House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday described President Donald Trump as “morbidly obese” and advised him not to take hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment.
Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Pelosi said she would “rather [the president] not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists” as a treatment for the novel coronavirus. Pelosi added that given the president’s “age group” and “weight group,” and more specifically because he was “morbidly obese,” hydroxychloroquine treatment would be particularly dangerous for him.
Earlier on Monday during a meeting at the White House, Trump claimed he is taking daily doses of hydroxychloroquine, nominally a drug used in the treatment of malaria that has been touted, yet not proven, as a potential novel coronavirus cure, with the FDA even advising against its use due to potentially harmful side effects.
The president said that he started taking the drug “a couple of weeks ago” after a White House aide tested positive for COVID-19 and had been taking it every day for a week and a half.
