10 Nov

Trump to make first public appearance since election called for Biden

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US President Donald Trump will visit Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, the White House said, in what would be the president's first public appearance since the US presidential contest was called for his Democratic rival Joe Biden over the weekend.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump will visit the cemetery to mark Veterans Day, White House spokesperson Judd Deere told Reuters.

Since Election Day on 3 November he has made few public appearances and seems to have all but shelved normal presidential duties.

His only known activities outside the White House have been to play golf twice over the weekend, after the results came in.

Normally routine secret presidential intelligence briefings have been off the daily schedule. He has made no mention of the dramatic rebound in the Covid-19 pandemic across the country.

And his once near daily press conferences, interviews with Fox News or impromptu question-and-answer sessions with White House journalists have dried up.

In place of that, Trump has spent much of his time tweeting, mostly about what he claims is the stolen election. Sometimes he refers to supportive comments by the right-wing hosts on Fox News, tweeting quotes from shows across the network's daily schedule.

Trump's only significant presidential action has been the abrupt firing of the defense secretary Mark Esper on Monday, which he announced on Twitter.

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