White House doctor wanted to fall through floor after Trump said inject bleach

White House doctor, Dr. Deborah Birx, revealed how she responded after former President Donald Trump alluded to injecting disinfectant to prevent Covid during a press conference.

Dr. Birx, 66, served as the first Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House under Trump. As a longtime pandemic expert, Dr. Birx has experience handling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, malaria pandemic, and more.

"I really understood how practical and common sense you need to make things to work with communities to get everybody to move in the same direction," Dr. Birx said.

Joining George George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America, Dr. Birx recalled Trump's comments made during a press conference on April 23, 2020, where Trump encouraged scientists to study the possibility of injecting disinfectants like bleach into the body to prevent the spread of Covid.

"This was a tragedy on many levels," Dr. Birx said. "I immediately went to his most senior staff, and to Olivia Troye, and said 'this has to be reversed immediately.'"

Sign up for our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Many Americans recall the infamous moment Trump alluded to injecting bleach.

"Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning," Trump said. "Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that."

Sitting nearby, Dr. Birx held a look of discontent on her face, knowing Trump's comments would be detrimental to the public.

Former White House COVID-19 coordinator publishes book on the pandemic l GMAwww.youtube.com

Trump's suggestion came after he met with DHS scientists who were exploring the impact of disinfection and sunlight on children's playgrounds in the hopes more children could go outside to play during the early days of the pandemic.

However, Trump and scientists decided to continue their conversation in front of the cameras, leading to the statement which Trump later claimed was a joke.

During the press conference when Trump then asked Dr. Birx for her input, she immediately rebutted his claim.

"I think he knew by that evening, that clearly this was dangerous," Dr. Birx told Stephanopoulos.

Following the November 2020 election, Dr. Birx decided to step down from her position on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Since then she has written a book about her experience under Trump's administration and joined the George W. Bush Institute as a fellow.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.