Trump slams Fox after hydroxychloroquine warning: ‘Looking for a new outlet’
President Trump slammed Fox News Monday night after host Neil Cavuto issued a warning for people to be careful about the potentially deadly effects of hydroxychloroquine for those with specific underlying health conditions.
Cavuto’s comments followed Trump’s announcement that he was taking the drug to prevent COVID-19.
“We miss the great Roger Ailes,” Trump posted. “You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet!”
.@FoxNews is no longer the same. We miss the great Roger Ailes. You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet! https://t.co/jXxsF0flUM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020
The “Your World with Neil Cavuto” host gave his warning immediately after Trump’s remarks that he was taking the drug, calling them “stunning.” Cavuto pointed to several studies that indicate taking hydroxychloroquine could be dangerous for some people, such as those with heart conditions.
“The fact of the matter is though, when the president said ‘What have you got to lose?’, in a number of studies, those certain vulnerable population has one thing to lose: their lives,” Cavuto said.
“If you are in a risky population here, and you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus, or in a worse-case scenario you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population, it will kill you,” he added.
Dr. Manny Alvarez, Fox News’s senior managing editor for health news, also denounced the president’s announcement that he was taking the drug, calling it “highly irresponsible.” Alvarez said most hospitals, including his, are not treating coronavirus with the drug.
“And I would like to hear from the White House physician to come out tomorrow and explain to me what has changed in a week and a half or two weeks for the president to take this medication when all of the data that has been coming out, very repetitively, has shown that there is not a major benefit,” Alvarez said.
After the president’s announcement, Trump’s physician, Sean Conley, confirmed Trump was taking the drug, saying he and the president concluded “the potential benefit from the treatment outweighed the relative risks.”
Updated at 9:08 a.m.
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