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The presence of a U.S. Marine outside the west wing suggested that Trump was in the Oval Office on Friday.
Donald Trump will host a public event at the White House later, his first since he became ill with coronavirus.
The president, who says he is no longer taking COVID-19 drugs, will address several hundred supporters gathered on the South Lawn from the White House balcony.
It has been just over a week since Trump announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus.
He said Friday that he was waiting for a new test result.
Saturday’s meeting at the White House is officially a presidential event rather than a campaign event.
In the official program it is described as: “The president makes comments in a peaceful protest for law and order.”
Trump has been criticized for using the White House for political events, such as when he accepted his party’s appointment as president on the South Lawn in August.
The president says he plans to attend a “big rally” in Florida on Monday.
Florida is a battleground state in next month’s presidential election.
Polls suggest that Democratic candidate Joe Biden has a single-digit lead over Trump and an ABC News / Ipsos poll found that only 35% of Americans approved of the way Trump has handled the coronavirus crisis.
However, the US presidential elections are determined in practice in key states where both candidates have a chance of winning, rather than by the total number of votes won, as Hillary Clinton discovered at her expense in 2016.
- How is Donald Trump doing in the polls?
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What’s the latest on the president’s health?
Trump told Fox News that he was feeling “very, very strong” and was no longer taking medication, having received his “final doses of almost everything.”
On Thursday, the president’s doctor, Sean Conley, said it would be safe for him to return to public engagements on Saturday. [10 October] since it would mark “day 10” from his diagnosis on Thursday, October 1.
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Trump has not been seen in public since he returned to the White House after his hospital treatment on October 5.
Following his Covid-19 diagnosis, Trump spent three nights in the hospital and was treated with the steroid dexamethasone, the antiviral drug remdesivir, and a cocktail of antibodies made by the Regeneron company.
- The latest on Trump’s health in six charts
- What do we know about Trump’s medical treatment?
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends self-isolation for at least 10 days after the first symptoms of the coronavirus appear, with more serious illnesses, such as those requiring hospital treatment, which may need up to 20 days.
What’s going on in the White House?
With just over three weeks to go until the November 3 election, Trump is eager to get back on the campaign trail.
All attendees at Saturday’s event on the South Lawn will be required to wear masks, have their temperature monitored and be encouraged to maintain social distance, the White House said.
Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, expressed disbelief at the president’s plans to hold rallies and criticized the Trump administration’s lax stance on wearing masks as reckless.
Trump has expressed skepticism about measures such as masks and lockdowns to combat the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 213,000 people in the United States. He has discussed the possibility of a vaccine being available, although researchers say this is unlikely to happen before next year at the earliest.
Meanwhile, America’s leading virus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that a meeting at the White House last month appeared to be related to a Covid-19 outbreak.
Dr. Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said the presentation of President Donald Trump’s candidate to the Supreme Court was a “wide-spread event.”
Subsequently, at least 11 people who attended the event on September 26 tested positive.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of those who attended and fell ill with Covid-19, Said Saturday that he had been discharged from the hospital. Thanking his doctors, he said he would have more to say about all of this next week.
The president’s wife, Melania Trump, was also infected but has not needed hospital treatment. Five days ago he said that he was feeling fine and that he would continue to rest at home.
Up to 34 White House aides and other contacts have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days, according to US media.
On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health said nine infections have been linked to Trump’s Sept. 18 campaign rally in the state.
At least one person was contagious when he attended, authorities say, and two cases have led to hospital admissions, with one of those people in intensive care.
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And the debates?
Next week’s second presidential debate between Trump and Biden has been officially canceled.
The Presidential Debate Commission said in a statement Friday that both campaigns had announced “alternative plans for that date.”
Trump had resisted a request from the commission to hold the Oct. 15 showdown virtually to minimize the risk of the coronavirus spreading.
The commission, which is a nonpartisan body in charge of organizing the general election debates, said it was still making arrangements for the third and final presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22.
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Joe Biden spent Friday campaigning in Nevada
The Trump campaign said the commission was “biased” toward Biden, while the Democratic team accused the president of sidestepping the debate.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Washington’s most powerful Democrat, announced legislation Friday to establish a commission to assess a president’s fitness for office.
Pelosi said she was not meant to comment on Trump’s condition. In any case, the measure is unlikely to be seriously considered before the elections.
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