White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Saturday night revealed that President Trump’s blood oxygen level “dropped rapidly” prior to his hospitalization at Walter Reed the day before.
During an interview with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night, Meadows recalled that both he and White House physician Dr. Sean Conley were “real concerned” upon Trump being diagnosed with COVID-19 diagnosis on Friday morning.
After stating that the President has made “unbelievable improvement” compared to how he felt Friday morning, Meadows added that Trump has “no fever now” and that he is “doing really well with his oxygen saturation levels.”
“(On Friday) morning, we were real concerned about that,” Meadows said. “He had a fever, and his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly.”
Meadows then jovially said that the President “was up and walking around,” but that after medical experts at both Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins looked at his situation, Trump was recommended that he go to Walter Reed “out of an abundance of caution.”
Meadows’ latest remarks comes amid the White House sending conflicting messages regarding the status of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.
On Friday, Meadows told reporters that the President was doing well and “continues to be very energetic.”
The next day, White House physician Sean Conley delivered a vague and evasive update during a news conference on Trump’s condition following his COVID-19 diagnosis. Conley said that Trump is not currently on oxygen, but refused to say whether the President had received supplemental oxygen earlier in his treatment.
Later Saturday, The Associated Press reported after the news conference that Trump had received oxygen at the White House before beginning treatment at Walter Reed, citing a source.
Additionally, a source familiar with the President’s health issued an alarming and contradictory statement to the White House press pool moments after press conference concluded on Saturday.
“The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery,” the source said.
After a number of reporters attributed the anonymous statement sent via a White House pool report on Saturday to Meadows, he was caught on camera asking to go off record with his “very concerning” remark.
Watch Meadows’ remarks below:
