ Meadows told reporters. ‘We're still not on a clear path to a full recovery.’
Meadows later tried to retract his comments, telling Reuters: ‘The president is doing very well. He is up and about and asking for documents to review.’
Pelosi’s interview aired before the president’s medical team held another news conference at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday, where he’s still receiving treatment.
Pelosi says she’s worried that the information the doctors are relaying to the public ‘has to be approved by the president. That’s not very scientific.’
The president's top doctor, Dr. Sean Conley, explained during the briefing that there was some confusion over Trump's condition because Chief of Staff Mark Meadow's comments were misrepresented.
'The Chief and I work side-by-side,' Conley said of Meadows. 'And I think his statement was misconstrued.'
'What he meant was that 24 hours ago, when he and I were checking on the president, that there was that momentary episode of a high fever. And that temporary drop in the saturation, which prompted us to act expediently to move him up here,' he said of the president's swift movement from the White House to Walter Reed on Friday.
'Fortunately that was a very transient, limited episode,' he continued in a briefing with some press outside the hospital center. 'A couple hours later he was back up, mild again. I'm not going to speculate what that limited episode was about so early in the course. But he's doing well.
Pressed about the conflicting information he and the White House released the day before, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley acknowledged Sunday that he had tried to present a rosy description of the president’s condition. The doctor also said Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days, but he ‘has continued to improve’ since then.
As House Speaker, Pelosi is the second in line of presidential succession after Vice President Mike Pence. Both Pence and Pelosi tested negative for the virus this week, with Pelosi saying she plans to be testing regularly herein.
Pelosi added that though she, Pence, and Trump have access to excellent health care, ‘minority communities’ and poor communities don't, and have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
‘Now [the virus has] even run free in the White House. Think of how it is in a poor neighborhood where the president is insisting that children actually go back to school in order to get the funding,’ she said on ‘Face the Nation.’
‘The Republicans in Congress and this president have been anti-science ... So if science says you should be testing, tracing, treating, mask-wearing, sanitation, separation and the rest, and you don't believe in science ... then you have more deaths, more spread of the virus ... They don't believe in science and they don't want to do anything about it,’ she added.
The president's doctors said Sunday that he could be discharged from Walter Reed as early as Monday as Trump's top physician detailed he was given a steroid and put on oxygen as a treatment.
Pelosi was also asked during her appearance on the show as to whether there should be a coronavirus testing regime for those who work on Capitol Hill, including members of Congress, staffers and other workers such as journalists, but she avoided the question.
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would both be in charge over whether to either implement or block a testing regime.
They have prevented such a move thus far due to concerns about members of Congress getting preferential treatment compared to regular Americans.
Currently, only Capitol Hill workers with a medical reason to be tested – such as being exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus or having symptoms - are tested.
The president's doctors said Sunday that he could be discharged from Walter Reed as early as Monday as Trump's top physician detailed he was given a steroid and put on oxygen as a treatment.
'Our plan for today is to have him to eat and drink, be up out of bed as much as possible, to be mobile,' Dr. Brian Garibaldi, one of the doctor's on Trump's team, said. 'And if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course.'
He also detailed that Trump would continue taking doses of Remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral medication, and dexamethasone, a steroid, whether he remains at Walter Reed or is transferred to the White House.
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