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Fauci Rejects Trump's Claims of COVID-19 Treatment

VOA News

   The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, rejected
   President Donald Trump's renewed claims that hydroxychloroquine is an
   effective treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel
   coronavirus. Fauci also went on the defensive after a controversial
   tweet suggested the doctor has misled the public about the drug.

   Trump defended the use of hydroxychloroquine in more than a dozen
   tweets late Monday after publicly appearing to take a more serious tone
   about the coronavirus in recent days.
   WATCH President Trump's Coronavirus Briefing LIVE

   Trump renewed his advocacy of the anti-malarial medicine, despite
   numerous studies showing it is not an effective treatment for COVID-19
   and the fact the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently reversed an
   order allowing it to be used as an emergency treatment.

   Among Trump's tweets was a post from the Twitter account for a podcast
   hosted by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, accusing Fauci of
   misleading Americans about hydroxychloroquine.

   Another Trump tweet featured a woman who said in a video she was a
   Houston, Texas physician standing outside what seemed to be the U.S.
   Supreme Court in Washington promoting the use of the drug and
   discouraging the wearing of protective face masks.

   Twitter subsequently flagged the post, and a company spokesman
   confirmed the tweet, which has been removed from Trump's feed, violated
   its COVID-19 misinformation policy. Facebook also removed the video,
   with a spokesman saying it shared "false information about cures and
   treatments of COVID-19." The White House has not commented on the
   tweets.

   "I go along with the FDA," Fauci said in an interview Tuesday on ABC's
   "Good Morning America". "The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials
   that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated
   that it is not effective in coronavirus disease."

   Trump also retweeted another Bannon post that alleged Fauci "has misled
   the American public on many issues, but in particular, on dismissing
   #hydroxychloroquine."

   Fauci responded by saying, "I have not been misleading the American
   public under any circumstances."

   Fauci, a senior member of the White House coronavirus task force, has
   been the target of criticism from Trump and administration officials
   before.

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