Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden stands at the podium as President Donald Trump walks onto stage for the first presidential debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland. (Olivier Douliery/Pool vi AP)US election 2020 Live updates: The second election debate between US President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden will be conducted virtually, organisers informed AP Thursday.
Concerns about the debate had risen after the first presidential debate took place between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio. US President Donald Trump tested positive for the novel coronavirus soon after the debate.
President Donald Trump, still confined to the White House where he is being treated for COVID-19, planned more steps on Thursday to try to reinvigorate a re-election campaign hit hard by his handling of the pandemic. Trump is scheduled to appear in his first TV interview since revealing last Friday he had contracted COVID-19. Fox Business Network said the interview would air on Thursday after 8 a.m. (1200 GMT). Itching to get back out on the campaign trail since leaving a military hospital on Monday, Trump has called off negotiations with Congress for a fresh round of stimulus for the ailing economy and declared in a video that his illness was “a gift from God.”
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., stands with her husband Douglas Emhoff while Vice President Mike Pence stands with his wife Karen Pence during the vice presidential debate Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is ready to hold campaign rallies and he credited an experimental drug treatment with helping his recovery from COVID-19, although there is no way for the president or his doctors to know whether the drug had any effect.
“I''m feeling good. Really good. I think perfect," Trump said during a telephone interview with Fox Business Channel, his first since he tested positive.
“I think I''m better to the point where I''d love to do a rally tonight,” Trump said adding that he no longer thinks he''s "contagious at all.”
Trump did not indicate where or when he might have contracted the virus, saying only, "If you''re anywhere around this thing you can catch it.”
But he mentioned a recent Rose Garden event announcing his new Supreme Court nominee and a meeting with military families. He said family members often want to get up close to him and “kiss” and “hug” him. “I can''t say ''Back up. Stand 10 feet" away, Trump said.
Trump credited the drug treatment with helping his recovery and suggested his diagnosis could be a “blessing in disguise" in the nation''s battle against the pandemic.
The second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will take place virtually amid the fallout from the president''s diagnosis of COVID-19. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates debates made the announcement Thursday morning, a week before the two were scheduled to face on in Miami.
The candidates will “participate from separate remote locations,” while the participants and moderator remain in Miami, the commission said. Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus a week ago and said he looked forward to debating Biden on stage in Miami, saying, “It will be great!” Biden, for his part, said he and Trump “shouldn''t have a debate” as long as the president remains COVID positive.
Biden told reporters in Pennsylvania that he was “looking forward to being able to debate him” but said “we''re going to have to follow very strict guidelines.”