Attorney General William Barr says some members of the media are waging a “jihad” war against President Donald Trump’s support of using an anti-malaria drug to treat coronavirus patients.
During an interview with Fox's Laura Ingraham, Barr praised Trump’s response to the outbreak and fired back at the media’s coverage.
He said as soon as Trump supported the use of hydroxychloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment, the press began an orchestrated effort to discredit the drug. He said the president has remained patient despite been subjected to a series of "snarky, gotcha questions from the White House media pool.”
"Before the president said anything about it, there was fair and balanced coverage of this very promising drug," Barr said in the interview. "And the fact that it had such a long track record, the risks were pretty well-known. As soon as Trump said something positive about it, the media’s been on a jihad to discredit the drug.”
There is no Food and Drug Administration approved drug or treatment for COVID-19.
Currently, the FDA says, hydroxychloroquine is “under investigation in clinical trials for pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and treatment of patients with mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19.”
Trump has promoted the use of the drug and said the government stocked up on 29 million pills during a recent White House briefing.
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