Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trump's Remarks in Press Briefing; July 28, 2020
I heard on the radio that Kodak stock tripled yesterday. I don't follow it, but I know the company has been beat up pretty badly in the transition to digital technology.
This is one those press briefings where Trump walked out when the women reporters wouldn't stop asking him questions. He also didn't want to talk about the FBI headquarters building.
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | July 28, 2020
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: July 28, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:20 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Today my administration has taken a momentous step toward achieving American pharmaceutical independence — a very, very big, big step — a focus of our campaign to bring America’s critical supply chains and medical manufacturing back to the USA. We’ve been working on this for a long time.
This is a core of our strategy to protect our people from the horrible China virus. It should have never happened. It should have never been here. They should have stopped it.
In the decades before I took office, foreign nations were allowed to freely plunder our factories and loot our industries, take our business out of the United States. Millions of jobs were vacuumed out — just taken out so easily. Our politicians let that happen. And our communities were stripped and shipped, in many cases, to China and all over the world — countries all over the world.
Nearly four years ago, we launched a bold effort to revitalize American manufacturing, enact fair trade deals, and bring our industries back home where they belong. When the China virus landed on our shores, it became clearer than ever before that restoring American manufacturing is a core matter of national security. We must never be reliant on a foreign nation for America’s medical or other needs, and that includes many other needs.
I just want to say that Pfizer just announced, a little while ago, that they’re combining phase two and phase three trials, and the vaccine looks like it’s really heading in a very rapid direction, in a very positive direction. First time that’s happened. And they’re many months ahead of any other trial. There’s never been anything like it. So it’s the fastest ever, and to me, it’s very exciting.
Today, I’m proud to announce one of the most important deals in the history of U.S. pharmaceutical industries. My administration has reached a historic agreement with a great American company — you remember this company; it’s called — from the good, old camera age, the old days — to begin producing critical pharmaceutical ingredients. It’s called Kodak. And it’s going to be right here in America.
So I want to congratulate the people in Kodak. They’ve been working very hard. Members of my administration are present in Rochester right now — Rochester, New York — a good place. And they’re trying to finalize this groundbreaking deal, and they will be announcing this deal.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, two questions quickly. First, can you clarify your position on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine after you retweeted a video making claims that it is effective?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that was — I wasn’t making claims. The — it’s recommendations of many other peoples and — people, including doctors. Many doctors think it is extremely successful — the hydroxychloroquine — coupled with the zinc and perhaps the azithromycin. But many doctors think it’s extremely good, and some people don’t. Some people — I think it’s become very political.
I happen to believe in it. I would take it. As you know, I took it for a 14-day period, and I’m here. Right? I’m here. I happen to think it’s — it works in the early stages. I think frontline medical people believe that too — some, many. And so we’ll take a look at it.
But the one thing we know: It’s been out for a long time, that particular formula, and that’s what — essentially, what it is, the pill. And it’s been for malaria, lupus, and other things.
It — it’s safe. It doesn’t cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem, felt no different. Didn’t feel good, bad, or indifferent. I — and I tested, as you know. It didn’t — it didn’t get me, and it’s not going to hopefully hurt anybody.
So, we know from that standpoint — because it’s been so many years, from a safety standpoint, it’s safe. I happen to think, based on what I’ve read — I’ve read a lot about hydroxy. I happen to think that it has an impact, especially at the early years. There were some very good tests at Ford, and the doctor from Yale came up with a very, very strong testament to it. There was a group of doctors yesterday, a large group that were put on the Internet, and for some reason, the Internet wanted to take them down and took them off. I guess Twitter took them off and I think Facebook took them off. I don’t know why. I think they’re very respected doctors.
There was a — a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it, that she’s had tremendous success with it. And they took her —
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: — they took her voice off. I don’t know why they took her off, but they took her off. Maybe they had a good reason, maybe they didn’t. I don’t know.
I can only say that, from my standpoint, and based on a lot of reading and a lot of knowledge about it, 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. When I recommend something, they like to say, “Don’t use it.”
John, please.
Q On that note, Mr. President, last night, in tweets that were deleted by Twitter, you said that Dr. Fauci misled the country about hydroxychloroquine. How so?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. I think — I don’t even know what his stance is on it. I — I was just — you know, he was at the — he was at the task force meeting a little while ago.
I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci. You know, it’s sort of interesting — we’ve listened to Dr. Fauci. I haven’t always agreed with him, and it’s, I think, pretty standard. That’s okay. He did not want us to ban our — this — this — put up the ban to China, when China was heavily infected — very badly, Wuhan. He didn’t want to do that, and I did and other things. And he told me I was right, and he told me I saved tens of thousands of lives, which was generous, but it’s — you know, I think it’s fact that I banned — I did the ban on Europe. But I get along with him very well and I agree with a lot of what he’s said.
So — you know, it’s interesting: He’s got a very good approval rating, and I like that. It’s good. Because remember, he’s working for this administration. He’s working with us, John. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci. He’s working with our administration. And, for the most part, we’ve done pretty much what he and others — Dr. Birx and others, who are terrific — recommended.
And he’s got this high approval rating, so why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect — and the administration, with respect to the virus? We should have a very high, because what we’ve done in terms of — we’re just reading off about the masks and the gowns and the ventilators and numbers that nobody has seen, and the testing at 55 million tests; we tested more than anybody in the world. I have a graph that I’d love to show you — perhaps you’ve seen it — where we’re up here and the rest of the world is down at a level that’s just a tiny fraction of what we’ve done, in terms of testing.
So it sort of is curious: A man works for us — with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Birx also highly thought of. And yet, they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all.
Go ahead.
Q Can I just ask you also: DHS announced today that it is going to undertake a thorough review of the DACA program to decide whether to continue it, and if not, how to disband it. You had mentioned, after the Supreme Court ruling about DACA, that you were thinking about a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. Are you still thinking about that?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re going to work with a lot of people on DACA, and we’re also working on an immigration bill, a merit-based system, which is what I’ve wanted for a long time.
That decision was an interesting decision because it gave the President, as a President, more power than many people thought the President had. So the President is now, which happens to be me, in a position where I can do an immigration bill and a healthcare bill and some other bills. And you’ve seen some of them come along.
{snip}
Q On the FBI headquarters, sir —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Please. Bloomberg.
Q On the FBI headquarters —
THE PRESIDENT: Bloomberg. Mr. Bloomberg. You look like Mr. Bloomberg. Go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Do you support —
THE PRESIDENT: I think you look much better, actually.
Q — a temporary extension of supplemental unemployment aid if the deal that they’re hashing out in Congress isn’t completed by the end of this week? Those benefits are set to run out.
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll do something. We’re going to take care of the people. Yeah. It’s a good question. We’re going to take care of the people.
Q Mr. President, the woman that you said is a great doctor in that video that you retweeted last night said masks don’t work and there is a cure for COVID-19, both of which health experts say is not true. She’s also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens, and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, maybe it’s a saying, maybe it’s not.
Q So what’s the logic in retweeting that?
THE PRESIDENT: But I can — I can tell you this: She was on air, along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine, and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that, from where she came —
Q It’s misinformation.
THE PRESIDENT: — I don’t know which country she comes from, but she said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.
Q But she said masks don’t work. And last week, you said masks —
Yeah, go ahead. Paula.
Q Last week —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Well, real quick. Last week, you said masks —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
END
5:47 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | July 28, 2020
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: July 28, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:20 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Today my administration has taken a momentous step toward achieving American pharmaceutical independence — a very, very big, big step — a focus of our campaign to bring America’s critical supply chains and medical manufacturing back to the USA. We’ve been working on this for a long time.
This is a core of our strategy to protect our people from the horrible China virus. It should have never happened. It should have never been here. They should have stopped it.
In the decades before I took office, foreign nations were allowed to freely plunder our factories and loot our industries, take our business out of the United States. Millions of jobs were vacuumed out — just taken out so easily. Our politicians let that happen. And our communities were stripped and shipped, in many cases, to China and all over the world — countries all over the world.
Nearly four years ago, we launched a bold effort to revitalize American manufacturing, enact fair trade deals, and bring our industries back home where they belong. When the China virus landed on our shores, it became clearer than ever before that restoring American manufacturing is a core matter of national security. We must never be reliant on a foreign nation for America’s medical or other needs, and that includes many other needs.
I just want to say that Pfizer just announced, a little while ago, that they’re combining phase two and phase three trials, and the vaccine looks like it’s really heading in a very rapid direction, in a very positive direction. First time that’s happened. And they’re many months ahead of any other trial. There’s never been anything like it. So it’s the fastest ever, and to me, it’s very exciting.
Today, I’m proud to announce one of the most important deals in the history of U.S. pharmaceutical industries. My administration has reached a historic agreement with a great American company — you remember this company; it’s called — from the good, old camera age, the old days — to begin producing critical pharmaceutical ingredients. It’s called Kodak. And it’s going to be right here in America.
So I want to congratulate the people in Kodak. They’ve been working very hard. Members of my administration are present in Rochester right now — Rochester, New York — a good place. And they’re trying to finalize this groundbreaking deal, and they will be announcing this deal.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, two questions quickly. First, can you clarify your position on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine after you retweeted a video making claims that it is effective?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that was — I wasn’t making claims. The — it’s recommendations of many other peoples and — people, including doctors. Many doctors think it is extremely successful — the hydroxychloroquine — coupled with the zinc and perhaps the azithromycin. But many doctors think it’s extremely good, and some people don’t. Some people — I think it’s become very political.
I happen to believe in it. I would take it. As you know, I took it for a 14-day period, and I’m here. Right? I’m here. I happen to think it’s — it works in the early stages. I think frontline medical people believe that too — some, many. And so we’ll take a look at it.
But the one thing we know: It’s been out for a long time, that particular formula, and that’s what — essentially, what it is, the pill. And it’s been for malaria, lupus, and other things.
It — it’s safe. It doesn’t cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem, felt no different. Didn’t feel good, bad, or indifferent. I — and I tested, as you know. It didn’t — it didn’t get me, and it’s not going to hopefully hurt anybody.
So, we know from that standpoint — because it’s been so many years, from a safety standpoint, it’s safe. I happen to think, based on what I’ve read — I’ve read a lot about hydroxy. I happen to think that it has an impact, especially at the early years. There were some very good tests at Ford, and the doctor from Yale came up with a very, very strong testament to it. There was a group of doctors yesterday, a large group that were put on the Internet, and for some reason, the Internet wanted to take them down and took them off. I guess Twitter took them off and I think Facebook took them off. I don’t know why. I think they’re very respected doctors.
There was a — a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it, that she’s had tremendous success with it. And they took her —
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: — they took her voice off. I don’t know why they took her off, but they took her off. Maybe they had a good reason, maybe they didn’t. I don’t know.
I can only say that, from my standpoint, and based on a lot of reading and a lot of knowledge about it, 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. When I recommend something, they like to say, “Don’t use it.”
John, please.
Q On that note, Mr. President, last night, in tweets that were deleted by Twitter, you said that Dr. Fauci misled the country about hydroxychloroquine. How so?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not at all. I think — I don’t even know what his stance is on it. I — I was just — you know, he was at the — he was at the task force meeting a little while ago.
I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci. You know, it’s sort of interesting — we’ve listened to Dr. Fauci. I haven’t always agreed with him, and it’s, I think, pretty standard. That’s okay. He did not want us to ban our — this — this — put up the ban to China, when China was heavily infected — very badly, Wuhan. He didn’t want to do that, and I did and other things. And he told me I was right, and he told me I saved tens of thousands of lives, which was generous, but it’s — you know, I think it’s fact that I banned — I did the ban on Europe. But I get along with him very well and I agree with a lot of what he’s said.
So — you know, it’s interesting: He’s got a very good approval rating, and I like that. It’s good. Because remember, he’s working for this administration. He’s working with us, John. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci. He’s working with our administration. And, for the most part, we’ve done pretty much what he and others — Dr. Birx and others, who are terrific — recommended.
And he’s got this high approval rating, so why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect — and the administration, with respect to the virus? We should have a very high, because what we’ve done in terms of — we’re just reading off about the masks and the gowns and the ventilators and numbers that nobody has seen, and the testing at 55 million tests; we tested more than anybody in the world. I have a graph that I’d love to show you — perhaps you’ve seen it — where we’re up here and the rest of the world is down at a level that’s just a tiny fraction of what we’ve done, in terms of testing.
So it sort of is curious: A man works for us — with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Birx also highly thought of. And yet, they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all.
Go ahead.
Q Can I just ask you also: DHS announced today that it is going to undertake a thorough review of the DACA program to decide whether to continue it, and if not, how to disband it. You had mentioned, after the Supreme Court ruling about DACA, that you were thinking about a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. Are you still thinking about that?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re going to work with a lot of people on DACA, and we’re also working on an immigration bill, a merit-based system, which is what I’ve wanted for a long time.
That decision was an interesting decision because it gave the President, as a President, more power than many people thought the President had. So the President is now, which happens to be me, in a position where I can do an immigration bill and a healthcare bill and some other bills. And you’ve seen some of them come along.
{snip}
Q On the FBI headquarters, sir —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Please. Bloomberg.
Q On the FBI headquarters —
THE PRESIDENT: Bloomberg. Mr. Bloomberg. You look like Mr. Bloomberg. Go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Do you support —
THE PRESIDENT: I think you look much better, actually.
Q — a temporary extension of supplemental unemployment aid if the deal that they’re hashing out in Congress isn’t completed by the end of this week? Those benefits are set to run out.
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll do something. We’re going to take care of the people. Yeah. It’s a good question. We’re going to take care of the people.
Q Mr. President, the woman that you said is a great doctor in that video that you retweeted last night said masks don’t work and there is a cure for COVID-19, both of which health experts say is not true. She’s also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens, and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, maybe it’s a saying, maybe it’s not.
Q So what’s the logic in retweeting that?
THE PRESIDENT: But I can — I can tell you this: She was on air, along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine, and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that, from where she came —
Q It’s misinformation.
THE PRESIDENT: — I don’t know which country she comes from, but she said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.
Q But she said masks don’t work. And last week, you said masks —
Yeah, go ahead. Paula.
Q Last week —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Well, real quick. Last week, you said masks —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
END
5:47 P.M. EDT
