'I'm off the meds': Trump says he's no longer taking steroids and feels 'really good' but admits he's NOT yet tested negative for COVID as he prepares for White House event with hundreds of people tomorrow

  • President Trump said in interview on Friday that he was 'medication free' 
  • It was Trump's first televised interview since being diagnosed with COVID-19
  • Trump said specifically that he stopped taking powerful steroid Dexamethasone
  • 'I tolerated it very well, I don't take it anymore,' Trump said of the steroid 
  • The interview with Fox News' Dr. Marc Siegel was pre-recorded at unknown time
  • It it Trump said he had taken a coronavirus test on Friday but didn't know result
  • He and his doctors have yet to say whether he has tested negative for the virus
  • Yet Trump plans to hold a large event on the White House South Lawn Saturday 

President Donald Trump has said that he is no longer taking steroids, but could not confirm that he has tested negative for coronavirus since becoming infected last week, even as he plans to hold an event with hundreds of people at the White House on Saturday.

'I feel really, really strong,' Trump said in an interview with Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, which was pre-taped but aired on Friday night on Tucker Carlson Tonight. 

The opening segment of the interview, which was Trump's first on-camera since testing positive for the virus, was framed as a kind of mock medical exam, with Siegel, who is a practicing physician, asking Trump about his 'chief complaint.'

'I feel really good, I feel very strong,' Trump replied. 

Trump went on to say that he was no longer taking the powerful steroid Dexamethasone, which some medical experts had warned can have psychological side effects including confusion and aggression. 

'I tolerated it very well, I don't take it anymore. It was pretty short term,' Trump said of the steroid, which the CDC recommends for treating coronavirus only in cases where a patient is admitted on supplemental oxygen or requires ventilation.

'I feel really really strong,' Trump said in the interview with Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, which was pre-taped but aired on Friday night on Tucker Carlson Tonight

'I feel really really strong,' Trump said in the interview with Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, which was pre-taped but aired on Friday night on Tucker Carlson Tonight

Trump said he was no longer taking Dexamethasone, which some medical experts had warned can have psychological side effects including confusion and aggression (file photo)

Trump said he was no longer taking Dexamethasone, which some medical experts had warned can have psychological side effects including confusion and aggression (file photo)

WHAT ARE THE DRUGS TRUMP IS BEING TREATED WITH AND WHAT ARE THEIR SIDE EFFECTS?

President Trump has been given at least three potent drugs since announcing he tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday night: Regeneron's cocktail of lab-made antibodies, the antiviral remdesivir, and the steroid dexamethasone. 

Two of those medications are still experimental for treating COVID-19, and have given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

And White House physician Dr Sean Conley admitted on Monday that he would not disclose every single medication that the president is currently receiving (citing HIPAA patient privacy laws, which suggests that Trump himself gave Dr Conley permission to disclose some of his medications, but not all of them). 

Remdesivir, dexamethasone and the antibody cocktail are all in ongoing trials - but it's unclear if anyone besides the US Commander-in-Chief has ever been treated with all three. 

Those three drugs are 'as much as we know [about the president's treatment regimen] - but I found it all really confusing, based on the reports,' Dr Mark Poznansky, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital told DailyMail.com. 

When asked if there was any precedent for treating a COVID-19 patient with all three drugs, Dr Poznansky replied, 'no.' 

'But the individual decisions are based on the individual patient, and all bets are off when you're dealing with the president, the commander-in chief,' he added. 

'The implication is that the doctors believe that the risk of using these is outweighed by the potential benefit.' 

And while we have some clarity on the potential side effects of each of the  drugs, how they might interact is a mystery, 'because they just haven't been used frequently enough...we don't know about the combination,' Dr Poznansky said.  

But even on their own, the side effects of these drugs could be particularly concerning for the president, considering that the steroid can cause mood swings, confusion and aggression. 

The drugs he was treated with and their potential side effects are:  

REGENERON'S EXPERIMENTAL ANTIBODY COCKTAIL DRUG

WHEN HE GOT IT: Trump received a single 8 gram dose of Regeneron's cocktail of lab-made antibodies on Friday. 

WHAT IT DOES: REGN-COV2 is a combination of two lab-made versions of antibodies that help block the coronavirus from entering cells. 

One of the antibodies in the 'cocktail' is based on an antibody that mice produce in response to coronavirus, while the other is based on an antibody isolated from the one of the first US COVID-19 patients. 

The hope is that the treatment drives down viral load, keeping it from overrunning the body and sending the immune system haywire, and preventing the infection from becoming severe. 

WHAT THE DATA SAYS: REGN-COV2 is still in early trial phases, but the first data from its clinical trial found that it dramatically lowered viral load within a week and cut recovery time in half in patients that weren't sick enough to be hospitalized. 

Regeneron has not yet studied the drug in severely ill patients. 

THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: The main concern is these types of treatment occasionally trigger 'antibody-dependent enhancement,' which means the intended therapeutic actually helps the virus invade cells.

So far, the trials don't suggest that REGN-COV2 is causing this phenomenon. 

Antibody treatments can also cause allergic reactions including anaphylaxis, as well as fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, weakness, headache and low blood pressure. 

REMDESIVIR, GILEAD'S ANTIVIRAL DRUG 

WHEN HE GOT IT: President Trump was given his first dose of a five-day treatment course on Friday evening, after he was transferred from the White House to Walter Reed National Medical Center. 

He has since received his second and third dose of the drug. 

WHAT IT DOES: Remdesivir is an antiviral therapy originally designed to treat Ebola. 

Scientists are not entirely sure why, but it helps to prevent coronavirus from making more copies of itself. 

WHAT THE DATA SAYS: Late-stage clinical trials of remdesivir found that patients treated with the drug were more likely to recover within 11 days than those who did not get the drug. 

Their survival odds were about 40 percent better. In May, the drug became the first to get emergency use authorization from the FDA for treating severely ill patients. That approval has since been expanded to any hospitalized patients.

THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: It can cause nausea, vomiting, chils, sweating or light-headedness. The drug also may harm liver function, meaning that patients have to be closely monitored. 

There was some suggestion the Trump's liver and kidney function were suboptimal last night, but Dr Conley said Monday the president was just 'dehydrated.' 

DEXAMETHASONE, THE $6 STEROID WITH COMMON PSYCHIATRIC SIDE EFFECTS

WHEN HE GOT IT: The president got a dose of dexamethasone on Saturday after he developed a high fever and his blood oxygen levels dropped below 94 percent on two occasions. 

WHAT IT DOES: Dexamethasone is a cheap steroid known to tamp down inflammation. It's already approved for use in other conditions in the US. 

WHAT THE DATA SAYS: Although it hasn't yet been given emergency approval in the US, dexamethasone is the most promising treatment yet for coronavirus. 

In a major UK study, the steroid cut the risk of death by 36 percent for patients sick enough to need breathing machines and by 18 percent for patients needing just supplemental oxygen. 

However, it seemed harmful at earlier stages or milder cases of illness: 18 percent of those on the drug died versus 14 percent of those given usual care.

For that reason, many doctors were alarmed to see President Trump treated with the drug because using it suggested either that he was very sick, or that doctors were taking a risk in giving it to him early.  

THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS:  The steroid is potent, and can cause swelling, headaches, stomach pain, nausea, weakness, dizziness sleep problems, vision changes, skin problems, severe allergic reactions including mood changes. 

These mood changes include aggression, agitation and confusion. 

'Steroids are always very dangerous medications to use,' Dr Edward Jones-Lopez, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, told Reuters.

'That is why it (dexamethasone) is used in severe to critical patients... There can be neuropsychiatric side effects. These are medications that we use very, very carefully.' 

 Asked what drugs he was on, Trump first said 'right now I'm medication free, I'm not taking any medications as of eight hours ago,' adding 'which frankly makes me feel good, I don't like medication.'

However, when asked a second time what medications he was taking on Friday, Trump hedged, saying 'I think pretty much nothing.' 

On Thursday, Trump said he would be re-tested for COVID-19 on Friday to see if he still had detectable levels of the virus following his apparent speedy recovery.

'I have been retested. I haven't even found out numbers or anything yet,' Trump said of Friday's test. 'I know I'm either at the bottom of the scale or free.'

It was unclear when the interview, which Carlson said was filmed by a White House camera crew, was taped. 

He said he did not know when his next test would be, adding that it was "probably tomorrow... they test every couple of days."

Siegle also asked about the results of scans of Trump's lungs for any damage, a key test that has not been publicly revealed by his doctors.

'They tested the lungs,' Trump said. 'They tested the lungs. They have incredible equipment at Walter Reed. In fact they said, 'No, you can leave your jacket on.' I said, 'I'll take it off anyway, if you want.''

'Initially it had some congestion in there but ultimately it tested good and with each day it got better,' he went on, without going into further detail.

President Donald Trump will hold a public gathering on the White House South Lawn on Saturday with hundreds of people for his first event since being diagnosed with COVID

President Donald Trump will hold a public gathering on the White House South Lawn on Saturday with hundreds of people for his first event since being diagnosed with COVID

Siegel asked Trump what his two most prominent symptoms were when he was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.

'I didn't feel strong, didn't feel really strong. I didn't have a problem with breathing, which a lot of people have, I didn't have a problem with that,' Trump said, contradicting reports last week that he had been put on supplemental oxygen.

'But I didn't feel very strong, I didn't feel very vital like the President of the United States should feel,' he went on.

Trump said he did not know where he had contracted the virus, adding: "It's highly contagious. That's one thing you learn, this is a contagious disease."

It follows the release on Thursday of a memo from White House physician Dr. Sean Conley saying that it would be safe for Trump to return to public engagements as soon as Saturday. 

Trump will hold a public gathering on the White House South Lawn on Saturday with hundreds of people for his first event since being diagnosed with the coronavirus and then will travel to Florida on Monday for a campaign rally, the White House said late Friday. 

The president will keep his distance from Saturday's crowd and is expected to speak from one of the balconies at the White House to the group on the South Lawn - two weeks exactly after his superspreader event in the Rose Garden.

The September 26 nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court became a COVID superspreader event

The September 26 nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court became a COVID superspreader event

There will be no tests and although attendees will be 'instructed' to wear masks it was unclear if the rule would be enforced. It is so far unclear if Trump is still contagious because of the White House's refusal to say when he last tested negative.

The last outdoors event at the White House, the unveiling of Amy Coney Barrett as Trump's Supreme Court nominee, was officially called a superspreader event by Dr. Tony Fauci Friday. Multiple attendees tested positive and Chris Christie remains in the hospital.

Saturday's event will feature 'remarks to peaceful protesters for law and order' by the president, according to an invite obtained by ABC News. It will happen in conjunction with a previously planned event organized by Trump supporter Candace Owens' group Blexit, a campaign to urge Black Americans to leave the Democratic Party.

'All attendees must bring a mask with them and will be instructed to wear it on the White House Complex. All attendees must submit to a Covid-19 screening tomorrow morning. 

'This will consist of a temperature check and a brief questionnaire. The health and safety of all attendees is our priority and following CDC guidelines is strongly encouraged,' a source with knowledge of the group's planning told DailyMail.com. There was no mention of social distancing.

Then, on Monday, President Trump will go to Sanford, Florida, for a Make America Great Again campaign rally, his re-election campaign announced. 

His last rally was in Bemidji, Minnesota, and CBS News reported Friday that there are so far nine positive cases linked to it, with two people in the hospital.

President Trump will go to Sanford, Florida, on Monday, for a Make America Great Again campaign rally that he was originally scheduled to go to Sanford on the Friday he tested positive for COVID; above Trump speaks at rally in Minnesota on September 30 - his last before his COVID diagnosis

President Trump will go to Sanford, Florida, on Monday, for a Make America Great Again campaign rally that he was originally scheduled to go to Sanford on the Friday he tested positive for COVID; above Trump speaks at rally in Minnesota on September 30 - his last before his COVID diagnosisTrump has been restless and eager to get back to the campaign trail after being sidelined with COVID. 

But scheduling massive events with supporters will find Trump facing questions about his treatment of people's health at time he's being criticized for having a cavalier attitude about the pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans. 

The two events were scheduled after Trump's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, stated in a update late Thursday that Trump's medical team felt that he would be safe to return to public engagements by Saturday. 

Saturday would mark nine days since Trump publicly announced testing positive for COVID-19. 

Most scientists think that viral shedding continues for about 10 days after symptoms start in mild to moderate cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   

The Rose Garden, just off the South Lawn, was the site of a superspreader event in late September when Trump announced the nomination of Judge Amy Comey Barrett to the Supreme Court. 

The September 26 gathering attracted around 100 people - many of them not wearing face masks; all sitting close.

Those who tested positive and were at the event included President Donald Trump, first lady Melania, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and two of her deputies, former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, two senators - Mike Lee from Utah and Thom Tillis from North Carolina - plus the president of Notre Dame university, John Jenkins.

THE TOLL OF COVID FROM SCOTUS NOMINEE EVENT

 1. President Donald Trump, 74; 2. First Lady Melania Trump, 50; 3. Fr. John Jenkins, 66. President of the University of Notre Dame; 4. Mike Lee, 49. Republican Utah Senator; 5. Thom Tillis, 60. Republican North Carolina Senator;  6. Kellyanne Conway, 53, Former White House Counselor to the President; 7.  Chris Christie, 58. Former New Jersey Governor; 8.  Kayleigh McEnany, 32. White House Press Secretary;  9. Chad Gilmartin. Assistant Press Secretary, 22.  10. Karoline Leavitt, 23. Assistant Press Secretary. 11. Pastor Greg Laurie, 67. Harvest Crusades televangelist.

* Bill Barr, 70: self-isolating out of caution. 

AT EVENT AND STOOD AT BACK OF ROSE GARDEN

12. Hope Hicks, 31. Counselor to the President; 13. Bill Stepien, 42. Trump Campaign Manager; 14. Nicholas Luna, 29. Chief of Oval Office Operations and 'body man'; 15. Unnamed White House reporter

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