Tag

#misinformation

5 incidents

Updated October 8, 2020 Rule of Law
Major Abuse of Power

Trump's COVID Infection: Experimental Treatment While Downplaying Pandemic

Trump's COVID infection came after months of publicly downplaying the disease, refusing to wear masks, and holding indoor rallies. His treatment at Walter Reed included Regeneron's experimental monoclonal antibody cocktail (not yet FDA-authorized), dexamethasone — a steroid given only to patients with severe COVID per WHO protocols — and supplemental oxygen. His doctor Sean Conley gave contradictory statements about whether Trump had needed supplemental oxygen and on what days his oxygen saturation had dropped. Trump staged a motorcade through COVID patients outside Walter Reed while contagious. Upon returning to the White House, he removed his mask for a photo op while potentially still infectious to staff.

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4
COVID-19Walter-Reedpandemicfirst-termrule-of-law
Updated December 1, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Scott Atlas and Herd Immunity: Trump's COVID Advisor Who Contradicted Scientists

Atlas was a Hoover Institution senior fellow and media commentator with no relevant credentials for pandemic response. Trump appointed him after seeing him on Fox News. Atlas advocated the Great Barrington Declaration approach — allowing the virus to spread among the young and healthy while 'protecting' the vulnerable. Public health experts pointed out this approach was not operationally feasible and would require accepting enormous numbers of preventable deaths. CDC Director Robert Redfield and the Coronavirus Task Force's other scientific advisors repeatedly contradicted Atlas. Deborah Birx described Atlas in her memoir as actively harmful to the pandemic response.

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COVIDherd-immunityScott-Atlasfirst-termpublic-health
Updated August 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

COVID Misinformation: Hydroxychloroquine, Bleach Injection, UV Light Promotion

Trump promoted hydroxychloroquine at least 65 times in White House briefings before studies established it was ineffective and potentially dangerous for COVID. He suggested at an April 23, 2020 briefing that injecting disinfectants might work as treatment and asked officials to study inserting UV light 'inside the body.' Poison control centers reported a spike in calls after the disinfectant comments. The FDA granted hydroxychloroquine an Emergency Use Authorization in March 2020 under White House pressure, then revoked it in June 2020 citing 'serious cardiac adverse events.' Trump campaign donors funded oleander extract studies. His false '35% mortality improvement' claim for convalescent plasma prompted FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn to issue a correction the same day.

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covidmisinformationhydroxychloroquinebleachfirst-term
Updated September 9, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

COVID-19 Downplaying: Woodward Tapes Reveal Trump Knew and Lied

Trump told Woodward on February 7, 2020 that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' and acknowledged it was much more dangerous than the flu. On the same days he was giving Woodward these assessments, Trump was telling the public the virus was 'like the flu' and 'will disappear.' On March 19, 2020, Trump told Woodward: 'I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't like to panic people.' The Woodward recordings also captured Trump describing COVID's airborne transmission weeks before public health officials acknowledged it. The U.S. death toll reached 200,000 by September 2020 when the recordings were published.

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4
covidwoodwardpublic-healthfirst-termpandemic
Updated January 19, 2021 Federal Dismantlement
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity

COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Deliberate Downplaying and Policy Failures Leading to Hundreds of Thousands of Preventable Deaths

Bob Woodward's taped interviews revealed Trump said in February 2020 that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' and 'more deadly than even your strenuous flus' — while publicly calling it 'no worse than the flu' and 'a Democratic hoax.' The administration rejected WHO tests, blocked CDC mask guidance, slow-walked ventilator production, pressured states to reopen prematurely, promoted hydroxychloroquine against scientific evidence, and suggested people inject disinfectant. By Inauguration Day 2021, 400,000 Americans were dead.

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COVID-19pandemicpublic-healthfirst-termmass-deaths