The Democratic House speaker said on MSNBC that Donald Trump’s announcement early on Friday that he and his wife, Melania, had tested positive for Covid-19 was 'very sad'. She added, however, that Trump’s actions during the pandemic were 'a brazen invitation for something like this to happen'
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Trump films message before leaving for Covid treatment in hospital – video
Donald Trump has been flown to a military hospital after contracting Covid-19. Officials said the president would spend a few days at the Walter Reed national military medical centre. While he was in transit, a video was posted to Trump's Twitter account in which the president addressed the camera directly, thanking people for their support
- Trump taken to hospital by helicopter after Covid diagnosis
- Coronavirus live news: Trump treated with remdesivir in hospital
Chaotic Trump-Biden debate may count for little – voters have already decided
Interruptions, bickering and a shocking tone may ultimately not matter, pollsters say, as most people have already made up their minds
First-time independent voter Benaja Richardson tuned into Tuesday’s now infamous debate between US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden hoping to be presented with a vision of the future and unity amid the turbulence of the current climate.
Instead the 18-year-old student from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a potential swing state, said it opened her eyes to “truly what catastrophic times we’re in”.
Continue reading...Scrutiny on Rose Garden event after Kellyanne Conway and other guests test positive for Covid
At least seven people who attended event for Trump’s supreme court nominee have confirmed they have coronavirus
A crowded Rose Garden ceremony last Saturday at which Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his supreme court nominee has come under scrutiny after at least seven figures in attendance tested positive for coronavirus, including the president himself.
On Friday, the president’s former counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, announced she had tested positive and had “mild” symptoms.
Continue reading...Tweets wishing for Trump’s death violate Twitter policy, company says
Platform says abusive tweets about the president, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 this week, could result in suspension
Twitter has said that tweets wishing for Donald Trump’s death in the wake of the president’s diagnosis with Covid-19 violate its policies and could result in suspension.
As Trump made his way to Walter Reed medical center for treatment on Friday, many people on Twitter, including his opponent Joe Biden, wished him a speedy recovery. However many others did the opposite, saying they hope he dies from the virus, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States under his leadership while he repeatedly downplayed the severity of the disease.
Related: Trump taken to hospital by helicopter after Covid diagnosis
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star vandalized again
A man dressed as the Incredible Hulk reportedly took a pickaxe to the star, ‘destroying it beyond recognition’
Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been severely vandalized again, the Los Angeles police department has confirmed.
At 5.55am PST on Friday morning, officers responded to a call regarding the vandalism and took a report on the scene, a spokesman confirmed. He said the police department could not say how much estimated damage was caused.
Continue reading...Trump in quarantine as Covid diagnosis throws US into fresh upheaval
- President and first lady Melania showing ‘mild symptoms’
- Officials scramble to learn who else may have been infected
- Trump and first lady test positive – follow the US politics blog
America’s leadership has been plunged into extraordinary uncertainty after Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions over how far the infection has penetrated the heart of government.
Related: Donald and Melania Trump showing 'mild' Covid symptoms as Joe and Jill Biden test negative – live
Continue reading...Donald and Melania Trump showing ‘mild’ Covid symptoms as Joe and Jill Biden test negative – live
- White House confirms president has mild symptoms
- Biden campaign confirms Democrat and his wife, Jill, tested negative
- Trump in quarantine as Covid diagnosis throws US into fresh upheaval
- Analysis: A surprise that many saw coming
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Here’s where the day stands so far:
Democratic nominee Joe Biden is moving forward with his plans to travel to Michigan today, after testing negative for coronavirus.
According to a pool report, Biden’s motorcade was en route to the airport as of about 20 minutes ago.
Continue reading...Hicks, hubris and not a lot of masks: the week Trump caught Covid
The US president tested positive after a week in which he behaved with the same disregard for public health rules that has characterised his coronavirus response
Donald Trump’s presidency has been full of plot surprises. But no single tweet has had the same meteor-like impact as the one sent by the president shortly before 1am on Friday morning. It felt like a season finale moment. “Overnight, @FlOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump wrote. He added, in matter-of-fact style: “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”.
The announcement was astonishing. And yet – seen through the timeline of Trump’s recent activities – it appears wholly unremarkable and perhaps even cosmically inevitable. Over the past five days the president has behaved with the same reckless disregard for public health rules that has characterised his response since January to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Trump’s Covid diagnosis throws final month of campaign into total confusion
Huge questions over practical matters of rallies and travel, but also of whether Trump falls ill – and what that means for the election
Hours after the announcement that he had tested positive for Covid-19, Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Florida for a campaign rally on Friday and announced that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, who also tested positive, would enter quarantine.
Related: What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?
Continue reading...What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?
Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 – but what happens if he can’t carry out his presidential duties?
- Trump tests positive for coronavirus – latest updates
- Trump tests positive: what we know and don’t know
Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution the president himself – or the vice-president with the agreement of eight cabinet officers, supported by Congress – can ask the vice-president, in this instance Republican Mike Pence, to take over as acting president.
Continue reading...Trump joked while people suffered with Covid. Well, is now the time to stop? | Marina Hyde
Maybe the real victims of the president’s diagnosis are his MAGA disciples who don’t believe the virus even exists
Well, it’s definitely a plot twist. Like a lot of people who sat through Tuesday’s presidential debate, I’m amazed the week has ended with Donald Trump ingesting bleach, and not me.
As you may vaguely have heard, the US president and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus – which feels untimely given that, mere hours earlier, Trump had been declaring: “The end of the pandemic is in sight.” Perhaps this is a one-last-job movie. Alternatively, picture a Wuhan bat staring pensively into the fireplace as its butler suggests not thinking too hard about Trump’s motivations. Some poorly facepainted men just want to watch the world burn.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson sends best wishes to Donald and Melania Trump after Covid-19 diagnosis – video
Boris Johnson has wished Donald and Melania Trump a 'strong recovery', hours after the US president revealed he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus
- Trump and first lady Melania test positive for coronavirus
- Prayers and criticism as public figures react to Trump Covid news
Trump throws baseball caps into crowd days before announcing positive Covid test – video
Two days before announcing he had contracted Covid-19, Donald Trump tossed two campaign baseball caps into the crowd with his bare hands while at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota.
The venue was crowded with hundreds of supporters on Wednesday and Trump, who did not wear a face mask, entered the stage smiling and waving to the crowd before addressing the rally. The president frequently minimised the seriousness of the pandemic in its early stages and has repeatedly predicted it would go away.
Trump announced he and his wife, Melania, tested positive for Covid-19 in a tweet on Friday
- Troubled Florida, divided America: will Donald Trump hold this vital swing state? - video
- From miracle cures to slowing testing: how Trump has defied science on coronavirus – video explainer
Fears for Obamacare if Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to supreme court
Case due before court seeks to strike down landmark Affordable Care Act – which could leave millions of Americans adrift
This month, Congress is expected to begin confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s nominee for the supreme court, Amy Coney Barrett. If confirmed, she could be the decisive vote in a case being heard days after the election, which seeks to strike down the landmark Affordable Care Act – a move that could leave millions of Americans without healthcare in the middle of a pandemic.
Related: Amy Coney Barrett: what will she mean for women's rights?
Continue reading...Trump rejects change to rules despite chaos and cringe of first debate
- President interrupted and talked over Biden and moderator
- Commission wants changes for ‘more orderly discussion’
Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has rejected calls to change the rules of the next two presidential debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden after the first chaotic event in Cleveland was marred by constant interruptions and outbursts.
Related: Trump signals he won't agree to rules changes for debates – live
Continue reading...Trump signals he won’t agree to rules changes for debates – as it happened
- Trump: ‘Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules?’
- McEnany refuses to outright condemn white supremacy at briefing
- Biden plans late-election in-person campaign push
- US officials were directed to make sympathetic comments about Kyle Rittenhouse, report says
- Facebook removes Trump ads with misleading refugee claims
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
From me and Joan E Greve:
In a memorable moment from the Republican National Convention, Guilfoyle rallied supporters in what Guardian Washington bureau chief David Smith described as “a high-octane audition for Evita – without an audience”.
She said that Democrats “want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear” and later screamed, “Ladies and gentlemen, leaders and fighters for liberty and the American Dream: the best is yet to come!”
Continue reading...Human rights lawyers sue Trump administration for ‘silencing’ them
Exclusive: group claims executive order targeting the international criminal court has led them to halt work on war crimes cases
Prominent US human rights lawyers are suing the Trump administration over an executive order they say has gagged them and halted their work pursuing justice on behalf of war crimes victims around the world.
As a result of the order in June threatening “serious consequences” for anyone giving support to the work of the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, the lawyers say they have had to cancel speeches and presentations, end research, abandon writing ICC-related articles and dispensing advice and assistance to victims of atrocities.
Continue reading...Joe Biden tells white supremacist groups to ‘cease and desist’ – video
Joe Biden warned white supremacist groups including the Proud Boys to 'cease and desist', in Alliance, Ohio, the second stop of his Build Back Better train tour to Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and the Proud Boys during Tuesday night’s election debate, and on Wednesday Trump claimed he had never heard of Proud Boys, after saying on Tuesday they should 'stand back and stand by'.
The Proud Boys have since offered for sale T-shirts with the motif 'standing by'
- Biden tells white supremacist groups to 'cease and desist' after Trump's debate 'embarrassment' – live
- Trump's refusal to condemn white supremacy fits pattern of extremist rhetoric
Biden tells white supremacist groups to ‘cease and desist’ after Trump’s debate ’embarrassment’ – live
- Democrat describes Trump’s display as ‘national embarrassment’
- Trump denies knowledge of Proud Boys after saying: ‘Stand by’
- Debate commission calls for ‘additional structure’ for future
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
When a reporter asked Trump about his comments on the Proud Boys last night, the president asked for a “definition” of the extremist far-right group.
Trump says he does "not know who the Proud Boys are," but they should "stand down and let law enforcement do their work."
(He said they should "stand by" last night.) pic.twitter.com/kgi2R8DgN9
Trump just spoke to reporters on the South Lawn before leaving for Minnesota, where he will hold campaign events this evening.
Addressing his comments last night on the Proud Boys, Trump claimed he did not know who the extremist far-right group was.
Related: Trump's refusal to condemn white supremacy fits pattern of extremist rhetoric
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