Trump doctors say he will be discharged tonight 3:44
(CNN) -
President Donald Trump staged a reckless departure from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday.
In addition, before returning to the White House, he told his followers that there was no need to fear the virus that dangerously deprived him of oxygen and hospitalized him for 72 hours.
Afterward, he posed for a photoshoot without a mask on the White House Balcony.
It was a notable attempt to turn his still ongoing illness into a show of force, even as it also underscored his long practice of denying the severity of the pandemic and minimizing its risks.
LOOK: 2 minutes that explain Donald Trump's position on the effect of covid-19 in the US
«Do not be afraid of covid-19.
Don't let it take over your life, "Trump wrote hours before walking carefully out of the hospital.
Even when his doctors warned that he was still not "out of danger."
As he descended the hospital steps toward the helicopter Trump raised several thumbs and fists.
He wore a white cloth mask, along with a navy blue suit.
The president did not respond when asked how many of his employees tested positive for coronavirus.
After a flight over Washington, Trump landed on the South Lawn and proceeded on an unusual route, up a set of stairs from the first-floor balcony, where attendees placed a row of American flags.
Trump removed his mask and posed in greeting as his helicopter departed.
A conflicting message
The White House that Trump is returning to has become a viral contagion center, in part due to a lack of mitigation measures.
The president's message was conflicting not only because it is irresponsible, but because it comes from a patient who currently has coronavirus and who has experienced severe symptoms of the disease.
Also, he is a patient whose recovery has included experimental treatments not available to most Americans.
Trump said a day earlier that he now "understood" the virus that has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Americans.
But his message on Monday seemed more in line with his long-standing practice of denying the severity of the pandemic and minimizing its risks.
The medical report
What is the drug remdesivir?
0:56
As more of his advisers test positive for coronavirus and questions arise about what steps have been taken to reduce the spread, Trump's physician Dr. Sean Conley offered few details on how staff members would be kept safe when the president will return to the White House, which is equipped with its own medical suite.
He was also unclear on critical information such as when Trump last tested negative for coronavirus or what a lung scan of the president revealed.
He said privacy rules prevented him from revealing those details, despite the fact that he and other doctors treating the president offered very specific data in other areas that appear to show Trump's condition improving.
The doctor did say that Trump had been given another round of the antiviral drug remdesivir and that he has continued to take dexamethasone, a steroid.
He will receive another round of remdesivir at the White House this Tuesday.
MIRA: Trump's coronavirus, an opportunity for the Sputnik-V vaccine?
Earlier, Trump's doctors had said his condition required intravenous medication and, on at least two occasions, supplemental oxygen.
On Monday, Conley insisted that Trump was well enough to return home.
"He has met or exceeded all the criteria for discharge from hospital," he told reporters outside of Walter Reed.
"We plan to take him home," he added.
Trump's messages on Twitter
Despite Trump telling his aides that he is feeling better and was anxious to get out of the hospital, some encouraged him to stay.
They warned him of the bad image he would give if his condition worsened and required a second hospitalization.
Trump insisted on returning, however, and made the announcement on Twitter on Monday.
"I'm leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 pm I feel really good!" He tweeted Monday afternoon.
“We have developed, under the Trump administration, some really great drugs and knowledge.
I feel better than 20 years ago! "
His message, which downplays the severity of the virus, will do little to dispel the idea that his own disregard for mitigation measures is what got Trump to the hospital in the first place.
And his mention of therapies aimed at fighting the virus will have little application to regular Americans facing a positive diagnosis.
Medical experts have suggested that Trump's combination of experimental treatments and therapies would be largely out of the reach of anyone except the president.
'I may not be completely out of the woods yet'
Trump, on steroids and oxygen assistance 8:04
Conley said Monday that 72 hours had passed since Trump last had a cold and that his oxygen levels were normal.
"He may not be completely out of the woods yet," Conley acknowledged, but said his current condition supported a "safe return home."
Bored and eager to appear healthy, Trump had sought a quick discharge and on Sunday made a foray outside the hospital walls for a slow-motion walk.
The goal was to greet supporters gathered on a nearby road.
People who have spoken to the president in the past day say he appears to be in a good mood even as he pushed for his release from the hospital.
Trump was demanding to return to the White House on Sunday, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN.
However, his medical team convinced him to stay.
"He's done with the hospital," said one of the sources about Trump's mood on Sunday.
Trump is concerned that being in the hospital "makes him look weak," the other source said.
Not all of his allies agree.
The president has been warned that if he rushes out of the hospital and then has a setback that requires his readmission, it would be detrimental not only to his health but also politically.
McEnany tests positive
Although the president's health appears to be improving, the situation within his administration is hardly stabilizing.
Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany wrote that she tested positive Monday morning after a series of negative tests over the weekend.
Positive tests from two of McEnany's aides bring the number of people close to Trump who have contracted the coronavirus to more than a dozen.
The figure includes his wife, senior advisor, personal assistant and campaign manager.
Also to two advisers of preparation of debates, the president of the party and three republican senators.
McEnany spoke briefly to reporters at the White House on Sunday without wearing a mask.
In his statement he said that "no reporter, producer or member of the press is listed as a close contact by the White House Medical Unit."
But his diagnosis increased the impression that the virus was spreading rapidly through Trump's staff.
Staff only started wearing face masks regularly when he was transported to the hospital on Friday.
Some advisers have expressed frustration at the lack of communication about the situation.
Aware of Trump's aversion to appearing weak, the White House has tried to control the image of his illness with misleading reports, posed images and the reckless photoshoot outside the hospital.
Concern among advisers
On Monday morning, the president's advisers indicated that he would likely be back at the White House in the evening.
This perspective was first raised by one of his doctors during Sunday's briefing.
The messages were funneled through Fox News, which the president has been watching almost without interruption inside the presidential suite at Walter Reed.
The president has often been upset by what he considers exaggerated descriptions of his health.
The decision to publicly telegraph the planned discharge date sparked some anxiety among the president's advisers, who feared the image if Trump is not back in the White House on Monday.
It has also raised concern that the president is pressuring his medical team to leave the hospital earlier than is reasonable.
On Saturday, Conley said the most critical stretch of Trump's illness will come seven to 10 days after diagnosis.
According to current calculations of a positive test on Thursday night, the president on Monday only had four or five days of illness.
But without knowing when the last negative test took place - information that the White House and Conley have declined to provide - it is unclear how far along the course of the president's illness is.
MIRA: Uncertainty about the continuity of the Trump campaign
As he and his medical team weighed the timing of his possible discharge, Trump issued a furious flurry of tweets in capital letters related to the presidential election.
«NEXT YEAR WILL BE THE BEST OF ALL.
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE !!!!! »
he wrote, followed by nearly 20 messages, each of which lists a topic that he hopes voters will find important.
Car ride
A day earlier, in the midst of aggressive treatment, Trump left Walter Reed with his security team Sunday afternoon for a short truck ride while his supporters cheered him on.
The surprise outing, in which Trump greeted supporters through the window while wearing a mask on the back of the truck, was an attempted show of force that showed the president's questionable judgment.
Also his willingness to endanger his staff.
And the fact that you still don't seem to understand the severity of a highly contagious and deadly disease.
Trump's doctors on Sunday provided worrying details about his condition to reporters, including two alarming drops in his oxygen levels.
But his hope that he could be discharged Monday - followed by the afternoon photo shoot - underscored that the main concern of the president, who was furious at his chief of staff because he told reporters about his troubling vital signs, is to project an image of command to the public.
LEE: «That should never have happened»: inside the Trump parade outside the Walter Reed hospital
A Walter Reed doctor harshly criticized Trump's Sunday walk.
He called it a risk to the lives of the Secret Service agents who were accompanying him in his truck.
“All the people in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential 'ride' now have to be quarantined for 14 days.
They could get sick.
They could die.
For political theater.
Ordered by Trump to put their lives at risk for the theater.
This is crazy, ”Dr. James Phillips tweeted.
Despite the risk to others in the hospital, the driver and safety, White House spokesman Judd Deere said "the medical team authorized the move as safe."
He further stated that "appropriate precautions" were taken, including "personal protective equipment."
Mail to White House Staff
But as the circle of people in the government or close to the president who tested positive widened rapidly over the weekend - including at least eight people who attended the announcement of the Supreme Court candidate in the Rose Garden, the last month - there were new questions about the White House's commitment to social distancing and guidance on wearing masks from its own coronavirus task force.
The White House Office of Management sent its first email to all staff Sunday night since Trump tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.
Until then, employees had not received a word on whether to go to work or stay home as several of their colleagues tested positive.
Surprisingly, the email, which was seen by CNN, states that they should not contact the White House testing office if they have symptoms.
Jim Acosta, Kaitlan Collins, Dana Bash, Jeremy Diamond, Gloria Borger and Allie Malloy, all from CNN, contributed to this report.
coronaviruscovid-19