Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had to abruptly conclude a White House press conference on Friday, as President Donald Trump was compelled to shorten his speech.
The briefing was underway while President Donald Trump was inaugurating TV personality, Dr. Memhet Oz, who is slated to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) during Trump’s second term.
As the press conference was nearing its end, it was suddenly interrupted, with the screen turning black. “Press OUT,” Leavitt yelled at the reporters and media in the Oval office, demanding them to leave the room.
FOX News disclosed that Leavitt had to prematurely terminate the briefing because one of Dr. Oz’s children needed to be escorted out of the Oval Office due to a medical emergency.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (R) gives notes to U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks during a swearing in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz
Leavitt could be heard directing the press to immediately vacate the room. Trump momentarily stepped away from his podium to comprehend what was happening, while Dr. Oz’s wife, Lisa, exhibited a look of concern. Dr. Oz was seen hurrying over to assist as chaos broke out. Subsequent video footage showed reporters helping someone off the ground, although it was not clear who the individual was.
Another FOX News presenter added: “We don’t know what’s going on there, the press are being ushered out of the room. Obviously you can see that there was some situation that might have occurred, it might have been medical.”
Later, a video showed a girl being assisted as she was led out of the Oval Office. The White House has yet to provide an update on the concerning incident.
Journalist Laura Loomer posted a video of the incident and tweeted: “It appears a young girl had some type of medical issue. President Trump walked over to assist.”
Although the full details are not yet clear, many people have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express their concerns and well-wishes.
Notably, Dr. Oz, a former TV host of “The Dr. Oz show”, was one of Donald Trump’s picks, which was heavily criticized due to his past medical claims.
A 2014 BMJ study analyzed Dr. Oz’s medical advice from 40 random episodes of his show, finding that nearly half of the recommendations made by the so-called “America’s doctor” lacked scientific evidence, as reported by NBC News.
In a 2012 episode, Dr. Oz promoted green coffee extract as a “magic weight loss cure”, but later that year, a company behind this supposed weight loss miracle had to pay $3.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations of using a flawed study to make unfounded weight-loss claims to sellers.
