'I took it ... I'm here': Trump defends his promotion of hydroxychloroquine conspiracy theory

At Tuesday's White House press briefing, President Donald Trump was asked to comment on his retweet of a coronavirus conspiracy theory the previous evening, attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci and praising the discredited use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus.

"I wasn't making claims," Trump said. "I happen to think it works." He added that "I took it ... I'm here," and "it's safe, it doesn't cause problems." (In reality, doctors repeatedly had to call off trials of hydroxychloroquine because of the life-threatening side effects.)

"I don't think you lose anything by doing it, other than politically," Trump continued, suggesting people only don't support use of hydroxychloroquine solely because he was suggesting it. Regarding the conspiracy theory video, Trump said, "The internet wanted to take them down and took them off."

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