Diane is a perfectionist. She enjoys searching the internet for the hottest events from around the world and writing an article about it. The details matter to her, so she makes sure the information is easy to read and understand. She likes traveling and history, especially ancient history. Being a very sociable person she has a blast having barbeque with family and friends.
Joe Biden is to becoming the next US president after defeating Donald Trump in a cliff-hanger vote count after November 3 election.
According to most recent projections, Joe Biden has won the key battleground of Pennsylvania, propelling him over the 270 electoral college vote threshold required to clinch the White House.
However, the Trump campaign has indicated their candidate does not plan to concede.
The former vice-president said it was now time for America to “unite and heal”.
He said: “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.”
Joe Biden said he was “honored and humbled” to be elected and said the record turnout in the face of “unprecedented obstacles” showed that democracy “beats deep in the heart of America”.
The result makes Donald Trump the first one-term president since the 1990s.
Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, is set to become the first woman vice-president.
Joe Biden’s victory is based on the unofficial results from states that have already finished counting their votes, and the expected results from states like Wisconsin where the count is continuing.
His projected win in Pennsylvania takes him to 273 electoral college votes.
The 2020 election has seen the highest turnout since 1900. Joe Biden has won more than 74 million votes so far, the most ever for a US presidential candidate. Donald Trump has drawn more than 70 million, the second-highest tally in history.
DonaldTrump had falsely declared himself the winner of the election when vote counting was unfinished. He has since alleged irregularities in counting, but has not presented any evidence of election fraud.
The Trump campaign has filed a barrage of lawsuits in various states and on November 6, as Joe Biden appeared on the cusp of victory, said: “This election is not over.”
The election was fought as coronavirus cases and deaths continued to rise across the United States, with President Trump arguing a Biden presidency would result in lockdowns and economic gloom. Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of failing to impose sufficient measures to control the spread of Covid-19.
Joe Biden is now set to return to the White House, where he served for eight years as President Barack Obama’s deputy.
At the age of 78, Joe Biden will be the oldest president in American history.
Usually the losing candidate concedes but Donald Trump has vowed to contest the election results on several fronts.
Responding to the Pennsylvania results, the Trump campaign put out a statement saying: “This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final.”
A recount will be held in Georgia, where the margins are tight, and Donald Trump wants the same in Wisconsin. He has also vowed to take legal action to the Supreme Court, alleging voting fraud without evidence.
If the election result is challenged, it would require legal teams to challenge this in the state courts. State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount, and Supreme Court justices could then be asked to overturn a ruling.
Meanwhile, votes in some states are continuing to be counted and results are never official until final certification, which occurs in each state in the weeks following the election.
This must be done before 538 electors from the Electoral College – which officially decides who wins the election – meet in their state capitals to vote on December 14.
The electors’ votes usually mirror the popular vote in each state. However, in some states this is not a formal requirement.
The new president is officially sworn into office on January 20 after a transition period to give them time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans.
The handover of power takes place at a ceremony known as the inauguration, which is held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.
After the ceremony, the new president makes their way to the White House to begin their four-year term in office.
Joe Biden ran for the White House twice before.
In 1988, he withdrew from the race after he admitted to plagiarizing a speech by the then leader of the British Labor Party, Neil Kinnock.
In 2008, he tried again to get the Democratic nomination before dropping out and joining Barack Obama’s ticket.
Joe Biden’s eight years as vice-president allowed him to lay claim to much of Barrack Obama’s legacy, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare.
Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, a key state in the presidential race, results data show.
The Democratic candidate is leading by more than 13,000 votes, with 98% counted. If Joe Biden takes the state, he will win the election.
Earlier, Joe Biden edged ahead of his Republican rival in Georgia, another key battleground state, where a recount will now be held.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign said: “This election is not over.”
Trump campaign lawyer Matt Morgan claimed without evidence that ballots in Georgia were “improperly harvested” and that in Pennsylvania election observers were not given “meaningful access” to counting, despite a judge’s order allowing them further access on November 5.
In a statement later, President Trump said: “From the beginning we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn.
“We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.”
A senior Trump administration official has told CBS News President Trump does not plan to concede in the event of a victory declaration by Joe Biden.
There are reports from the Biden campaign in Delaware that he will make a primetime address to the nation on Friday evening local time. This is believed to be dependent on the race being called by then.
Joe Biden currently has 253 Electoral College votes, while Donald Trump has 214. To win the White House, a candidate needs 270.
Some news organizations have a higher tally for Mr Biden, having projected a win for the Democrat in Arizona.
Pennsylvania, where Joe Biden was born, has 20 Electoral College votes. If the Democrat wins it, he will secure the victory with 273 votes.
Election officials there said the count could take several days.
Pennsylvania has always been a major political battleground. The state voted Democrat in six consecutive races before it swung to Donald Trump in 2016.
In Georgia, Joe Biden is currently leading with more than 1,500 votes, with 99% of the ballots counted. Georgia’s secretary of state said there would be a recount because the margin was so small.
Georgia is a traditionally Republican state and has not been won by a Democrat in a presidential race since 1992.
President Trump’s team says legal challenges and recounts in some states will favor them.
Bob Bauer, a Biden campaign lawyer, says the lawsuits are legally “meritless” and designed “to message falsely about what’s taking place in the electoral process”.
The vote is also currently too close to call in Nevada and North Carolina.
A win in just Pennsylvania, or two of the other four remaining states would be enough to confirm Joe Biden as president-elect.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, would need to win Pennsylvania and three of the remaining four states.
He has cut the Democratic candidate’s lead in Arizona (11 electoral votes) to less than 44,000 votes, with 93% counted.
He also had a lead of more than 76,000 in North Carolina (15 electoral votes), with 96% of votes tallied.
In Nevada, Joe Biden has an edge of more than 20,000 over Donald Trump. The state has six votes under the electoral college system. An election official there said the results from more than 51,000 postal ballots would be updated on November 6.
President Trump has made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
Speaking from the White House on November 5, the president said: “If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes they can try to steal the election from us.”
Beyond allegations of irregularities, the Trump campaign has not presented any evidence.
President Trump added: “We were winning in all the key locations, by a lot actually, and then our numbers started getting miraculously whittled away in secret.”
He actively discouraged his supporters from voting by mail, while Joe Biden urged his voters to do so, and it is these postal ballots that are now being tallied in the key states.
Election analysts also say President Trump’s claims of Democratic electoral corruption are undermined by the better-than-expected performance of his fellow Republicans in congressional races across the map.
The US is voting in one of the most divisive presidential elections in decades, pitting incumbent Republican Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The first polls opened from 05:00 EST in Vermont.
Nearly 100 million Americans have already cast their ballots in early voting, putting the US on course for its highest turnout in a century.
Both rivals spent the final hours of the race rallying in key swing states.
National polls give a firm lead to Joe Biden, but it is a closer race in the states that could decide the outcome.
Among the first states to begin election-day voting on November 3 are the key battlegrounds of North Carolina and Ohio, followed half an hour later by Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. Arizona will follow.
To be elected president, a candidate must win at least 270 votes in what is called the electoral college. Each state gets a certain number of votes partly based on its population and there are a total of 538 up for grabs.
This system explains why it is possible for a candidate to win the most votes nationally – like Hillary Clinton did in 2016 – but still lose the election.
The coronavirus pandemic has hung over the election campaign, with the epidemic in the country worsening over the final weeks of the race. The US has recorded more cases and more deaths than anywhere else in the world, and fear of infection has contributed to an unprecedented surge in early and postal voting.
As the nation counts down the hours to the vote, there are fears that pockets of post-election violence could break out.
A new “non-scalable” fence has been put up around the White House in Washington DC. Businesses in the nation’s capital and also in New York City have been seen boarding up their premises due to concerns about unrest.
On November 2, President Trump sprinted through four more battleground states.
In North Carolina, the president told supporters that “next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country”. Economists however warn the damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic – the biggest decline in the US economy in more than 80 years – could still take years to overcome.
After North Carolina, Donald Trump headed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, the city where his opponent lived until he was 10. At a rally there he reminded his supporters that he won the state in 2016, despite polls suggesting he would lose.
Joe Biden also went to Pennsylvania where he was joined by singer Lady Gaga at a rally in Pittsburgh. Musician John Legend addressed voters with vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
In Ohio, Joe Biden repeated the core message of his campaign, telling voters that the race was about the soul of America. He said it was time for President Trump to “pack his bags”, saying “we’re done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility”.
On November 2, Donald Trump also held rallies in Traverse City, Michigan, and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kenosha was rocked by violent protests in August after the police shooting of a black man.
In Traverse City the president asked for the votes of black Americans.
He travelled to Grand Rapids, Michigan for his last rally, the same city where he held the final event of the 2016 election race.
In the last hours of the campaign, Twitter and Facebook labelled a post by President Trump as “misleading”, after he claimed that postal ballots in the key state of Pennsylvania could lead to rampant fraud. They also added a link to a website explaining why mail-in votes were safe.
It came after the Supreme Court allowed Pennsylvania to count postal ballots received three days after the election.
President Trump and his campaign have indicated they will sue to block the move.
Legal fights over ballots have also been unfolding in Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas.
When will we get a result?
It can take several days for every vote to be counted after any presidential election, but it is usually pretty clear who the winner is by the early hours of the following morning.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden have been travelling across the nation as the US election enters its closing stage.
Donald Trump visited five battleground states while Joe Biden spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
Joe Biden maintains a solid national lead in the polls ahead of November 3 general election.
However, his advantage is narrower in key states which could decide the result.
More than 90 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting, putting the country on course for its highest turnout in a century.
The election comes amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The US has recorded more cases and more deaths than any other country worldwide, reporting more than 99,000 infections on October 31 alone.
Top virus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic, drawing a rebuke from the White House on November 1.
President Trump had a punishing schedule on November 1, holding rallies in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia, followed later by Florida – all states where polls suggest a tighter race.
Speaking in Washington, a town in Michigan north of Detroit, President Trump told his supporters that under his leadership “the economy is now growing at the fastest rate ever recorded”.
He predicted he would take the state again as he did in 2016, and said that the state known for its car manufacturing “didn’t have any auto plants four years ago” when he was elected.
He said: “We brought back your car industry. Your car industry was finished. You would have had nothing left.”
At a later rally in Dubuque, Iowa – joined by high-profile supporters like his daughter Ivanka and aide Hope Hicks – President Trump promised secure borders and more conservative judges in the courts.
Addressing Covid-19, the president told supporters they had a choice between a “deadly Biden lockdown” or “a safe vaccine that ends the pandemic”.
Donald Trump’s comments came after Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Washington Post that the US is “in for a whole lot of hurt” in the coming months.
“All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors,” he told the newspaper.
Joe Biden was “taking it seriously from a public health perspective”, while President Trump had a different perspective and was focusing on “the economy and reopening the country”, he added.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said on November 1 that Dr. Fauci’s comments were “unacceptable”, saying that the expert chose “to criticize the President in the media and make his political leanings known by praising the President’s opponent”.
Joe Biden meanwhile headed to Pennsylvania, place of his birth and another key state in the election. President Trump narrowly won there in 2016 but polls suggest Joe Biden is slightly ahead this year.
At a rally in Philadelphia the former vice-president addressed the city’s black community, vowing to address “systemic racism” in the US and attacking the president’s handling of the pandemic – something which has disproportionately affected African Americans.
He said: “It’s almost criminal the way he’s handled it.
“It’s a mass casualty event in the black community and it’s totally unnecessary.”
Earlier in the day Joe Biden also courted Latino voters with a tweet in Spanish, speaking of the separation of migrant families at the border and his response to Hurricane Maria after it hit Puerto Rico.
He tweeted: “President Trump has attacked the dignity of Latino families time and again…This will end when I am president.”
Joe Biden also addressed a report by news site Axios which says the president will declare victory on Tuesday night if it looks as if he is ahead.
“The president’s not going to steal this election,” he told reporters.
Joe Biden also criticized President Trump for encouraging his supporters after some forced a Biden campaign bus to stop on a Texas highway, something the FBI has now confirmed it is investigating.
Donald Trump tweeted on November 1 that in his opinion, “these patriots did nothing wrong.”
The president denied the Axios report, but told journalists before his North Carolina rally that counting ballots after Election Day was a “terrible thing”.
“I don’t think it’s fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election,” he said.
Joe Biden’s campaign said he and his running mate Kamala Harris would “fan out” to “all four corners” of Pennsylvania on November 2, joined by their partners and Lady Gaga and John Legend.
On November 1, Kamala Harris campaigned in Georgia, another state which President Trump won in 2016 but which the Democratic Party is trying to win this year.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic White House challenger Joe Biden have held dueling rallies in the critical election state of Florida.
Joe Biden told supporters: “You hold the power. If Florida goes blue [Democratic], it’s over.”
Celebrating soaring economic figures, President Trump said of his rival: “He’s going to lock you down.”
With just five days to go until Election Day, Joe Biden has a solid lead nationally in opinion polls.
However, his advantage looks less assured in the battleground states, such as Florida, that will decide who ultimately wins the White House.
More than 81 million people have already voted, 52 million of them by mail, setting the US on course for its highest electoral turnout rate in more than a century.
On October 29, at a rally in Tampa, President Trump reveled in a new federal projection that the US economy had expanded at an unprecedented 33.1% annual rate in the most recent quarter, following a record 31% contraction in the previous three months during the coronavirus crash.
Florida is a must-win for President Trump and a key opinion poll average shows him just 1.4 points behind Joe Biden, which amounts to a statistical dead heat.
At a 100-minute outdoor rally, President Trump told thousands of people, many of them crowded together without masks: “Joe Biden’s plan is to deliver punishing [coronavirus] lockdowns. He’s going to lock you down.”
“Look, we were compared to Europe,” noted the president.
“‘Germany is doing so well, France is doing so well, everyone’s doing so well.’ No, they’re not doing well.”
While emphasizing Europeans were allies, he continued: “They’re spiking up big, they’re shutting down, they’re locking down.
“I disagree with that because we’re never going to lock down again. We locked down, we understood the disease and now we’re open for business.”
The president was introduced by First Lady Melania Trump, making a rare appearance on the campaign trail. Her biggest applause line came when she said: “We are a country of hope, not a country of fear or weakness, and we have a leader who shows us that every single day.”
Donald Trump had been due to hit another key state, North Carolina, on October 29, but canceled that event in Fayetteville because of foul weather from Tropical Storm Zeta in the area.
The storm reportedly disrupted early voting in another election battleground, Georgia, sparking power cuts in some precincts and toppling trees that blocked off mobile polling sites.
President Trump – who began this month in hospital with coronavirus – is visiting 10 states in the last week of the campaign and will host 11 rallies in the final two days, a campaign official said.
He is hoping that media coverage of his rallies will compensate for his chronic deficit in ad spending as a result of his now-limited campaign coffers.
In Florida alone, according to data from ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG, Joe Biden and his allies are outspending Donald Trump by more than three to one.
In a potential boost for President Trump, on October 29 he won a rare thumbs-up from an African American celebrity, rapper Lil Wayne, who appeared to endorse him.
Lil Wayne tweeted: “Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump@potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done.”
Germany will impose a new lockdown in November, but schools and shops will stay open, Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced.
She also called for a “major national effort” to fight coronavirus.
Social contacts will be limited to two households, and bars, catering and leisure facilities will shut.
France is also expected to announce new lockdown measures in the coming hours.
Covid daily deaths have risen above 500 there and officials say everything must be done so it “does not overwhelm us”.
EU special adviser Prof. Peter Piot has warned that some 1,000 Europeans are now dying every day from the virus.
Night curfews are in force in several countries, including for 46 million people in France. However, one minister has complained that they have failed to halt social interactions.
“[The curfew] has simply shifted them – instead of getting together at 21:00, people meet up at six,” the unnamed minister was quoted as saying.
The German government is keen to enable families and friends to meet at Christmas, but daily infections have soared to a new high of 14,964, with 85 more deaths reported in the latest 24-hour period.
A broad but limited German lockdown will now start on Monday, November 2, under terms agreed during a video conference involving Chancellor Merkel and the 16 state premiers:
Schools and kindergartens will remain open
Social contacts will be limited to two households with a maximum of 10 people and tourism will be halted
Bars will close and restaurants will be limited to takeaways
Tattoo and massage parlors will shut
Smaller companies badly hit by the lockdown will be reimbursed with up to 75% of their November 2019 takings
Chancellor Merkel and the state premiers are expected to reconvene on November 11 to reassess the situation
“We have to act now,” she explained, to avoid a national emergency.
In France, the defense council and cabinet were deciding the extent of the planned four-week lockdown on October 28, but reports suggest schools will stay open and online study will be encouraged for older children and universities.
The changes could kick in from October 30.
France recorded 523 deaths on October 27, including 235 in residential homes, and the hospital federation has appealed for as broad a lockdown as possible.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett has been confirmed to the Supreme Court by the US Senate in a victory for President Donald Trump aweek before the presidential election.
President Trump’s fellow Republicans voted 52-48 to approve Judge Barrett, overcoming the unified opposition of Democrats.
Justice Barrett’s appointment seals for the foreseeable future a 6-3 conservative majority on the top US judicial body.
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called the move rushed and unprecedented.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that by going ahead with the vote so close to the election the Republican majority was “lighting its credibility on fire”.
Democrats fear Judge Barrett’s confirmation to the lifelong post will favor Republicans in politically sensitive cases that reach America’s top court for potentially decades to come.
Amy Coney Barrett, 48, took the oath of office at the White House alongside President Trump.
Only one Republican, Senator Susan Collins, who faces a tough re-election battle in Maine, voted against the president’s nominee in October 26 vote.
Amy Coney Barrett is the third appointed by President Donald Trump, after Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
The federal appeals court judge from Indiana fills the vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon who died last month.
Supreme Court justices take two oaths before beginning their job – the constitutional oath and the judicial oath.
President Trump, just returned from campaigning in Pennsylvania, presided over Justice Barrett’s constitutional oath ceremony on October 26.
He said: “This is a momentous day for America, for the United States constitution and for the fair and impartial rule of law.”
The president added: “She is one of our nation’s most brilliant legal scholars and she will make an outstanding justice on the highest court in our land.”
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, administered the oath of office to his new colleague.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett said afterwards: “A judge declares independence not only from the Congress and the president, but also from the private beliefs that might otherwise move her.
“The judicial oath captures the essence of the judicial duty: the rule of law must always control.”
She took the judicial oath in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court on October 27.
The White House ceremony took place on the south lawn of the executive mansion. It came a month after a similar event to unveil Amy Coney Barrett as the president’s nominee was linked to a Covid-19 outbreak that was followed by the president himself testing positive for the disease.
At 48, Amy Coney Barrett becomes the Supreme Court’s youngest justice.
Maalim Seif Sharif, the presidential candidate of Zanzibar’s main opposition party, was arrested a day before local and national elections in Tanzania, his party has announced.
On October 27, Maalim Seif Sharif was at a polling station when police officers hauled him away, his ACT Wazalendo party said.
US Ambassador to Tanzania Donald Wright said he was “alarmed by reports from Zanzibar and elsewhere of violence, deaths and detentions”.
Police have denied killing three people on Pemba on October 26.
Zanzibar is a group of islands off the coast of Tanzania which have semi-autonomous status from the mainland.
In Zanzibar, residents vote for the islands’ leaders, including the election of a Zanzibari president, as well as in Tanzania’s national election.
The authorities have yet to comment on Maalim Seif Sharif’s alleged arrest.
Tanzania’s police chief Simon Sirro said police did not kill three people in Pemba, adding that 42 people had been arrested in connection with the violence.
Internet users across Tanzania have also reported difficulties accessing WhatsApp and Twitter ahead of the polls.
ACT Wazalendo said its presidential candidate was detained trying to cast his vote as polling stations opened a day early to allow officials from the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, returning officers and security personnel to take part.
The tussle is likely to be between Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, now in his sixth run for president, and Hussein Mwinyi who is the son of a former president from the ruling CCM party.
Zanzibar’s current president Ali Mohammed Shein is stepping down after serving two five-year terms in office.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden clashed over Covid-19 and race while trading corruption charges, in their final live TV debate which took place on Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee.
The first debate was a chaotic, insult-filled exchange between the two candidates. But on October 22, the personal attacks were (mostly) out – instead audiences got the chance to hear some of what Biden and Trump had to offer to Americans.
The muted mics probably helped to cool temperatures and the moderator, Kristen Welker, has been celebrated for encouraging a higher standard of debate.
With arguments on coronavirus, race, climate change and corruption, both candidates made it clear how different their visions for the US were.
On the pandemic, Joe Biden would not rule out more lockdowns, while President Trump insisted it was time to reopen the US.
Donald Trump cited unsubstantiated claims Joe Biden personally profited from his son’s business dealings. The Democrat brought up President Trump’s opaque taxes.
Joe Biden has a solid lead with 11 days to go until the presidential election.
However, winning the most votes does not always win the election, and the margin is narrower in a handful of states that could decide the race either way.
More than 47 million people have already cast their ballots in a voting surge driven by the pandemic.
This is already more than voted before polling day in the 2016 election. There are about 230 million eligible voters in total.
In snap polls – from CNN, Data Progress and US Politics – most respondents said Joe Biden had won the debate by a margin of more than 50% to about 40%.
The final debate was a less acrimonious and more substantive affair than the pair’s previous showdown on September 29, which devolved into insults and name-calling.
Following that political brawl, debate organizers this time muted microphones during the candidates’ opening statements on each topic to minimize disruption.
However, the 90-minute debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, was the scene of plenty of personal attacks between the opponents, whose mutual dislike was palpable.
In individual closing argument to voters, they offered starkly different visions for the nation on everything from shutting down the US to tackle coronavirus, to shutting down the fossil fuel industry to confront climate change.
Nowhere was the distinction between the two candidates more apparent than in their approach to the pandemic.
Asked about his support for more lockdowns if the scientists recommended it, Joe Biden, a Democrat, did not rule it out.
Donald Trump, a Republican, said it was wrong to inflict further damage on the economy because of an infection from which most people recover.
“This is a massive country with a massive economy,” said the president.
“People are losing their jobs, they’re committing suicide. There’s depression, alcohol, drugs at a level nobody’s ever seen before.”
Donald Trump, 74, declared that the virus was “going away” and that a vaccine would be ready by the end of the year, while Joe Biden, 77, warned the nation was heading towards “a dark winter”.
President Trump said: “We’re learning to live with it.”
Joe Biden countered: “Come on. We’re dying with it.”
He laid blame for the 220,000-plus American deaths as a consequence of the pandemic at President Trump’s door.
“Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America,” he said.
During a back-and-forth on race relations, President Trump said: “I am the least racist person in this room.”
He brought up the 1994 crime bill that Joe Biden helped draft and which Black Lives Matter blames for the mass incarceration of African Americans.
However, Joe Biden said Donald Trump was “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire”.
He added: “This guy is a [racial] dog whistle about as big as a fog horn.”
President Trump brought up purported leaked emails from Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, about his business dealings in China.
However, Joe Biden denied the president’s unfounded insinuation that the former US vice-president somehow had a stake in the ventures.
“I think you owe an explanation to the American people,” said President Trump.
Joe Biden said: “I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever. Ever.”
He referred to the New York Times recently reporting that President Trump had a bank account in China and paid $188,561 in taxes from 2013-15 to the country, compared with $750 in US federal taxes that the newspaper said he had paid in 2016-2017 when he became president.
President Trump said: “I have many bank accounts and they’re all listed and they’re all over the place.
In a recent documentary, Pope Francis has said that he thinks same-sex couples should be allowed to have “civil unions”.
The Pope made the comments, which observers say are his clearest remarks yet on gay relationships, in a documentary directed by Evgeny Afineevsky.
He said in the film, which premiered on October 21: “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family.
“They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.”
Pope Francis added that he “stood up for that”, apparently referring to his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires when, although opposing same-sex marriages in law, he supported some legal protections for same-sex couples.
The film Francesco, about the life and work of Pope Francis, premiered as part of the Rome Film Festival.
As well as the Pope’s comments on civil unions, the film also shows him encouraging two gay men to attend church with their three children.
Under current Catholic doctrine, gay relationships are referred to as “deviant behavior”.
In 2003, the Vatican’s doctrinal body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that “respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions”.
The Pope’s comments are the latest in a series of sentiments he’s expressed about LGBT rights – voicing some support, but not a full endorsement.
In 2013, in the book On Heaven and Earth, the Pope said that legally equating same-sex relationships to heterosexual marriages would be “an anthropological regression”.
The Pope also said then that if same-sex couples were allowed to adopt, “there could be affected children… every person needs a male father and a female mother that can help them shape their identity”.
That same year, Pope Francis reaffirmed the Church’s position that homosexual acts were sin, but said homosexual orientation was not.
“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” he asked.
In 2014 it was reported that Pope Francis had expressed support for civil unions for same-sex partners in an interview, but the Holy See’s press office denied this.
Then in 2018, the Pope said he was “worried” about homosexuality in the clergy, and that it was “a serious matter”.
President Trump has been critical of presidential candidate rival Joe Biden and his policies towards China in the lead-up to the US election, taking place on November 3.
The Trump administration has singled out Joe Biden’s son Hunter and made unsubstantiated claims about his dealings with China. Joe Biden’s income tax returns and public financial disclosures show no business dealings connected to China.
Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, described the NY Times story as “pure speculation” and said that it made “incorrect assumptions”.
He told the paper that Trump International Hotels Management had “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes”.
He said: “No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive.”
“Though the bank account remains open, it has never been used for any other purpose,” Alan Garten told the NY Times.
Donald Trump has multiple business interests both in the US and overseas. These include golf courses in Scotland and Ireland and a chain of five-star luxury hotels.
The NY Times reported that President Trump maintains foreign bank accounts in China, Britain and Ireland.
In August, the president said he wanted to offer tax credits to entice US companies to move factories out of China.
He also threatened to strip government contracts from firms that continue to outsource work to China.
In a speech, President Trump vowed to create 10 million jobs in 10 months, saying “we will end our reliance on China”.
A record numbers of voters casted their ballots ahead of Election Day on November 3, state election officials across the US have reported.
More than 22 million Americans had voted early by October 16, either in person or by mail, according to the US Election Project.
At the same point in the 2016 race, about 6 million votes had been cast.
According to experts, the surge in early voting correlates to the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused many people to seek alternatives to Election Day voting.
On October 13, Texas, a state that has relatively tight restrictions on who can qualify for postal voting, set a record for most ballots cast on the first day of early voting.
On October 12, the Columbus Day federal holiday, officials in Georgia reported126,876 votes cast – also a state record.
In Ohio, a crucial swing state, more than 2.3 million postal ballots have been requested, double the figure in 2016.
Reports indicate that registered Democrats have so far outvoted registered Republicans – casting more than double the number of ballots. And of these early voting Democrats, women and black Americans are voting in particularly high numbers. Some are motivated by dislike for President Donald Trump, while others have been energized by racial justice protests throughout the summer following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
However, this early advantage does not mean that Democrats can already claim victory. Republicans, who claim postal voting is vulnerable to fraud, say Democrats may win the early vote, but that Republicans will show up in large numbers on Election Day.
According to a 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, the rate of voting fraud overall in the US is between 0.00004% and 0.0009%.
The enormous numbers of voters have led to long queues, with some people waiting for up to 11 hours for an opportunity to vote.
Younger people, who historically have been difficult to get to the polls, appear to be turning out in larger numbers this year. The youth vote may be the highest it’s been since 2008 for the election of Barack Obama – the US’s first black president.
A recent survey by Axios found that four in ten university students said they planned to protest if President Trump wins. Six in ten said they would shame friends who could vote but choose not to.
By contrast, only 3% of surveyed students said they would protest if Joe Biden was elected.
President Donald Trump’s son Barron had Covid-19 but has since tested negative, First Lady Melania Trump revealed.
Melania Trump said her “fear came true” when 14-year-old Barron tested positive for the new coronavirus.
However, the first lady said, “luckily he is a strong teenager and exhibited no symptoms”.
Both the president and first lady also tested positive for coronavirus – as well as other White House staff – but have since recovered.
At a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, President Trump said: “He [Barron] had it for such a short period of time.”
The president said his son had had a mild case of the virus: “I don’t even think he knew he had it because they’re young and their immune systems are strong and they fight it off.”
He added: “Barron is beautiful and he is free.”
President Trump cited his son’s recovery as a reason why American schools should reopen as soon as possible, a move opposed by teachers’ unions who fear their members could be infected by students.
He told the crowd: “Barron’s tested positive. Within, like, two seconds it was Barron is just fine now. He’s tested negative, right?
“Because it happens. People have it and it goes. Get the kids back to school.”
Melania Trump revealed Barron’s positive test result in an essay entitled “My Personal Experience with Covid-19” on the White House website.
After the first lady and the president received their positive results two weeks ago, she said “naturally, my mind went immediately to our son”.
Melania Trump said it was a “great relief” when Barron initially tested negative, but was concerned he would later test positive for the virus.
“My fear came true when he was tested again and it came up positive,” she said, adding that Barron exhibited no symptoms.
“In one way I was glad the three of us went through this at the same time so we could take care of one another and spend time together,” the first lady wrote.
Melania Trump also reflected on her own diagnosis. She said she experienced a “roller coaster of symptoms”, including body aches, a cough and fatigue.
“I chose to go a more natural route in terms of medicine, opting more for vitamins and healthy food,” she wrote.
In her statement, Melania Trump also said the “most impactful part” of her recovery was “the opportunity to reflect on many things – family, friendships, my work, and staying true to who you are”.
She said she would be resuming her duties as soon as she could.
While the first lady remained in the White House, President Trump spent three days at Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after his own Covid-19 diagnosis. He received a number of different drug treatments, including dexamethasone, a steroid, antiviral treatment remdesivir and monoclonal antibody therapy.
The president’s personal doctor said on October 11 that he was no longer a Covid transmission risk to others, and he returned to the campaign trail on October 12, telling supporters he felt “powerful”.
An event at the White House on September 26, for the unveiling of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, was thought to be the root of the localized outbreak of coronavirus.
The White House press secretary, former Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway and two senators were among the people around the president who tested positive for the virus.
Opinion polls suggest President Trump is trailing his Democratic opponent Joe Biden barely three weeks before the November 3 presidential election, but polling is close in several key states.
Joe Biden did not have any public campaign events on October 14, but held a virtual fundraiser and delivered taped remarks to an American Muslim association. The Biden campaign announced that it had raised a record-breaking $383 million in September.
The Democrat was expected to spend much of the day preparing for October 15, when he and President Trump will take part in rival televised town hall-style events.
The two candidates have struck different tones on the pandemic, with President Trump downplaying its severity and Joe Biden criticizing him for not encouraging Americans to wear masks and social distance.
The US has recorded more than 7.8 million coronavirus cases and more than 215,000 deaths – the highest figures of any country in the world.
Joe Biden has criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of Covid-19, while courting elderly voters in the key battleground state of Florida.
The Democratic presidential nominee told them that the president saw seniors, who have been more at risk in the pandemic, as “expendable”.
There are sharp policy differences between the two candidates on Covid-19.
In Pennsylvania, President Trump told thousands of supporters he felt like “Superman” after his Covid treatment.
He tested positive for the virus on October 1, spent three nights in hospital and was cleared by doctors to return to the campaign trail at the weekend, holding his first rally in Florida on October 12.
Battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania are crucial for gathering the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidential election, which is not determined by a simple count of votes nationwide.
Opinion polls suggest Joe Biden has a 10-point advantage over Donald Trump nationally, but his lead in some key states is narrower. In Florida, the Democrat is 3.7 percentage points ahead, according to an average of polls collated by Real Clear Politics.
President Trump narrowly won Florida in 2016 in a result buoyed by senior voters. But the latest polls suggest a shift away from the Republican among them this time around.
Joe Biden spoke to a group of people at a community centre for seniors in southern Florida, with social distancing measures in place.
The event was in stark contrast to the president’s mass rally on Monday in Florida.
The Democratic candidate accused the president of dismissing the threat that coronavirus posed to senior citizens.
He said: “You’re expendable, you’re forgettable, you’re virtually nobody. That’s how he sees seniors. That’s how he sees you.”
The “only senior Donald Trump seems to care about” is himself, he added.
Joe Biden also criticized President Trump for holding “super-spreader parties with Republicans hugging each other without concern of the consequences”, while senior citizens couldn’t see their grandchildren. A recent White House event for the Supreme Court nominee led to several attendees testing positive for Covid.
Introducing Joe Biden at the Florida event, congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said it was voters aged 65 or over who would “swing elections in the Sunshine State”.
Joe Biden, 77, and Donald Trump, 74, are the two oldest candidates to contest a US presidential election.
However, President Trump has regularly mocked Joe Biden as a senior citizen who lacks energy and is “sleepy”. On October 13, the president tweeted a doctored image of Joe Biden as a wheelchair-user and the words “Biden for Resident”, implying a nursing home.
The commission organizing the second presidential debate in Miami on October 15 said it would have to take place remotely after President Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus.
President Trump has refused to take part in a virtual TV debate with his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
The president’s refusal sparked a day of wrangling about how and when any further debates would take place.
At the moment it appears a debate could take place on October 22, although in what form remains to be seen.
The first presidential debate on September 29 had descended into insults and interruptions. The vice-presidential debate, held on October 7 between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, was a far more measured affair.
Latest opinion polls suggest Joe Biden has a high single digit lead nationally, but the outcome is often decided in battleground states where the races can be much closer.
Six million votes have already been cast in early voting.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that candidates would take part in the Miami debate “from separate remote locations… to protect the health and safety of all involved”.
This infuriated the president who, in a phone-in interview with Fox Business Channel, said he was “not gonna waste my time” on a virtual debate and “sit behind a computer, ridiculous”.
Joe Biden said the president “changed his mind every second” and his campaign team added that Donald Trump “clearly does not want to face questions from the voters”.
The Trump campaign answered back, with manager Bill Stepien calling the commission’s decision to “rush to Joe Biden’s defense… pathetic” and saying President Trump would hold a rally instead on October 15.
The Biden team then proposed the town-hall style debate, set for Miami, should go ahead on October 22 instead.
This brought a brief moment of agreement, on the date at least.
However, the Trump team said there should be a third face-to-face debate – on October 29, just five days before polling.
The Biden team refused. Three dates had been set for debates – September 29, October 15 and October 22. That would be it.
On October 15, Joe Biden will now take part in his own primetime event on ABC answering questions from voters.
Quite what format any Biden-Trump debate takes now is hard to pin down.
The president touched on a number of key matters, including his health and the possibility of movement towards a stimulus package for the economy.
On his health, President Trump said: “I’m back because I’m a perfect physical specimen.”
He said he had stopped taking most “therapeutics” but was still taking steroids and would be tested for Covid again “soon”.
Although his doctor has said he now has no symptoms, questions still remain about when the president first became infected and whether he could still be contagious.
And although the names of many people who have interacted with the president and tested positive are now known, it remains unclear just how many were exposed at the White House. New Covid safety measures are in place there.
One of the top Republicans, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, said on October 8 that he had not been to the White House since August 6 because its approach to handling Covid with social distancing and masks was “different from mine and what I suggested we do in the Senate”.
October 8, President Trump said that “somebody got in and people got infected” but gave no more details.
A gathering on September 26 announcing President Trump’s Supreme Court pick has been seen as a possible “super-spreader” event, with several attendees known to have tested positive.
Vice-presidential contenders Kamala Harris and Mike Pence have clashed over the coronavirus pandemic in their only debate ahead of next month’s election.
Democrat Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic “the greatest failure of any presidential administration” in history.
Republican VP Mike Pence said the Democratic Party’s pandemic plan amounted to “plagiarism”.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads President Trump with 26 days to go to the vote.
Opinion polls indicate President Trump is trailing by single digits in a handful of battleground states that will decide who wins.
Vice-presidents have tie-breaking power in the Senate and are required to step in if a president is unable to perform their duties. Their day-to-day responsibilities vary with each administration, but they typically serve as top advisers and some take on specific policy portfolios.
October 7 meeting was a civil debate between two smooth communicators compared to last week’s belligerent showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, which degenerated into insults and name-calling.
Mike Pence did not interrupt as much as the president last week, but when he did, Kamala Harris interjected: “Mr. Vice-President, I’m speaking, I’m speaking.”
The viral moment on October 7 was a fly landing on Mike Pence’s head and remaining there for some two minutes.
The 90-minute TV debate at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City was marked by disagreements over the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.
The 55-year-old California senator accused VP Mike Pence and the president of deliberately misleading Americans about the lethality of coronavirus.
“They knew, and they covered it up,” she said, adding that they had “forfeited their right to re-election”.
Mike Pence accused the Biden-Harris campaign of copying the White House’s pandemic strategy, alluding to a blunder that ended Joe Biden’s 1987 run for the presidency when he plagiarized a speech by then-British Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
Kamala Harris was asked by the moderator whether she would take an approved Covid-19 vaccine distributed ahead of the election.
She said she would not take a jab touted by President Trump without the say-so of medical professionals.
Mike Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, retorted: “The fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine if the vaccine emerges during the Trump administration I think is unconscionable.”
The Plexiglas barriers separating the two debaters seated 12ft apart were a vivid reminder of the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.
President Trump – who is himself recovering from the virus – returned to the White House on October 5 after three nights in hospital, with his opinion poll numbers drooping.
On October 7, the president declared that catching the disease was a “blessing from God” that exposed to him to experimental treatments he vowed would become free for all Americans.
The virus, meanwhile, has spread through the West Wing of the White House and infected figures inside the president’s re-election campaign.
ABC News reported that an internal government memo, dated October 7, said “34 White House staffers and other contacts” had been infected in recent days.
President Donald Trump has been released from hospital and returned to the White House to continue his treatment for coronavirus after a three-night hospital stay.
The president, who is still contagious, removed his mask on the balcony of the White House, while posing for pictures.
Donald Trump’s physician said he would continue treatment from there, and he “may not entirely be out of the woods yet”.
Several of President Trump’s staff and aides have also tested positive for the virus in recent days.
Questions remain over the seriousness of the president’s illness after a weekend of conflicting statements.
The US remains the country worst-hit by Covid-19, with 210,000 deaths and 7.4 million cases.
President Trump’s diagnosis has upended his campaign for a second term in office, less than a month before the Republican president faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Wearing a navy business suit, tie and mask, President Trump walked out of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the Washington DC suburbs on Monday evening pumping his fist.
After a short helicopter ride, the president was pictured alone on the Truman Balcony of the White House. He removed his protective face mask, before giving a thumbs-up and a military-style salute.
A couple of hours later, he tweeted a campaign-style clip of his return set to stirring music.
President Trump also recorded a video message, urging Americans to get back to work.
“You’re going to beat it [coronavirus],” he told them.
“We’re going to be out front. As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there’s danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front, and led.”
President Trump also speculated: “Now I’m better, maybe I’m immune, I don’t know”.
The WHO says it is too early to know if people who have recovered from Covid-19 are protected from a second infection, and if so, how long this protection might last. President Trump’s own medical team does not consider him to be fully recovered yet.
He also promised that vaccines were “coming momentarily”, although the CDC has said no vaccine is expected to be widely available before the middle of next year.
Before leaving hospital, President Trump told Americans in a tweet not to fear the disease and said he would be back on the campaign trail “soon”.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden said he was “glad” the president appeared to be “coming along pretty well”.
However, Joe Biden criticized President Trump, saying: “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them.”
According to US public health guidelines, President Trump should remain in isolation for up to 10 days after symptoms first appear. The White House says the president first started to appear ill on October 1, and later tested positive.
His physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said on October 5 that the president, whose oxygen levels dipped twice over the weekend, would be “surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7” at the White House.
Dr. Conely refused to answer questions about when President Trump last received a negative test or to go into the specifics of his treatment. He would not offer details regarding the president’s scans to check for pneumonia, citing patient protection laws.
President Donald Trump’s decision to greet supporters in a drive-past outside the hospital where he is being treated for Covid-19 has been widely questioned by medical experts.
There are concerns the president, who wore a mask, may have endangered Secret Service staff inside the car.
However, White House spokesperson Judd Deere said the trip on October 4 had been “cleared by the medical team as safe”.
Questions remain over the seriousness of President Trump’s illness after conflicting statements over the weekend.
Donald Trump has been in hospital since October 2, after he announced hours earlier he had tested positive for the virus.
Covid-19 has infected n
Nearly 7.4 million have been infected in the US and nearly 210,000 people died across the country, according to Johns Hopkins University.
President Trump’s diagnosis has upended his election campaign, as he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden on November 3.
A growing number of people around the president, including First Lady Melania Trump, senior aides and Republican senators, have tested positive with the virus.
President Trump waved to well-wishers from behind the glass of a sealed car after tweeting that he would leave Walter Reed hospital, near Washington, to pay a “surprise visit” to “patriots” outside. Inside the car, at least two people could be seen wearing protective gear in the front seats, with President Trump sat in the back.
Experts say Donald Trump’s short car trip broke public health advice to quarantine when seeking treatment for the virus, and may have put Secret Service agents inside the vehicle at risk of infection.
“That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of Covid-19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures,” tweeted Dr James Philips, a doctor at the same hospital where the president is being treated.
Those inside the president’s car would now need to quarantine for 14 days, he said.
Democrats have also criticized the trip, with House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries tweeting: “We need leadership. Not photo ops.”
However, the White House’s Judd Deere defended the move, saying “appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it, including PPE [personal protective equipment]”. Meanwhile, NBC News reports that the first lady, who has remained at the White House with mild symptoms, decided against visiting her husband in hospital because of the risks to staff.
“She has Covid,” an unnamed official told NBC on October 3.
“That would expose the agents who would drive her there and the medical staff who would walk her up to him.”
Over the weekend it emerged President Trump’s condition was more serious than previously reported when he went to hospital on October 2.
The White House had said the president was experiencing “mild symptoms” of Covid-19, but then it was confirmed that he had received extra oxygen after his levels dipped twice in two days.
He was also given the steroid dexamethasone, which is normally reserved for serious cases, according to experts.
On October 4, White House Physician Dr. Sean Conley addressed widespread confusion over the state of President Trump’s health, after conflicting accounts from him and the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Dr. Sean Conley had offered an upbeat prognosis on October 3, which was later contradicted by Mark Meadows who said the president’s vital signs the previous 24 hours had been “very concerning”.
Dr. Conley told reporters on October 4: “I was trying to reflect an upbeat attitude of the team and the president about the course his illness has had.
“I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.”
There is skepticism over the prospect – raised by doctors earlier – that President Trump could leave hospital as early as October 5.
President Donald Trump has been flown to Walter Reed Military Hospital for treatment after testing positive for coronavirus.
The president tweeted after his arrival: “Going well, I think!”
According to recent reports, his symptoms include a low-grade fever.
President Trump has so far been treated with an experimental drug cocktail injection and the antiviral medication remdesivir after both he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for Covid-19.
In exactly one month, President Trump faces Joe Biden in the presidential election.
His diagnosis has upended his campaign and also cast doubt on his attempt to get a new Supreme Court judge confirmed before polling day.
The latest update from President Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, in a memorandum late on October 2, read: “I am happy to report the president is doing very well.”
He said the president was not in need of supplemental oxygen.
President Trump was taken to hospital “out of an abundance of caution” with “mild symptoms” and would be there for the “next few days”, the White House said.
The list of other people to have tested positive around the president include close aide Hope Hicks – believed to be the first to show symptoms – campaign manager Bill Stepien and former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. Republican Senators Mike Lee and Thom Tillis have also tested positive.
President Donald Trump remains in charge. VP Mike Pence, to whom under the constitution the president would transfer power temporarily should he become too ill to carry out his duties, tested negative.
Wearing a mask and suit, President Trump walked out across the White House lawn on October 2 at 18:15 to his helicopter, Marine One, for the short flight to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center close to Washington DC.
He waved and gave a thumbs-up to reporters but said nothing before boarding the aircraft.
In an 18-second video posted to Twitter, President Trump said: “I think I’m doing very well. But we’re going to make sure that things work out. The first lady is doing very well. So thank you very much.”
Ivanka and Eric Trump re-tweeted his post, praising him as a “warrior”. Ivanka Trump added: “I love you dad.”
Donald Trump Jr. said his father was “obviously taking it very seriously”.
The president was admitted to the presidential suite at Walter Reed, which is where US presidents usually have their annual check-up.
Shortly before midnight, he tweeted again: “Going well, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!”
Dr. Sean Conley, said the president was “not requiring any supplemental oxygen, but in consultation with specialists we have elected to initiate remdesivir therapy. He has completed his first dose and is resting comfortably”.
Tests have shown remdesivir, originally developed as an Ebola treatment, disrupts the new coronavirus’s ability to duplicate and can cut the duration of symptoms.
On October 2, Dr. Conley said President Trump had “as a precautionary measure received an 8g dose of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail” at the White House.
President Donald Trump has announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for Covid-19 and are now in quarantine.
Donald Trump, aged 74, and therefore in a high-risk group, tweeted: “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”
It comes after Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest aides, tested positive.
President Trump’s announcement comes just over a month before the presidential elections on November 3 where he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Hope Hicks, 31, travelled with President Trump on Air Force One to the first presidential TV debate with Joe Biden in Ohio on September 29. Some of Donald Trump’s family members who attended the debate were seen not wearing masks.
President Trump has mostly spurned mask-wearing and has often been pictured not socially distanced with aides or others during official engagements.
More than 7.2 million Americans have been infected so far and the new coronavirus killed more than 200,000 of them.
Donald Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, released a statement on October 1, saying the president and the first lady were “both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence”.
“Rest assured I expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments,” the statement said.
The physician provided no further details.
According to President Trump’s most recent physical examination earlier this year, he weighed 244lb. This is considered to be obese for his height of 6.3ft.
However, Dr Conley stated at the time that the president “remains healthy”. President Trump will also have the best medical care available.
The CDC says a person must go in quarantine for 10 days after a positive test.
President Trump said he and his wife, who is 50, were going into quarantine after Hope Hicks’s positive test.
The president tweeted: “Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible!
“The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”
It is not clear how President Trump’s positive test will affect arrangements for the second presidential debate, which is scheduled for October 15 in Miami, Florida.
Donald Trump is not the first world leader to have tested positive. Earlier this year, British PM Boris Johnson and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro were infected. They both have since recovered, although Boris Johnson had to receive regular oxygen treatment to help his breathing during hospitalization.
In May, VP Mike Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller tested positive and later recovered.
That same month, a member of the US Navy who was serving as one of President Trump’s personal valets tested positive.
The White House said at the time that neither the president nor vice-president were affected.
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, a number of Secret Service agents, a Marine One pilot and a White House cafeteria worker have also tested positive.
The White House tests aides and anyone else who comes into contact with the president daily.
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden have fiercely clashed in the first of the three White House debates.
The Republican president frequently interrupted, prompting the Democratic candidate to tell him to “shut up” as the two fought over the pandemic, healthcare and the economy.
Donald Trump was challenged over white supremacist support and refused to condemn a specific far-right group.
Opinion polls suggest Joe Biden has a steady single-digit lead over President Trump.
However, with 35 days until Election Day, surveys from several important states show a closer contest.
Polls also suggest one in ten Americans have yet to make up their mind how to vote. But analysts said the September 29 debate – the first of three – probably would not make much difference.
Overall, the 90-minute debate in Cleveland, Ohio, was light on serious policy discussion. Both candidates talked over each other but President Trump cut in some 73 times, according to a count by CBS News.
The tenor became clear early on as the two candidates sparred over healthcare. Hectoring from Donald Trump saw Joe Biden call the president a “clown”.
As they moved on to the Supreme Court, the rancor continued, with Joe Biden refusing to answer when asked if he would try to expand the number of judges.
“Will you shut up, man?” Joe Biden snapped at President Trump, later adding: “Keep yapping, man.”
President Trump responded: “The people understand, Joe. Forty-seven years [in politics], you’ve done nothing. They understand.”
In one of the most talked about exchanges of the night, Donald Trump was asked by the moderator, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, if he was prepared to condemn white supremacists.
President Trump initially said he would but when asked to denounce the far-right Proud Boys group by name, he sidestepped.
He said: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.”
The Proud Boys, an anti-immigrant, all-male group, took to social media to celebrate.
“Standing down and standing by sir,” it posted on Telegram.
Antifa, short for “anti-fascist”, is a loose affiliation of far-left activists that often clash with the far right at street protests.
Joe Biden said Donald Trump had “panicked” over the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans.
“A lot of people died and a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker,” he said.
President Trump objected to Joe Biden using the word “smart”.
“You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class,” he said.
“Don’t ever use the word smart with me. Don’t ever use that word.”
Local rules required everyone in the room to wear masks but of the president’s family members present, only First Lady Melania Trump donned a face covering during the debate.
Due to the pandemic, the forum at Case Western Reserve University had a small, socially distanced audience and the traditional opening handshake was skipped.
Amy Coney Barrett, a favorite of social conservatives, is President Donald Trump’s pick for the new Supreme Court justice.
Speaking by her side at the White House Rose Garden, President Trump described her as a “woman of unparalleled achievement”.
If confirmed by senators, Judge Barrett will replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died last week at the age of 87.
Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination will spark a bitter confirmation fight in the Senate as November’s presidential election looms.
Announcing Judge Barrett as his nominee on September 26, President Trump described Amy Coney Barrett as a “stellar scholar and judge” with “unyielding loyalty to the constitution”.
However, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden urged the Senate not to “act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress”.
He said: “The United States Constitution was designed to give the voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the Court. That moment is now and their voice should be heard.”
If Judge Barrett is confirmed, conservative-leaning justices will hold a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court for the foreseeable future.
She would be the third justice appointed by the current Republican president, after Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
The court’s nine justices serve lifetime appointments, and their rulings can shape public policy on everything from gun and voting rights to abortion and campaign finance for decades
In recent years, the Supreme Court has expanded gay marriage to all 50 states, allowed for President Trump’s travel ban on mainly Muslim countries to be put in place, and delayed the US plan to cut carbon emissions.
After graduating from Notre Dame University Law School in Indiana, Amy Coney Barrett, 48, clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. In 2017, she was nominated by President Trump to the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Amy Coney Barrett is described as a devout Catholic who, according to a 2013 magazine article, said that “life begins at conception”. This makes her a favorite among religious conservatives keen to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
LGBT groups have criticized her membership of a conservative Catholic group, People of Praise, whose network of schools have guidelines stating a belief that sexual relations should only happen between heterosexual married couples.
Judge Barrett has ruled in favor of President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies and expressed views in favor of expansive gun rights.
Conservatives hope Judge Barrett will rule against the Affordable Care Act – a health insurance scheme introduced by President Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.
Some 20 million Americans could lose their health coverage if the court overturns the legislation, also known as Obamacare.
Following September 26 announcement, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned fellow senators that voting to confirm Judge Barrett could spell the end of Obamacare.
He said: “A vote by any senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for millions of Americans.”
On September 26, Judge Barrett said her rulings as a Supreme Court justice would be based only on the law.
“Judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy view they might hold,” she added.
The White House has begun contacting Republican Senate offices to schedule meetings with the nominee, sources told CBS.
Hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee – the panel tasked with vetting nominees – are scheduled to begin on October 12, and will last three to four days, committee chairman Lindsey Graham told Fox News late on September 26.
Afterwards committee members will vote on whether to send the nomination to the full Senate. If they do, all 100 senators will vote to confirm or reject her.
Republicans hold a slim majority of 53 senators, but they already seem to have the 51 votes needed to get Judge Barrett confirmed.
President Donald Trump has announced he will next week nominate a woman to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, escalating a political row over her successor.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18 at the age of 87, just weeks before the presidential election.
Joe Biden insists the decision on her replacement should wait until after the vote.
The ideological balance of the nine-member court is crucial to its rulings on the most important issues in US law.
However, President Trump has vowed to swear in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor “without delay”, a move that has infuriated Democrats, who fear Republicans will vote to lock in a decades-long conservative majority on the country’s highest court.
“I will be putting forth a nominee next week. It will be a woman,” President Trump said at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina on September 19.
“I think it should be a woman because I actually like women much more than men.”
Some supporters chanted “Fill that seat!” as President Trump spoke, urging him to take the rare opportunity to nominate a third justice during one presidential term to a lifetime appointment on the court.
Earlier, President Trump praised two female judges who serve on federal courts of appeals as possible choices. Both judges – Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa – are conservatives who would tip the balance of the Supreme Court in favor of Republicans.
Democrats have vigorously opposed any nomination before November’s election, arguing that Senate Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court in 2016.
At the time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified the move on grounds that it was an election year.
On September 18, Senator McConnell said he intended to act on any nomination President Trump made and bring it to a vote in the Senate before Election Day.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, affectionately known as “The Notorious RBG”, a liberal icon and feminist standard-bearer, died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at her home in Washington DC, surrounded by her family. She was only the second-ever woman to sit on the Supreme Court.
The appointment of judges in is a political question which means the president gets to choose who is put forward. The Senate then votes to confirm – or reject – the choice.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who served for 27 years, was one of only four liberals on the nine-seat bench. Her death means that, should the Republicans get the vote through, the balance of power would shift decisively towards the conservatives.
President Trump, who has already chosen two Supreme Court justices during his presidency, is well aware that getting his nominee in would give conservatives control over key decisions for decades to come. Justices can serve for life, unless they decide to retire.
He tweeted on September 19: “We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!”
Earlier, Senator McConnell said in a statement – which included a tribute to Ginsburg – that “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate”.
The senator had argued in 2016 that “the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice” which meant “this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president”.
Now he says the Senate was within its rights to act because it was Republican-controlled, and Donald Trump is a Republican president.
Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, died on September 18 at the age of 87, just six weeks before the presidential election.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon and feminist standard-bearer, died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at her home in Washington DC, surrounded by her family. She was only the second-ever woman to sit on the US Supreme Court.
Supporters gathered outside the court on Friday night to pay tribute to the woman who had become affectionately known as “The Notorious RBG”.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who served for 27 years, was one of only four liberals on the nine-seat bench. Her death means that, should the Republicans get the vote through, the balance of power would shift decisively towards the conservatives.
President Donald Trump has said he wants a new Supreme Court judge to be sworn in “without delay”, following the death of the long serving liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
His Democrat rival, Joe Biden, insists the decision on her replacement must wait until after the vote.
The ideological balance of the nine-member court is crucial to its rulings on the most important issues in US law.
In 2016, Senate Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama’s pick for the US top court. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified the move on grounds that it was an election year.
However, Senator Mitch McConnell said he intended to act on any nomination President Trump made.
The appointment of judges in the US is a political question which means the president gets to choose who is put forward. The Senate then votes to confirm – or reject – the choice.
President Trump, who has already chosen two Supreme Court justices during his presidency, is well aware that getting his nominee in would give conservatives control over key decisions for decades to come. Justices can serve for life, unless they decide to retire.
He tweeted on September 19: “We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!”
Earlier, Senator McConnell said in a statement – which included a tribute to Ginsburg – that “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate”.
The senator had argued in 2016 that “the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice” which meant “this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president”.
Now the senator says the Senate was within its rights to act because it was Republican-controlled, and President Trump is a Republican president.
Barbados has decided to remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and become a republic.
The Caribbean island nation’s government said: “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.”
The Barbadian government aims to complete the process in time for the 55th anniversary of independence from Britain, in November 2021.
A speech written by PM Mia Mottley said Barbadians wanted a local head of state.
It read: “This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.”
Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace said that it was a matter for the government and people of Barbados.
The statement was part of the Throne Speech, which outlines the Barbadian government’s policies and programs ahead of the new session of parliament.
While it is read out by the governor-general, it is written by the country’s prime minister.
The speech also quoted a warning from Errol Barrow, Barbados’s first prime minister after it gained independence, who said that the Caribbean country should not “loiter on colonial premises”.
Errol Barrow’s is not the only voice in Barbados that has been suggesting a move away from the monarchy. A constitutional review commission recommended republican status for Barbados in 1998.
Mia Mottley’s predecessor in officer, Freundel Stuart, also argued for a “move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future”.
Barbados would not be the first former British colony in the Caribbean to become a republic. Guyana took that step in 1970, less than four years after gaining independence from Britain. Trinidad and Tobago followed suit in 1976 and Dominica in 1978.
All three stayed within the Commonwealth, an association of former British colonies and current dependencies, along with some countries that have no historical ties to Britain.
Barbados key facts:
Is one of the more populous and prosperous Caribbean islands;
Gained its independence from Britain in 1966;
Queen Elizabeth II remains its constitutional monarch;
Once heavily dependent on the sugar exports, its economy has diversified into tourism and finance;
Its prime minister is Mia Mottley, elected in 2018 and the first woman to hold the post.
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