UMC disputes Trump claim that doctors left operating room to see him because of ‘love’ for president

The University Medical Center of El Paso on Thursday officially disputed a claim made by President Trump that doctors left the operating room in order to see him during his recent visit to the hospital.

UMC spokesman Ryan Mielke told ABC-7 that the president’s account of his visit in that regard simply wasn’t accurate.

“At no time did, or would, physicians or staff leave active operating rooms during the presidential visit. Our priority is always patient care,” he said in an email to ABC-7.

Trump made the contention on Wednesday, when he told reporters that doctors in both El Paso and Dayton came out of the operating room to see him and that “the love for me — maybe as representative of the country — but for me, and my love for them, was unparalleled.”

The president visited UMC, as well as a hospital in Dayton, following the Aug. 3 mass shootings in the two communities that killed a total of 31 people. Trump described those visits on Wednesday as “beautiful, very sad, horrible moments.”

During his UMC visit, eight shooting victims who were still recovering at the facility declined invitations to meet with Trump, according to Mielke.