Trump Claims He Was ’Sarcastic’ When Suggesting People Inject Disinfectant to Cure Coronavirus

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump on Friday attempted to clean up remark he made the previous night about possibly injecting disinfectants into Americans' bodies to kill the coronavirus by saying he was merely being "sarcastic," a claim undermined by video of the comment.

"I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters ... to see what would happen," Trump said Friday as he signed another coronavirus relief bill into law, contending he was asking his medical advisers to examine the impact sunlight has on the virus, not disinfectants, after a health official had described a study suggesting ultraviolet rays quickly kill Covid-19 cells.

Trump set off the latest controversy of his term when he appeared to suggest people could inject disinfectants into their bodies to terminate Covid-19 cells. The remark was almost immediately rejected by doctors on social media, and later by his own public health advisers, including those who were with him in the White House briefing room when he made the jaw-dropping comments.

"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because, you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number," Trump said.

He then instructed his top public health officials – including coronavirus task force member Deborah Birx, a physician who sat statuesque nearby as the president suggested Lysol or 409 injections as Covid-19 treatments – to "check that."

Trump, who often flashes his sense of humor in public – made all of those remarks with a serious tone. His facial expression also was serious, not featuring the playful grin he displays when he is joking or expressing sarcasm.

Trump’s bringing up disinfectant appeared to have been triggered by an acting Department of Homeland Security official mentioning use those products on surfaces to kill the virus.