Posts are being shared on social media saying President Donald Trump had a portable oxygen concentrator in his pocket and a nasal cannula under his mask as he boarded his Marine One helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment for COVID-19 . Evidence contradicts this claim. The president’s physician said Trump only experienced low oxygen levels twice and not on Friday evening when he flew to hospital. High-quality videos and images of Trump walking to the helicopter show no signs of a nasal cannula or any other medical equipment.

The posts (  here  ,  here  ,  here  ) show pictures of Trump walking to his helicopter with circles drawn around his right-hand suit jacket pocket and his back as well as a line drawn from his shirt collar over his ear to his mask. Many of the images have a similar caption to the tweet pictured  here  from @kakkiman whose account has since been suspended. The text reads, “Pretty sure Trump boarded Marine One with a portable oxygen concentrator in his pocket with the nasal cannula going up his back, hidden in his hair and tucked under his mask. He is not as well as they say. Liar in chief…” 

President Trump flew by helicopter to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday Oct. 2 in the evening, having announced early that morning that he had tested positive for COVID-19 (here).  

On Sunday Oct. 4, Trump’s physician Sean P. Conley said that Trump had experienced drops in his oxygen saturation levels twice: late in the morning on Friday Oct. 2 and on Saturday Oct. 3. Conley said that Trump had therefore been given supplemental oxygen late in the morning on Friday, with his oxygen levels returning to normal within a couple of minutes. Trump has also been put on the steroid dexamethasone (here).  

At the time of publication, Trump’s condition remained unclear as this steroid is normally used in the most severe cases, yet his medical team told reporters on Sunday Oct. 4 that Trump could return to the White House as early as Monday (here). 

To receive supplemental oxygen outside the home, some people use portable oxygen concentrators, as shown in this video by the American Lung Association  here . The oxygen is transferred through short tubes placed in the nostrils called a nasal cannula or an oxygen mask over the nose and mouth (here). 

These two close-up images of Trump walking to the helicopter from Getty Images (  here  ,  here  ) clearly show that there is no nasal cannula feeding into Trump’s mask.  

This video of Trump walking to the helicopter  youtu.be/ZtXW_coIxeE  and these high-definition images from Reuters and Getty Images (  here  ,  here  ) show that there does not appear to be any bulky equipment in Trump’s pocket or up his back, and that there is no nasal cannula.  

False. High quality photos and videos of Trump walking to the helicopter show he does not appear to have a nasal cannula or other medical equipment. Trump’s physician said that the president was given oxygen late on Friday morning and had at some point on Saturday, but not on Friday evening when he flew to hospital.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work  here  . 

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