Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) suggested that Donald Trump may have been given a special new drug, citing it as a possible reason the president canceled a scheduled signing for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act bill on Wednesday.
“Inflation is up, grocery prices are up, utility costs are up, housing prices are up,” Lieu said during a House Democratic leadership press conference on Wednesday. “We have a bipartisan housing bill that both the Congress and Senate passed. There was supposed to be a big signing ceremony today at the Capitol, and then all of the sudden, Donald Trump decides he’s not coming to sign the bill.”
Congress passed the bipartisan housing bill designed to address housing affordability, with the Senate approving the measure Monday and the House following on Tuesday in a 358-32 vote.
The bill was headed to Trump for his signature on Wednesday, but he abruptly canceled the signing ceremony and instead demanded passage of the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship and a valid ID before registering to vote. Trump did, however, show up to the Capitol for a lunch with Senate Republicans, which turned out to be an explosive shouting match.
Lieu questioned Trump’s decision to cancel the signing ceremony and speculated about possible reasons for the move, arguing that the president’s behavior has become increasingly erratic.
“Well, why is that?” Lieu said. “Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Is he unable to stay awake today? What’s causing him to chicken out again? Is it TACO Wednesday? Or is it side effects from a drug? We don’t know. This erratic behavior of the president is very concerning. He has trouble staying awake at multiple White House events and Cabinet meetings.”
Lieu suggested that Trump may be experiencing undisclosed health problems and urged the White House to be more transparent about the president’s condition.
“He has clearly some weakness in one of his arms, he’s got swelling in his hands, and the White House needs to come clean,” Lieu said. “What we know is there’s a report saying that one person in America got this special new drug.”
Lieu was seemingly alluding to a viral report from Stat News that a 79-year-old man had received special access to a weight-loss drug. Reporter Lizzy Lawrence suggested that the patient could have been Trump, who turned 80 earlier this month. The White House denied that Trump was the patient, dismissing Lawrence as “an unserious gossip columnist.“
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in response to Lieu: “Ted Lewd is a dumb***. He probably spent hours laughing to himself thinking that peddling this lie would be funny. Sadly for Ted, there’s no special new drug to cure being a b****.”
WHITE HOUSE DENIES REPORT TRUMP GOT ACCESS TO EXPERIMENTAL WEIGHT LOSS DRUG
Despite the White House’s denial, Lieu suggested that Trump may have received the drug under a compassionate-use exception typically reserved for patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses.
“It was a 79-year-old person, who’s very high-profile, and this drug can only be given to someone under the compassionate-use provision, meaning you do that if someone basically has a terminal illness,” Lieu said. “So, we need to know. Did Donald Trump get this special drug from Eli Lilly, and did he get it under that provision? And if he did, why is that the case?”