Trump is bringing back his controversial coronavirus briefings as his approval ratings plummet

• President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he'll resume his regular coronavirus press briefings beginning on Tuesday.
• Trump said he's bringing them back in part because of the large audiences that watched his earlier briefings.
• He said he'll focus on the development of vaccines and therapeutic drugs.
• The president's regular briefings ended shortly after he suggested in late April that Americans might be able to inject disinfectant and "bring light inside the body" to cure the virus.
• Trump's approval rating on his coronavirus response has dropped significantly, even among Republican voters, since May, according to multiple recent polls.

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he'll resume his regular coronavirus press briefings, which ended soon after he suggested Americans might be able inject disinfectant and UV light into their bodies to cure the virus in April.

Trump said he's bringing the briefings back, beginning on Tuesday, in part because his earlier briefings attracted large TV audiences.

"I was doing them, and we had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching in the history of cable television, and there's never been anything like it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "It's a great way to get information out to the public as to where we are with the vaccines and the therapeutics."

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said last week that the briefings helped boost the president's approval rating towards the beginning of the pandemic.

"It's causation not coincidence that the president's handling of the coronavirus was higher in public opinion when he himself was addressing [the crisis]," she told reporters. "There he was with his doctors and everybody was answering questions and presenting information when the news was very dire and very sad."

The president's approval rating on his coronavirus response has dropped significantly since May, including among Republican voters, according to multiple recent polls.

Conway argued that "people want to hear from the president of the United States."

"I don't think anybody needs to be up there for two hours," she went on. "It can be 20 minutes, 30 minutes. It can be two questions, it can be no questions, respectfully, as long as the information is being delivered."

Trump received widespread criticism for spreading false and misleading claims about the virus during his briefings earlier this spring, which often devolved into campaign rally speeches.