White House trashes media for taking President Trump 'injection' remarks out of context

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that the media took President Donald Trump's remarks on using disinfectant to battle COVID-19 "out of context."

On Thursday, Trump took heavy fire after a press briefing in which much of the media insisted he urged Americans to inject disinfectants such as bleach or Lysol to fight the coronavirus.

What are the details?

In a Friday statement, McEnany said, "President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday's briefing. Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines."

During the Thursday briefing, Trump addressed speculation about and studies of using UV light technology as well as household disinfectants in order to eradicate the coronavirus.

Bill Bryan — head of the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology division — was in attendance at the briefing, and discussed the effects that UV rays, temperature, humidity, and disinfectants may have on COVID-19.

During the briefing, Bryan said, "We're ... testing disinfectants readily available. We've tested bleach, we've tested isopropyl alcohol on the virus, specifically in saliva or in respiratory fluids. And I can tell you that bleach will kill the virus in just five minutes; isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds, and that's with no manipulation, no rubbing — just spraying it on and letting it go.

"You rub it and it goes away even faster," he said. "We're also looking at other disinfectants, especially looking at the COVID-19 virus in saliva."

Trump said, "So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too. It sounds interesting."

The president then addressed the notion of disinfectants and its effect on the COVID-19 virus.

"And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute," he added. "One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or, or almost a cleaning? Because, you see, it gets on the lungs and it does a tremendous number, so it will be interesting to check that. So, that, you're going to have to use medical doctors. But it sounds, it sounds interesting to me."