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Trump Criticised for Leaving Hospital to Greet Supporters
US President Donald Trump sparked an angry backlash from the medical community Sunday with a protocol-breaking visit to his supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated for the highly-infectious, potentially deadly new coronavirus.
He was masked as he waved from inside his bulletproof vehicle during the short trip outside Walter Reed military medical center near Washington, which appeared designed to take back the narrative on his improving health after a weekend of muddled messaging from his doctors.
The last-minute limousine outing came with Trump’s doctors satisfied enough about his progress to suggest the possibility of his being discharged on Monday.
But experts complained that the outing broke his own government’s public health guidelines requiring patients to isolate while they are in treatment and still shedding virus — and endangered his Secret Service protection.
Trump, who has been repeatedly rebuked for flouting public health guidelines and spreading misinformation on the pandemic, said in a video that dropped on Twitter just before the appearance that he had “learned a lot about Covid” by “really going to school” as he has battled the virus.
But health experts took to the airwaves and social media to criticize the “stunt,” which they said demonstrated that he had learned nothing at all.
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” said James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University.
“They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere said “appropriate” precautions had been taken to protect Trump and his support staff, including protective gear.
“The movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do,” he added.
But Zeke Emanuel, chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and regular TV pundit, described the appearance as “shameful.”
“Making his Secret Service agents drive with a COVID-19 patient, with windows up no less, put them needlessly at risk for infection. And for what? A PR stunt,” he tweeted.
Confused messaging
The episode came hours after a briefing by Trump’s medical team, who said he had “continued to improve” and could be returned to the White House, which has the facilities to treat and isolate the president, as early as Monday.
The president was flown to Walter Reed with a high fever on Friday after a “rapid progression” of his illness, with his oxygen levels dropping worryingly low, Trump’s physician Sean Conley said in a Sunday briefing.
Health experts have complained that the messaging from the administration — and particularly Trump’s medical team — has caused widespread confusion.
Conley admitted Sunday that he had kept from the public the fact that the president had been given extra oxygen, in a bid to reflect an “upbeat attitude.”
And he gave a rosy account of Trump’s progress Saturday, only for White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to tell reporters immediately after that Trump’s condition had been “very concerning” and that he was “still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
‘White House Cluster’
With his tough reelection campaign in its final month against Democratic rival Joe Biden, Trump’s diagnosis and hospitalization have left him sidelined from what he does best — campaigning.
Meanwhile, Biden — who announced Sunday his latest negative test for the virus — will start the week with a trip Monday to key swing state Florida.
But Trump and his advisors have done their best to project a sense of continuity.
His deputy campaign manager Jason Miller told ABC Sunday he had spoken to Trump for a half-hour Saturday and that the president was “cracking jokes.”
But controversy has been mounting over the possibility that Trump might have exposed numerous others to Covid-19 even after a close aide tested positive.
A timeline provided by his advisors and doctors suggested he met more than 30 donors on Thursday in Bedminster, New Jersey, even after learning that Hope Hicks had the virus — and just hours before he announced his own positive test.
There were more than 200 people at the fundraiser, and a contact-tracing operation underway in New Jersey was looking at potentially thousands of people who may have been exposed.
All this came in a week when a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll — taken in the two days after a bruising presidential debate with Biden but before news emerged of Trump’s illness — gave Biden a significant 53-39 percent lead among registered voters.
As well as Trump and Hicks, numerous White House insiders and at least three Republican senators have contracted Covid-19, along with First Lady Melania Trump, who has not experienced severe symptoms.
Public health experts have expressed alarm at the “White House cluster” that has been linked to the September 26 Rose Garden celebration of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for an independent, transparent, and comprehensive investigation into the academic and professional credentials of all members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), beginning with President Bola Tinubu himself.
Atiku’s call comes in the wake of the recent resignation of the former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, over an alleged certificate scandal.
Following the controversy surrounding the authenticity of his academic qualifications, Nnaji tendered his resignation on Tuesday. He, however, maintains that his resignation is not an admission of guilt.
Reacting to the development in a post on his X handle on Wednesday, Atiku said the resignation of the former minister has “once again brought to light the deep moral crisis at the heart of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.”
The former Vice President also questioned Tinubu’s own credentials, alleging that they have been the subject of controversy for decades. He, therefore, called for a thorough investigation into the credentials of all FEC members, starting with the President.
“This episode is not isolated. It is a reflection of a pattern — a rot that begins from the very top. The man who occupies the office of President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has for decades been enmeshed in controversies surrounding his identity, age, and academic records.
“From the Chicago State University saga to multiple contradictory claims under oath, the world has seen ample evidence that Nigeria today is led by a man who himself has been unable to credibly defend the authenticity of his own certificates.
“When a man of questionable identity leads a country, deception becomes the standard of governance. Tinubu’s personal history of alleged forgery and perjury has effectively institutionalized falsehood in public service.
“It is, therefore, unsurprising that his ministers and aides have taken after his example — falsifying documents, inflating records, and desecrating the moral foundation of our nation.
“I, therefore, call for an independent, transparent, and comprehensive investigation into the academic and professional credentials of all members of the Federal Executive Council, beginning with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself. Nigerians deserve to know the truth about those who preside over their lives and resources.
“Tuesday’s resignation of Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, has once again brought to light the deep moral crisis at the heart of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
“What should ordinarily be a matter of national shame is now being disguised as a ‘voluntary resignation’ — an attempt to whitewash yet another scandal that typifies the forgery-ridden character of this government,” Atiku said.
He condemned President Tinubu’s decision to allow Nnaji an honourable resignation rather than a dismissal.
“Let the truth be told: Uche Nnaji should not have been allowed the courtesy of resignation. He should have been summarily dismissed and prosecuted for deceit and falsification.
“By permitting him to quietly exit through the back door, the Tinubu administration has once again demonstrated that it is an assembly of forgers, impostors, and morally bankrupt individuals masquerading as public servants.”
Atiku also berated the Department of State Services (DSS), questioning how Nnaji’s alleged certificate scandal escaped detection during the screening process prior to his appointment.
“What makes this even more embarrassing is that the same Department of State Services (DSS), which screened out Mallam Nasir El-Rufai for alleged ‘security concerns’, is the very agency that cleared this same character, Uche Nnaji.
“The DSS truly deserves our flowers for this national disgrace. Their failure of due diligence has made Nigeria an object of ridicule before the world and raises the question: how many more such individuals are occupying sensitive positions in this government?”
President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, accepted Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s departure as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following the expiration of his second term in office.
Yakubu was first appointed in November 2015 as the 14th chairman of the commission for an initial term of five years.
The appointment, which was renewed in 2020, has now expired due to the passage of time.
President Tinubu thanked Professor Yakubu for his services to the nation and his efforts to sustain Nigeria’s democracy, particularly through the organisation of free and fair elections throughout his two-term tenure.
In recognition of Yakubu’s dedicated service to the nation, President Tinubu has bestowed on him the honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).
President Tinubu also directed that Professor Yakubu should hand over to the most senior national commissioner, May Agbamuche-Mbu, who will direct the affairs of the Commission until the completion of the process to appoint a successor.
In the letter dated October 3, 2025, Professor Yakubu thanked the President for the opportunity to serve the nation as chairman of the commission since 2015.
The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Geoffrey Uche Nnaji, has resigned his position following allegations of certificate forgery levelled against him.
President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed the resignation in a statement on Tuesday, saying the President has accepted the Minister’s decision to step down.
He added that “President Tinubu appointed Nnaji in August 2023. He resigned today in a letter thanking the President for allowing him to serve Nigeria.”
Onanuga further quoted the former Minister as saying he had “been a target of blackmail by political opponents.”
“President Tinubu thanked him for his service and wished him well in future endeavours,” the statement added.
