The Left's disturbing reaction to Trump's coronavirus diagnosis

Oct. 2, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “The Ingraham Angle” October 2, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: -- Laura Ingraham and this is "The Ingraham Angle" from Washington tonight.

In moments, my medicine cabinet tells you everything you need to know about the President's prognosis, and we're going to lay out exactly how he's being treated. And if you've been watching us from the start of this pandemic, you know that this is insight you will not get anywhere else on television tonight.

And Raymond Arroyo has sifted through some of the more disappointing and the ugliest commentary following the President's diagnosis. We expose it and including the worst offenders ahead.

But first, the president keeps fighting. That's the focus of "Tonight's Angle." Now, lots of things were going through my mind today and tonight, and I've decided to do something a little different. I'm just going to share kind of my feelings and my thoughts on this day.

Now, I've been part of the conservative movement since really the mid-1980s when I was in college. And I have never ever seen the American people respond to a candidate with such an outpouring of affection as they do for Donald Trump, for the first lady, and for his entire family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROWD CHANTS: We love you! We love you! We love you! We love you!)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't say that. I'll start to cry. That wouldn't be good for my image.

(CROWD CHANTS: Four more years)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The first Trump rally that I ever attended was two nights before the last election in 2016 in the Fairgrounds at Leesburg, Virginia. Now this was an event that was - I guess, it was thrown together kind of at the last minute. And it was the last stop in a five state, one day swing for the campaign.

Now, not many people thought that Donald Trump would win back then, especially in the increasingly liberal Commonwealth of Virginia. But nevertheless, they came out. And I'm talking thousands and thousands of people waited hours and hours. They were trudging through this very cold night, over this dirt road to get to this Fairgrounds when they knew only, I think, about 2,000 people could get into the little pavilion that was there.

And they waited until midnight, when Donald Trump finally arrived. And I've never seen anything like it. I knew that night that he would win. I said so. And I knew it was something very special. Those people in Virginia, back then, they were making a statement, taking a stand for the country they loved.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

Now the president, he's never gotten much credit for how much love and how much admiration he's inspired among his millions of supporters. And I think sometimes we all get wrapped up - and it's what I do for a living. We get wrapped up and watching every moment of cable television or reading every tweet or everything on social media.

And you would think that - to read of some of this that Donald Trump has only triggered anger and resentment, especially over the last six months.

But for millions of us, millions of you, he's been a champion for the middle class. He's been a champion for working families, like the family I came from in New England. And those people hadn't seen much of a real wage increase since about the year 2000. And then Trump came along.

You see for about 30 years conservatives were promised so much by so many politicians, and too many of them just failed to deliver. But on issue after issue, he has delivered. Whether we're talking about fighting for the steel workers in Pennsylvania or taking on China and trade negotiations or enforcing the border, bringing our troops home, fighting for peace in the Middle East, been nominated for three Nobel prizes, and standing up for life. He's already achieved an enormous amount for us, and he says he's just getting started.

The idea in the end, right behind this thought, this understanding of democracy is that voters, through elections, can actually make a difference. They can change policy. And Trump's America First agenda, did change policy and it's a real threat. It's a threat to the globalist who have amassed enormous power and fortunes on the backs of the American workers.

Many of those people who are opposing Trump today, the really wealthy ones, the real connected ones, they've bet big on China. And so naturally, they're fiercely fighting against Trump's reelection. Yet the President is undeterred.

You think about how much he's endured in the five years since it came down that golden escalator, announcing his presidential run. He's come under investigation. He's been unlawfully surveilled. They tried to - they impeached him, they tried to convict him. He's been accused of pretty much everything from treason to racism, to fascism to xenophobia. As someone I've known for 20 years, and I'll tell you, none of it is true, none of it.

He and his family have been vindicated time and time again. While his accusers have never been held to account for the lies and the false charges they keep leveling. Yet, despite all this, despite all that he's gone through, and now of course as a positive COVID patient, he's never stopped working day and night to achieve a stronger, more prosperous, more secure America for millions and millions of you, who thought you had been left behind.

So watching Donald Trump walk to Marine One tonight on the way to Walter Reed, it was very emotional for so many of us, who've seen him as the indispensable man in the fight for us to maintain our freedoms, and our way of life.

I know President Trump isn't Catholic. But in our faith today it's a Feast of Guardian Angels. It's an important feast day. And I know that the faithful all across America are praying fervently for a speedy recovery and those angels are watching over him tonight.

So while you're recovering, Mr. President, don't worry, we'll take up the slack, because you fought for us and do not fear for a moment, because now we're going to fight for you. And that's "The Angle."

We now want to focus on the medical questions behind the President's diagnosis, otherwise, I'm going to start crying. What treatments he might be getting now and in the future? And what else might lie ahead? To help us sort through it all we're joined by my medicine cabinet. Dr. Stephen Smith, Founder of the Smith Center for Infectious Diseases and Urban Health; and Dr. Ramin Oskoui, a Cardiologist and CEO of Foxhall Cardiology; and Dr.

Jayanta Bhattacharya, Stanford Epidemiology Professor, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Dr. Oskoui, you and Dr. Smith have been with us since the very, very beginning of this pandemic, tell us what lies ahead for the president potentially?

DR. RAMIN OSKOUI, CEO, FOXHALL CARDIOLOGY: Well, I think what he's undergone today is a series of tests. I suspect he's gotten extensive bloodwork looking at Interleukin 6 level, ferritin, LDH. These are common predictive indices to get a sense of how severe his case is. I think he'll get supportive care, possibly a chest CT scan, and he'll rest, something I think he's allergic to. And that will give us a sense of his prognosis going forward.

INGRAHAM: And President Trump put out this video statement tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want to thank everybody for the tremendous support. I'm going to Walter Reed Hospital. I think I'm doing very well. But we're going to make sure that things work out. The first lady is doing very well. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. I will never forget it. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, what do you see in that video? Does that give us any sense of the President's condition? Or does he look OK? some people thought he looked a little pale. But my goodness, we were relieved to see him.

DR. JAYANTA BHATTACHARYA, STANFORD EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR: Yes, I mean, I think he's holding up all right, from what I understand. From the reports, he's had a mild fever and some cough, which are mild symptoms really for COVID and especially for someone his age with COVID. I mean, it looked to me like a mild case of COVID at this point,

INGRAHAM: Dr. Smith, this is what CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta said about the possibility of President Trump taking hydroxychloroquine again. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": See chloroquine in the past, or he said he had, is that something he - if he wanted to take, he would be given?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If I were his doctor, I would say, well, this does not offer any benefit. I would not be the doctor that would prescribe it who prescribed it to him last time without any medical evidence. It happened, so could it happen again? Possibly. But he shouldn't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dr. Smith, I don't know how many COVID patients Sanjay Gupta has treated over the past six months, but I know you've treated over 200.

DR. STEPHEN SMITH, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: Yes, well over 200 now.

Over 200 hospitalized patients and over 75 or 50 more outpatients. We have our own data. We're working and gathering data. We know it works. We know the combination works. The combination we're using is based on Dr. Raoult's regimen of hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin.

We use extended doses compared to the trivial dose that has been tested and reported on many times in this country. Yes, there's plenty of data to support hydroxychloroquine's efficacy in COVID. It's, again, easier to show a trial doesn't work, show that an agent doesn't work then to show it works. And yet the - there are plenty of trials showing that hydroxychloroquine, especially with azithromycin works. So I just didn't - why Dr. Gupta - I don't - it's tough for me to take him seriously--

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Yes. And this - and Dr. Smith, this is a statement of the White House Physician Sean Conley about what the President is taking. "Following the PCR-confirmation of the President's diagnosis, as a precautionary measure, he received a single eight-gram dose of Regeneron's polyclonal antibody cocktail.

In addition to the polyclonal antibodies, he's been taking Zinc, Vitamin D, Famotidine, Melatonin and a daily Aspirin." Dr. Oskoui, what are your thoughts there on this treatment? And especially the Regeneron, we don't hear that he is taking HCQ, which is interesting.

OSKOUI: Yes, the Regeneron medication is new. It appears at this point to reduce symptoms side effects. I think the risk there is that there is very little risk in terms of a side effects of the drug. I think what's notable is the use of Vitamin D, and Zinc, and Pepcid. All these drugs have been shown to be very, very beneficial in COVID patients.

And in fact, Vitamin D specifically has been shown to be depleted in patients who get the most severe cases. This is something that I think is the lost opportunity as to press patients who are healthy to take Vitamin D and replete themselves in zinc as well. It's a good cocktail.

INGRAHAM: Well, Dr. Bhattacharya, there's been a lot of chatter about the President's comorbidities today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT COSTA, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: There are concerns at the highest level of the federal government about the president's possible comorbidities, his age, his health.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's just call a spade a spade here. President Trump is 74. That puts them in a high-risk group. He's a man. that puts them in a high-risk group.

DR. ERIC TOPOL, PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE: We know those features really carry a high risk of running into trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, the president is likely in a higher risk category. But doesn't the CDC data that just came out show that even over the age of 70, there's a 94.6 percent survival rate for patients over that age. And obviously, the President is getting supreme care.

BHATTACHARYA: Yes, that's accurate. So - and those data come from what are known as seroprevalence studies, looking at how many people actually have been infected by COVID, and looking at how many people died from it. At age 74, and slightly - and somewhat overweight, that does put them in a high- risk group. But still, even with that, there's a very, very high chance of survival - 95 percent, absolutely.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Smith, again, in seeing what is being said today about the president's culpability and in allowing this situation to reach the point where it is today where he ends up in the hospital. Just your thoughts on that, as someone who's seen so many patients since the beginning of this pandemic,

SMITH: Well, what - I don't understand their argument. What do you do? He went out and did his job and he interacted with people. That's what put at risk. And that's what I do and the colleagues like me, do every day. Nurses do this, EMS squads do this. We put ourselves in front of COVID patients every day. And apparently, the President Trump and his campaigning did similarly.

We have to face this disease is there. It's going to be around for a while.

It's definitely not what it was when we understand it more. We have treatments that work. We have to acknowledge those treatments. We have risk factors that are very clear. We know what those are, we have to identify those people at risk and protect them more.

But we have to deal with this disease head on. We can't just go in a bunker and stay there. And, that's been my attitude from the start. I wasn't super anxious to go into the first COVID patient's room either, but I did.

INGRAHAM: Yes. And Dr. Oskoui that's such a great point that Dr. Smith just made, that the president, like all these other people who are out - he's an essential worker. The American people need to see their president. This is not like some you know, Kim Jong-un, who appears every two months and writes a script to make himself. Look, he has to be out with the people

and--

OSKOUI: Well, I think absolutely, and what you see is really the general that goes to the frontlines and fights with the troops. He says we should get to work, we need this economy working and he works. He's not the general that sits in the cafe in Paris, and telegraph's to the front lines, you need to do this, you need to do that.

He's, one of us. He's one of those people who are really engaged in the economy and the world, not hiding in his basement. I think it speaks very well of him. And I think it really should be a shining light for all of us.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, the - again, this idea that somehow this was all preventable. CNN was over and over again, beating that drum tonight.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: In the case of Hope Hicks, for example, if she became symptomatic on Wednesday, it's likely she was most contagious in the two to three days before you become symptomatic. This is really concerning and didn't need to happen if some - again, basic public health protocols have been followed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, to the point of contact tracing and tracking with a disease that has 40 percent asymptomatic cases, and a 14 day infection or incubation period, how do you - how would you put in all these protocols on a national basis, and have it actually be effective?

BHATTACHARYA: I mean, it's interesting, because the White House in order to see the president or the vice president, you have to get tested. I mean, actively, almost every everyone that sees him is tested. These kinds of protocols that we're just hearing about are not possible everywhere, and even with these protocols, the president got infected.

The kind of protocols that people are talking about to stop the disease don't work. They just don't. You can see how widespread the disease is. And I think it's sort of glib to say that the president should have put in more protocols, when, in fact, a huge number of protocols were in place, and in some sense, they failed.

So I think that - it's - that's a lesson for the rest of us. You put on a mask, you think you're safe. But it's not - you're not safe. The mask doesn't protect you from getting disease. It doesn't guarantee that you're not going to spread the disease either.

Six feet distance, there's some - I mean, fine. It's reasonable that if your public health authorities are telling you to do that. But at the same time, there is no guarantee. This is an infectious disease, it will spread.

The good news is that it does - it's not as deadly as people think it is.

The president who's has all these risk factors is 95 percent survival.

Other people - younger people who will get it, frankly, that more kids have died from the flu this year than from COVID. It's not as - it's a disease we should take seriously, at the same time, we should live our lives.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Smith, just on that point, again, from the very beginning, you've taken a very cautious and very pragmatic approach to this from the over the counter medications that people can take just to keep themselves healthy. And some good data out there on Vitamin D3, and Zinc, taken as supplements every day for pretty much most Americans. But the panic being sown for political reasons is really reprehensible - reprehensible today.

SMITH: Yes, it is. What it's doing is dissuading people from getting tested. I've had a few colleagues and friends call me recently, after being exposed to a loved one or at work or something and somebody who's positive, or in a meeting, say, in Jersey recently. And if you discourage people as far as quarantine if you're exposed to someone who was sick, and especially if (inaudible) you're going to do it to doctors, because then we never see people working (ph) forever.

So it doesn't make sense. You're doing the opposite of what we need. You need open tests. You need a pragmatic approach. You need to have more and more testing of those who are exposed, not quarantine. And you have to practice safe practices for sure. But - well, what that impact will do, that negative consequences, unintended consequences of enforcing quarantines all the place is no one's going to test it. That's the last thing we want or unless you want to just go free.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, the media made sure Dr. Oskoui to lash out at the president of course, for not following their orders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is tragic and the president beers a so much responsibility for this, given the way he has talked about masks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --irresponsible and totally unethical.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't need to happen.

COOPER: President Trump, as you know, rarely wears a mask. He has held large rallies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we're seeing the real world implications.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dr. Oskoui, now usually after big events, the media tells us that there's going to be super spreading, right? It's going to be a super - every event that the President has ever gone to, ever attended, has been a super spreader event. But it's rarely, if ever borne out. So the fact that it took him this long, frankly, to get a positive test, that in and of itself, should actually be - I mean, I was reading one doctor that it's reassuring to people. He's met thousands and thousands of people over the last six months.

OSKOUI: He has. I mean, he's shaken hands with cadets at the military academies. He's out in the world. He's traveled broadly. This is someone who's actually engaged the world and asked us to do the same cautiously.

In terms of wearing a mask, he walked out he was wearing a mask. We see him wearing a mask. I think all Americans understand that they've got - these are risk issues. But, again, he's taken seemingly almost every precaution.

And this happens, life is risk. You have to learn to grade it. And in terms of his own health, and wellbeing I suspect, he'll do very well, because of it.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, finally, you know, Dr. Oskoui brings up this great point of, somehow in this country we've gotten to the point - I think a lot of it is media driven, frankly, and politically, politically driven - that we can eliminate all risk in life. That we're - no one's ever going to get sick if we do this, that or the other thing, and we're never - and no one ever dies of anything except COVID. I don't know how we got there. But we're here.

BHATTACHARYA: Yes, it's really unfortunate that people are starting to think. I mean, if you think on one risk alone, you're actually going to end up taking many other risks you didn't even know you're taking. So, I mean, I've seen people who are more afraid of COVID than cancer. They have cancer, they won't get chemotherapy, because they won't go to the doctor because - to get chemotherapy because they're so afraid of COVID.

Everything we do in life involves tradeoffs and thinking about those tradeoffs is part and parcel of how we live our lives. And I think, here we have a good lesson in understanding that we have to live our lives through those tradeoffs, not cower in our bunker, because of - in fear of one risk, when in fact, a whole bunch of other risks that we end up taking that we don't even realize we're taking as a result of it.

INGRAHAM: Yes. And Dr. Smith, don't you agree that we've terrorized children about COVID? I mean, we have terrorized kids. My own kids are like I don't want to get COVID. You're fine. But children are terrified.

SMITH: Yes. I was walking my dogs, really went past the house where a neighbor lives. And when - we're doing some testing locally, and this girl was six years old, and I called her dad, I've known for like, 30 years. And when he said, OK, she did backflips. She was so excited to get tested for it.

But she's the exception. Most of these kids are extremely afraid of it and the impact of a mask on two, three, four year olds that are wearing masks for six, seven, eight months is - you don't know. Of course, there's a risk of being tased. That it can happen too.

So the one thing about the mask that really bothers me, we don't know what they do. There's no data to say that they do - they protect you this way and that way, and this kind of mask worn in this way, this situation. The mask, just don't have data. I don't care if you wear a mask. Understand, we don't know if there's does anything for you.

And again, the CDC actually, has alluded to - recommended them - in case you were an asymptomatic carrier, so you didn't spit out particles containing COVID to the people around you, but that's not proven at all.

These masks just kind of divert the droplets. They don't redirect them.

They don't filter it.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

SMITH: So we just don't know if they do anything.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well--

SMITH: I don't really understand that. It's a false sense of security.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, Biden was touching his mask several times today when he was speaking.

SMITH: Yes, I mean, that's the problem. Take that mask off. To further that point, when I go to COVID patient's room I have a mask on, but that's to protect me from getting dropped to my skin. I take that off and throw it away. I'm one of the few health care workers that still does that. That's we were taught that's droplet precaution.

INGRAHAM: My panel--

SMITH: That's false sense of security.

INGRAHAM: Yes. I panel, it's just such a great conversation. I could not think of three better people to have on tonight. Thank you so much.

And breaking news, just moments ago, former counselor to the president, Kellyanne Conway, testing positive for COVID-19. She tweeted, "My symptoms are mild like cough and I'm feeling fine. I began a quarantine process in consultation with physicians. As always my heart is everyone affected by this global pandemic." Now we're going to monitor any developments that come throughout the hour, of course.

Now, for months, we've been told that massive amounts of testing was the only way to beat this virus. But as we were just saying with the medicine cabinet, Trump's diagnosis seems to fly in the face of that narrative. Yet, there was Joe Biden earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We need regular testing. With results turned around rapidly, those who test positive need to participate and contact Tracy so that everyone who they may have exposed can get tested themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, the author of Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns, Alex Berenson is with us tonight. Alex. So the lesson here is that viruses find a way, no matter what amount of testing we have, because at the White House, they pretty much have the most testing that you can have. Anyone who comes in direct contact with the President is tested. So can testing and in contact tracing really work with this type of disease that has so much asymptomatic spread?

ALEX BERENSON, AUTHOR, UNREPORTED TRUTHS ABOUT COVID-19: Well, it's a very interesting point you raised, Laura, because actually Japan, for example, and Taiwan - these East Asian countries have done almost no testing and they've had less viral spread and less - and fewer deaths from the virus than almost anywhere else in the world. And people are arguing about why that might be. But it almost sometimes seems like if you don't test for the virus, you don't find the virus and you don't find the consequences from the virus.

As for contact tracing, that's something else that sort of the public health bureaucracy has pushed very hard. Unfortunately, for them in the real world people don't want to respond to contact tracers, they don't want to respond and answer the phone if they've had a positive test. They don't want to tell the tracers who they've been in contact with. And when the tracers reach out to those people, many of those people will not answer the phone either. And so contact tracing doesn't actually seem to work very well in the real world, and certainly doesn't work very well when a virus is quite widespread.

I mean, one of the things that that I've said to you before, is that, unfortunately, we're looking for all these solutions and all these magic bullets here, and the virus spreads. It spreads whatever we try to do. And there are ways we can try to slow the spread, but aside from really, really harsh lockdowns there doesn't seem to be anything we can do that meaningfully slows the spread in terms of government activity.

INGRAHAM: Alex let me jump--

BERENSON: Telling people to stay six feet away, telling people to wash their hands, telling people if you're sick, don't go out, those things make a difference. But these really big government programs haven't seemed to make much difference.

INGRAHAM: But Alex, that's where we're headed under President Biden. All of his top advisors are pushing a national lockdown. They are - that is - when you press them on a national strategy, they have - they say all the things that Trump's already done, and then they say mask mandate - masks forever, we'll never take masks off. And then they say where necessary - whatever they call it isolation lockdown. What will that do--

BERENSON: Yes, I mean, that--

INGRAHAM: --to a society? Alex, what's happened to Europe with those lockdowns? Disaster.

BERENSON: Well, I mean, absolutely. I mean, lockdown certainly crushed the economy. Even in the U.S., you can see the difference between states that have had harsh lock downs and have not. Another thing that public health experts like to say is, the economy can't recover if people are scared of the virus. It turns out that's actually not true at all.

Across the Sunbelt, the economy's this summer recovered strongly, despite the fact that there was a lot of virus and a lot of panic pouring from the rest of the media, trying to scare people. You know which economies did not recover? Places like Hawaii that where under harsh lockdown even without a virus.

Most people are actually willing to live with this. They have - after six months they have some idea of what the risks really are to them. I mean, obviously, if you're watching too much, MSNBC and CNN, you don't have a real idea of what the risks are. But most people do.

By the way, the W.H.O. Dr. Mike Ryan said today - this is according to the "Irish Times," that the WHO estimates that 750 million people have already gotten and recovered from the coronavirus.

INGRAHAM: Wow.

BERENSON: If that's true. If that number is right, then the death ratio is about zero - it's one in 750, which is only a little bit higher than an average seasonal flu year. So what that says is if that number is right - and that's not my number, that's the W.H.O. number, then this virus is quite contagious in some places, more contagious than the flu, but actually is only marginally more deadly than the flu.

And, of course, that story, that statement got no attention. And by the way, we will see what happens with the W.H.O. once people do pick up on this. If W.H.O. you know tries to walk that back, as they've walked back so many other statements in the past.

INGRAHAM: Yes, Alex what has been really disturbing throughout the six months is, of course, this is a tragedy. A lot of people lost their lives.

There's no doubt about a lot of heartache out there and a lot of suffering.

But the level of misinformation and accusation being leveled at you - forget me, I always get it.

I'm used to it now. It bounces off me. But people who are just trying to put out the data. Stephen Smith has treated 230, 240 COVID patients. Do you think he might know more than, sorry, Dr. Fauci, who has never treated a COVID patient, and he declares x, y, and z as if he's treated hundreds of them.

BERENSON: Laura, I've been shocked by how willing people are to call me a liar. People with big audiences. I quote reputable scientific journals. I quote government data. You may disagree with me and you may say, you know what, even at the levels of sickness and death that we're talking about, we need to lock down, we need to prevent anybody from ever getting this illness. I don't agree with that. I think that that will have so many -- as you're medical panel says, that will have so many follow-on effects, so much negative consequences that if just we focus on one variable, we are ignoring the cost to our society. But don't call me a liar. I quote the data to the best of my ability. I read a ton about this. I talk to a ton of people about this. And if I make mistakes, they're inadvertent. I've been shocked by how willing people on the left are to just dismiss out of hand arguments they don't like.

INGRAHAM: Alex, it's almost like they're using the pandemic as a weapon, a political weapon, instead of this is a tragedy, how can we manage it, what's the data, and how can we minimize the risk without destroying -- we can't destroy the country because of a virus. We just can't do that. We just can't do that in any way --

BERENSON: And destroy children's lives.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

BERENSON: That's the worst part of this is what we have done to children.

INGRAHAM: We were talking about it, especially the most at-risk kids, the minority kids, the kids who can't get a break. And Alex, thank you for being with us tonight.

And in moments, we're going to bring you the latest updates on the president's condition. Kevin Corke is standing by at Walter Reed, and he joins us next. You don't want to miss it. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Let's go live to Walter Reed Medical Center where President Trump is tonight. His staff says he was flown there earlier just out of an abundance of caution. And FOX's Kevin Corke is at the hospital with the latest on the president's condition. Kevin?

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Laura, good to be with you. The president resting comfortably here at Walter Reed. As you mentioned, out of an abundance of caution, he has made his way here. We don't know how long the president will actually be here at Walter Reed. It could be 48 hours.

It could be 96 hours. We know that he is expected to continue to do the work of the American people. So in addition to the testing, and not just the battery of tests but also more treatment, he will continue to work here. In fact, there is fully complimented office suite set up for the president of the United States.

Meanwhile, there is a great deal of concern not just about the president but also the first lady who, as you know, has tested positive for COVID-19, as have a number of other luminaries in the president's orbit. Among them, I just found this out, Kellyanne Conway, who has just written tonight on Twitter, she has tested positive for COVID-19. She says her symptoms are mild with a light cough, and she is feeling fine, and she is beginning the quarantine process in consultation with her physicians.

We'll continue to monitor how the president does, and as we get more information, naturally we will pass it along to you and to the nation, and for that matter, the world. Hopes the president and the first lady and others will recover. Laura?

INGRAHAM: Kevin, great to see you. Thanks for being there tonight.

And it's not unusual for the president to -- any president -- to get sick or have health problems. They're human after all. We sometimes forget that.

But the president's diagnosis seems to have taken on historic importance, and many are drawing parallels with Ronald Reagan's brush with death in 1987. There is no one better to turn to now than Craig Shirley, presidential historian and Ronald Reagan biographer. Craig, it's wonderful to see tonight. Put this moment in some historical context for us.

CRAIG SHIRLEY, RONALD REAGAN BIOGRAPHER: Well, I remember 1981 very, very clearly, because Washington was in a complete uproar. The nation was in an uproar. You didn't know what had actually happened at the Hilton that day, that lunch when Reagan gave that Labor Day lunch. As a matter of fact, when Hinkley shot him and Jerry Parr threw Reagan in the back of the limousine.

Reagan actually didn't know he had been shot. He thought when Parr piled on top of him and was laying on the back of the limo, he thought he had actually broken a rib or cracked a rib. And he yelled at Parr. He said Jerry, get off of me. And he sat up in the back of the limo. And Parr saw that foamy blood was coming from Reagan's lips.

The limo was originally going back to the White House, but he immediately ordered it to go to George Washington Hospital. It was probably that decision that saved Reagan's life, because Reagan was bleeding internally and his lungs were filling up with blood. And he may have actually drowned in his own blood if they had gone to the White House.

But the day was just a complete disaster in terms of communication. Frank Reynolds of ABC went on national television and announced the death of Jim Brady and then had to retract it live on national television. We had --

INGRAHAM: Craig, but to bring it to a parallel to today, of course, we didn't have social media in 1981. Thank God. It was a better time.

SHIRLEY: That's what I was getting to, yes.

INGRAHAM: We didn't have social media. So take to us present day and how the recriminations and the nastiness. That might have happened in 1981, because they hated Reagan in 81. Might have happened had they had social media.

SHIRLEY: Yes, well, here's the way I best contrast 1981 with today, Laura is that Tip O'Neill, who was Reagan's bitter enemy, slipped in the back of the George Washington Hospital that evening on no media, no CNN, no "Washington Post," by himself. He took Reagan and held him by the hand. He got on his knees and together they recited the 23rd Psalm. And then he up and kissed Reagan on his forehead, and then he said please, God, don't take this one, obviously a reference to President Kennedy.

But there was true bipartisanship. And I remember when Reagan spoke to the Congress six weeks after his -- the assassination attempt, and the rousing reception he got from both sides of the aisle. So there was more comedy, there was more getting along to go along. There was more trying to find common ground in those days than there is today. There's no doubt about it.

There's more hate in the atmosphere today than there was in 81. And I remember, people hated Ronald Reagan.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Today "The L.A. Times" published a disgusting piece. "When Reagan was shot, country rallied around, but he hadn't spent months downplaying assassins." Craig, close out on that.

SHIRLEY: Well, Laura, it's symptomatic of the atmosphere we live in today.

Sometimes these fights remind me of a high school fight because the fights are so bitter because they're over such really little things. I guess the best thing is that for Trump to do and the White House to do is project an image. And that's why I thought his walk to the helicopter was important today because it signaled to the American people that the affairs in Washington, the affairs of government go on. Even though he's sick, he's projecting an image of strength, just like Reagan did in 81 when he walked into the hospital even though they wanted to put him on a gurney.

INGRAHAM: Craig, great to see you tonight. Thanks so much.

And CNN reported earlier tonight that the president was short of breath. A senior administration official, though, tells FOX News that's not just wrong, it's downright disgraceful.

So let's bring in our second medicine cabinet for some perspective on this.

Dr. Scott Jensen, physician and Minnesota state senator, Dr. Williams Grace, oncologist and hematologist, and Dr. Michael Orlov, cardiologist at Sr. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Grace, let's start with you.

How irresponsible is it to push out this information given what's at stake for the nation?

DR. WILLIAM GRACE, ONCOLOGIST AND HEMATOLOGIST: I think it's disgraceful because we don't know what his pulse is, what his respiratory rate is. And certainly, when he went to the helicopter, he didn't look like he was at all in extremis. So I think it was rather reckless.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Jensen, you and I have discussed many times before the media's almost sometimes seeming to delight there bad COVID news. Your reaction from the day's events?

DR. SCOTT JENSEN, PHYSICIAN: I think that's exactly right. And it's a part of the sensationalism. It's irresponsible. I know when I had COVID-19 disease about six weeks ago, I thought it was simply my allergies kicking up, and four or five weeks later when I found out that someone I had been close to had tested positive, I went and had my serology done and I converted to a positive IgG antibodies.

This is a disease that 90 percent of people are either not going to know they had or they're going to mistake it for something else. President Trump has told us, and we've seen it. He's comfortable. He's got a low-grade fever. He's having conversations with his doctor. And for media to step in and elevate symptoms and just conjure things up, it plays poorly with the public, and frankly, it's a part of what is fracturing the trust with the public, which is not buying it.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Vin Gupta, guys, he was not impressed, apparently, with the president's treatment regimen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VIN GUPTA, MSNBC MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: In no case have I heard of a patient getting an experimental infusion of an antibody cocktail. It makes no sense that that would be the approach here. Is there something concerning they're seeing in his lab work and his vital signs, like his oxygen level? Why is the pulse oximeter showing? Why is the president getting potentially a therapeutic, an early stage therapeutic, and many other people across the country are probably wondering, why not me?

This smells a bit dangerous. There's not any clarity on why they're actually doing what they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: By the way, they didn't reveal, Dr. Orlov, that Vin Gupta is actually an adviser to the Biden campaign. So you say, Dr. Orlov, that this antibody cocktail was actually a courageous decision. So your thoughts on who you just heard?

DR. MICHAEL ORLOV, ST. ELIZABETH'S MEDICAL CENTER: I think it was a very courageous decision to try something that is promising and new. I think the president himself opened the venue for that sometime ago. If you can try something new if you have disease that is lethal, why not let it happen?

And I think it was a courageous decision here. I'm not saying that the president is at risk, because I think, as we have mentioned already, and as you have spoken many times about, he is not at risk. His cardiovascular status is perfect. We don't know of any illnesses. But the viral load and this cocktail of antibodies, it reduces the viral load. It improves immunity. Why not use it?

INGRAHAM: Dr. Grace, everything we now know about how it seems that this coronavirus seems to have weakened, given the hospitalization rates that are declined across most of the country. There are upticks here and there.

And the mortality of the disease and the number of deaths per day have gone down. That should give people reassurance tonight.

GRACE: Yes, I think that people are reading about this disease and looking at some of the data that's coming on the mainstream media and even on this media, that there are a number of things people can do to protect themselves. In particular, the ingestion of Vitamin D even in very over the counter doses appears to lower the risk of getting COVID-19 at least symptomatically by 77 percent. And then there is the published data on the University of Cordoba in Spain which used high-dose, prescription strength of Vitamin D, 50,000 units twice a week, on the inpatient manifestation of this disease, and found that it dramatically reduced the risk of death to zero and dramatically reduced the 50 percent ICU burden down to two percent. And I know that the president is currently taking that dose.

INGRAHAM: Yes, Vitamin D and zinc seem to be, at the very least, a wonderful over the counter.

I want to go to Dr. Jensen. Again, Dr. Jensen, you had COVID six weeks ago, and a lot of people are trying to find humor in this difficult time for the country and certainly for the president's family, that now that he has been infected with the coronavirus, it's highly unlikely that any time soon he would be at risk again. So there's all sorts of memes going around that Trump is Superman when, God willing, he emerges from this.

JENSEN: That's a great point. And I know that I have taken care of probably two or three dozen patients that have had COVID-19, and I think of one gentleman who was 85 years old, was hospitalized for a couple weeks, and when he came out he was on six liters of oxygen. And we were able to wean him off, and he's now totally recovered. And he had the disease about five months ago. The other day he asked if he could have his antibodies checked to see if he still had antibody protection, and I said that's not a bad idea at all. I've been doing that with some of my other patients. And the fact of the matter is he does have IgG antibodies. So the fact of the matter is President Trump may well be protected going forward.

INGRAHAM: Very interesting. And he will feel even more empowers.

Some breaking new. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy just spoke to the president. And in moments, plus, we have got a lot more Raymond Arroyo up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: We have a breaking news update on President Trump's condition from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy who just tweeted, "I just got off the phone with President Trump. He was upbeat and told me that he appreciates all of the prayers and support from everyone. Our president is strong and will beat this virus."

And just moments later, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sent us a message saying that the president saw the scenes of the supporters outside of Walter Reed Hospital, they're waving the Trump flag and signs of President Trump, and true to fashion, sent his chief of staff to send out there and hand out presidential chocolates to his supporters to thank them.

He saw the scene while watching "The Angle." So I'm glad he is up and about, and at least watching our show to get an update on how the supporters are reacting to the news of his hospitalization. So there you have it.

The media reaction to the president's COVID diagnosis has been just outrageous. FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo has been tracking it all for us. Raymond, what are you seeing?

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, it was sad and distressing to watch how some of the media reacted to this moment. They were blaming the president's positive COVID diagnosis on the president. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: His own dereliction is partly to blame for this. He chose to go to rallies. He chose to downplay masks. He chose to not use social distance and call it a hoax, and so on and so forth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is morbidly obese.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning the president is learning in the worst possible way, you can't argue your way out of this pandemic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president's positive test comes after months of a dangerous gamble -- downplaying COVID-19, flouting public health regulations, and minimizing the dangers of the virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: This is score-settling, Laura, and political commentary coming from reporters and anchors. It's nasty, it's petty. And as your doctors demonstrated earlier in the show, it's untrue. The disease has attenuated.

Deaths are way down, hospitalizations are way down. So he is not underplaying it. The president didn't underplay it. And you know from going to the White House, they test everyone going in. It shows how this virus has mutated in that it can move so freely. And it's very infectious, but not nearly as lethal.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, just for people who missed this, I want to read the message from Mark Meadows, OK. This is the kind of president we have. He's in the hospital with COVID. He sees the supporters out in front of the hospital live on your show. He sends me out to give Trump chocolate kisses to them as a thank you for the love and support they are sending his way.

From Mark Meadows. You can see the video of them being handed chocolates.

Raymond, that makes me hungry. I want some of those chocolates. But that's typical of Trump, right.

ARROYO: Me, too.

INGRAHAM: That's typical Trump.

ARROYO: But some on the far left took the president's COVID diagnosis to the absurd. This is an atheist, feminist writer Naomi Klein. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAOMI KLEIN: We should see Trump getting COVID as the epidemiological equivalent of a mass shooting, where the shooter opens fire on the crowd and turns the gun on himself. This is not a tragic accident. It is a crime scene and should be treated as such.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: I can't even follow this, Laura. Trump is a mass murderer for contracting COVID and not knowing it, even if no one dies.

Some went beyond this lunacy. Former Obama staffer Zara Rahim tweeted "It's been against my moral identity to tweet this for the past four years, but I hope he dies." Laura, think of the brazen viciousness, the inhumanity of comments like that. they are truly Despicable. How is it that what we are seeing, they're revealing how partisan they are, and they truly feel this way, they wish death on the president. And it shows you ideology is at the center of their lives and how dangerous that can be when that blinds everything else, and removes humanity entirely.

INGRAHAM: You know what I like to think of? I like to think of the chocolate kisses going out to his supporters, because I think bad situations, Raymond, right -- tragedies, difficulties, hardship, you really see what people are made of.

ARROYO: I agree. I agree.

INGRAHAM: We had a president who decided America has to continue. We can't lose the country because of a virus. We have to go back to living with precautions. And he's the ultimate essential employee for the United States, OK.

ARROYO: And he's been sensible about COVID but not overreacting. And when he emerges from this, not only will he garner great sympathy, but people will look to him and say, look, he went through this, and he is continuing to work.

And the other canard that's been blown away in all this, Laura. Remember the stories that Donald Trump and Melania, they are not together, they live separate lives. They were both diagnosed with COVID, Barron was not. That narrative is blown to hell with this diagnosis, which a lot of people may have missed. I didn't.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Of course, you didn't, Raymond, but we'll make sure you get some Hershey's kisses.

ARROYO: Bring it on. I need it.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, thank you.

Before we go tonight, I wanted to get some good news that broke earlier today. The Michigan Supreme Court struck down Governor witless Whitmer's COVID power grab because it lacked the approval of the state legislature.

The court's majority ruled "It is in no way to diminish the present pandemic for this court to assert that with respect to the most fundamental propositions of our constitutional system of governance, with respect to the public institutions that have most sustained our freedoms over the past

183 years, there must now be some rudimentary return to normalcy." Here, here.

That is all of the time we have tonight. Prayers to President Trump and his family. Shannon Bream and the "FOX News at Night" team take it all from here. Everyone, hug your family. Have a good weekend.

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