What exactly did President Donald Trump mean when he said Monday, after spending three nights in the hospital dealing with a severe case of COVID-19: "I knew there's danger to it -- but I had to do it."
In a video Trump tweeted soon after returning to the White House Monday evening, he spoke directly to the camera -- without the mask he had just dramatically taken off -- and seemed to argue his getting sick was a necessary risk to show he was a strong leader.
"As your leader, I had to do that," said Trump, flanked by American flags atop the South Portico with the Washington Monument in the distance behind him.
"I knew there's danger to it -- but I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did. And I know there's a risk, there's a danger -- but that's okay," he said.
In a video Trump tweeted soon after returning to the White House Monday evening, he spoke directly to the camera -- without the mask he had just dramatically taken off -- and seemed to argue his getting sick was a necessary risk to show he was a strong leader.
"As your leader, I had to do that," said Trump, flanked by American flags atop the South Portico with the Washington Monument in the distance behind him.
"I knew there's danger to it -- but I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did. And I know there's a risk, there's a danger -- but that's okay," he said.