Biden calls out Trump for promoting COVID-19 conspiracies: 'Stop tweeting and start doing something'

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Former Vice President Joe Biden wants President Trump to quit amplifying the voices of COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, saying on Wednesday it's time to "stop tweeting and start doing something about it, damn it."

Earlier this week, Trump promoted on Twitter a video featuring a pediatrician from Texas named Stella Immanuel, who claimed she used the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat hundreds of coronavirus patients. Studies have shown the drug does not help with COVID-19 and can cause serious side effects, and as such, Twitter removed the video because it violates the service's COVID-19 misinformation policy.

Immanuel believes, among other things, that there is alien DNA in medicine and gynecological problems are caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons. Trump on Tuesday called Immanuel "very impressive" and an "important voice," comments that Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, slammed during a virtual event with the nonprofit Unidos Action Fund.

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Biden was asked about Trump's push to reopen schools amid the pandemic, despite a lack of safety measures, and he responded that Trump should "stop tweeting and start doing something about it, damn it." Referring to Immanuel, Biden suggested that Trump "stop talking about this crazy woman he talked about last night, who's an absolute disgrace."

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.