(Newser) – Twitter has deleted a post by Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, that contained false information about a treatment for COVID-19 and the governor of Michigan. The tweet was replaced with the message, "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules," Mediaite reports. Giuliani had quoted a post by Charlie Kirk, a Trump backer and activist, that said: "Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to have a 100% effective rate treating COVID-19. Yet Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is threatening doctors who prescribe it." Tests have not shown the anti-malaria drug to be effective against COVID-19, though Trump has promoted it as a possibility. Doctors have warned that hydroxychloroquine can cause cardiac arrhythmia, which can be fatal for heart patients, per Business Insider.

The claim appears to have originated with Jim Hoft, a blogger for the Gateway Pundit. Twitter, which locked Giuliani's account for a time Friday, prohibits posting information in opposition to guidance from genuine health authorities, including "description of treatments." Hoft also wrote, "Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer is the latest Democrat to ban doctors from prescribing the lifesaving drugs hydroxychloroquine." Michigan and other states have told doctors not to hoard the medications for themselves and their families. The state said in a letter that it has received complaints of "inappropriately prescribing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine ... without a legitimate medical purpose." An Arizona man died last week after taking chloroquine phosphate. Giuliani's tweet had said Democrats are "okay with people dying if it means opposing Trump." (Read more coronavirus stories.)

