Meadows: Trump’s Blood Oxygen Levels ‘Dropped Rapidly’ Before Friday Hospitalization

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows walks to speak with the press as US President Donald Trump is treated for a COVID-19 infection at Walter Reed Medical Center October 3, 2020, in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by B... White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows walks to speak with the press as US President Donald Trump is treated for a COVID-19 infection at Walter Reed Medical Center October 3, 2020, in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

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:

Latest News
256
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    If meadows is telling the truth – a big if – that could be important news. That would be after the initial infusions of antibodies, and not necessarily a good sign for trump’s lungs. The current “happy” with trump’s levels might mean they’re actually good, or it might just mean they haven’t cratered.

    (And it’s part of the natural history of Covid-19 infection that people appear better with low sats than they would with many other diseases.)

  2. This is a sign of lung involvement. As every parent knows, fever can be controlled. If Covid is affecting your breathing, you have to worry about viral load.

  3. All this from a fake virus that disappeared magically when the weather got warm at Easter?

  4. But they waited for the markets to close. Have to defend and protect Wall Street

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

250 more replies

Participants

Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for clemmers Avatar for cervantes Avatar for 26degreesrising Avatar for lastroth Avatar for gr Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for generalsternwood Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for dickweed Avatar for pine Avatar for pshah Avatar for tena Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for seamus42 Avatar for zillacop Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for rockitttla Avatar for randome Avatar for Thane Avatar for LeeHarveyGriswold Avatar for geographyjones

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: