This week, CNN has been resurrecting a classic example of how just because a large number of allegedly "facts first" journalists make a claim over and over again, that doesn't make it true.
Several times this week during the coverage of the Democratic National Convention, journalists on CNN have peddled the provably false claim that President Donald Trump recommended that Americans "ingest" disinfectants to fight COVID-19.
This week, CNN has gone back to peddling false claims that President Donald Trump suggested that people "drink," "ingest" or "inject" disinfectants like bleach to treat coronavirus. Also repeated has been the disproven claim that the President's comments caused an increase in people calling poison control centers even though the increase in calls actually happened a month earlier as people reacted to the pandemic.
But the allegedly "facts first" liberal media have been only to happy to repeat the discredited claims to smear President Trump even while they accuse him of being the one who's dishonest.
Back on April 23rd, a medical professional with the Homeland Security Department -- Dr. Wiliam Bryan -- gave a briefing in which he reported findings that sunlight and disinfectants are very effective in killing the COVID-19 virus.
President Trump --apparently misunderstanding Dr. Bryan when he recalled using disinfectants on respiratory fluids (meaning outside the body) -- seemed to think doctors had already been experimenting on substances that could be used inside the lungs and asked whether they might be "injected" into the body to fight the virus, citing Dr. Bryan's work, "because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs."
He even made a point of emphasizing that any such research should be done by "medical doctors."
At no point did President Trump even hint that anyone should "drink" or "ingest" anything, nor did he ever use the word "bleach" in his questions.
But, instead of treating the matter as being, at worst, a mildly embarrassing misunderstanding of Dr. Bryan's research, and accurately reporting on it, journalists and other liberals have repeatedly put words in the President's mouth and made provably false claims about what the President actually said as well as blaming him for people poisoning themselves with disinfectants.
if medical doctors might experiment with "injecting" such "disinfectants" into the body: "
CNN's New Day show has been on a roll this week in peddling misinformation as its anchors have not only repeated the falsehood that President Donald Trump suggesting "ingesting bleach" and causing in increase in calls to poison control centers, but also covered for Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical experts who discouraged Americans from wearing masks back in March while more successful East Asian countries were helping their citizens get masks.
At the top of Monday's show, co-host Alisyn Camerota complained:
Camerota also repeated the discredited myth that President Trump suggested that people drink disinfectants and caused a spike in people calling poison control centers when, in fact, the jump in calls to poison control centers happened in March. The CNN host claimed:
CAMEROTA: Let's not forget that President Trump also suggested well after that that one way to get rid of the virus in humans is -- was possibly to ingest bleach. And then hotlines across the country -- medical hotlines, doctors' hotlines, hospitals -- lit up with people wondering if they should be drinking bleach.
But President Trump never used the word "drink," "ingest," or "bleach" as he actually mused mover whether doctors might be able to use "disinfectants" to treat patients via "injecting" them, as he appeared to misunderstand a presentation by Homeland Security medical expert Dr ,William Bryan.
Transcripts follow:
CNN
America's Choice 2020: Democratic National Convention
August 20
2:56 a.m.
DON LEMON: All he's got to do is stand up there and say, "Look, you don't think I'd make a better President? Then you go out there and drink some bleach."
CNN Newsroom
August 18
2:18 p.m.
SANJAY GUPTA: The President talked about disinfectants being, you know, ingested as a possible thing, and I thought, "That's just crazy -- why are we even talking about it?" And then we come to find out that people -- it actually did make an impact, and there were people out there who started doing that sort of thing
CNN Newsroom
August 18
2:42 a.m.
JOHN VAUSE: Is it really that hard to convince wavering Republicans or independents it's okay to vote for a Democrat and against a guy who advised them to drink bleach and eat poison in the middle of a pandemic?
Erin Burnett OutFront
August 17
7:05 p.m.
ERIN BURNETT (after clip from Trump's April 23 press conference): Cleaning of your inside with disinfectant? Several states reported increases to poison control centers after that specific comment you just heard.
The Lead with Jake Tapper
August 17
4:19 p.m.
JAKE TAPPER: After the President mused about injecting disinfectants as a potential treatment for coronavirus, health professionals -- even the makers of Lysol -- had to actually issue warnings -- "Don't ingest disinfectant." Are you worried that there could be a serious risk to people who decide to go and find out about this supplement?
GUPTA: Absolutely. I mean, there's no question. I actually was surprised at how much of an uptick there was in people actually, you know, starting inquiries about Lysol and disinfectants and what's the harm in ingesting it.
The Lead
July 21
JAKE TAPPER: The President mused publicly about ingesting disinfectants.
CNN Newsroom
July 21
JOHN KING: The President left those experts speechless by suggesting, if you ingest bleach or disinfectants, that might help you fight off COVID-19.
CNN Tonight
July 13
10:14 p.m.
DON LEMON: This President has been wrong from the very beginning -- downplaying the virus, encouraging Americans to take a potentially dangerous drug -- even taking it himself -- and suggesting ingesting disinfectant could knock out the virus. And don't say he didn't say it. I've heard so many -- "He didn't say that." It's on videotape, people!
New Day
July 13
6:02
ALISYN CAMEROTA: You'll remember he suggested ingesting bleach to cure the virus.
(…)
6:24 a.m.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Let's not forget President Trump also suggested well after that that one way to get rid of the virus in humans is -- was to possibly ingest bleach, and then hotlines across the country -- medical hotlines, doctors' hotlines, hospitals -- lit up with people wondering if they should be drinking bleach.
Cuomo Prime Time
July 9
9:59 p.m.
CHRIS CUOMO: And then you guys will say this in his defense: "Are you blaming him for what these guys did?" Here's the answer: Yes! And I'll tell you why. Because it becomes saleable because of his suggestion. If the President doesn't tell you that this is something you can do, it's really less likely that you're going to think about drinking bleach.
CNN Tonight
June 23
10:08 p.m.
DON LEMON: And then he suggested ingesting or, you know, you could put it inside the body or maybe through the skin or some other means -- ingesting disinfectant could knock out the virus.
CNN Tonight
June 10
10:29 p.m.
DON LEMON: Maybe because you suggested people ingest disinfectant.
CNN Tonight
May 27
10:16 p.m.
DON LEMON: -- suggested that ingesting disinfectant might be a treatment. I've heard people in conservative media say, "He didn't say that -- that's not what he said." Oh, yeah, he said it. We just played it for you.
CNN Tonight
May 20
10:11 p.m.
DON LEMON: -- the President who downplayed the virus for months, saying it would go away in warm weather, suggesting ingesting disinfectant might be a treatment.
New Day
May 19
7:12 a.m.
CAMEROTA: The President suggested that maybe people should inject bleach because maybe that would do some inside cleaning. The calls to hotlines, Dr. Reiner, spiked, The calls to medical, crisis, you know, overdose hotlines in terms of people asking if they should take bleach, and considering drinking bleach, went up.
Early Start
May 15
5:33 a.m.
LAURA JARRETT: The President has said a number of things that concerned the medical community, like floating the idea of drinking bleach.
CNN Tonight
May 12
10:11 p.m.
DON LEMON: And let's not forget his mind-blowing suggestion that maybe ingesting disinfectant could be a cure.
CNN Special Report: The Pandemic and the President
May 9
11:12 p.m.
JAKE TAPPER: -- an unbelievable and perplexing moment that had people calling hotlines asking if they should be using disinfectant on themselves to combat the virus.
ANA CABRERA: This idea prompted statements from the CDC, the EPA, numerous state health officials, and even the makers of Lysol and Clorox to warn: Do not try this -- it could kill.
TAPPER: Requiring doctors, public officials, and organizations to shift their focus from fighting COVID-19 to actually warning the public not to ingest disinfectant.
The Lead
3:14 p.m.
KATE BOLDUAN: President Trump suggested disinfectants could treat COVID-19 -- yes, that thing he said on Thursday. Well, now, poison control in one state is reporting a dramatic uptick in cases involving cleaning chemicals.
New Day
April 30
6:48 a.m.
JEREMY DIAMOND: The President suggested at one point that Americans might ingest disinfectant in order to cure themselves of the coronavirus.
CNN Tonight
April 27
10:07 p.m.
DON LEMON: The President asked tonight whether he takes any responsibility for an increase in calls to state hotlines about disinfectants -- disinfectants after his comments last week asking whether ingesting disinfectants could fight the virus. Okay, well, we're learning tonight the poison control center in Kansas is reporting a 40 percent increase in cleaning chemical cases -- that is according to the Washington Post.
Erin Burnett OutFront
April 27
7:13 p.m.
BURNETT: Tonight President Trump asked about the spike in calls to poison control centers across the country after he suggested using disinfectants as an ingestible cure.
7:15 p.m.
BURNETT: He is the one who suggested that people somehow inject themselves with these cleaners. So he suggested it, and people did it, and he's shocked?
GLORIA BORGER: Right, look, he's disowning any responsibility for it, which shouldn't be shocking to any of us. But it's remarkable because of course he knows the answer to the question. The answer to the question is, "Yeah, I know what happened. Yeah, it's because I spoke last Thursday. And what I said was tell -- suggest to people that perhaps ingesting disinfectant might help cure coronavirus in some way.
CNN Tonight
April 26
8:05 p.m.
DON LEMON: Some people are taking what the President said seriously. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, saying today that his state's hotline had gotten hundreds of calls from residents asking whether ingesting disinfectant can be a treatment for the virus.
The Situation Room
April 26
7:30 p.m.
WOLF BLITZER: How worried are you about the President's comments, for example, amplifying unproven, even some dangerous treatment theories out there -- ingesting, you know, disinfectants, for example, as he said the other day?
CNN Newsroom
April 26
4:36 p.m.
ANA CABRERA: The President suggested that the coronavirus could be treated by injecting or ingesting disinfectants like bleach.
CNN Newsroom
April 26
3:30 p.m.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: The President's remarks about injecting or ingesting disinfectants to treat the coronavirus created serious concerns in at least one state. Today, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan says health officials in his state were flooded with phone calls about this dangerous theory.
GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): We had hundreds of calls in our hotline here in Maryland about people asking about injecting or ingesting these disinfectants...
State of the Union
April 26
9:29 a.m.
JAKE TAPPER: I understand that you're taking a generous approach to this when it comes to Trump musing aloud, but this is potentially dangerous. I mean, poison control centers got calls from people, and they had to issue statements saying, "Do not internally use disinfectants."
New Day Sunday
April 26
6:05 a.m.
VICTOR BLACKWELL: So after the President's comments on disinfectants on Thursday, the Illinois public health director says that her department has seen a significant increase in calls to poison control over the last two days.
New Day Saturday
April 25
6:19 a.m.
KRISTEN HOLMES: Just to paraphrase one more time so we can be clear what exactly President Trump said. He said that people should look into -- scientists -- whether or not Americans could ingest or inject some sort of disinfectant -- we're talking about bleach or Lysol, something like that -- to clean out the coronavirus from their system.
Anderson Cooper 360
April 24
8:04 p.m.
ANDERSON COOPER: Words, especially the President's words, have serious consequences, Maryland's emergency management agency today had to issue a warning against drinking or ingesting disinfectants after the governor said that the state's coronavirus hotline received more than 100 calls asking about it.
The Situation Room
April 24
6:34 p.m.
WOLF BLITZER: We just saw the President refuse to take any questions after making some very dangerous assertions yesterday about potentially ingesting disinfectant.
CNN Newsroom
April 24
11:02 a.m.
JOHN KING: The President asked aloud whether there might be a way to fight coronavirus by injecting or ingesting disinfectant.
New Day
April 24
6:22 a.m.
JOHN BERMAN: He then also talked about injecting or somehow ingesting bleach or household disinfectant into your body to kill the virus.
MSNBC
All In with Chris Hayes
July 20
8:02 p.m.
ALI VELSHI: He suggested that people might ingest bleach almost as a cleaning to defeat the virus.
The ReidOut
July 20
7:10 p.m.
JOY REID: These are the briefings at which he suggested drinking bleaches of certain, you know, types to cure COVID.
AM Joy
July 12
11:02 a.m.
JONATHAN CAPEHART, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: President Trump has been living and trying to say that the virus will magically disappear or it will disappear if you drink disinfectant or bleach...
The Rachel Maddow Show
July 9
9:03 p.m.
RACHEL MADDOW: He suggested that maybe Americans should ingest disinfectants to clean out the virus from inside our bodies.
The Beat
June 23
6:42 p.m.
STEVE SCHMIDT: We see somebody telling the American people to consume household disinfectants and Lysol and bleach to deal with the coronavirus.
The Beat
June 9
6;24 p.m.
STEVE SCHMIDT: -- telling people to inject household disinfectants -- telling people to drink bleach --
MSNBC Live
June 5
7:14 p.m.
STEVE SCHMIDT, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: -- telling the American people that it's a good idea to ingest bleach or household disinfectants.
Deadline: White House
May 18
4:52 p.m.
JEREMY BASH: This is the President who prescribed injections of disinfectants -- Clorox and Lysol -- and set off a national panic, and tens of thousands of calls into poison control centers.
All In with Chris Hayes
May 8
8:16 p.m.
ZERLINA MAXWELL, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: He's standing on camera telling people to literally ingest disinfectant.
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
May 5
10:08 p.m.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: -- when Donald Trump talk about ingesting disinfectant --
Velshi
May 3
8:27 a.m.
RUTH MARCUS, WASHINGTON POST: The President is doing enough things to damage himself with telling people to drink bleach..
First Look
April 28
5:37 a.m.
YASMIN VOSSOUGHIAN: Some states are reporting a spike to poison control hotlines after he proposed ingesting disinfectants as a coronavirus treatment.
MSNBC Live
April 27
3:03 p.m.
NICOLLE WALLACE: The President of our country told people to ingest bleach.
Morning Joe
April 27
8:10 a.m.
JOHN HEILEMANN: You had bumps in phone calls in to hotlines and department of health lines that day -- hundreds of people asking, calling in to ask the question whether it was okay to eat a Tide Pod or tuck down some Lysol because of what the President said.
Kasie D.C.
April 26
7:27 p.m.
KASIE HUNT: --President did on Thursday which was to suggest that taking bleach or disinfectants internally might help. We've now seen reports from poison control lines, people calling asking if this is something that they should do.
April 26
MSNBC Live
1:08 p.m.
ALEX WITT: And new reaction this morning from two governors who say they are seeing a rise in calls to emergency hotlines, this after the President's comments about injecting disinfectants.
April 26
AM Joy
10:03 a.m.
JOY REID: The President suggested people drink disinfectants to cure COVID-19, forcing companies like the makers of Lysol to issue warnings to please not ingest our products. … New York City poison control center reported that calls about exposure to bleach, Lysol and other household cleaners more than doubled.
11:49 a.m.
REID: Larry Hogan -- the governor of Maryland -- and Gretchen Wittmer -- the governor of Michigan -- both said that they are getting calls into their poison control centers following Donald Trump's comments. … New York poison control calls for bleach, Lysol doubled after Trump made his disinfectant comment. They can try to walk this back all they want, but Donald Trump's supporters believe him. There was a couple that drank cleaning fluid from the fish tank because he said that the chemicals -- that people should ingest certain chemicals to stop COVID-19. Whatever he says, his supporters -- they just believe whatever he says. This is becoming dangerous, at this point, for him to talk.
April 25
MSNBC LIve
7:04 p.m.
ALI VELSHI: We have heard from emergency management in various states that they have had a remarkable uptick in the number of calls, mostly, thankfully, from people who were just calling to see whether it's true -- whether they should consume or ingest disinfectants. That's just a wildly irresponsible thing for the President to have said.
The 11th Hour
April 24
11:02 p.m.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: His words were greeted with revulsion and downright anger on the part of health care professionals. His words caused a spike in calls to poison control.
The Rachel Maddow Show
April 24
9;17 p.m.
RACHEL MADDOW: President of the United States suggested in all seriousness from the White House briefing room that maybe people should try to ingest disinfectants of some kind.
MSNBC LIve
April 24
7:06 p.m.
ARI MELBER: President who's basically floating the idea that people should drink bleach. … I went to high school with a lot of people who weren't as qualified as President Obama -- nobody ever seriously recommended drinking bleach.
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