Donald Trump’s Oxygen Levels Were ‘Dangerously Low’ When He Had COVID-19, According to Former Chief of Staff

Former President Donald Trump’s blood oxygen levels were “dangerously low” after he tested positive for COVID-19 last year, according to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

In his upcoming book, The Chief’s Chief, Meadows reveals that on October 2, 2020, just hours after announcing on Twitter that he tested positive for the virus, Trump’s oxygen levels had plummeted to about 86%. 

“That morning, Dr. Conley pulled me aside and delivered some bad news. Although the president’s condition had improved slightly overnight, his oxygen levels had now dipped down to about 86 percent and could be trending lower, a dangerously low level for someone his age,” Meadows wrote.

Meadows reveals that Trump was hesitant to leave the White House and told his former chief of staff that he would be fine. “I worried that the notion of him going to the hospital, in his mind, would seem like an act of capitulation,” Meadows wrote. “I was right.”

He recalls telling Trump, “It’s better that you walk out of here today under your own strength, your own power, than for me to have to carry you out on a gurney in two days.”

Just last week, Trump disputed a claim included in the memoir regarding a positive COVID-19 test last September. According to an excerpt published by the Guardian, Trump tested positive for COVID-19 just three days before a debate against Joe Biden, who ultimately beat the former Apprentice host in the 2020 presidential election.

“The story of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News,” Trump said in a statement to NBC News last Wednesday. “In fact, a test revealed that I did not have COVID prior to the debate.”