U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on his way to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on September 30, 2020 in Washington, DC.

President Trump’s physician said he’s “fatigued but in good spirits” in a Friday afternoon letter laying out his current treatment after testing positive for the coronavirus.

In a letter released by the White House, Sean Conley, Trump’s doctor, also said that first lady Melania Trump “remains well, with only a mild cough and headache.”

Conley said that Trump had received a dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody treatment and was also taking famotidine, vitamin D, zinc, melatonin and aspirin. Notably, Trump was not administered hydroxychloroquine, a drug he long championed.

An update from President @realDonaldTrump's physician: pic.twitter.com/cTsXO4Df6b— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 2, 2020



Kayleigh McEnany on Twitter

Trump announced at 1 a.m. EST Friday morning that he’d been diagnosed with COVID-19. He hasn’t made any public comments since, including an unusually long stretch of silence on Twitter. And while the White House initially said he’d participate in a noon call with governors about senior citizens and coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence instead stepped in for that call.

President Trump has been misleading the public about his health ever since he issued an obviously <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-doc-says-trump-bodyguard-lawyer-raided-his-office-took-n870351" target="_blank">bogus doctor’s note</a> early on in his first run for president. Now, after years of overstating his own physical fitness and months of severely downplaying the threat of the coronavirus, Trump’s second campaign — and the fate of the country — rests on asking Americans to take his word about his health. Trump’s late-night tweet announcing his positive COVID-19 diagnosis threw his campaign and presidency into unpredictable chaos with just a month left before Election Day. The news signaled a reckoning, as Trump’s hostile relationship with the truth has profoundly damaged public confidence in the president’s word. The official line from the White House: Hey, he’ll be just fine! “The president does have mild symptoms,” Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters outside the White House Friday morning. “I’m optimistic that he’ll have a very quick and speedy recovery.” Meadows cast Trump as working away in the White House residence, handing out to-do assignments, and focusing on the economy — as if his stunning diagnosis with the disease he’s played down for months was no big deal. Trump had already canceled in-person events, but the White House schedule still had him joining a phone call about seniors who’d been impacted by the coronavirus. Vice President Mike Pence stepped in instead — but reporters weren’t informed of the change. But Meadows failed to address why Trump continued on to a campaign fundraising event in New Jersey on Thursday even after the White House knew that a top aide who’d been in contact with him, Hope Hicks, had tested positive for the virus. The White House didn’t announce Hicks’ diagnosis; Bloomberg News broke that news. The lag left journalists and pundits wondering what other important updates the administration might be holding back. Trump reportedly skipped the only item on his calendar Friday. In a move loaded with irony, the 74-year-old Trump instead let Pence take his place on a planned call about supporting “vulnerable seniors” during the pandemic. The fluid situation leaves Americans on edge, waiting for news about a president who’s spent years undercutting his own credibility on his health, the safety of the nation, and pretty much everything else. <h2>Trump started his campaign with a lie about his health</h2> Trump’s first press release about his health, attributed to a physician named Harold Bornstein in December 2015, sounded like a transcript of Trump making stuff up — because that’s what it was. The letter hailed Trump as a kind of superman, with “extraordinary” physical health and stamina, “excellent” cardiovascular status, “astonishingly excellent” blood pressure, and tests that show “only positive results.” Bornstein later <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/politics/harold-bornstein-trump-letter/index.html" target="_blank">admitted</a> it was all nonsense. “He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter,” Bornstein told CNN. “I just made it up as I went along.” In January 2018, another doctor gave Trump a similarly over-the-top assessment. Then-White House physician Ronny Jackson hailed Trump’s “excellent” health in similarly Trumpy language. Jackson suggested Trump’s poor habits — including his penchant for Diet Coke and red meat — seemed to be counteracted by good genetics. “Some people have great genes,” Jackson said. The White House hasn’t been straight with reporters about Trump’s health in other key moments, either. When Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed medical center last year, White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham claimed it was because he had a “free weekend” and said he underwent “a quick exam and labs,” while refusing to elaborate on what tests he’d undergone. The New York Times’ Michael Schmidt later <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/book-pence-told-to-be-on-standby-for-trump-hospital-visit/2020/09/01/c945e5d0-ecc5-11ea-bd08-1b10132b458f_story.html" target="_blank">reported</a> in his book that Vice President Pence had been put “on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized” on that day. Pence later <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/31/politics/trump-walter-reed-visit-pence/index.html" target="_blank">said</a> he didn’t recall having been told to be on standby, claiming “there was nothing out of the ordinary” about the visit. Trump later <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1300811758051954695" target="_blank">tweeted</a> that people were lying that he had “suffered a series of mini-strokes” — something that no one had reported. His doctor backed him up, saying in a statement that he hadn’t had any strokes. It’s still unclear what exactly prompted Trump’s last-minute trip to the hospital. On Friday, Meadows refused to answer questions about exactly when the White House learned that close, longtime aide Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus, or to give clearer specifics about what Trump’s “mild symptoms” might actually be. <h2>Pandemic deceptions</h2> Trump’s record of truth on the coronavirus is even worse. He publicly downplayed the risks of the virus for months and decried efforts by states to shut down activity to try to mitigate its spread, even as he privately admitted early on how dangerous the disease might be. In late January, as the first confirmed cases of COVID were identified in the U.S., Trump promised that “we have it completely under control.” On Feb. 7, he told Bob Woodward that the virus was “deadly stuff” and “more deadly than even your strenuous flus." But just days later, on Feb. 10, he proclaimed publicly that it would likely go away “in April with the heat.” On the 28th, Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-african-american-leaders/" target="_blank">declared</a> that the coronavirus was just "going to disappear.” A few days later in early March, Trump dismissed early World Health Organization’s estimates that COVID-19 had a 3.4 % death rate, calling it a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/5/21166031/trump-hannity-coronavirus-who-death-rate" target="_blank">“false number”</a> during a Fox News appearance. On March 10, he said, “It will go away.” The next day, Trump  said that for "the vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low.” When the CDC recommended all Americans wear masks in early April, Trump <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/03/826219824/president-trump-says-cdc-now-recommends-americans-wear-cloth-masks-in-public" target="_blank">said</a> “it’s only a recommendation” and that he was “choosing not to do it.” He refused to wear a mask at any point until July, and since then has only worn one sparingly. On March 19, Trump told Woodward that “I wanted to always play it down... I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic.” A few days later, he <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/v74ny8/trump-says-he-wants-to-lift-coronavirus-restrictions-by-easter" target="_blank">said</a> he wanted the country “opened up” by Easter. He continued to downplay the virus’s risks throughout the spring and summer surge, before pivoting to months of claims that he’d done an excellent job of containing the virus even as the death toll in the U.S. ticked past 200,000 people, the highest per capita death toll in the world. Part of that argument has been misleading claims that the COVID rate had climbed only because more testing was being done, even as the U.S. continued to lag behind other countries in its testing regime. In mid-July, Trump downplayed the massive spike in COVID cases by arguing that it was because of increased testing — and that many positive tests <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/19/892787298/some-young-people-have-the-sniffles-trump-downplays-the-coronavirus-severity" target="_blank">were</a> “young people that would heal in a day.” Less than two weeks ago, Trump <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-it-affects-virutally-nobody-trump-coronavirus-rally/" target="_blank">declared</a> that the virus "affects virtually nobody” except seniors. A <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgxwmp/donald-trump-is-the-single-largest-driver-of-covid-misinformation-study-says" target="_blank">recent study</a> from Cornell University of 38 million English-language articles found that Trump is the “single largest driver” of misinformation about the coronavirus, with 38 percent of all coronavirus misinformation it analyzed tracing back to his claims. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters Friday morning that Trump has “mild symptoms” and was feeling “very energetic,” but declined to discuss any particular treatment Trump might be undergoing, promising a later update from Trump’s doctors. And while he said that the White House found out about Hicks’ positive test on Thursday just as she was preparing to leave on Marine One with President Trump. But he didn’t address why Trump continued on to an indoor fundraising event at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club after they had that information. And Trump’s onstage debate with former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday night put his rival at risk. Trump’s team refused to wear masks at the debate. Biden has tested negative and decided to continue on with his scheduled campaign events. But it’s unclear what impact the White House outbreak will have on future scheduled debates. And until it’s clear exactly how sick Trump is, it’s an open question how much involvement he’ll have in running the country on a day-to-day basis — not to mention whether he’ll be physically fit for another four years in office. With just over one month to Election Day, how Trump fares as he battles the coronavirus will be a crucial issue. And he and the White House have proven you can’t take them at their word for how he’s doing. That leaves the U.S. in a precarious situation heading into a monumentally consequential election. Cover: U.S. President Donald Trump leaves a Coronavirus Task Force news conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, April 2, 2020. Trump tested negative again for the coronavirus and has no symptoms, a White House doctor said. Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Trump’s positive test came after senior White House adviser Hope Hicks tested positive and began showing symptoms. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Friday morning that Trump was experiencing “mild symptoms.” He also said that the White House had known about Hicks’ diagnosis before Trump went to New Jersey yesterday for a fundraiser and speech at his golf club.

Conley said the rest of Trump’s family tested negative for the virus and have not experienced any symptoms.

The letter doesn’t shed much light on Trump’s condition, however, and it’s unclear how much straight information a White House that’s previously [misled reporters](https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7g93d/a-whole-lot-of-people-in-trumpworld-need-to-quarantine) on Trump’s health will provide.

Others who have since tested positive for the coronavirus include Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who attended the Rose Garden ceremony, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, and at least one low-level White House staffer and two reporters who were at the White House in recent days.

Trump’s Doctor Says He’s 'Fatigued But in Good Spirits' After COVID Diagnosis

Trump Has Been Lying About His Health for Years—How Can Americans Trust Him Now?

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