Sean Conley, White House doctor, held one heck of a press conference Saturday morning. Surrounded by a gaggle of masked doctors and nurses, perfectly placed in front of Walter Reed Medical Center, Dr. Conley spoke from written remarks, and named the medical professionals behind him, even letting two of them speak. He then fielded questions, carefully dodging certain ones.
It was a brief event, and left reporters and Americans confused by two big things: Dr. Conley mentioned that Donald Trump was 72 hours into his diagnosis, while pulmonary specialist Brian Garibaldi noted that Trump had received experimental antibody therapy 48 hours earlier, as well as Remdesivir antiviral treatment on Friday evening. The former statement placed Trump’s first positive COVID-19 test at sometime Wednesday morning, while the latter placed his initial round of treatment on Thursday morning. The story the White House has presented places Trump’s initial COVID-19 diagnosis at around 1:00 AM Friday morning. Trump himself told his buddy Sean Hannity that he’d “just” been tested and was awaiting results late Thursday evening. The doctors made it clear Team Trump was lying.
After press and everyday citizens demanded to know when Trump actually was diagnosed with the deadly virus, and when he actually began treatment, White House Chief Liar Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany released a “clarification,” purportedly written by Dr. Conley. It doesn’t pass the smell test.
Here’s the letter.
Entitled “Timeline Clarification,” the unsigned letter reads as follows.
This morning while summarizing the President’ s health, I incorrectly used the term “seventy two hours” instead of “day three” and “forty eight hours” instead of “day two” with regards to his diagnosis and the administration of the polyclonal antibody therapy.
The President was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on the evening of Thursday, October 1st and had received Regeron’s antibody cocktail on Friday, October 2nd.
Well, then.
It didn’t take long before folks here at Daily Kos, on the major news networks, and on Twitter began to doubt that the “clarification” came from Dr. Conley. Why? Let me count the ways.
Firstly, it’s REGENERON, not “Regeron.” Secondly, two doctors spoke to the timeline. Dr. Conley is correcting Dr. Garibaldi’s words, but claiming them as his own.
Thirdly, the doctors seemed pretty damn clear on their timelines.
Fourthly, nobody calls it “polyclonal.”
So here’s the big question: Did McEnany write this? Did Mark Meadows? Did Trump himself? We may never know. But it sure doesn’t seem like Dr. Conley wrote it, does it?
