During a Sunday press briefing at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a member of President Donald Trump’s medical team, said Trump could be discharged from the hospital by as early as Monday. White House Physician Dr. Sean Conley also said Trump experienced two drops in his oxygen levels, one below 94 percent, but said Trump’s oxygen levels soon returned to the high 90 percent range.
“Today he feels well,” Garibaldi said. “He’s been up and around. Our plan for today is to have him eat and drink and be up out of bed as much as possible to be mobile, and if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow, to the White House where he can continue his treatment course.”
Conley, during the press briefing, provided a timeline of Trump’s treatment and said Trump experienced “transient” dips in his oxygen saturation levels on Friday and Saturday.
“Thursday night into Friday morning, when I left the bedside, the president was doing well with only mild symptoms and his oxygen was in the high 90’s” Conley said. “Late Friday morning, when I returned to the bedside, the president had a high fever and his oxygen saturation was transiently dipping below 94 percent. Given these developments I was concerned for possible rapid progression of the illness.”
Conley wasn’t entirely clear whether Trump needed to use supplemental oxygen.
“I recommended the President, we try supplemental oxygen, see how he would respond. He was fairly adamant he didn’t need it. He was not short of breath. He was tired, had a fever, that was about it. After about a minute on only two liters, his saturation levels were back over 95 percent. He stayed on that for about an hour maybe, and it was off and gone. Later that day by the time the team here was at the bedside the president had been up out of bed moving about the residence with only mild symptoms.”
Conley said that after Trump’s dips in oxygen levels, he and other members of the medical team made the decision to place Trump on Dexamethasone, a steroid to help with upper respiratory inflammation.
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien also told CBS that he, along with Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would give Trump a national security briefing later on Sunday.
“I spoke with the chief of staff this morning, and the good news is the president feels very well and he actually wants to get back home to the White House and get back to work,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said, “We’ll be briefing the president this afternoon. General Milley, Secretary Pompeo myself, we’ll be giving him a national security brief this afternoon from- from the White House here. He’ll be at Walter Reed.”
