• President Donald Trump on Sunday did not let Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, weigh in on what he thought about using hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, on patients with COVID-19.
  • Cutting across Fauci, who did not speak until late in the press conference at the request of a reporter, Trump said: “He answered that question 15 times.”
  • The US government had stockpiled 29 million hydroxychloroquine pills for treatment, despite having only anecdotal evidence of their effect on COVID-19. The drug is usually used for malaria or lupus, and there is little clinical evidence showing it works against the novel coronavirus.
  • Trump’s dismissal came a day after the coronavirus task force reportedly had its first confrontation. It was between Fauci and Trump’s top trade adviser. The subject was hydroxychloroquine.
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President Donald Trump told reporters he wasn’t a doctor as he promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine, a drug used for malaria or lupus, to treat COVID-19 patients. But when Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked for his opinion, Trump would not let him speak.

At a White House press briefing on Sunday night, Trump repeatedly spoke about using the drug on COVID-19 patients despite little clinical evidence that the pills are effective against it. He told reporters he backed the drug as he said: “I’m not a doctor. I have common sense.”

The US government has stockpiled 29 million hydroxychloroquine pills and Trump said it was a good option for treatment since there’s currently no vaccine, although researchers are testing a number of drugs including hydroxychloroquine.

He said: “I’m trying to save lives. I want them to try it and it may work and it may not work.” If it didn’t work, at least it didn’t kill patients, he said. Several times, he rhetorically asked: “What do you have to lose?”

But when a reporter at the briefing asked Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, what he thought, Trump did not let him speak.

"He answered that question 15 times," Trump said, cutting the reporter off, before the press conference moved on. Fauci never answered.

Fauci took the podium late in the conference and hadn't spoken before the reporters began asking questions.

According to Axios, on Saturday, the coronavirus task force reportedly had its first open confrontation, and it was over the use of hydroxychloroquine.

Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has been trying to source the drug, told the task force overseas studies showed the drug had "clear therapeutic efficacy."

Dr. Fauci reportedly disagreed and said there was only anecdotal evidence. Navarro, an economist, pointed to a stack of documents he had brought to the meeting, and told Fauci: "That's science, not anecdote."

The conversation grew heated, with Navarro calling out Dr. Fauci for purportedly objecting to Trump's China travel ban at one point, until the president's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner told Navarro he had the greenlight to supply the drug.