President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have traded jabs over the past two days since Trump announced he is taking the drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive against COVID-19, with Pelosi calling Trump "morbidly obese" and Trump countering that Pelosi has "mental problems."
The whole thing started when Pelosi appeared Monday on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," saying, "I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group — morbidly obese, they say. So, I think that it's not a good idea."
Trump's official weight is listed as 243 pounds and his height at 6-foot-3. According to CDC charts, that gives him a body mass index of just more than 30, making him slightly obese. "Morbidly obese" is a BMI of 40 or more.
When asked about Pelosi's comments Tuesday, Trump at first said, "I don’t respond to her. I think she’s a waste of time."
But about five minutes later, in response to an unrelated question, Trump said, "Pelosi is a sick woman. She's got a lot of problems, a lot of mental problems," The Hill noted.
Asked about Trump's response Tuesday, Pelosi told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, "I didn't know that he would be so sensitive. He's always talking about other people's ... their weight, their pounds."
She added: "I think he should recognize that his words weigh a ton." She then referenced Trump's comments on "disinfectants" at a coronavirus task force briefing: "Instead of telling people to put Lysol into their lungs or taking a medication that has not been approved except under certain circumstances, he should be saying what your previous guest mentioned — things that would help people."
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