U.S. President Donald Trump will give a public speech at the White House late on Saturday for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19, as he prepares a rapid return to the campaign trail just three weeks before the election.
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The 74-year-old commander-in-chief has also announced a Florida rally on Monday in an attempt to relaunch his stumbling re-election campaign against surging Democratic rival Joe Biden, who called the president’s behaviour “reckless.”
Seeking to project strength and improved health, Mr. Trump had refused to participate in next week’s scheduled debate after organisers shifted it to an online format out of coronavirus concerns.
On Friday, the Commission on Presidential Debates made it official, saying next Thursday’s debate is scrapped, leaving an October 22 event — the final Trump-Biden showdown — before election day on November 3.
That prompted accusations of bias from Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh, who said “there is no medical reason to stop” the October 15 debate from proceeding.
Knocked off the campaign trail by his three-night hospitalisation last week, the President is in the midst of a frenetic bid to catch up with Mr. Biden.
On Friday, during an extended media blitz, Mr. Trump falsely claimed that COVID-19 now has a cure.
He also revealed that he’d been told he was near death at the worst of his bout with the virus, which has killed more than 2,13,000 Americans and severely dented his chances of winning a second term.
Saturday’s speech, which a senior administration official said would be on Mr. Trump’s favoured theme of “law and order,” will give him a chance to dispel lingering doubts about his health.
The crowd will be on the South Lawn of the White House, while the President will speak from the balcony.
A source with knowledge of the planning said all attendees will be required to wear masks and have their temperature checked.
Crucial state
On Monday, Mr. Trump will take another major step by holding a rally in a crucial battleground state.
“Will be in Sanford, Florida on Monday for a very BIG RALLY!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
The events come despite continued questions over how sick Mr. Trump was and how complete his recovery is now, with White House officials refusing to answer basic queries, including when the President first contracted the virus and whether he has tested negative since.
After Mr. Trump spent months mocking Mr. Biden for staying at home during the pandemic, it is Mr. Biden who has barnstormed swing States this week.
He visited Arizona on Thursday and campaigned Friday in Nevada. Mr. Trump won both States in 2016 but they are now narrowly tilting Democratic in polls.
At a drive-in style event in Las Vegas, Mr. Biden slammed the President.
“His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis, the destabilising effect it’s having on our government, is unconscionable,” Mr. Biden said.
As he boarded his campaign plane he offered a message for those attending Mr. Trump’s public events: “Good luck. I wouldn’t show up unless you had a mask and were distanced.”
On Friday, Mr. Trump gave a marathon interview to right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh in which he said the experimental Regeneron antibody cocktail that he took as part of therapeutic treatment was “a cure.” It’s “a total game changer.”
