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Ken Cedeno Pool/ABACA

Trump eager to return to campaign trail as more aides test positive for Covid-19

Joe Biden has said he shouldn’t debate Trump next week if the president remains Covid-positive.

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has tweeted his eagerness to return to the campaign trail as he continues to make progress in his recovery from Covid-19.

Trump returned to the White House on Monday and continues to recover behind closed doors as more of aides tested positive, including one of his closest advisers Stephen Miller.

Meanwhile, the president declared there would be no action before the election on economic-stimulus legislation – an announcement that came not long after the Federal Reserve chairman said such help was essential for recovery with the nation reeling from the human and economic cost of the pandemic.

Elsewhere, he has decried the US medicines regulator for doing a “political hit job” on him after it made clear that further safety data would be needed before it would approve a Covid-19 vaccine.

As for Trump’s own recovery, his doctor, Navy Commander Sean Conley said in a letter that the president had a “restful” night at the White House and “reports no symptoms”.

Four weeks away from Election Day, and Trump is eager to project strength and tweeted on Tuesday morning that he was planning to attend next week’s debate with Democrat Joe Biden in Miami and “It will be great!”

Biden, for his part, said he and Trump “shouldn’t have a debate” as long as the president remains Covid positive.

Elsewhere in the government, the scope of the outbreak was still being uncovered.

Yesterday, the nation’s top military leaders including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and the vice chairman, General John Hyten, were in quarantine after exposure to Admiral Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard.

It was not known how Ray contracted the virus, but he attended an event for military families at the White House on 27 September.

Also testing positive yesterday was Miller, a top policy adviser and Trump speechwriter, who has been an architect of the president’s “America First” foreign policy and restrictive immigration measures.

Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, who serves as communications director to Vice President Mike Pence, had the virus earlier this year.

She had been in Salt Lake City with Pence where he is preparing to debate Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, but she left as soon as she found out about her husband’s diagnosis, officials said.

On Monday, Trump made clear that he has little intention of abiding by best containment practices, when he removed his mask before entering the White House after his discharge from Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.

His attitude alarmed infectious disease experts, and it suggested his own illness had not caused him to rethink his often-cavalier attitude toward the disease which has also infected the first lady and more than a dozen White House aides and associates.

Republican Senator Susan Collins said: “When I saw him on the balcony of the White House, taking off his mask, I couldn’t help but think that he sent the wrong signal, given that he’s infected with Covid-19 and that there are many people in his immediate circle who have the virus.”

The US Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, published its guidance for issuing emergeny approval for a Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, making it clear it wants to see follow-up two months after trial volunteers have their second dose.

It is therefore unlikely for President Donald Trump’s administration to have a vaccine on the market before the 3 November election, something the president frequently says is on the cards.

Trump expressed his disapproval on Twitter Tuesday night, writing: “New FDA Rules make it more difficult for them to speed up vaccines for approval before Election Day. Just another political hit job!”

The news was welcomed by health experts who said it showed the agency was acting responsibly in the face of political pressure.

With reporting from AFP

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    Mute Donal McGrath
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    Oct 7th 2020, 7:45 AM

    COVID-19 is nothing.

    All you need is to have your private physician give you oxygen at home.

    Then get a 10 minute helicopter trip to the luxury presidential suite of Walter Reed Medical Military hospital where a team of top doctors start pumping you with a cocktail of expensive and experimental treatments that includes Dexamethasone, a steroid that calms the immune system
    Remdesivir, an antiviral drug and
    Monoclonal for antibody therapy.

    Finally, check yourself out of hospital against medical advice and exposing even more of your staff to infection.

    The 210K Americans that let themselves be dominated by the virus must just be losers.

    589
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    Mute Joseph Blocks
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:01 AM

    @Donal McGrath: what was the cost of trump’s treatment? I’m sure all private Americans can afford it easily, so nothing to worry about.

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    Mute ConPhoto
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @RMChance55: the footage I saw had Dems wearing masks and Rep not at all.
    But yea, the Dems lprobably poisoned Reps

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    Mute RMChance55
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:14 AM

    @ConPhoto: They wore masks until they got to their seats which were socially distanced. Biden didn’t have a mask on and was in the same area where Trump was and no infection. Same with Chris Wallace.

    9
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    Mute Sean Minihane
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:27 AM

    @RMChance55: that’s nice, pity they wouldn’t extend that care to all citizens, might have been helpful to some of the 200,00 dead.

    50
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    Mute DJ François
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:34 AM

    @Sean Minihane: you should see the state of his twitter feed

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    Mute ConPhoto
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:45 AM

    @RMChance55: I didn’t get a chance to see them and their full travel arrangements to there and back, so many possibilities…
    It’s a virus one person can get it and pass it on to a group

    12
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    Mute Peter McGlynn
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:00 AM

    @RMChance55: unlike Trump staff Biden isn’t brown nosing. That’s why he’s negative and they’re not.

    13
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    Mute Eric Gaffney
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:28 AM

    @Sean Minihane: Ireland isn’t too far off considering the population and we’re an island.

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    Mute Kevin Conway
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:48 AM

    @Joseph Blocks: Cost only $750 to trump.

    15
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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Oct 7th 2020, 7:46 AM

    Trump wants to ignore reality, meanwhile the White House now has more corona cases than all of Vietnam.

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    Mute Brian Madden
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:15 AM

    @RMChance55: incorrect. Chris Christie checked himself into hospital and we have no idea who else is positive from that super spreader event as they are not doing contact tracing.

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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:26 AM

    @RMChance55: what about the other Americans who died under a president who tells them not to fear?

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    Mute Woman On the Up
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:23 AM

    In the name of all that’s holy would America please get out and vote and elect Biden then go after Trump and hopefully send him to jail. Trump has directly caused infections of so many of his friends and colleagues. Over 210,000 dead in US now – it’s a holocaust and this evil git is waving around a mask and breathing on people.

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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:44 AM

    @Woman On the Up: yep if it was happening elsewhere US would be crying genocide.

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    Mute JusticeForJoe
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:06 AM

    @Woman On the Up: Unfortunately, I think Mike Pence will be pardoning him from an Acting President role before the election results are out

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    Mute Maurice Egan
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    Oct 7th 2020, 4:49 PM

    @Woman On the Up: It looks like from the polls that Biden’s lead over Trump is increasing and it is entirely due to Trumps and the Republicans disastrous handling of the pandemic plus their failure to provide assistance to working class Americans who are losing jobs at an unprecedented rate and to add to the misery evictions are going to see a massive increase.

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    Mute theseldomseenkid
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    Oct 7th 2020, 7:50 AM

    He’s riddled. Biden should turn up like the bubble boy for the craic.

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    Mute RMChance55
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:08 AM

    @theseldomseenkid: By the time of the debate Trump will not only no longer be contagious but he will have immunity.

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    Mute theseldomseenkid
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:12 AM

    @RMChance55: theres a good chance he will also not be alive.

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    Mute Joe
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:20 AM

    @RMChance55: which is no guarantee of re-infection.

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    Mute Derdaly
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    Oct 7th 2020, 9:07 AM

    @RMChance55: He was likely positive at the last debate given the incubation period for the virus casting doubt on the honour system saying he had been tested that morning. Why won’t he or his people say when his last negative test was? Looks like he was spreading the virus for up to 5 days before he became ill. Likely flew to New Jersey event knowing he was infectious.

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    Mute Felicity Rawson
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    Oct 7th 2020, 10:10 AM

    @RMChance55: Not from prosecution, he won’t

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:20 AM

    @theseldomseenkid: stop ! Not allowed to get too excited in the mornings !

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    Mute Kevin Conway
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:50 AM

    @RMChance55: By the time the debate comes round Trump could be buried in the ground….

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    Mute Cian Nolan
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    Oct 7th 2020, 8:02 AM

    I look forward to all the “Biden is ducking Trump” rhetoric, even though he’s absoloutely right.

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    Mute Vanessa
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    Oct 7th 2020, 7:37 AM

    I really hope that Biden gets some profile to get people to go to the vote. Trump managed to make the whole campaign around him. That superiority complex is just to big to look away.

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    Mute Sequoia
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    Oct 7th 2020, 9:51 AM

    Saturday Night Live is going to be epic this week

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    Mute Tomás O'Loughlin
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    Oct 7th 2020, 10:41 AM

    The man is being exposed as a complete fruit loop and a fraud. Let him campaign, the more he does the worse he polls and the more certain it becomes he’s voted out.

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:24 AM

    @Tomás O’Loughlin: totally agree ! … Let hm at it …

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    Mute Martello Mulligan
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    Oct 7th 2020, 11:11 AM

    The super spreader’s new campaign slogan is “I’m feeling great again, and the rest of you can go whistle.” Arrogance on a par with Marie Antoinette’s “let them eat cake” and the American people are about to give him the same approval ratings the French bestowed on her.

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    Mute Bramley Hawthorne
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    Oct 7th 2020, 10:05 AM

    Trump has just shown the effectiveness of state medicine.

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    Mute theseadoc
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    Oct 7th 2020, 9:25 PM

    Total BS , he never had it

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