As is often the case with these briefings, however, Trump's scripted message eventually devolved into a series of false and misleading claims about the state of the pandemic. At one point, Trump claimed that "large portions" of the US are "corona free" (not true). He also claimed that protests in Seattle and Portland were leading to spiking cases there (also not true).
Hydroxychloroquine
Trump again touted what he claims are the benefits of hydroxychloroquine as a successful drug to fight the coronavirus, despite numerous studies that fail to bear that out. Despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, Trump even claimed that the drug was completely safe to use.
"It's safe. It doesn't cause problems," Trump said, anecdotally noting that he "had absolutely no problem" when he took the drug earlier this year. "Felt no different. Didn't feel good, bad or indifferent."
Facts First: The FDA has said there are many safety issues with using hydroxychloroquine against the coronavirus, including kidney injury, heart rhythm problems, liver problems, and more.
In a July 1 update of the review of safety issues for treating Covid-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine, the FDA notes many health problems that may occur, including "serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure."
The FDA also revoked on June 15 the drug's emergency use authorization -- which initially allowed the drug to be used against the coronavirus -- for certain patients because studies showed that "suggested dosing for these medicines are unlikely to kill or inhibit the virus that causes COVID-19."
For a more complete fact check of past comments Trump has made about hydroxychloroquine, click here.
Downplaying the spread of the virus
Trump tried to paint a rosy picture of how well the country is responding to the coronavirus by downplaying its spread and saying that the virus has been eliminated in large parts of the country.
"We're seeing improvements across major metro areas, and most hotspots, you can look at large portions of our country, it's corona-free. But we are watching very carefully California, Arizona, Texas and most of Florida, it's starting to head down in the right direction. And I think you'll see it rapidly head down very soon."
Facts First: This is misleading. No areas of the country have eliminated the virus, and the only places that are "corona-free" have no human population, or are rural areas that have an extremely small population.
Every state in the US has reported new Covid-19 cases in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 13 states saw their highest 7-day averages for new daily cases yesterday, per data from Johns Hopkins University.
The President didn't clarify what "large portions" of the country he was talking about, but CNN's tracker of Covid-19 cases shows that the virus is not slowing down nation
