‘A surreal reality show’: Trump’s terrible week after Covid diagnosis
Ex-member of Amy Coney Barrett’s faith group speaks out
Debate schedule in disarray after Trump refuses virtual event
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Defiant in the face of slipping opinion polls, and determined to justify his implausible claim of a full recovery from his encounter with Covid-19, Donald Trump will return to public events on Saturday with a “law and order” address to 2,000 invited guests from the White House balcony.Questions about the president’s health are still swirling following the refusal of doctors or aides to reveal when Trump last tested negative for coronavirus, and today’s lunchtime in-person event – just six days after he left Walter Reed medical center following a three-night stay – appears to counter his own government’s health guidelines over large gatherings and social distancing.But after another tumultuous week in which Trump lost further ground to his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, and with the 3 November general election little more than three weeks away, the president is seizing an opportunity to try to reposition himself in the race, despite the apparent health risk to attendees from a man likely to still be contagious.In a Friday night interview on Fox News, Trump, who was given a cocktail of antiviral drugs and strong steroids during his hospital stay, insisted he was “medication-free”.“We pretty much finished, and now we’ll see how things go. But pretty much nothing,” Trump said when Fox medical analyst Dr Marc Siegel asked the president what medications he was still taking.Earlier in the day, Dr Sean Conley, Trump’s personal physician, issued a letter clearing the president to return to in-person campaign events, but omitting any medical justification, including crucial information about any negative coronavirus tests.In the Friday interview, Trump said he had been tested, but gave a vague answer about it. “I haven’t even found out numbers or anything yet,” he said. “But I’ve been retested and I know I’m at either the bottom of the scale or free.”Trump’s speech today at the White House South Lawn will address “law and order” and protests around the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd and racial issues, sources revealed on Friday. More
On Friday evening, US federal judge Robert Pitman blocked Texas governor Greg Abbott’s order to shut down mail-in ballot drop-off sites across the state as the election is currently under way.Last week, Abbott issued a proclamation limiting each county to only one ballot drop-off site, regardless of size or population. This decision would have led to the closure of drop-off sites across the state, including 11 in Harris county and three in Travis county. A lawsuit was immediately filed by civil right organizations.Critics argued Abbott’s order to close drop-off sites would disproportionately affect larger, more diverse counties and hit communities of color, making it more difficult for them to vote. Harris county has more than 4.7 million residents and is the most populous county in the nation and home to the city of Houston. Travis county is home to Texas’s capital city, Austin. By comparison, smaller counties like Brewster county in west Texas, which has a population of just under 10,000, would remain unaffected by the ruling as it has always only had one drop-off site.Requests for absentee ballots in Texas are higher than previous elections due to the coronavirus pandemic, but concerns of mail slowdowns presented a need for drop-off locations. The ruling by Pitman blocking Abbott’s move is a victory for those deemed eligible to vote by mail in the state, including the elderly and disabled who would have had to travel farther distances to drop off their ballot and risk exposure to Covid-19.Statement from Harris County Clerk @CGHollins:Tonight’s injunction reinstating Harris County voters’ ability to hand-deliver their ballots at 12 county offices is a victory for voting rights. (1/3) https://t.co/t5v4Zb9g6h— Harris County Clerk (@HarrisVotes) October 10, 2020
In a statement, the Harris county clerk, Chris Hollins, said: “Tonight’s injunction reinstating Harris county voters’ ability to hand-deliver their ballots at 12 county offices is a victory for voting rights. The governor’s suppressive tactics should not be tolerated, and tonight’s ruling shows that the law is on the side of Texas voters.” More
The second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has been cancelled, the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed Friday, a move that came as the president announced his first in-person events since being diagnosed with Covid-19.The decision by the nonpartisan commission follows a public disagreement between the two candidates over the debate’s format. The commission had previously announced the debate would take place “virtually” due to Trump’s diagnosis. Trump, however, said he would refuse to participate in a virtual event, while Biden advocated for it for safety reasons.But the commission said it would not reverse its decision, citing an abundance of caution and health concerns, particularly for the town-hall-style debate that was to feature questions from voters.“It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15, and the CPD will turn its attention to preparations for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22,” the commission said in a statement.The third and final debate, scheduled for 22 October in Nashville, Tennessee, is still on.The move came shortly after Trump announced his first in-person events since his Covid-19 diagnosis, including a speech at the White House on Saturday and a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, even as he remains potentially contagious for the virus.The White House event will see Trump discuss “law and order”, and he is expecting to address a crowd from the White House balcony.The White House physician, Sean Conley, said on Thursday in a press release that “based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics the team has been conducting, I fully anticipate the president’s safe return to public engagements” on Saturday, eight days after Trump announced his positive test early last Friday.Trump had initially indicated he hoped to hold a rally on Saturday night. “I think I’m going to try doing a rally on Saturday night if we can, if we have enough time to put it together,” Trump said on Thursday. The event did not materialize.At least one Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been linked by a local health official to an increase in coronavirus cases. Most supporters at recent Trump events have eschewed masks and social distancing measures.While Trump has been doing hours-long interviews with conservative hosts, it has only been just over a week since he announced his diagnosis. Medical experts have voiced concerns that, because the White House has refused to show results of Trump’s chest x-rays and lung scans, the public does not have a complete picture of whether the president has fully recovered from the virus. More
A federal judge has denied a motion to extend voter registration in Florida after its website crashed just before the deadline, potentially preventing tens of thousands of people from casting their ballot in November’s presidential election.The judge accused the state of failing its citizens.The development on Friday came after the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, had extended the deadline from Monday to Tuesday this week after the state’s online system had stopped working for seven hours on the final day of registration.Voting rights and minority rights advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit, saying voters needed more time, but DeSantis disagreed.On Thursday, US district court judge Mark E Walker held a hearing to decide whether or not to grant a preliminary injunction to reopen and extend the deadline.But in a 29-page overnight ruling on Friday he rejected calls for an extension. He said the decision was “an incredibly close call” but that “the state’s interest in preventing chaos in its already precarious – and perennially chaotic – election outweighs the substantial burden imposed on the right to vote.”Walker said: “Every man who has stepped foot on the moon launched from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. Yet, Florida has failed to figure out how to run an election properly – a task simpler than rocket science.”And in a critique of the state’s historic elections issues, he said, “I feel like I’ve seen this movie before” and said the state had “failed its citizens”.“Notwithstanding the fact that cinemas across the country remain closed, somehow, I feel like I’ve seen this movie before. Just shy of a month from election day, with the earliest mail-in ballots beginning to be counted, Florida has done it again,” he wrote.He added: “This case is not about Floridians missing registration deadlines. This case is also not a challenge to a state statute. This case is about how a state failed its citizens.”Data filed by the state indicates that 50,000 people registered during the extended time period. Based on previous trends, the judge noted, perhaps more than 20,000 additional people might have also registered to vote, if they had been able to access the system.He also took aim at the secretary of state, Laurel Lee, who he said had implemented a “half measure” after the public had raised the alarm.“She hastily and briefly extended the registration period and ordered Florida’s supervisors of election to accept applications submitted by the secretary’s new ‘book closing’ deadline,” he wrote.He also criticised her for failing to notify the public of the new deadline until noon on the date of the new deadline.“This left less than seven hours for potential voters to somehow become aware of the news and ensure that they properly submitted their voter registration applications, all while also participating in their normal workday, school, family, and caregiving responsibilities,” Walker wrote.With less than a month to go until the 3 November election, it is the latest issue to potentially prevent people from voting in Florida. In September, a court ruled that people with felony convictions could not vote unless they repaid all outstanding debts – potentially blocking an estimated 744,000 people from voting. More
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has slammed Donald Trump for not condemning right-wing militias following the foiled kidnapping plot against Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Speaking from his campaign in Arizona, Biden criticised the president for not watching his words after Trump previously tweeted ‘Liberate Michigan’ in response to the state’s Covid restrictions. ‘You saw what the head of the FBI said a couple of days ago. He said the greatest terrorist threat in America is from white supremacists,’ Biden said. ‘Why can’t the president just say, stop, stop, stop, stop, and we will pursue you if you don’t”
Six people charged in plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer
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Biden and Trump campaigns await final decision after both propose delaying debate until 22 October
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Donald Trump says he will not participate in virtual debate with Joe Biden – video
Donald Trump added more turbulence on Thursday to the US presidential race by refusing to participate in the next presidential debate with Joe Biden after it was changed to a virtual event to guard against the spread of Covid-19, prompting both campaigns to propose postponing it a week.
On Thursday morning, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said that the next presidential debate, due on 15 October, would be a virtual affair, with the candidates appearing remotely.
“In order to protect the health and safety of all, the second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations,” it said.
But Trump, who was hospitalized for three days after disclosing last Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, blasted the format change announced by the nonpartisan commission in charge of the debates and expressed concern that his microphone could be cut off at the event. Trump, who is still receiving Covid-19 treatment at the White House, also said he wanted to resume campaign rallies.
“I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about,” Trump said in a nearly hour-long phone interview with Fox Business. “You sit behind a computer and do a debate – it’s ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want.”
Following the president’s comments, the Biden and Trump campaigns both proposed pushing back the debate – which had been planned as the second of three – until 22 October, the date of what was scheduled as their final encounter before the 3 November election. Trump’s campaign also proposed holding another debate on 29 October, which Biden’s campaign rejected, saying the 22 October debate should be the final one.
“Trump’s erratic behavior does not allow him to rewrite the calendar, and pick new dates of his choosing,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager.
The two campaigns now await final decisions from the CPD.
Even before his illness was announced, Trump’s performance in the chaotic first debate with Biden last week prompted calls for a change in format. Trump constantly interrupted and talked over both Biden and the moderator.
With election day less than four weeks away, early voting has exceeded records. More than 6 million ballots already have been cast as Americans change their behavior to avoid possible infection at polling places amid a pandemic that already has killed more than 210,000 Americans. Opinion polls show Biden leading Trump nationally, though the race appears closer in battleground states that could decide the outcome.
The two vice-presidential contenders, the incumbent Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris, engaged in a debate on Wednesday evening that was far more orderly than the first Trump-Biden encounter.
After the first presidential debate, some observers had proposed giving the moderator in future debates the power to cut off any candidate who disrupted the proceedings. The debate commission said nothing about muting the participants in its announcement on Thursday.
In the interview on Thursday, Trump said he was feeling “really good”. Trump called himself ready to resume campaign rallies. Such rallies, particularly held indoors, have raised concern among public health exerts about spreading the virus. Trump said he was still taking steroids to treat the respiratory disease.
Trump said he did not believe he was still contagious, though that contention was not yet backed up by solid evidence from his doctors.
“I’d love to do a rally tonight. I wanted to do one last night,” Trump said, adding: “If I’m at a rally, I stand by myself very far away from everybody.”
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines say people who are severely ill with Covid-19 might need to stay home for up to 20 days after symptoms first appear. The White House has not provided detailed information on the severity of Trump’s illness and has refused to say when he last tested negative for the virus.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, challenged Trump to reveal when he last tested negative, asking at a press briefing: “Why is the White House not telling the country that important fact?“
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