White House Trade advisor Peter Navarro was on with CNN this morning to discuss hydroxychloroquine and a dispute he reportedly had with Dr. Fauci over the effectiveness of the drug.
According to reports, Navarro got into it with Fauci after he suggested there isn’t scientific proof yet of the drug’s efficacy:
DC EXAMINER – The incident began when Commissioner of Food and Drugs Stephen Hahn started discussing hydroxychloroquine as a possible “game-changer” in the fight against the COVID-19 virus. Navarro then began passing out folders of data on the drug.
“And the first words out of his mouth are that the studies that he’s seen, I believe they’re mostly overseas, show ‘clear therapeutic efficacy,'” a source familiar with the conversation said. “Those are the exact words out of his mouth.”
Fauci, however, pushed back against the claim, saying the evidence of the drug’s effectiveness in treating the coronavirus was just anecdotal and that more data is needed. According to another source, Navarro pointed to the folders and said to Fauci, “That’s science, not anecdote.”
Despite Fauci’s public praise of President Trump’s China travel ban, the trade official rose his voice and told Fauci, “You were the one who early on objected to the travel restrictions with China.”
“It was pretty clear that everyone was just trying to get Peter to sit down and stop being so confrontational,” a source told Axios.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was able to diffuse the situation, but it left an impression on those present.
“There has never been a confrontation in the task force meetings like the one yesterday,” a person familiar with the argument said. “People speak up and there’s robust debate, but there’s never been a confrontation. Yesterday was the first confrontation.”
So that’s the backdrop and the subject of the CNN interview this morning, where Navarro and Berman go back and forth on the debate about the efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine:
This debate really seems somewhat silly to me. No one is saying we shouldn’t use hydroxychloroquine. In fact FEMA now has a 29 million dose supply of the drug that they are shipping to hospitals and doctors around the country. The debate, as we see in this interview, seems centered around the willingness for some and unwillingness of others to agree on whether it’s effectiveness is PROVEN. Of course it’s not scientifically proven yet and expert doctors like Fauci aren’t going to be happy until we have that. But we are seeing proof that the drug is effective in the field and via preliminary studies and that’s Navarro’s point, and it seems that he wants Fauci and others to admit that as scientific ‘proof’.
It’s almost like they’re getting caught up in a debate over the semantics of whether it’s ‘proven’ when everyone seems to agree, including the FDA, that doctors should be prescribing it for coronavirus patients on a case by case basis, assuming it’s warranted.
Lastly, the interview got heated when Navarro suggested that Berman was letting politics get in the way of wanting what’s best for everyone. It came at the end and wasn’t in the clip above, and I apologize for the small video capture but it’s the only decent one I could find:
‘Don’t you dare!’
CNN’s John Berman tells Peter Navarro for suggesting he wants PEOPLE TO DIE
Berman told Navarro that “we all want the same thing,
Which is people to get better.”
🔥“I’m not sure we do sometimes,” Navarro replied
🙋🏼♂️Who agrees with Peter Navarro? pic.twitter.com/xZVwMf07LC
— ❌🇺🇸Steve🇺🇸🇺🇸America First🇺🇸🇮🇹MAGA🇺🇸KAG (@SJPFISH) April 6, 2020