After the recent liberal media meltdown over hydroxychloroquine, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tore apart their hysteria in Wednesday’s briefing. In particular, she took aim at CNN host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo for taking the more-dangerous quinine during his coronavirus bout.
And seeing as how deranged corners of the liberal media have been seemingly rooting for the drug to fail, it was time someone --- anyone --- called out their nonsense.
NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker must have thought she had painted McEnany into a corner when she asked why should President Trump “continue to say that many or thousands of frontline workers are using it” even though the far-left American Nurses Association has said they haven’t seen “reports from nurses or other frontline health care workers utilizing hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment.”
McEnany first brought up two hospitals conducting studies with health care workers taking hydroxychloroquine as a way of suggesting that, if this drug is deadly and awful like the liberal media have claimed, why are there studies being done?
She also cited its “very good safety” profile and 65-year history as a treatment “for lupus, arthritis, and malaria” before making the most important point (and one the administration has made very clear): “As with any drug and as with any prescription, it should be given by a doctor to a patient in that context, so no one should be taking this without a prescription from their doctor.”
Along with Cuomo’s hypocrisy, McEnany cited liberal media hot takes about Trump taking the drug along with Fredo’s hypocrisy:
But that being said, I've seen a lot of apoplectic coverage of hydroxychloroquine. You had Jimmy Kimmel saying the president's “trying to kill himself by taking it.” You had Joe Scarborough saying, “this will kill you.” Neil Cavuto saying “what have you got to lose? One thing you have to lose are lives.” And you had Chris Cuomo saying “the president knows that hydroxychloroquine is not supported by science. He knows that has been flying --- flagged by his own people and he's using it.” Well, Cuomo mocked the President for this and interestingly I found this just before coming here. Hydroxychloroquine, of course, is an FDA-approved medication with a long-proven track record for safety and it turns out that Chris Cuomo took a less-safe version of it called quinine which the FDA removed from the market in 2006 because of its serious side effects, including deaths, so really interesting to have that criticism of the President.
McEnany then used Fredo’s nonsense to cite a smattering of quotes from his brother/New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) praising hydroxychloroquine and invited journalists to share them.
Welker pushed back by asking for whether these frontline workers “believe it actually will” protect them, but McEnany pulled out successful studies from France and South Korea before reiterating the point that the liberal media have ignored out of either deception or ignorance in this entire kerfuffle:
This is a safe drug to use….and your doctor prescribes it for your use as a prophylaxis or after coming into contact with COVID, then it's something you should take if it's prescribed by the doctor and that's your personal medical choice.
Editor's Note: Want to comment on this post? Since NewsBusters no longer has a comments section, feel free to hop on Twitter and join the conversation there by engaging with the tweet below:
You okay, Fredo? @PressSec @KayleighMcEnany slams Cuomo, lefty journalists bashing hydroxychloroquine https://t.co/9jEtxZFZ3o pic.twitter.com/cLrBxaP9mm
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) May 20, 2020
To see the relevant transcript from May 20’s briefing, click “expand.”
White House Press Briefing
May 20, 2020
3:45 p.m. EasternKRISTEN WELKER: And let me just get your reaction to something we just got moments ago, a statement from the American Nurses Association which says: “The American Nurses Association does not receive reports from nurses or other frontline health care workers utilizing hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment for COVID-19.” Why does the President continue to say that many or thousands of frontline workers are using it as a prophylactic?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: Well, there is a --- Henry Ford Hospital is doing a study on this now where three thousand frontline workers will be taking hydroxychloroquine to look at its use as a prophylaxis- I believe there is --- a few hundred or a hundred ninety workers in Tampa General Hospital, so this is being used by --- by some and one thing I want to notes with regard to hydroxychloroquine cause I think it's very important that we’re as accurate as we can be with our reporting on this. Hydroxychloroquine has been a drug that has been in use for 65 years for lupus, arthritis, and malaria. It has a very good safety profile, but it --- as with any drug and as with any prescription, it should be given by a doctor to a patient in that context, so no one should be taking this without a prescription from their doctor. But that being said, I've seen a lot of apoplectic coverage of hydroxychloroquine. You had Jimmy Kimmel saying the president's “trying to kill himself by taking it.” You had Joe Scarborough saying, “this will kill you.” Neil Cavuto saying “what have you got to lose? One thing you have to lose are lives.” And you had Chris Cuomo saying “the president knows that hydroxychloroquine is not supported by science. He knows that has been flying --- flagged by his own people and he's using it.” Well, Cuomo mocked the President for this and interestingly I found this just before coming here. Hydroxychloroquine, of course, is an FDA-approved medication with a long-proven track record for safety and it turns out that Chris Cuomo took a less-safe version of it called quinine which the FDA removed from the market in 2006 because of its serious side effects, including deaths, so really interesting to have that criticism of the President. On that note to Chris Cuomo, I’d like to redirect him to his brother, the governor of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has several, on-the-record statements about hydroxychloroquine in saying “I’m an optimist. I’m hopeful about the drug and that’s why we’ll try it here in New York as soon as we get it. There has been anecdotal evidence that it’s promising. That’s why we’re going ahead and I have about eight other quotes from Governor Cuomo should any of you have interest in that.
WELKER: Kayleigh, you just cited a studies [sic] though. They’re trials that are in their early phases. Do you have any evidence that thousands of frontline workers are currently using because they believe it actually will prevent them from getting COVID-19?
MCENANY: So, the FDA --- the FDA has approved this for off-label use. You know, this President is a big believer in Right to Try legislation, people who are in their last ---
WEKLKER: But any proof that there are thousands of workers are using it?
MCENANY: --- there are several studies that have been brought up that the President has actually mentioned that I'd refer you to. There was one out of France --- a French study- involving more than a thousand patients that found that the vast majority had “good clinical outcomes” and by the vast majority, that at was more than 90 percent. There is an Italian study of more than 65,000 patients that demonstrated only 20 tested positive of those were taking it prophylactically. There was a South Korea study as well, so there are several studies and if you're someone out there and this is a safe drug to use and your doctor --- importantly to underscore that --- and your doctor prescribes it for your use as a prophylaxis or after coming into contact with COVID, then it's something you should take if it's prescribed by the doctor and that's your personal medical choice.
