Trump says he 'didn't feel like the president' after testing positive for Covid-19: 'I was just tired'
President Donald Trump is back at the White House, making appearances on camera following treatment at the Walter Reed medical center after being tested positive for Covid-19 on October 2. On Friday, October 9, he appeared on Fox News' 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' and underwent a medical evaluation and interview with Dr Marc Siegel, marking his first on-camera interview since his discharge.
During the interview, Trump opened up about the symptoms he came down with after diagnosis and told the host that he "didn’t feel really strong". When Siegel asked Trump what were the two most significant symptoms that he had when he was admitted to Walter Reed, the president responded, "I didn't have a problem with breathing which a lot of people seem to have. I had none of that."
He continued, "I didn't feel very strong. I didn't feel very vital. I didn't feel like the president of US should feel. And I knew there was something a little bit off and the doctors at Walter Reed were incredible. They came from Johns Hopkins, they came from everywhere. It's good to be president I guess but they were really great people."
Siegel later told the president that his patients never listen to him no matter what and asked Trump had to negotiate with the doctors or did he just do what they said. Trump responded, "I did negotiate — but ultimately, I have a lot of respect for these doctors.They're really the best doctors, I think, in the world. I really needed to listen."
In the later segment of the interview, when asked what bothered him the most while he was getting treated at the hospital, Trump admited that he "was just tired". He added, "Getting to know from the standpoint, you didn't have that same energy level. My life is based a little bit on energy and you didn't have it. I don't know, it could have led to bad things from that point. I got lucky with certain medicine."
Trump confirmed that he took a drug called dexamethasone, an experimental anti-viral drug by Regeneron Pharmaceutical. It is reportedly a cocktail of medications believed to boost the immune system.
The interview with Siegel came a day after Trump's telephonic interview with Fox's Sean Hannity, during which he claimed that he was feeling "healthy". In the same interview, he expressed his interest in holding a rally in Florida on Saturday, October 10, and another on October 11 in Pennsylvania as he stated that he is "virus-free".
"If we can have enough time to put it together, we want to do a rally probably in Florida on Saturday night, and might come back and do one in Pennsylvania the following night," Trump noted. However, he also told the network that he hasn't been tested negative for the virus since the first positive diagnosis and that there was "no reason to test all the time". It was also noted that Trump appeared to be coughing throughout the 30-minute-long telephonic interview.