WATCH: President Trump addresses the public from Walter Reed
President Trump released a video from Walter Reed Medical Center Saturday evening, informing Americans that he felt “much better” after entering the facility and was committed to defeating the coronavirus.
I came here, wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now. We’re working hard to get me all the way back. I have to be back, because we still have to make America great again. We’ve done an awfully good job of that, but we still have steps to go and we have to have to finish that job,” he said in a tweeted video.
He added that he thought he would “be back soon. And I look forward to finishing up the campaign, the way it was started and the way we’ve been doing, the kind of numbers that we’ve been doing, we’ve been so proud of it. But this was something that happened, and it’s happened to millions of people all over the world, and I’m fighting for them, not just in the US, I’m fighting for them all over the world. We’re going to beat this coronavirus or whatever you want to call it, and we’re going to beat it soundly.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
He entered Walter Reed on Friday after testing positive for the virus. Earlier on Saturday, Dr. Sean Dooley announced that Trump had normal kidney, liver, and cardiac functioning. According to his doctors, he’s been fever-free for at least 24 hours, wasn’t on oxygen, and didn’t have difficulty breathing or walking.
He’s also started a five-day course of Remdesivir, having previously received an antibody cocktail, as well as zinc, Vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and a daily aspirin.
Trump is 74 years old and clinically obese, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has infected more than 7 million people nationwide and killed more than 200,000 people in the U.S.
He intended to continue his day-to-day work from Walter Reed’s presidential suite, which includes offices, a kitchen, conference room, and sleeping quarters.
“I had no choice because I just didn’t want to stay in the White House. I was given that alternative — stay in the White House, lock yourself in, don’t ever leave, don’t even go to the Oval Office, just stay upstairs and enjoy it,” he said in Saturday’s video.
“Don’t see people, don’t talk to people, and just be done with it — and I can’t do that. I had to be out front, and this is America, this is the United States. This is the greatest country in the world, this is the most powerful country in the world, I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs and totally safe and just say, hey, whatever happens happens, I can’t do that.”
In addition to the president, the first lady and several of his advisers have tested positive for the virus. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, who also tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, is working remotely, but is not slowing down, according to a senior campaign official.
“Bill is working remotely, but absolutely remains in total control of the campaign,” the official told Fox News, adding that Stepien’s longtime ally, deputy campaign manager Justin Clark, remains at campaign headquarters.
On Saturday, the president also expressed gratitude for Walter Reed’s medical staff, as well as for what he described as “almost a bipartisan consensus” supporting him during the difficult time.
“I just want to be so thankful for all of the support I’ve seen, whether it’s on television or reading about it. I, most of all, appreciate what’s been said by the American people, by almost a bipartisan consensus of American people — it’s a beautiful thing to see. And I very much appreciate it and I won’t forget it — promise you that. I also want to thank the leaders of the world for their condolences and their — they know what we’re going through,” he said.
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