As is often the case with these briefings, however, Trump's scripted message eventually devolved into a series of false and misleading claims about the state of the pandemic. At one point, Trump claimed that "large portions" of the US are "corona free" (not true). He also claimed that protests in Seattle and Portland were leading to spiking cases there (also not true).
Trump again touted what he claims are the benefits of hydroxychloroquine as a successful drug to fight the coronavirus, despite numerous studies that fail to bear that out. Despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, Trump even claimed that the drug was completely safe to use.
"It's safe. It doesn't cause problems," Trump said, anecdotally noting that he "had absolutely no problem" when he took the drug earlier this year. "Felt no different. Didn't feel good, bad or indifferent."
Facts First: The FDA has said there are many safety issues with using hydroxychloroquine against the coronavirus, including kidney injury, heart rhythm problems, liver problems, and more.
Downplaying the spread of the virus
Trump tried to paint a rosy picture of how well the country is responding to the coronavirus by downplaying its spread and saying that the virus has been eliminated in large parts of the country.
"We're seeing improvements across major metro areas, and most hotspots, you can look at large portions of our country, it's corona-free. But we are watching very carefully California, Arizona, Texas and most of Florida, it's starting to head down in the right direction. And I think you'll see it rapidly head down very soon."
Facts First: This is misleading. No areas of the country have eliminated the virus, and the only places that are "corona-free" have no human population, or are rural areas that have an extremely small population.
Every state in the US has reported new Covid-19 cases in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and13 statessaw their highest 7-day averages for new daily cases yesterday, per data from Johns Hopkins University.
There is some truth to the President's claim that some states are heading in the right direction, and in the past week several of the states he's mentioned have begun to flatten the curve of new cases, but they're still exponentially higher than where they were two months ago and show no signs of "rapidly head down very soon."
Tribal communities
Trump touted his administration's work serving tribal communities by noting that "under the CARES Act we provided $8 billion" to tribal communities who are "very vulnerable to this horrible plague." He also claimed it is the "largest investment in Indian country in US history. There has never been an investment that big in Indian country."
Facts First: It's not true that the Trump administration has provided $8 billion to tribal communities. While the CARES Act did allocate $8 billion in funding to tribal communities, only 60 percent of it has actually been disbursed so far, and that only happened after a lawsuit was filed against the Trump administration to release the money. It's unclear if and when the rest will be released.
Protests in Portland and Seattle
Trump claimed that coronavirus cases in both cities have increased as a result of these recent protests.
"In the wake of the recent mass gathering Americans have witnessed in the streets of Portland and Seattle, we are also tracking a significant rise in cases in both metropolitan areas because of what's been going on," Trump said.
Despite these gatherings of sometimes large amounts of people, the protests have had a limited impact on coronavirus cases so far, possibly in part because the protests took place outdoors, where the virus is transmitted less efficiently than in indoor spaces; possibly in part because a significant percentage of protesters wore masks; and possibly because some non-protesters may have reduced their in-person interaction as they tried to avoid the protests.
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