On Monday, both NBC’s Today show and ABC’s Good Morning America welcomed an anti-Trump doctor on their broadcasts with open arms to denounce the President’s “political stunt” of driving past a crowd of supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center. As the shows hailed tweets from Dr. James Phillips labeling the moment “insanity,” hosts conveniently concealed the fact that supposed medical expert recently called on Trump to resign.
After noting on the Today show that Trump’s brief trip to wave at his well-wishers was “approved by the President’s own doctors,” correspondent Tom Costello seized on left-wing attacks from Phillips as if they were a fact-check: “But top physicians that we’ve talked to, including one of them here at Walter Reed, who also teaches at GW, say that, in fact, by pulling this, quote, ‘political stunt,’ he has put his own Secret Service detail, and by extension their family’s lives, at risk.”
Minutes later, co-host Savannah Guthrie brought Phillips on the show and touted how he “called it insanity.” She teed him to hurl more nasty rhetoric: “Doctor, you had a very strong reaction to what you saw, that image. Now, Corey Lewandowski says that those Secret Service agents volunteered for that duty....how likely is it that they could contract COVID, having been in that sealed car with the patient?”
The doctor was happy to oblige:
You know, the reality is that this was a dangerous move. There is no medical benefit for this to have taken place. It violates CDC guidelines that come from the President’s own administration....And it’s been a back and forth between the medical community and this administration, trying to get the right message to the citizens of America.
Alongside Phillips, Guthrie also spoke with Dr. Vin Gupta, an NBC News medical contributor that the network routinely fails to identify as a Biden campaign adviser.
Over on ABC’s GMA, co-host George Stephanopoulos led off the show by heralding Phillips: “The fallout this morning after the President breaks his quarantine for a drive-by outside Walter Reed hospital to visit supporters, putting Secret Service agents at risk. We’ll talk to the Walter Reed doctor who’s calling the stunt political theater.”
During a report moments later, correspondent Cecilia Vega eagerly seized on some of the social media ranting from Phillips:
And Walter Reed attending physician Dr. James Phillips saying, “The irresponsibility is astounding,” adding, “Every person in that car now has to quarantine for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater.”
Like NBC, ABC granted the Trump-trashing doctor a softball interview, with fill-in co-host Amy Robach starting off:
We want to talk about your tweet. You tweeted about the President’s SUV ride yesterday, calling it “insanity,” risking the Secret Service agents’ lives, you say, inside the vehicle. The White House said this, that appropriate precautions were taken and that the move was cleared by his medical team as safe. Is that medically possible, that it was safe?
Phillips predictably doubled down: “Well, I have serious concerns that in any automobile, masks or not masks, there’s a very high risk of transmission....I don’t know what the benefits of this political stunt were, but I do know what the risks were.”
As enthralled as the leftist press were with Phillips’s Twitter feed, reporters somehow missed the fact that on September 9 the Democratic hack demanded: “The President has a duty to the country to resign.”
On August 17, Phillips replied “OMG truth” to a tweet that read: “Cities should label post office boxes and related machines as ‘Confederate monuments’ and then there’s no way the Administration would try to remove them.”
A few days earlier, Phillips had ranted: “Of all the ways I feared the Constitution and our democratic process could be usurped, never did I think it would by the intentional dismantling of the @USPS during a pandemic. Look for the #Covid_19 federal ”stay at home” order Nov 1st FTW. #SaveTheUSPS #Fascism #FridayThoughts”
This is the so-called medical expert that NBC and ABC decided to turn to in order to slam the President. Of course most in the media probably see noting wrong with any of the doctor’s online partisan tirades.
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Here is a transcript of the coverage on NBC’s October 5 Today show:
7:07 AM ET
(...)
TOM COSTELLO: The White House says that this trip was, in fact, approved by the President’s own doctors. But top physicians that we’ve talked to, including one of them here at Walter Reed, who also teaches at GW, say that, in fact, by pulling this, quote, “political stunt,” he has put his own Secret Service detail, and by extension their family’s lives, at risk.
(...)
7:13 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Let’s turn now to NBC News medical contributor Dr. Vin Gupta and Dr. James Phillips, who’s an attending physician at Walter Reed. Let’s talk about this trip in a moment, Dr. Phillips. I know you called it insanity. As I said, you work at Walter Reed.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump Criticized for Drive-By; Medical Experts Say Move Put Secret Service and Others at Risk]
(...)
7:17 AM ET
GUTHRIE: And now on that topic, I want to go to Dr. Phillips, who is affiliated with Walter Reed, as well as George Washington University. Doctor, you had a very strong reaction to what you saw, that image. Now, Corey Lewandowski says that those Secret Service agents volunteered for that duty. But just given – let’s look at it in terms of public health. I mean, how likely is it that they could contract COVID, having been in that sealed car with the patient?
DR. JAMES PHILLIPS [WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER ATTENDING PHYSICIAN]: Good morning, and thanks for having me on. You know, the reality is that this was a dangerous move. There is no medical benefit for this to have taken place. It violates CDC guidelines that come from the President’s own administration.
Now, it bears discussion that I am a non-military contractor that works at Walter Reed as an emergency physician. And I’m chief of disaster and operational medicine at G.W., which is my primary employer.
And I think that the reason why the tweets that I sent out have garnered so much attention is because I was being honest in the moment. And you know, I have been on the front lines, along with Dr. Gupta and the rest of our colleagues for the better part of 10 months, trying to keep people safe, not just on an individual level in our hospitals and emergency departments, but also out here in the public health realm, trying to give good messages. And it’s been a back and forth between the medical community and this administration, trying to get the right message to the citizens of America.
And beyond the risk that was clearly taking part, the risk that was imparted on those Secret Service agents, volunteering or not, it’s the message that’s sent to other people that it’s okay to go out. We’re seeing schools try to reopen, we’ve seen parents who have already sent their kids to school with disease. This is the wrong message to be sending. And the only way that somebody can volunteer for something like this and do it safely is through real informed consent. They have to know the real risks of getting into that vehicle. And my concern is that they didn’t.
GUTHRIE: Just real quickly, because I only have a few seconds left, and you’ve gotta be an armchair doc here. But you saw they were in some PPE that looked like a medical grade mask that the agents were in, not the President, he had a cloth mask. Are you concerned that they could contract COVID-19 in a scenario like that and will they have to quarantine no matter what?
DR. PHILLIPS: They absolutely must quarantine. The CDC guidelines are clear that if you spend that period of time within six feet of a person, it requires a mandatory 14-day quarantine. There are no caveats for masks. And this wasn’t just a normal conversation, this was inside a chemical weapon proof vehicle with plexiglass that I don’t see. I’d love to see that clarified. Without fully appropriate PPE, one person has a valved mask, the President’s wearing a cloth mask. They’re not wearing sealed goggles. There are plenty of failures in that PPE. And full PPE still doesn’t protect you. Numerous doctors and nurses have died on the front lines because of getting exposed despite having PPE.
(...)
Here is a transcript of the coverage on ABC’s GMA:
7:00 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The fallout this morning after the President breaks his quarantine for a drive-by outside Walter Reed hospital to visit supporters, putting Secret Service agents at risk. We’ll talk to the Walter Reed doctor who’s calling the stunt political theater.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump’s COVID Battle; Drive-By Backlash]
(...)
7:04 AM ET
CECILIA VEGA: And Walter Reed attending physician Dr. James Phillips saying, “The irresponsibility is astounding,” adding, “Every person in that car now has to quarantine for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater.”
(...)
7:08 AM ET
AMY ROBACH: For more now, let’s turn to Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital and a non-military attending physician at Walter Reed. And we want to be clear, he is not participating in the President’s care, but he has treated COVID-19 patients. So Dr. Phillips, thank you so much for being with us.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump’s Drive-By Backlash; President Leaves Walter Reed Hospital to Surprise Supporters]
We want to talk about your tweet. You tweeted about the President’s SUV ride yesterday, calling it “insanity,” risking the Secret Service agents’ lives, you say, inside the vehicle. The White House said this, that appropriate precautions were taken and that the move was cleared by his medical team as safe. Is that medically possible, that it was safe?
DR. JAMES PHILLIPS [CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL]: Well, I have serious concerns that in any automobile, masks or not masks, there’s a very high risk of transmission. And then, add into the mix that that’s not any vehicle. That’s a hermetically sealed vehicle designed to be impenetrable to chemical weapon attacks. Therefore, the amount of circulation inside is even poorer than we would expect from a normal vehicle. And as a physician, we look at the decisions we make as risks versus benefits. And I don’t know what the benefits of this political stunt were, but I do know what the risks were. And my concern is perhaps the Secret Service agents that were inside don’t know the full risk of what they were up against there and what the real threats were. And so far as the military and Johns Hopkins physicians who are taking care of the patient, they’re excellent. But they are also under undue pressure and a lot of influence outside of that normal physician-patient relationship.
ROBACH: And speaking to that Dr. Phillips, Walter Reed is a military hospital. President Trump is the commander in chief. I’m curious, can he order staff to do what he wants versus what’s medically advised?
PHILLIPS: Influence weighs heavy. And when we’re dealing with an highly unusual environment like what we’re in right now, the question is, and I would love to hear the answer from military experienced folks, where does that line between physician and patient, that relationship, come into contact with the commanding officer and subordinate relationship? And is there undue influence there?
ROBACH: Dr. Phillips, the President’s physician, as you know, has come under fire for withholding information about his oxygen levels. Should the American public be concerned about the information we’re getting and even not getting as it pertains to the President’s health?
PHILLIPS: Well, the President’s physician, Dr. Conley, is known as a man of integrity. That was before this event happened and it’s well-known around Washington, D.C. And the docs and nurses working at Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins who are caring for him are the same. The President is a patient, he has a right to privacy. But it’s difficult whenever the information provided to constituents is filtered through a lens of trying to paint a rosy picture. And I don’t think that people are being dishonest, I think it’s just that, you know, there’s difficulty whenever you’re pressured to say certain things and thrust into a job that these doctors were never expected to be thrust into.
ROBACH: Dr. James Phillips, we certainly appreciate your time today, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Thank you.
