The White House has refuted a claim that President Donald Trump was given access to a limited-use miracle drug.
On Tuesday, Stat News ran a bombshell report about a “powerful new drug” made by Eli Lilly called retatrutide. The drug “has demonstrated bariatric-surgery levels of weight loss,” according to the outlet.
The report further revealed that Eli Lilly and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have thus far only allowed a single person to access the drug through the federal agency’s “compassionate use” program. The program grants “patients with serious and immediately life-threatening medical issues” immediate access to experimental treatments like retatrutide.
The person chosen for the program was described as 79 years old and “well connected.” President Trump is 80 years old at this moment, but he JUST turned 80 on June 14. And, of course, he’s deeply, deeply well-connected.
According to Stat News, the drug was requested by National Institutes of Health Senior Clinician Ranganath Muniyappa to treat a patient for refractory obesity with obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension.
Based on all this info, the outlet directly asked the White House whether Trump received retatrutide, but the White House punted.
Sources told STAT that application drew interest from top health officials. Given the demographics and the peculiar nature of the application, I asked the WH if this patient was President Trump, who turned 80 a week ago. I did not get a direct answer.
— Lizzy Lawrence (@LizzyLaw_) June 23, 2026
“White House spokesperson Kush Desai directed STAT’s inquiry to the Health and Human Services Department,” according to the outlet. “In response to STAT’s question about whether Trump has obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension, Desai said a White House memo detailing Trump’s most recent medical evaluation ‘covers this.’”
Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard also dodged the question.
“The FDA supports expanded access programs that can provide patients with serious or life-threatening conditions access to investigational treatments when no comparable or satisfying approved therapies are available,” she said. “Each request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis based on the clinical circumstances and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.”
However, after Stat News’ story was published, Desai posted an update to X, outright denying the alleged Trump connection and attacking Stat News reporter Lizzy Lawrence, whom he referred to as “an unserious gossip columnist.”
Because this has to be spelled out for @LizzyLaw_, who has proven herself to be an unserious gossip columnist, this application was not for the President. https://t.co/TjUOSWISmx
— Kush Desai (@KushDesai47) June 23, 2026
Lawrence responded by reiterating that her question was never originally answered.
“Thank you for clarifying. I asked you, the FDA, and HHS multiple times yesterday whether this application was for the President. No one answered my question directly,” she wrote on X.
Desai responded scathingly once more.
“We shouldn’t have to bat down baseless speculation for you to not print it,” he insisted. “Any reporter with standards would understand this. Are you going to now go ask this idiotic question to the ~4 million Americans in this age cohort and then speculate about them being the application?”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also took a shot at Lawrence:
You thought this was your big shot, but in reality, you’re just a big idiot. You certainly made a name for yourself by completely embarrassing yourself at the expense of being thirsty for clicks and peddling falsehoods. Good job, loser. You’ll never make it. https://t.co/r9sbv3tcEK
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) June 23, 2026
In fairness to Lawrence, Trump was previously one of the first people to receive an antibody treatment from Regeneron during the COVID pandemic.
“I want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president,” the president said in a video at the time.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020
As for the unidentified patient, Stat News noted that they were previously treated for a year with an FDA-approved Eli Lilly obesity drug called tirzepatide but experienced only minor weight loss.
“Muniyappa, who studies endocrine disorders and runs the diabetes services at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, recommended against bariatric surgery because of the patient’s age and comorbidities,” according to Stat News.
