Meadows: Trump ‘doing well’ after blood oxygen level ‘dropped rapidly’

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said in an interview late Saturday that President Trump is “doing well” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where the president is being treated for COVID-19, after his blood oxygen level “dropped rapidly” Friday morning.

“He is doing extremely well. In fact, I’m very, very optimistic, based on the current results,” Meadows told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, echoing earlier comments from White House physician Sean Conley.

“And as the doctor said, he’s not out of the woods. The next 48 hours or so, with the history of this virus, we know, can be tough. But he’s made unbelievable improvements from yesterday morning, when I know a number of us, the doctor and I, were very concerned,” Meadows said.

“The biggest thing that we see is that, with no fever now and with him doing really well with his oxygen saturation levels, we — yesterday morning, we were real concerned with that. You know, he had a fever and his blood oxygen level had dropped rapidly, … and yet, in typical style, this president was up and walking around and, even as the experts from the medical facilities not only at Walter Reed but also Johns Hopkins, got there, they looked at his situation and recommended that, out of an abundance of caution, that he come here to Walter Reed,” Meadows added.

Conley in an update on Trump’s treatment said Saturday evening that the president had received a second dose of Remdesivir “without complications.” Trump received his first dose of the antiviral drug Friday night at the hospital in Bethesda, Md.

Conley also said that Trump “remains fever free and off supplemental oxygen with a saturation level between 96 and 98% all day.”

Earlier in the day, he said Trump had symptoms including a mild cough, congestion and fatigue, adding that the president was improving.

The White House on Saturday sent conflicting signals about the president’s battle with the coronavirus, however, raising questions over the seriousness of his illness.

Meadows also told Pirro late Saturday that there was no discussion of a transition of power as he criticized media coverage of the president’s diagnosis.

“Well, I think the country indeed was fearful, but I can tell you, some of those fears were irrational, too. I’ve seen some of the reports … and all of the pictures about transition of power and who’s going to replace this person or that person,” he said.

“And while that may make for good clicks on the Internet or make for great hyperbole on TV, there was never a consideration and never even a risk of a transition of power,” he said.