President Donald Trump defended Tuesday a group of doctors who spoke about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine on Monday at a press conference.
Trump said he was aware that Facebook, Twitter, and Google had removed videos of the group America’s Frontline Doctors at their Capitol Hill press conference on Monday. The video of the doctors published by Breitbart News on Facebook was wildly popular online before the platform removed it.
“I don’t know why, I think they are very respected doctors,” Trump said, questioning the social media companies for deciding to remove the videos.
Trump spoke about the videos during a press conference on Tuesday on the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the United States.
The president said that he knew of many doctors who believed hydroxychloroquine was “extremely successful,” especially when combined with zinc and azithromycin.
“Many doctors think its extremely good and some people don’t. Some people, I think, it’s become very political,” he said. “I happen to believe in it.”
Trump reminded reporters that he took the drug for 14 days with no side effects.
“It’s safe. It doesn’t cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem,” Trump said and added, “It didn’t get me and it’s not going to hopefully hurt anybody.”
Trump also cited studies on the effectiveness of the drug, despite other health experts warning against it.
“I’ve read a lot about hydroxy,” Trump said, citing a study from the Henry Ford Health System and support for the effectiveness of the drug from Yale School of Public Health Dr. Harvey Risch.
Trump said that the opposition to the drug was based entirely on politics.
“I think it could have a very positive impact in the early stages, and I don’t think you lose anything by doing it, other than politically, it doesn’t seem to be too popular, you know why? Because I recommend it.”