Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s remarks about ingesting disinfectant to ward off the coronavirus was “misinformation” that provoked “hundreds of calls” to the state emergency hotline.
“I think when misinformation comes out or you just say something that pops in your head, it does send a wrong message,” Hogan told “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Hogan was referring to a comment Trump made during last Thursday’s coronavirus task force news conference, when he wondered aloud whether ingesting a disinfectant like Lysol would help fight the COVID-19 virus. After a storm of criticism, Trump suggested he had made the remark to be “sarcastic.” (RELATED: Don Jr. Mocks Hillary Clinton’s Warning About Drinking Poison For COVID-19: ‘Poison Is Reserved … For Jeffrey Epstein’)
“Well look, I think it’s really important. This has been important to me from day one about communicating very clearly on the facts because people listen to these press conferences,” he said. “They listen when the governor holds a press conference and they certainly pay attention when the president of the United States is standing there giving a press conference about something as serious as this worldwide pandemic.”
“We had hundreds of calls come into our emergency hotline at our health department asking if … it was right to ingest Clorox or alcohol cleaning products, whether that was going to help them fight the virus,” Hogan explained, adding that the state “had to put out that warning to make sure that people were not doing something like that which would kill people actually to do it.” (RELATED: ‘That’s Not How It Looked’: Brett Baer Questions Trump Saying His Comments About Ingesting Disinfectant Were ‘Sarcastic’)
Hogan suggested the way ahead for Trump is to “focus on the message, stick to the message and make sure that these press conferences are fact-based. I think other people in the administration have been trying to make that clear to him as well.”