Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) urged President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to take hydroxychloroquine while wishing them well after they were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday.
Biggs advised the president and first lady to take the malaria medication for COVID-19 against current advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an overwhelming majority of medical experts who say it is not an effective treatment for the virus.
"I send my best wishes and prayers to President @realDonaldTrump & @FLOTUS for quick recoveries from COVID-19," Biggs tweeted while sharing a video message. "I encourage them to take hydroxychloroquine to assist with their recoveries, & I am confident that they will be resuming their normal routines in the very near future."
I send my best wishes and prayers to President @realDonaldTrump & @FLOTUS for quick recoveries from COVID-19.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) October 2, 2020
I encourage them to take hydroxychloroquine to assist with their recoveries, & I am confident that they will be resuming their normal routines in the very near future. pic.twitter.com/LFxIWwvjo5
Other recent tweets from Biggs, who has no medical training, have seen him recommend that the public forego the advice of experts by refusing to wear face masks, while also touting hydroxychloroquine as a way to prevent contracting COVID-19.
The drug that had been heavily touted by Trump in the first months of the pandemic had its emergency use authorization for the virus revoked by the Food and Drug Administration in July after multiple studies suggested it was not an effective treatment. Trump attempted to prevent himself from contracting the virus by taking a two-week course of the drug in May.
A memorandum issued by White House physician, Dr. Sean Conley, shortly before the president departed for Walter Reed Medical center on Friday indicated that hydroxychloroquine is not part of Trump's current treatment plan. Instead, the president took a dose of pharmaceutical company Regeneron's experimental polyclonal antibody cocktail, along with zinc, vitamin D, melatonin, aspirin and famotidine, a common antacid sold under the brand name Pepcid.
In the video accompanying the tweet, Biggs claimed that Democrats were "dancing in the streets" over Trump's diagnosis, although no Democratic elected officials holding major national office have expressed any kind of ill will for the president's health. Many have wished him well. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he and Jill Biden wished the president and first lady a "swift recovery" on Friday.
Biggs also suggested that Trump, who repeatedly refused to wear a face mask while holding multiple large rallies, had actually made a sacrifice for "freedom" by contracting the virus.
"One thing I'll say about the president, he understood the risks," Biggs said. "He understands what we all understand as Americans, that in order to have freedom there's some risks. He did what he could to mitigate those risks, all of us must mitigate against those risk and make the choices and that's what makes us a free people."
"I am prayerful that the president and the first lady will recover soon, as well as all Americans," he added. "And that we can get back to work and make this country the strongest and most prosperous nation in the world."
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
