Medical professionals, Current and former Secret Service agents and political analysts, were stunned last night when they watched President’s trip outside Walter Reed hospital where he is being treated for COVID 19. saying Trump endangered those inside his SUV for a publicity stunt.
President Donald Trump sparked an angry backlash with a protocol-breaking visit to his supporters outside Walter Reed hospital where he is being treated for COVID 19. A virus that is highly-infectious and potentially deadly.
Health experts took to the airwaves and social media to criticize the “stunt,” which they said demonstrated that he had learned nothing at all. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University said:
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” .
“They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
Based on Washington Post article today, as the backlash grew, multiple aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations also called Trump’s evening outing an unnecessary risk — but said it was not surprising. Trump had said he was bored in the hospital, advisers said. He wanted to show strength after his chief of staff offered a grimmer assessment of his health than doctors, according to campaign and White House officials.
A growing number of Secret Service agents have been concerned about the president’s seeming indifference to the health risks they face when traveling with him in public, and a few reacted with outrage to the trip, asking how Trump’s desire to be seen outside his hospital suite justified the jeopardy to agents protecting him. Trump’s COVID 19 diagnosis has already brought new scrutiny to his lax approach to social distancing, as public health officials scramble to trace those he may have exposed at large in-person events.
“He’s not even pretending to care now,” one agent said after the president’s jaunt outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to wave at supportive crowds.
“Where are the adults?” said a former Secret Service member.
They spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution.
Judd Deere, the White House spokesman, defended the outing, telling reporters:
“appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it…. President was cleared by the medical team as safe to do.”
The White House did not immediately respond to questions from The Washington Post on Sunday night.
Information and Article by Washington Post and Agence France-Presse
