**UPDATE** Since publishing this article, Donald Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, has released the following statement to clear up any confusion that may have resulted from his statement:
WH doctor, Dr Sean Conley, is officially clarifying his comments about the timeline. He says he incorrectly used the term 72 hour and says Trump was diagnosed on Thursday and received Regeron’s antibody cocktail on Friday. pic.twitter.com/vIzLPkHASi
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 3, 2020
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Early this afternoon, America received a “briefing” from Donald Trump’s medical team, headed by Dr. Sean Conley, for the first time since news broke of the President’s COVID-19 diagnosis just before midnight Friday night.
To say the least, the briefing on the state of the president’s health and well-being was a cluster of epic proportions and honestly left Americans with more questions than answers. The biggest of which was this:
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When did Donald Trump test positive for coronavirus?
Since the beginning of this whole fiasco, the timeline just hasn’t seemed to stack up. A lot of the blame seems to be laid on Hope Hicks, but GOPers that attended Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination event are testing positive by the handfuls, and Fox News’ Chris Wallace’s revelation that Trump showed up to Tuesday’s debates to late to be tested certainly raised suspicions that Trump knew, or at least suspected that he was sick far before he announced it to the country in the middle of the night.
And one key statement from Dr. Conley during this afternoon’s briefing only served to heighten those suspicions.
“As reported yesterday… I recommended we bring POTUS up to Walter Reed as a precautionary measure… 72 hours into his diagnosis now, the first week of COVID, and in particular this day, is the most critical in determining the course of this illness,” Trump’s physician said, standing in front of Walter Reed, flanked by a team of doctors.
POTUS physician Sean Conley: “As reported yesterday … I recommended we bring POTUS up to Walter Reed as a precautionary measure… 72 hours into his diagnosis now, the first week of Covid, & in particular this day, is the most critical in determining the course of this illness” pic.twitter.com/YCzpCV6v2C
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 3, 2020
Vox reporter Aaron Rupar points out the fishiness of this timeline, considering the nation was under the impression that Trump was closer to 48-hours into his diagnosis. Not 72.
The timeline here is weird. Doctors have implied Trump was diagnosed on Wednesday and said he received “a special antibody therapy” on Thursday, but Trump didn’t announce his positive coronavirus test until minutes before midnight on Thursday night. pic.twitter.com/YFNKtnbVBl
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 3, 2020
Reporters attempted to press Dr. Conley for more information about the foggy timeline, including when Trump was tested, but he wouldn’t answer:
Q: What was the date of the president’s last negative test?
CONLEY: I’m not going to get into all the testing going back pic.twitter.com/fHbu16wIyb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 3, 2020
CBS’s Paula Reid was understandably confused:
WHAT? Dr. Connelly just said we are 72 hours into the President’s diagnosis…. would mean positive test Wed AM. Working to clarify.
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) October 3, 2020
Doctor was just asked about this discrepancy & says Thursday night they got PCR clarity……this did not clear this up and this would be a big misstatement. Also hasnt clarified why President would have started 48 hours ago…which would be prior to positive test.
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) October 3, 2020
As are many other reporters, including NBC’s Katy Tur:
Trump’s doctor:
Said 72 hours into diagnosis (Trump told the public 35 hours ago)
Won’t say when his last negative test was
Was evasive on questions about oxygen
Won’t detail what heart and lung scans revealed
Won’t answer about steroids
Won’t reveal how high fever was— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) October 3, 2020
Frankly, we have no way of verifying what is going on inside that hospital or the chain of events that led us to now. However, it’s pretty easy to deduce that we’re not being given the whole truth. That just begs the question, what are they lying about?
Featured image via screen capture
