在上周因在讨论中更有分寸的语气而受到赞扬后冠状病毒-赞扬面具和社会距离，在连续几个月不断解雇COVID-19之后-总统唐纳德·特朗普本周恢复了推动未经证实的治疗违背建议顶部健康专家和食品药品管理局。
尽管总统长期以来一直表示支持羟氯喹，甚至说他个人认为羟氯喹是基于他未经证实的信念，即这种药物能有效预防COVID-19，但他在最近几个月基本上停止了公开推广这种药物，因为其他治疗方法，如remdesvir，已被证明是有效的。
食品和药物管理局在4月取消的它已经签发了一份紧急授权，用于治疗冠状病毒，并警告心脏问题的风险。大型随机试验也显示对冠状病毒患者没有益处。
2020年7月29日，华盛顿，总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫南草坪走向海军一号时对记者说。
但是总统转而支持拥护药物的承诺周一晚上，他转发了一段视频，视频中一名医生未经证实地宣称羟氯喹可以治愈这种病毒，并否认了口罩的功效。自那以后，Twitter删除了显示新闻发布会的视频，因为该公司称其违反了COVID-19错误信息政策。它也被从其他社交媒体平台移除。
就在选民决定是否批准特朗普连任的几个月前，特朗普又回到了老路上，尽管这些老路给他带来了灾难性的民调数字。最近三分之二的美国人美国广播公司新闻/华盛顿邮报民意调查说他们不赞成他如何处理这种流行病。
在这样的背景下，据参加会议的一个保守组织的负责人说，副总统迈克·彭斯周二晚上在白宫会见了出现在视频中的新闻发布会上的四名医生。
据茶党爱国者基金会主席珍妮·贝思·马丁称，医生们在白宫椭圆形办公室对面的西翼会见了彭斯，大约在同一时间，特朗普在自己的新闻发布会上赞扬了羟氯喹的优点。
马丁说，她也参加了会议，他告诉美国广播公司新闻，医生们“谈论了很多关于羟氯喹”作为COVID-19的治疗，彭斯“似乎接受了它。”
彭斯的办公室没有回复记者就会议发表评论的请求。
总统从那以后极力捍卫他转发了周一在最高法院外举行的医生新闻发布会的视频，并重申了他对羟基氯喹作为COVID-19治疗方法的支持，他说，“我碰巧相信它。”
“这是安全的，”他在周二的新闻发布会上说，引用了他自己两周的药物疗法。“这不会引起问题。我没问题。我完全没有问题，也没有什么不同。感觉不太好，不好或者无所谓。如你所知，我测试过了。它没有-它没有得到我，它不会希望伤害任何人。”
但是总统声称这种药物不会引起问题，这一说法受到了美国食品和药物管理局以及其他卫生当局的质疑。
该机构说:“羟氯喹和氯喹还没有被证明对治疗或预防COVID-19是安全有效的。”说4月24日，警告药物可能导致心脏性猝死。它警告了“严重的心律问题和其他安全问题的风险，包括血液和淋巴系统紊乱、肾脏损伤、肝脏问题和衰竭。”
美国领先的传染病专家安东尼·福奇博士在周二的“早安美国”节目中接受ABC新闻首席主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯采访时表示，他支持FDA的立场，压倒性的临床试验表明“这种方法无效。”
2020年6月26日，华盛顿，国家过敏和传染病研究所所长安东尼·福西博士在与冠状病毒工作组成员的新闻发布会上发言。
奥巴马总统还为在他转发的视频中对这种药物做出未经证实的声明的医生进行了辩护，他在周三早上告诉记者，他“对她印象非常深刻”，她是“以此发誓”并“认为它很棒”的一群医生之一
总统谴责推特删除视频，他认为这实际上是政治偏见的反映，并不承认视频包含虚假信息。
他周三在白宫外说:“我对她一无所知，以前从没见过她，但你当然可以把她举起来，让她说话，所以他们就把她的声音压低了。”“现在，他们似乎从来没有打倒对方，他们只是打倒保守的声音。”
特朗普的一些助手曾因总统转向更忧郁的语气和提倡戴面具而受到鼓舞，但他们对面具的持久性持谨慎态度。
总统连任竞选团队的助手们一直希望总统能坚持下去，哪怕一周只有几天，但当他收回之前的话时，他们并不感到意外。
他新上任的竞选经理比尔·斯捷潘(Bill Stepien)本月早些时候在第一次全体员工会议上表示，如果要在11月获胜，竞选人员需要赢得的时间要比失去的时间多，这是一些助手对总统自身行为的口头禅。
Trump returns to old ways, pushes unproven coronavirus treatment
After drawing praise last week for a more measured tone in discussing thecoronavirus-- extolling masks and social distancing, after repeatedly dismissing COVID-19 for months -- PresidentDonald Trumpthis weekreverted to pushingan unproven treatmentagainst the adviceof tophealthexperts and the Food and Drug Administration.
Though the president has long expressed his support for hydroxychloroquine, and has even said he has personally taken it based on his unproven belief that the drug is effective in preventing COVID-19, he had largely stopped publicly promoting the drug in recent months as other treatments, like the drug remdesvir, have proven effective.
The Food and Drug Administration in Aprilrevokedan emergency authorization it had issued for the drug to be used to treat thecoronavirus, and warning of the risk of heart problems. Large, randomized trials also showed no benefit for coronavirus patients.
But the president switched back toespousing the drug's promiseMonday night by retweeting a video of a doctor who made the unsubstantiated claims that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for the virus and also dismissed the efficacy of masks. Twitter has since removed the video showing a press conference because the company said it violated its COVID-19 misinformation policy. It was also removed from other social media platforms.
Trump returned to his old ways even as they have resulted in disastrous poll numbers for him, just months before voters decide whether to grant him a second term. Two-thirds of Americans in a recentABC News/Washington Post pollsaid they disapproved of how he has handled the pandemic.
Amid this backdrop, Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday evening met at the White House with four doctors who appeared at the press conference shown in the video, according to the head of a conservative group that attended the meeting.
The doctors met with Pence in the West Wing, across from the Oval Office, around the same time Trump extolled the virtues of hydroxychloroquine at his own news conference down the hall, according to Jenny Beth Martin, the president of the Tea Party Patriots Foundation.
Martin, who said she attended the meeting, too, told ABC News that the doctors "talked a good deal about hydroxychloroquine" as a treatment for COVID-19 and that Pence "seemed receptive to it."
Pence's office did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
The president has sincevigorously defendedhis retweet of the video of the doctor's press conference, which took place outside the Supreme Court on Monday, and he revived his endorsement of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, saying, "I happen to believe in it."
"It's safe," he said during a press conference Tuesday, invoking his own two-week regimen of the drug. "It doesn't cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem, felt no different. Didn't feel good, bad or indifferent. I -- and I tested, as you know. It didn't -- it didn't get me, and it's not going to hopefully hurt anybody."
But the president's claim that the drug doesn't cause problems is disputed by the FDA, among other health authorities.
"Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19," the agencysaidon April 24, warning that the drugs could lead to sudden cardiac death. It has warned of the risk of "serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview on "Good Morning America" Tuesday that he stood by the FDA's position and that the overwhelming prevailing clinical trials have indicated that "it is not effective."
The president has also defended the doctor who makes unsubstantiated claims about the drug in the video he retweeted, telling reporters on Wednesday morning he was "very impressed by her" and that she is part of a group of doctors who "swear by it" and "think it's great."
The president decried Twitter's removal of the video, which he suggested was actually a reflection of political bias, not acknowledging that the video contained false information.
"I know nothing about her, have never seen her before, but certainly you can put her up and let her have the voice, so what they did is they took down her voice," he said outside the White House Wednesday. "Now, they seem to never take down the other side, they only take down conservative voices."
Some Trump aides had been encouraged by the president's switch to a more somber tone and promotion of mask wearing, but they were cautious about it lasting.
Aides on the president's re-election campaign had been hoping the president would stay on track, even for just a few days a week, but were not surprised when he reverted back off message.
His newly installed campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said earlier this month at his first all-staff meeting that campaign staffers needed to win more days than they lost if they're going to win in November, a mantra some aides have applied to the president's own behavior.
ABC News' Will Steakin contributed to this report.
