President Trump briefly leaves hospital to wave to supporters outside
BETHESDA, Maryland - President Donald Trump briefly left Walter Reed Medical Center on Sunday afternoon to wave to supporters.
Hundreds of people have been standing outside and waving Trump flags since the President's arrival at the hospital on Friday. Trump rode in a motorcade and wore a mask. He did not speak to supporters.
Trump, who is being treated for coronavirus, rode in a car with other people who were also wearing masks.
Dr. James P. Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, called Trump's ride outside "insanity."
"Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential `drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die," the doctor wrote on Twitter. "For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater."
In a video released on Twitter on Sunday, Trump said "we're getting great reports" from doctors. He also talked about his impending ride outside, calling his supporters "patriots."
"We have more enthusiasm than maybe anybody," he said. "It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn't the 'let's read the book' school. And I get it. I understand it. It's a very interesting thing."
Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days, his doctors revealed Sunday as they continued to evade basic questions about his health during treatment for COVID-19. Still, they said he “continued to improve” and suggested he could be discharged as early as Monday.
Speaking on the steps of the military hospital where Trump spent a third day, his doctors again sidestepped questions, including the timing of his second dip in oxygen, which they neglected to mention in multiple statements the day before, or whether lung scans showed any damage.
It was the second straight day of obfuscation from a White House already suffering from a credibility crisis. And it raised serious questions about whether the doctors treating the president can be trusted to share accurate, timely information with the American public.
Pressed about conflicting information he and the White House released on Saturday, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley acknowledged that he had tried to present a rosy description of the president's condition.