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As it happenedended

Trump news: Fears of new White House super-spreader debacle as president invites guests to public event

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Joe Sommerlad,Gino Spocchia,Justin Vallejo
Monday 12 October 2020 08:05 EDT
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Trump coughs during Fox News interview

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After likely contracting Covid-19 from a "super-spreader" event at the White House, Donald Trump will mark his first public engagement on Saturday by holding… another event at the White House.

It comes after the president returned to the virtual campaign trail on Friday with a two-hour online rally with radio host Rush Limbaugh, ahead of a planned "televised evaluation" on Tucker Carlson's evening Fox News broadcast.

The two-hour love-fest with Limbaugh saw the president drop the F-bomb, call his experimental Covid treatment a "cure", and claim Nancy Pelosi was trying to oust Joe Biden with a 25th amendment play.

Trump's theory on Pelosi ousting Biden came after the House speaker announced a bill to create a new oversight commission, which would use the 25th amendment to remove the commander in chief form office if determined to be lacking the physical or mental capacity.

While it wouldn't apply to Trump before the election, it would apply to whoever wins the next term.

Trump believes he is at full capacity after his doctors gave the all-clear to return from Covid treatment from Saturday - giving him 24 days on the campaign trail until the election.

The president was set to give an in-person interview and undergo a “televised medical evaluation” on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show on Friday night, with a larger in-person rally to be held in Florida on Monday.

The second presidential debate, meanwhile, was officially cancelled after the format was changed to a virtual townhall. In a late radio interview, Trump said the debate commission was a "crooked" deal and that the moderator was a "never Trumper".

He was referencing C-SPAN's Steve Scully, who had faced allegations of bias for interning with Joe Biden decades ago and posing with him in friendly photos while socializing in 2016, when he also tweeted "No, not Trump, not ever" when sharing a news article.

CSPAN said on Friday that Scully’s Twitter was hacked when a tweet was sent from his account to anti-Trump activist and former White House staffer, Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci.

Trump says Covid negotiations are moving along, with reports of a $1.8 trillion package in the works

“Go Big!” he says.

Earlier reports on Friday said the White House was preparing a new, $1.8 trillion stimulus proposal, according to sources quoted in The Wall Street Journal. The previous offer was $1.6 trillion.

Expect more on this today.

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 17:39

Trump continues claims Pelosi’s 25th amendment play aimed at getting Kamala Harris to replace Joe Biden

Speaking on Rush Limbaugh today, Trump said Biden is in “no position to be a candidate”, before bringing up Pelosi’s commission on presidential capacity.

"I think they put it in so they can get Kamala," Trump said.

Limbaugh: "Exactly! It's a trial run! It's not aimed at you."

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 17:57

House Democrats’ presidential capacity bill comes with a catch: It wouldn’t apply to Trump

“There are those who believe that taking certain medications can impair judgement. I don’t know,” Pelosi says of president’s medical condition and mental state on Friday.

That’s a quick two-day turnaround from her previous diagnosis of Trump's “rash decision” on the Covid relief deal, which Pelosi said could have been impacted by the dexamethasone steroid treatment he was receiving, which she based on her practice of medicine "as a mother and grandmother".

The Independent’s Washington Bureau Chief John T Bennett has more on Nancy Pelosi’s 25th amendment play.

House Democrats’ presidential capacity bill comes with a catch: It wouldn’t apply to Trump

'There are those who believe that taking certain medications can impair judgement. I don’t know,' speaker says of president’s medical condition and mental state

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:00

Trump says support from black voters should be ‘100 per cent’ because 'they don’t dig’ Biden

Trump said support from African Americans “should be more like 100 per cent” after Rush Limbaugh played a number of clips of Joe Biden speaking to black voters, including the infamous “you ain’t black” comment to Charlamagne tha God from earlier in the 2020 election campaign.

“The black community gets it, they don’t dig him, they don’t like him,” Trump said.

Here is the clip Limbaugh is referencing, via the GOP of course.

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:07

Trump says Covid antibody cocktail a cure and  ‘total gamechanger better than vaccine’

“This is better than the vaccine and it’s going out as we speak,” Trump says of the antibody cocktail from Regeneron.

Speaking to Rush Limbaugh, the president said he could have been a serious victim given his risk categories, ie: 74-years-old, overweight, and male. 

“This is a cure, it’s a therapeutic, call it what you want I tell you it’s a cure,” he said. “Total game changer.

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:13

Trump at odds with AG Barr over report on Russia collusion probe

Donald Trump said the Justice Department waiting until after the election to release the report on the Russia collusion probe was “a disgrace” and he would take it up with Attorney General William Barr.

“I think it’s terrible,” Trump said to Rush Limbaugh. “If that’s the case, I’m very disappointed.”

“I don’t know if he made that statement, if he did I would be very disappointed in him,” Trump added. “They had plenty of time to get this done.”

The pair are referencing this story from Axios, “Barr tells Republicans Durham report won't be ready by election”

It says:

Attorney General Bill Barr has begun telling top Republicans that the Justice Department’s sweeping review into the origins of the Russia investigation will not be released before the election, a senior White House official and a congressional aide briefed on the conversations tell Axios. 
 

“This is the nightmare scenario. Essentially, the year and a half of arguably the number one issue for the Republican base is virtually meaningless if this doesn't happen before the election," a GOP congressional aide told Axios.

Axios
Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:23

‘I had to be rude because he was lying,’ Trump said of first debate with Biden

“He was saying so many false things,” Trump said.

“And if I didn’t say wrong, etcetera etcetera, the one who protected him was [moderator] Chris Wallace."

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:29

LeBron James a ‘hater’ and spokesman for the Democratic party, says Trump

“And a very nasty spokesman,” Trump said. “He’s a great basketball player but people don’t want to see a guy that way. They don’t want to see that,” Trump said to Rush Limbaugh while discussing the NBA’s ratings drop after bringing politics into the sport.

“He’s a hater.”

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:37

Trump wants Covid stimulus package bigger than what either Republicans or Democrats are offering

“I’d like to see it happen, a lot of people are being hurt because of China,” Trump told Rush Limbaugh.

“I’d like to see a bigger package, I’d like to see money going to people.”

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:40

You don’t see terror like you used to, Trump says

Speaking of sanctions on Iran, Trump told Rush Limbaugh that Tehran wouldn’t threaten the US because, if they do: “We are going to do things to you that have never been done before.”

Justin Vallejo9 October 2020 18:45

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