Trump hospital-release more likely on Tuesday: sources

[WASHINGTON] White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said a decision on President Donald Trump's release from the hospital will be made after consultations with medical staff Monday morning, as people familiar with the matter cautioned that any such move was unlikely before Tuesday.

Mr Trump's condition improved over the weekend, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The president is eager to leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center - where he's been since Friday after being diagnosed with Covid-19 - but his release will more likely come on Tuesday, they said.

"We have further evaluations and consultations that have to take place between the president and his medical team," Mr Meadows said Monday morning on Fox News. "It's going to be, at the earliest, this afternoon," he said of the decision of Mr Trump's possible release.

With less than a month until Election Day, Mr Trump's hospitalisation has jolted the presidential campaign, forcing him to scrap rallies and other events as polls show him trailing Joe Biden nationally and in swing states. His campaign has launched "Operation MAGA," referring to his Make America Great Again slogan, to flood the campaign trail with top surrogates like Vice President Mike Pence, Mr Trump's family and others.

Discussion of Mr Trump's release comes after a weekend of mixed signals from White House physician, Sean Conley, who on Sunday disclosed for the first time that the president had been given supplemental oxygen and received a medication that's typically used in more severe Covid-19 patients.

Asked why he didn't disclose during Saturday's briefing that Trump had received oxygen despite repeated questions about it, Dr Conley said, "I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude" of the team and the president.

Mr Trump was hospitalised Friday evening after recording a fever and receiving supplemental oxygen that day. He'd been diagnosed late Thursday, after a close aide, Hope Hicks, also tested positive for the virus. Mr Trump has since been given three different types of therapeutic drugs, including one typically used in more serious cases, but his doctors have said the president is improving and could be released as early as Monday.

First Lady Melania Trump, at least two White House aides who closely travel with the president and three Republican senators have all tested positive in the past few days.

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