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Coronavirus live news: doctor clears Trump to return to public events on Saturday; record global case rise Coronavirus live news: doctor clears Trump to return to public events on Saturday; record global case rise
(32 minutes later)
Washington releases open letter asking White House staff and guests at super-spreader event to take a Covid tests; Nearly 340,000 new cases confirmed in 24 hours. Follow the latest updatesWashington releases open letter asking White House staff and guests at super-spreader event to take a Covid tests; Nearly 340,000 new cases confirmed in 24 hours. Follow the latest updates
Trump has told Hannity that “the vaccines are going to be coming really soon.”
He again repeats that the experimental treatment he received is a “cure”. There is no known cure for coronavirus.
Trump claims that “we’re going to get it to everybody free of charge. It’s going to hospitals it’s starting very soon. The military is going to be delivering it.”
A reminder that several high-level military officers are currently quarantining and at least two have tested positive for coronavirus.
And that Trump does not have the power to make the treatment free without new legislation.
And that he has ties to Leonard Schleifer, the CEO of Regeneron, which produces the experimental treatment Trump credits with “curing” him.
Trump’s relationship Schleifer, whom he reportedly calls “Lenny”, adds to growing questions over the president’s almost exclusive access to experimental treatments unavailable to most other Americans, even as he has continued to downplay the threat of coronavirus based on his own experience.
More from AP:
The chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates says it is not reconsidering shifting the second debate from virtual back to in-person, despite a request from President Donald Trump’s team.
Frank Fahrenkopf told The Associated Press late Thursday that the nonpartisan group’s decision was not going to be reversed. That means the second debate is probably not going to happen at all.
The commission decided to make the Oct. 15 debate virtual after Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. Fahrenkopf says that the group wanted to “protect the health and safety of all involved” and that the decision was guided by the advice of the Cleveland Clinic, its heath partner for the 2020 debates.
Trump’s doctor, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, said in a letter Thursday evening that Trump would be cleared to resume public activities Saturday, 10 days after his diagnosis.
Earlier Thursday, Trump balked at the virtual event and said he wouldn’t participate. Biden’s campaign then said Biden would participate in a town hall hosted by ABC News on 15 October instead.
The chair of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has told The Associated Press that the final debate, scheduled for 22 October, is still slated to go on with both candidates present as planned.
But next Thursday’s debate seemed to be gone, after the Trump team objected to the commission’s format change.
Trump had to stop speaking for a moment because he was hoarse:
Trump has so far repeatedly avoided the question of whether he had been tested since he tested positive.
Hannity: Have you been tested recently?
Trump: Yeah I just saw the doctors today they think I’m in great shape
Hannity: Did you test negative?
Trump: And I’ll tell you I took this Regeneron and it’s phenomenal.
Here is the audio of Trump on Hannity.
“I think I’m going to try doing a rally on Saturday night, if we have enough time to put it together,” he says.
Asked whether he’s had a test since testing positive last week, Trump said, “Well what we’re doing is probably the test will be tomorrow. The actual test, because there’s no reason to test all the time.”
So, if Trump is telling the truth (and this is a big if) it sounds like nobody is able to confirm whether Trump has tested negative for coronavirus because he has not been tested – rather than that he has tested positive, which would be bizarre.
Trump has told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he wants to hold a rally on Florida or Pennsylvania on Saturday and has “conceded”, CNN reports, that he has not been tested again for coronavirus.Trump has told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he wants to hold a rally on Florida or Pennsylvania on Saturday and has “conceded”, CNN reports, that he has not been tested again for coronavirus.
Democrats in the US Congress have announced a plan to create a commission to review whether Donald Trump is capable of carrying out his presidential duties or should face removal from office.Democrats in the US Congress have announced a plan to create a commission to review whether Donald Trump is capable of carrying out his presidential duties or should face removal from office.
The office of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced a Friday press conference about the bill after she expressed concern that Trump, who is under treatment for coronavirus at the White House, is suffering a “disassociation from reality”.The office of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced a Friday press conference about the bill after she expressed concern that Trump, who is under treatment for coronavirus at the White House, is suffering a “disassociation from reality”.
The president has unleashed a barrage of erratic and self-contradictory tweets and declarations in recent days that have left staff scrambling and raised concerns over his stability.The president has unleashed a barrage of erratic and self-contradictory tweets and declarations in recent days that have left staff scrambling and raised concerns over his stability.
Pelosi, who is negotiating a Covid-19 economic stimulus plan, responded at her weekly press conference: “The plan isn’t for the president to say that he’s a perfect physical specimen. Specimen, maybe I can agree with that ... And young, he said he was young.”Pelosi, who is negotiating a Covid-19 economic stimulus plan, responded at her weekly press conference: “The plan isn’t for the president to say that he’s a perfect physical specimen. Specimen, maybe I can agree with that ... And young, he said he was young.”
Trump “is, shall we say, in an altered state right now” and “the disassociation from reality would be funny if it weren’t so deadly,” the 80-year-old speaker added while wearing a mask.Trump “is, shall we say, in an altered state right now” and “the disassociation from reality would be funny if it weren’t so deadly,” the 80-year-old speaker added while wearing a mask.
Trump reacted angrily to Pelosi’s manoeuvre, tweeting: “Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation. They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!”Trump reacted angrily to Pelosi’s manoeuvre, tweeting: “Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation. They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!”
Trump is “imploring” aides to allow him to resume campaign rallies, the New York Times reports.
US Senate Candidate for South Caroline, Democrat Jaime Harrison, has threatened to pull out of tomorrow’s South Carolina senate debate if Lindsey Graham doesn’t take another Coronavirus test.
Graham has responded by saying that that Harrison is “demanding special treatment”. Graham refuses to take the test, which FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver argues could be due to “pretty strong incentives for Republican senators not to get tested right now.”
The US is on the brink of 7.6m cases, with 7,599,566 currently confirmed on the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The number of Americans who have died in the pandemic so far is 212,651.
But the president of that country said earlier on the Fox Business channel, “What happens is, you get better. That’s what happens: you get better.”
ABC reports:
Trump will be calling into Sean Hannity’s radio show in a few minutes’ time. I’ll bring you any coronavirus-related news from that.
Questions, feedback, news? Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
US President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien has just announced (and the president has retweeted this) that Trump will be holding a campaign rally on Thursday instead of debating Joe Biden, after Trump refused to agree to hold a virtual debate.
The statement says that by the time of the debate (Thursday next week), “ Trump will have posted multiple negative tests” which appears to be the closest statement yet to saying that Trump has not yet tested negative for coronavirus since testing positive:
“We’ll pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead,” writes Bill Stepien.
Stepien also has coronavirus.
The statement does not explicitly say that the rally will be in person, but it doesn’t indicate that it won’t be in person, either. The note about negative tests would seem to suggest that an in-person rally is being planned.
In the statement Stepien refers to the Presidential Debate Commission as “swamp creatures”:
One of the drugs taken by Donald Trump that he has touted as a potential “cure” for coronavirus was developed using human cells originally obtained from an elective abortion, a practice repeatedly denounced by the president and many of his supporters.
The drug is a monoclonal antibody cocktail developed by Regeneron. The president received an 8-gram infusion under a “compassionate use” exemption when he was hospitalized over the weekend after testing positive for Covid-19. There is no cure for Covid-19, and the drug is not approved.
The stem cells used to develop the drug are known as HEK-293T cells, a line of cells used in laboratories. The cells were originally derived from an embryonic kidney after an elective abortion performed in the Netherlands in the 1970s:
Hi, Helen Sullivan here.
I’ll be bringing you the latest in Trump/White House coronavirus news as well as global updates for the next few hours.
Say Hi on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Meanwhile the US has reported more than 55,000 cases, according to the Covid Tracking Project, and 975 deaths.
Johns Hopkins has not yet confirmed the cases for 8 October. The US reported more than 50,000 cases on 7 October, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker.
Here is the Trump campaign statement, which says that given Dr Conley’s medical clearance, there is “no medical reason” why the debate should not take place in-person on Thursday.
A reminder that Conley has not indicated that Trump has tested negative for coronavirus, which is one medical reason he should not be out in public.