Trump’s hospital stay for Covid fuels concerns condition is serious as new White House cases emerge – live

October 3, 2020
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10.12am EDT10:12

Donald Trump Jr says he has tested negative for Covid-19 but will stay clear of duties for another few days out of an “abundance of caution”. Trump Jr was at Tuesday’s presidential debate with the rest of his family, during which they sat unmasked in the audience.

Donald Trump Jr.
(@DonaldJTrumpJr)

Thanks to all those who so lovingly have reached out about @realDonaldTrump and the rest of the family. It truly means a lot to us.

I tested negative so I’ll give it a few more days out of and abundance of caution and test again and if I’m clear I’ll be back to work asap.


October 3, 2020

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s opponent in November’s presidential election, Joe Biden, has tweeted that wearing a mask is the mark of “a patriot”.

Joe Biden
(@JoeBiden)

Be a patriot. Do your part.

Wearing a mask will protect you. But it will also protect those around you — your mom, your dad, your son, your daughter, your neighbor, your co-worker.

Don’t just do it for yourself. Do it for the people you love.


October 3, 2020

“Be a patriot. Do your part,” wrote Biden on Saturday morning. “Wearing a mask will protect you. But it will also protect those around you — your mom, your dad, your son, your daughter, your neighbor, your co-worker. Don’t just do it for yourself. Do it for the people you love.”

Trump mocked Biden over his keenness to use a mask during the presidential debate.

Updated
at 10.17am EDT




10.06am EDT10:06

Donald Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, will give an update on the president’s condition at 11am ET.

Kayleigh McEnany
(@PressSec)

President @realDonaldTrump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, will be giving an update from Walter Reed at 11 am ET.


October 3, 2020

In Conley’s last update, he said the president was doing well with congestion, a low-grade fever and fatigue.




10.01am EDT10:01

After a summer of protests against social injustice and racism in the United States, a majority of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s handling of race.

According to a poll by the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project, 56% of Americans are unhappy of the president’s handling of the subject. The figure was 50% when the survey was last taken, in February.

The figures were split across race. Among whites, 48% disapproved of his handling of race while 72% of black respondents disapproved. Among Latinos and Asian respondents the figure was 68% for both groups.

The survey was conducted before last week’s presidential debate, during which Trump refused to condemn white supremacy.




9.47am EDT09:47

Chris McGreal

Chris McGreal

Sean Patterson is not worried that Donald Trump has been hospitalized with coronavirus because he believes what the president tells him.

“It’s a hoax. There’s no pandemic. As Trump said, how many millions die of flu?” said the 56-year-old truck driver outside the early voting station in St Joseph, Missouri – a stronghold for the president.

But then Patterson pauses and contemplates the possibility that Trump really does have Covid-19.

“If he’s sick, then they planted it when they tested him. It’s what they did to me when I went to hospital for my heart beating too fast. Two weeks later I got a cold,” he said. “It’s political. I don’t trust the US government at all. Who are they to mandate personal safety? I listen to Trump.”

At the end of a tumultuous week even by the standards of one of the most turbulent presidencies of modern times, the disturbing if not entirely unpredictable news that the president has contracted coronavirus prompted alarm, confusion and schadenfreude in the heart of Trumpland.

St Joseph, a former frontier city where the outlaw Jesse James met his bloody end, voted overwhelmingly for the president four years ago. The polls say Missouri will go his way again next month. But with Trump struggling in key swing states, the news he has fallen sick to Covid-19 jolted an election already battered days earlier by the most undignified presidential election debate in history.

Read the rest of the article below:




9.36am EDT09:36

There is plenty of baseless and unsourced rumour around Donald Trump’s condition – it’s not hard to find on Twitter – which has been encouraged to a certain extent by the lack of information from the White House. While it’s still relatively early on Saturday morning, the White House has yet to schedule an official briefing on the president’s condition.




9.28am EDT09:28

Third Republican senator tests positive for Covid-19

Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has become the third Republican senator to test positive for coronavirus in recent days.

Unlike the other two GOP senators to have tested positive for Covid-19 – Mike Lee and Thom Tillis – Johnson was not at the White House last week for the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination for the supreme court.

“This test came back positive. Senator Johnson feels healthy and is not experiencing symptoms. He will remain isolated until given the all-clear by his doctor,” spokesperson Ben Voelkel said in a statement.

If Johnson, Tillis and Lee are unable to vote for Barrett’s confirmation to the supreme court it could lead to the vote happening after the election, a scenario the Republicans are keen to avoid.

Two other Republican senators – Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy – tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this year and have since recovered.




9.14am EDT09:14

Peter Beaumont

Peter Beaumont

What happens if Trump is incapacitated?

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.

Adopted by the US Congress in 1967 after John F Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th cleared up a vagueness in the constitution over succession in event of resignation, death or conviction in impeachment.

The least tricky part of the amendment is section 4, which stipulates what would happen should Donald Trump be indisputably physically debilitated either from an injury or ailment, so much so that he couldn’t communicate but remained alive.

Then the vice-president is in charge unless and until the president recovers.

If Pence is also unable to assume control, then under the constitution powers are delegated to the speaker of the House of Representatives, in this case, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic California congresswoman. In the US Congress, the Democrats currently control the House, while the Republicans are in a majority in the Senate.




9.03am EDT09:03

World leaders have wished Donald Trump well following his hospitalisation for Covid-19.

China’s president said he hoped his US counterpart would recover quickly. “Xi said that learning President Trump and Melania have tested positive for Covid-19, he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, extend sympathy to them and wish them a speedy recovery,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, who was also hospitalised due to Covid-19 earlier this year, shared similar sentiments. “I think obviously everybody’s wishing him and Melania the very best and hoping that they recover speedily and I’ve no doubt that he will, he’ll make a very strong recovery,” said Johnson on Saturday.

Asked for any advice he could give to Trump, Johnson said: “I think that he will be doing exactly what the doctors tell him to do and I’m sure he will be having the best care he can possibly get. I’m sure he’ll come through it very well.”




8.22am EDT08:22

Good morning and welcome to our US politics live blog for Saturday, which will concentrate mainly on the latest news following Donald Trump’s hospitalisation following his positive test for Covid-19.

Here’s a summary of what we know so far:

Covid-19