White House claims it's the media that's being irresponsible after Trump floats idea of injecting disinfectants

The White House on Friday complained about "negative headlines" and accused the media of being irresponsible as President Trump was widely condemned by medical experts for floating the idea of injecting disinfectants to treat COVID-19.

Trump during a briefing on Thursday wondered about whether disinfectants could be used to treat the coronavirus, asking if there's "a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning, because you can see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that. So that you're going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me."

After experts slammed the comments as "irresponsible" and "dangerous" while noting the obvious that people should not inject themselves with disinfectants in an attempt to treat the coronavirus, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany in a statement Friday said Trump has "repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment." McEnany added, "Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In addition to pushback from experts, Trump's comments also forced the makers of Lysol to release an unusual statement clarifying that "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body." Dr. Hilary Jones of Good Morning Britain also noted that injecting a disinfectant into the human body "is not only toxic and highly poisonous but would do no good whatsoever."