Kate Garraway SLAMS Donald Trump’s ‘strange’ claim that COVID-19 diagnosis was ‘blessing from God’

Kate Garraway has questioned US President Donald Trump’s ‘strange’ declaration that his COVID-19 diagnosis was a ‘blessing from God’.

While appearing on Good Morning Britain on Thursday, the 53-year-old presenter – whose husband Derek Draper is seven months into his battle with the deadly virus – questioned Trump’s claim as more than 210,000 in the US have died of coronavirus.

When asked by GMB’s Susanna Reid how she felt about Trump’s words, she said: ‘The idea of getting a fatal disease with no confident cure, it’s such a strange thing to say. If I’m trying to be fair to him, does it mean because he now understands the impact?’

Kate and her fellow hosts went on to surmise that the Republican leader was focused on being seen as a superhero who was adamantly against showing any weakness.

She explained: ‘He’s trying to be a leader in his own vision. The strong leadership position at this point would be publicly following the rules, be publicly sensitive to those that have lost and be a beacon of the way to behave.’ 

On Wednesday, Trump, 74, tweeted out a video shot from the White House Rose Garden where he said he has been ‘cured’ of COVID by Regeneron – then pitched the experimental drug and vowed to make it available to all Americans for free.

The president released the outdoor statement Wednesday evening, after being out of sight for more than 24 hours after returning from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was checked in after testing positive for the coronavirus.

‘I think this was a blessing from god that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise,’ Trump said in the pre-recorded video.

‘I heard about this drug. I said let me take it. It was my suggestion,’ he said, before proclaiming himself ‘cured’ of the virus and announcing that he wanted every American to get the type of treatment he got. 

Kate’s thoughts on Trump’s controversial statement comes one day after she slammed the president for his ‘heartbreaking’ response to contracting COVID-19.

The TV personality criticised Trump on Tuesday’s show after he said ‘maybe I’m immune, I don’t know’ outside a military hospital where he was being treated for coronavirus. and tweeted ‘I feel better than I did 20 years ago’. 

Kate, whose husband has become the longest person battling coronavirus in the UK after being hospitalised in March, said: ‘It is extraordinary.

‘It’s heartbreaking actually. So his attitude you could argue sanctioned the behaviour. And really what would we be doing if this was you or me?

‘We would be sobbing our hearts out saying “aren’t I lucky I’m doing so well”.’ Do you think at some level he knows that and thinks ‘I’ve just gotta carry on like this?”’

She continued: ‘And there are children who have died, with their mums and dads not being allowed to see them, so why does he think it’s more important for him to get into that car?’ 

GMB’s Dr Hilary Jones also told hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid that Trump could still be contagious, despite his release from hospital.

He said: ‘I would imagine so. Since he says his test was on Thursday it is likely he is still contagious he has no way to know if he has immunity or not.’  

President Trump said on Friday that he and his wife Melania had tested positive for COVID-19 and were going into quarantine, upending the race for the White House.

He tweeted: ‘We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!’ 

He was later admitted to the Walter Reed hospital  for treatment and released on Monday.  

Trump walked out of Walter Reed on Monday, took Marine One back to the White House – and took off his mask almost immediately despite being sick with COVID and depending on a cocktail of experimental drugs for his recovery.

He saluted, waved, and then started filming a video on the balcony of the South Portico, returning to an executive mansion where multiple aides and household staff also have the virus, and from where he promises he will soon leave to hit the campaign trail.

Removing his mask was a jarring end to three days of drama which saw him medevaced to Walter Reed on Marine One on Friday, revealed to have been on oxygen repeatedly, and treated with drugs not available to ordinary Americans. 

On Monday, just four days after he tested positive with the deadly virus, he tweeted: ‘I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid.

‘Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!’

Shortly after his message, doctors appeared outside the hospital to say that while Trump was not ‘out of the woods’, they were satisfied he could go home. 

Discussing Trump’s messages throughout his treatment, Kate said on Monday: ‘That plays into the idea… you get coronavirus, you survive, you’re a hero. You’re not, you’re very lucky, the heroes are the people treating you and helping you to survive.’

Giving an update about Derek, who has been in hospital battling coronavirus since March, she said: ‘Derek, who has no longer tested positive for coronavirus, children aren’t allowed to see him, his mum and dad haven’t seen him.’       

Kate recently revealed that her children haven’t seen their father Derek in six months as he continues to battle the disease in hospital. 

Derek has been in intensive care and was in a coma for months after the virus made him seriously ill and Kate herself, has only been permitted to visit a handful of times. 

Kate and Derek, who married in September 2005, are parents to Darcey, 14, and William, 11 and the GMB host believes that a visit from his children would aid Derek’s recovery.   

She said on the show on Monday: ‘Derek still hasn’t been allowed… his children can’t visit, his mum and dad haven’t seen him.

‘I personally believe actually believe him having contact in that room could possibly be of great benefit to have a physical presence.   

‘There are children that have died with their mums and dads not allowed to see them.’

During the show, Kate criticised Donald Trump after he took part in an impromptu ‘drive-by’ to surprise his supporters outside the Walter Reed hospital.   

She said: ‘When you look at that footage of him doing that by the hospital, obviously his message is ‘I’m doing, I’m fighting the virus great, I’m here to win the election’, but that plays into the idea if you get the coronavirus and survive then you’re a hero; you’re not. You’re very lucky.

‘The heroes are the people treating you and helping you to survive and he;s not just putting the people in the car at risk he’s putting the people treating him at risk.’ 

More than 200,000 people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in the United States alone, with the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions especially hard hit.