Amid mixed messages on the president’s health, the White House released photos of Trump working that some critics say were staged.
President Donald Trump, who has been receiving treatment for the coronavirus at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Friday, released two photographs late Saturday meant to suggest that he is recuperating rapidly, but those images — which came following a peculiar press conference and mixed health assessments from White House staff — have been met with scrutiny, undercutting the message the president hoped to send.
In the first photo, Trump is dressed in a suit, seated at a round table inside the hospital’s designated presidential suite, appearing to review a document. In the other, he is dressed in a crisp white shirt, seated at the end of a long table inside a conference room, looking over folders of documents.
Both photos were taken by White House photographer Joyce N. Boghosian.
The photos began to draw criticism on social media shortly after their release, with many users pointing out that it is unclear what Trump is actually doing in the images. In the first, he appears to simply sign his name in the center of an otherwise blank piece of paper. In the second, the folders and a black binder appear to be empty. Continue reading.