Trump sounds optimistic on COVID-19 treatments as task force warns of toughest week yet
Kristin Fisher reports from the White House with an update.
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski suggested President Trump has a “financial tie” to hydroxychloroquine on Monday because he has repeatedly promoted the drug as a possible treatment for coronavirus.
Co-host Joe Scarborough pondered aloud why Trump has “pushed an unproven drug” when Brzezinski made the claim.
"A lot of people would say, follow the money. There’s got to be some sort of financial tie to someone, somewhere that has the president pushing this repeatedly,” Brzezinski said.
CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MSNBC’s Mika Brezezinski said President Trump must have “some sort of financial tie” to hydroxychloroquine. (Nathan Congleton/NBC)
Media Research Center contributing editor Mark Finkelstein wrote that Brzezinski’s comment is “perhaps the most explosive accusation yet against President Trump made by a liberal media member regarding the coronavirus” pandemic.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
“Mika must be immediately challenged to produce whatever evidence she might have in support of her explosive claim. To accuse the President of the United States of outright corruption in the midst of the greatest crisis in the lives of most Americans, is a libel most vile unless she can substantiate it,” Finkelstein wrote.
MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin made similar remarks on Monday, suggesting President Trump may have a financial interest in promoting the drug.
"I want to know why the president is so convinced that this is the medication that needs to be stockpiled. What's in it for him?" Hostin asked. "And let's face it, there's always something in it for this president when he wants to tout something."
Limited studies have suggested hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, could treat coronavirus. An international poll of thousands of doctors recently rated hydroxychloroquine the “most effective therapy” for coronavirus.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"We've bought a tremendous amount of the hydroxychloroquine," Trump told reporters Sunday, saying the country has stockpiled 29 million pills of the drug. "There are some signs it works on this, some very strong signs. ... They're not expensive. What do you have to lose?"
The president noted he's "not a doctor," but observed that the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] had issued emergency authorization for physicians to use the drug to treat coronavirus.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Gregg Re contributed to this report.