Did Trump Say He ‘Tested Very Positively’ for COVID-19, Meaning Negative?







Is the president trying to confuse us?







































							Correct Attribution
['U.S. President Donald Trump said he "tested very positively" for COVID-19, meaning his test results came back negative, and he did not have the coronavirus disease.', 'In late May 2020, readers searched the Snopes.com website questioning the veracity of a statement attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump, as quoted in a widely shared tweet posted by Washington Post journalist Felicia Sommez:', 'Sommez’s tweet accurately captures Trump’s statement regarding his diagnostic test result amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.', 'Trump made the remark on May 21, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House, as he was about to depart on Marine One for Michigan, where he toured a Ford manufacturing facility. Trump was responding to a reporter who asked how long the president expected to take hydroxychloroquine, a drug that Trump has been promoting as a potential treatment for COVID-19 without medical evidence for its safety or efficacy.', 'Here is a transcription of the exchange between the reporter and Trump, per WhiteHouse.gov:', 'Q Sir, how long do you expect take hydroxychloroquine?', 'THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s another day. I had a two-week regimen of hydroxychloroquine. And I’ve taken it, I think, just about two weeks. I think it’s another day. And I’m still here. I’m still here. And I tested very positively in a — in another sense.', 'So, this morning —', 'Q Negatively?', 'THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I tested positively toward negative, right? So, no, I tested perfectly this morning, meaning — meaning I tested negative.', 'Q Have you taken the antibody test yet?', 'THE PRESIDENT: But that’s a way of saying it: positively toward the negative.', 'Q Have you taken the antibody test yet, sir?', 'THE PRESIDENT: No, I have not.', 'Because Trump did make the comment and it was reflected accurately by the tweet in question, we rate this claim “Correct Attribution.”', 'WhiteHouse.gov.\xa0“Remarks by President Trump Before Marine One Departure.”\n\xa0\xa021 May 2020.', 'Mangan, Dan and Steve Kopack.\xa0“Trump Doesn’t Wear Coronavirus Mask in Public at Ford Plant.”\n\xa0\xa0CNBC.\xa021 May 2020.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', 'A complete story is rarely told in a headline.', 'Social media rumors that two memorials in New York were vandalized proved misleading.', 'In August 2019, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man died after an encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado.', 'A chaotic scene in St. Louis sparked outrage, memes, and confusion.', 'Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on sex abuse charges connected to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.', 'The white supremacist group made frequent use of the slogan more recently embraced by President Donald Trump, though they did not, as some claim, invent it.', "The question of past arrests often surfaces among people who want to rationalize police officers' actions when Black men are killed in custody.", 'You can claim anything if you remove the barrier of evidence.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', '© 1995 - 2020 by Snopes Media Group Inc.', 'This material may not be reproduced without permission.', 'Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com']
Did Trump Say He 'Tested Very Positively' for COVID-19, Meaning Negative?