Trump's Oxygen Levels Fell 'Dangerously Low' During His Bout With COVID-19, Meadows Claims in Book

Reports about Donald Trump downplaying the severity of COVID-19 he contracted in October 2020 emerged earlier, as The New York Times claimed in February that he had "extremely depressed blood oxygen levels". The former president, however, vehemently denied it.

Ex-President Donald Trump had concerning levels of blood oxygen before his COVID-19 hospitalisation, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has revealed in his new book.

"[Trump's] oxygen levels had now dipped down to about 86 percent and could be trending lower, a dangerously low level for someone his age", Meadows writes in "The Chief's Chief".

According to the then top White House official, Trump had initially resisted receiving treatment at the Walter Reed Medical Centre, with Meadows apparently having to persuade him.

"It's better that you walk out of here today under your own strength, your own power, than for me to have to carry you out on a gurney in two days", Meadows told the former president on 1 October 2020, according to the book.

Meadows was concerned "that the notion of him [Trump] going to the hospital, in his mind, would seem like an act of capitulation". According to the book, however, the former president was in real need of hospitalisation.

"I've lost so much strength", Trump told Meadows after being infected, the book says. "The muscles are just not responding".

This is not the first time that allegations have been made about Trump having low levels of blood oxygen during his bout with coronavirus. In February, The New York Times reported that Trump was "sicker than publicly acknowledged" and had "extremely depressed" oxygen levels. That report suggested officials feared Trump would need a ventilator before his hospitalisation. After he was admitted to Walter Reed, his medical team reportedly sought to downplay the severity of his condition - allegations now echoed by Meadows in his book.

The former president himself, however, vehemently denied the reports, as he did about another claim in "The Chief's Chief" - that he tested positive for coronavirus just days before the scheduled presidential debate with then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Trump dismissed the claims as "fake news", even though he earlier promoted Meadows' book as a must-read for those who want "to learn about politics, truth, our great administration, and exciting achievements that took place in government".

Meadows later argued during an interview with Newsmax that "if you actually read the book, the context of it, that story outlined a false positive".