Trump news: Fears of new White House super-spreader debacle as president invites guests to public event
Follow the latest updates
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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.
Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh have now been chatting for 1 hour and 42 minutes
The virtual campaign rally is at the half way mark as Limbaugh checks in at almost two hours to say Trump’s election to president was “providential”.
Trump: ‘I like Putin’
Going through the list of international leaders, Trump had this to say of Russia and Germany’s heads of state.
On Russia’s Vladamir Putin: “I get along with Putin. I like Putin. Putin possibly, probably, likes me,” he said.
On Germany’s Angela Merkel: “I get along with Angela a lot. She’s a player,” he said. “She’s a very smart, cunning person.”
‘It’s true’: author of Axios report responds to Trump
Trump today said he would tell attorney general William Barr that it’s a disgrace if the Durham probe isn’t released before the election, per reports in Axios, “if it’s true”.
Responds reporter Alayana Treene: “It’s true.”
Dr Anthony Fauci says Trump’s cough ‘not unusual’ and not necessarily a sign he’s spreading Covid virus
Asked about Donald Trump’s cough during a Fox News interview on Thursday night, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Friday it could be “relatively benign".
“For a couple of days you could have a residual cough that could be relatively begnin and not particularly bother you,” Fauci said.
“Some people after several days relapse and get into trouble… most people when they recover they recover fine in a linear fashion and get better and better and better, which it appears that the president’s doing. But having a bit of a lingering cough is not at all unusual as someone recovers.”
Trump appears to have kicked the cough on Friday, speaking for two hours to radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Listen to Trump drop the F-bomb on Iran: ‘If you f*uck around with us’
Speaking about sanctions on Iran, Trump said on Rush Limbaugh today:
“If you f*ck around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are gonna do things to you that have never been done before,” Trump said.
In any other presidency, this would be headline news. But in 2020, this is par for the course. Here is a super cut of Trump dropping the F-bomb like it’s Shock & Awe.
Trump unlikely to hit campaign trail until Monday, awaits more testing
Donald Trump is itching to get back on the campaign trail after being sidelined by a Covid-19 infection but is unlikely to hold any in-person events until at least Monday, aides said on Friday.
Trump said on Thursday night he hoped to hold campaign rallies in the crucial swing states of Florida on Saturday and Pennsylvania on Sunday. But aides said the short notice would make the events difficult to stage.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said the president was hard at work and ready to go as soon as he got approval from his doctor, telling Fox News, “He wants to talk to the American people, and he wants to be out there.” - Reuters
Dr Anthony Fauci calls Scotus Rose Garden announcement a ‘super spreader’ event
“I think the data speaks for itself, we had a super spreader event in the White House, and it was a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks, so the data speak for themselves,” Fauci said today.
Latinos the future of the country, Biden says
Speaking at a campaign stop in Las Vegas on Friday, Joe Biden said the future is “just absolutely breathtaking if we just use our heads and begin to operate in a way that I think the American people are ready to do”.
“I’m not trying to be solicitous with you I’m not trying to be nice, you are the future of the country, I mean you really are,” Biden said.
“If in fact, if in fact we’re in a situation where the Latino community of the United States of America and they’re, the GDP, the wealth that they generate nationwide, if just took just the Latino population, you’d be the eighth largest economy in the world, in the United States.”
He continued: “All those folks on the front lines, look at how many Dreamers are out there risking their lives, you know it, but the American people don’t know I keep telling them all over the country. The Dreamers, there’s thousands and thousands there’s thousands and thousands of them, risking their lives making sure that people are staying alive, they can stay home.”
Joe Biden Campaigns in East Las Vegas, Nevada | LIVE | NowThis
BIDEN IN VEGAS: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is making a stop in East Las Vegas, Nevada before speaking at a drive-in rally later this afternoon...
Biden bends the knee in Las Vegas campaign stop
ICYMI: White House preparing $1.8tn stimulus bill, days after Trump told his team to delay it until after election
The White House was preparing to unveil a new $1.8 trillion stimulus package, according to reports, after President Donald Trump blew up negotiations with Democrats and Republican leaders warned a Covid-19 relief bill was unlikely before Election Day.
US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin was expected to discuss the new aid package with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D—Ca) during a meeting on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported, amid stalled negotiations on Capitol Hill over coronavirus relief.
Chris Riotta has more on the Covid relief negotiations.
White House preparing $1.8tn stimulus bill, days after Trump told his team to delay it until after election
Washington seems to be experiencing whiplash as the president throws wrenches into negotiations on Capitol Hill over coronavirus relief measures
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments