Fraudulent messages are drawing attention as political campaigns in US presidential race ramp up data collection and voter targeting using their own technology to circumvent restrictions imposed by social media platforms following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

"Your early vote has not been recorded," says one of the many fraud text messages -- with a link for more information.

Other messages tell voters they are not registered, or offer unverified information about a political opponent.

Facebook barred apps that scraped data on users and their contacts after revelations about the now-defunct British consulting group. But in response, President Donald Trump's campaign and some activist groups are using their own methods.

A team led by Samuel Woolley, a University of Texas professor who leads propaganda research at the school's Center for Media Engagement, examined messages such as the above-referenced ones.&nbsp;

It found that the Trump mobile app, and to a lesser extent those of Democrat Joe Biden and other political activist groups, scoop up data to create profiles to craft personalised, targetted messages by SMS, email or social media.

Some apps collect data not only on the user, but his or her contacts, and track location and other activities such as shopping or church attendance.

Campaigns can combine that with third-party information from data brokers or public records to finetune messages to specific individuals or groups.

Dozens of unsolicited texts, many with pro-Trump messages, surprise common people.

One of the many reads: "Looting. Rioting. Burning Cities. These are the realities of a Biden America."

Many message recipients have never downloaded a political app or signed up for notifications, according to researchers.

Some messages are effectively campaign ads, but without the disclosure required by social media platforms and other media.

The FBI has hence launched a "protected voices" project investigating potential criminal violations in such messages.

"Intentionally deceiving qualified voters to prevent them from voting is voter suppression -- and it is a federal crime," the FBI said in a September statement.

This brings attention to "microtargeting" -- delivering narrowly focused messages to specific individuals or groups. This also raised concerns in the 2016 elections.

Panagopoulos noted that campaigns have "massive amounts of information" on voters which they can gather themselves or purchase, making it easy to spread misinformation or dissuade people form voting.

Fraudulent messages are drawing attention as political campaigns in US presidential race ramp up data collection and voter targeting using their own technology to circumvent restrictions imposed by social media platforms following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Fraudulent messages are drawing attention as political campaigns in US presidential race ramp up data collection and voter targeting using their own technology to circumvent restrictions imposed by social media platforms following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. "Your early vote has not been recorded," says one of the many fraud text messages -- with a link for more information. Other messages tell voters they are not registered, or offer unverified information about a political opponent. Facebook barred apps that scraped data on users and their contacts after revelations about the now-defunct British consulting group. But in response, President Donald Trump's campaign and some activist groups are using their own methods. A team led by Samuel Woolley, a University of Texas professor who leads propaganda research at the school's Center for Media Engagement, examined messages such as the above-referenced ones. It found that the Trump mobile app, and to a lesser extent those of Democrat Joe Biden and other political activist groups, scoop up data to create profiles to craft personalised, targetted messages by SMS, email or social media. Some apps collect data not only on the user, but his or her contacts, and track location and other activities such as shopping or church attendance. Campaigns can combine that with third-party information from data brokers or public records to finetune messages to specific individuals or groups. Dozens of unsolicited texts, many with pro-Trump messages, surprise common people. One of the many reads: "Looting. Rioting. Burning Cities. These are the realities of a Biden America." Many message recipients have never downloaded a political app or signed up for notifications, according to researchers. Some messages are effectively campaign ads, but without the disclosure required by social media platforms and other media. The FBI has hence launched a "protected voices" project investigating potential criminal violations in such messages. "Intentionally deceiving qualified voters to prevent them from voting is voter suppression -- and it is a federal crime," the FBI said in a September statement. This brings attention to "microtargeting" -- delivering narrowly focused messages to specific individuals or groups. This also raised concerns in the 2016 elections. Panagopoulos noted that campaigns have "massive amounts of information" on voters which they can gather themselves or purchase, making it easy to spread misinformation or dissuade people form voting.

Fraudulent messages take over as Trump and Biden campaigns for US election gain pace

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-enters-final-weeks-of-us-presidential-race-in-commanding-position-334380">Biden enters final weeks of US presidential race in commanding position</a>

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has placed himself at a commanding position as the US presidential race enters its final stretch. He is leading President Donald Trump in polling and fundraising while the latter struggles to defend must-win states |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-enters-final-weeks-of-us-presidential-race-in-commanding-position-334380"> READ MORE</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-no-longer-a-transmission-risk-to-hold-two-rallies-next-week-334370">Trump 'no longer a transmission risk', to hold two rallies next week</a>

US President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician said in a statement released late Saturday | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-no-longer-a-transmission-risk-to-hold-two-rallies-next-week-334370">READ MORE</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/armenia-and-azerbaijan-accuse-each-other-of-violating-nagorno-karabakh-ceasefire-334365">Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of violating Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire</a>

Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of swiftly and seriously violating the terms of a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, within minutes of the truce taking effect -- raising questions about how meaningful it would turn out to be | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/armenia-and-azerbaijan-accuse-each-other-of-violating-nagorno-karabakh-ceasefire-334365">READ MORE</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/four-dead-one-missing-in-french-air-collision-334367">Four dead, one missing in French air collision</a>

Four people were killed and one was missing after a tourist plane and a microlight aircraft collided in western France on Saturday | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/four-dead-one-missing-in-french-air-collision-334367">READ MORE</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/colombian-ex-president-uribe-released-from-house-arrest-334369">Colombian ex-president Uribe released from house arrest</a>

A judge on Saturday lifted a house arrest order against former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. He was under investigation for alleged witness tampering and fraud, and had been held under the order since August | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/colombian-ex-president-uribe-released-from-house-arrest-334369">READ MORE</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/5g-iphone-expected-to-star-at-apple-event-334373">5G iPhone expected to star at Apple event</a>

Apple is expected on Tuesday to unveil a keenly anticipated iPhone 12 line-up starring models tuned to super-fast new 5G telecom networks in an update considered vital to the company's fortunes | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/5g-iphone-expected-to-star-at-apple-event-334373">READ MORE</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/mexico-asks-pope-to-apologise-for-atrocities-during-spanish-conquests-334378">Mexico asks Pope to apologise for atrocities during Spanish conquests</a>

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote an open letter to Pope Francis on Saturday and called on the Roman Catholic Church to apologise for atrocities on indigenous people of Mexico during the Spanish conquest in 1500s | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/mexico-asks-pope-to-apologise-for-atrocities-during-spanish-conquests-334378">READ MORE</a>

Biden enters final weeks of US presidential race in commanding position Democratic challenger Joe Biden has placed himself at a commanding position as the US presidential race enters its final stretch.

Biden enters final weeks of US presidential race in commanding position Democratic challenger Joe Biden has placed himself at a commanding position as the US presidential race enters its final stretch. He is leading President Donald Trump in polling and fundraising while the latter struggles to defend must-win states | READ MORE Trump 'no longer a transmission risk', to hold two rallies next week US President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician said in a statement released late Saturday | READ MORE Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of violating Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of swiftly and seriously violating the terms of a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, within minutes of the truce taking effect -- raising questions about how meaningful it would turn out to be | READ MORE Four dead, one missing in French air collision Four people were killed and one was missing after a tourist plane and a microlight aircraft collided in western France on Saturday | READ MORE Colombian ex-president Uribe released from house arrest A judge on Saturday lifted a house arrest order against former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. He was under investigation for alleged witness tampering and fraud, and had been held under the order since August | READ MORE 5G iPhone expected to star at Apple event Apple is expected on Tuesday to unveil a keenly anticipated iPhone 12 line-up starring models tuned to super-fast new 5G telecom networks in an update considered vital to the company's fortunes | READ MORE Mexico asks Pope to apologise for atrocities during Spanish conquests Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote an open letter to Pope Francis on Saturday and called on the Roman Catholic Church to apologise for atrocities on indigenous people of Mexico during the Spanish conquest in 1500s | READ MORE

Morning news brief: Updates on US presidential race, Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire and more

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has placed himself at a commanding position as the US presidential race enters its final stretch. He is leading President Donald Trump in polling and fundraising while the latter struggles to defend must-win states.

Experts are of the opinion that time is running out for Trump to change the race's trajectory -- and he is failing to capitalise on the opportunities that do exist.

Polls show Biden is leading Trump among voters 65 and older and benefits from a huge gender gap, with women overwhelmingly supporting him and men split more evenly. This is a rare feat for a Democratic nominee.

According to CNN, Biden is offering calm and steadiness amid a pandemic that has claimed more than 210,000 American lives and in the chaos created by Trump -- qualities that appeal to a broad swath of voters.

Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, bested Vice President Mike Pence in their debate Wednesday night, a CNN post-debate poll found.&nbsp;

In the aftermath, Trump wasted a day by calling into a Fox Business morning show and calling Harris a "monster," blaming Gold Star families for his infection with coronavirus and saying he would not participate in his second debate against Biden. The debate was then scheduled for the next week but changed to a virtual format.

It later got cancelled.

Then again on Saturday morning, Trump returned to the campaign trail. He hosted an event at the White House, raising concerns that the virus could spread. Attendees on Saturday were largely seen wearing masks, but they were not socially distanced.

The president's physician declared him non-contagious only late Saturday night -- not however disclosing if he had finally tested negative.

And even while he addressed the crowd, he said, ""Science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all, it's going to disappear. It's disappearing. I have defeated the China virus, &nbsp;This disease is going to disappear" -- discounting -- for the nth time -- the gravity of the pandemic.

All this provoked a round of politically damaging headlines and left him without what could have been a valuable opportunity to improve on his first showing against Biden in a debate next week.

Polls in recent days have found Biden with a large lead nationally -- he is ahead 57% to Trump's 41%, a CNN poll this week found -- and in the core battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where he would likely cross the 270 electoral vote threshold by winning three or four of the six.

(with inputs)

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has placed himself at a commanding position as the US presidential race enters its final stretch. He is leading President Donald Trump in polling and fundraising while the latter struggles to defend must-win states.

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has placed himself at a commanding position as the US presidential race enters its final stretch. He is leading President Donald Trump in polling and fundraising while the latter struggles to defend must-win states. Experts are of the opinion that time is running out for Trump to change the race's trajectory -- and he is failing to capitalise on the opportunities that do exist. Polls show Biden is leading Trump among voters 65 and older and benefits from a huge gender gap, with women overwhelmingly supporting him and men split more evenly. This is a rare feat for a Democratic nominee. According to CNN, Biden is offering calm and steadiness amid a pandemic that has claimed more than 210,000 American lives and in the chaos created by Trump -- qualities that appeal to a broad swath of voters. Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, bested Vice President Mike Pence in their debate Wednesday night, a CNN post-debate poll found. In the aftermath, Trump wasted a day by calling into a Fox Business morning show and calling Harris a "monster," blaming Gold Star families for his infection with coronavirus and saying he would not participate in his second debate against Biden. The debate was then scheduled for the next week but changed to a virtual format. It later got cancelled. Then again on Saturday morning, Trump returned to the campaign trail. He hosted an event at the White House, raising concerns that the virus could spread. Attendees on Saturday were largely seen wearing masks, but they were not socially distanced. The president's physician declared him non-contagious only late Saturday night -- not however disclosing if he had finally tested negative. And even while he addressed the crowd, he said, ""Science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all, it's going to disappear. It's disappearing. I have defeated the China virus, This disease is going to disappear" -- discounting -- for the nth time -- the gravity of the pandemic. All this provoked a round of politically damaging headlines and left him without what could have been a valuable opportunity to improve on his first showing against Biden in a debate next week. Polls in recent days have found Biden with a large lead nationally -- he is ahead 57% to Trump's 41%, a CNN poll this week found -- and in the core battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where he would likely cross the 270 electoral vote threshold by winning three or four of the six. (with inputs)

Biden enters final weeks of US presidential race in commanding position

US President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician said in a statement released late Saturday.

"This evening I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning's COVID PCR sample demonstrates, by currently recognised standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others," the president's physician Sean Conley said in the statement.

To this end, he will hold two more campaign rallies next week -- Tuesday in Pennsylvania, a battleground state key to his reelection hopes, and in Iowa on Wednesday.

The president's physician, who has been accused of a lack of transparency with the public, said it had been 10 days since Trump first began showing symptoms of the new coronavirus. He was hospitalised one day later, on October 2.

Tests showed there was "no longer evidence of actively replicating virus," and that Trump's viral load was "decreasing," Conley continued -- though he did not state that the president is now Covid-free.

Trump is fever-free and his symptoms have "improved," Conley said, adding that he would continue to monitor the president as he "returns to an active schedule."

Trump, who stayed in the hospital for three days before returning to the White House, has been pushing to jump back on the campaign trail.

He trails his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, badly in the polls with less than a month before the election on November 3.

In his first public address after recovering from coronavirus, Trump on Saturday told his supporters that he was "feeling great" from the White House balcony.

"Our nation will defeat the China virus, the vaccine is coming in record time, it is coming very soon," the US president said, adding," I am thankful to everyone who prayed for my health."

"Science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all, it's going to disappear. It's disappearing," Trump asserted. "I have defeated the China virus, &nbsp;This disease is going to disappear."

(with inputs)

US President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician said in a statement released late Saturday.

US President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician said in a statement released late Saturday. "This evening I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning's COVID PCR sample demonstrates, by currently recognised standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others," the president's physician Sean Conley said in the statement. To this end, he will hold two more campaign rallies next week -- Tuesday in Pennsylvania, a battleground state key to his reelection hopes, and in Iowa on Wednesday. The president's physician, who has been accused of a lack of transparency with the public, said it had been 10 days since Trump first began showing symptoms of the new coronavirus. He was hospitalised one day later, on October 2. Tests showed there was "no longer evidence of actively replicating virus," and that Trump's viral load was "decreasing," Conley continued -- though he did not state that the president is now Covid-free. Trump is fever-free and his symptoms have "improved," Conley said, adding that he would continue to monitor the president as he "returns to an active schedule." Trump, who stayed in the hospital for three days before returning to the White House, has been pushing to jump back on the campaign trail. He trails his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, badly in the polls with less than a month before the election on November 3. In his first public address after recovering from coronavirus, Trump on Saturday told his supporters that he was "feeling great" from the White House balcony. "Our nation will defeat the China virus, the vaccine is coming in record time, it is coming very soon," the US president said, adding," I am thankful to everyone who prayed for my health." "Science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all, it's going to disappear. It's disappearing," Trump asserted. "I have defeated the China virus, This disease is going to disappear." (with inputs)

Trump 'no longer a transmission risk', to hold two rallies next week

Throughout its 208-year history, The New England Journal of Medicine has remained staunchly nonpartisan. The world’s most prestigious medical journal has never supported or condemned a political candidate.

Until now.

In an editorial signed by 34 editors who are U.S. citizens (one editor is not) and published Wednesday, the journal said the Trump administration had responded so poorly to the coronavirus pandemic that it “have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.”

The journal did not explicitly endorse Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, but that was the only possible inference, other scientists noted.

The editor-in-chief, Dr. Eric Rubin, said the scathing editorial was one of only four in the journal’s history that were signed by all of the editors. The NEJM’s editors join those of another influential journal, Scientific American, who last month endorsed Biden, the former vice president.

The political leadership has failed Americans in many ways that contrast vividly with responses from leaders in other countries, the NEJM said.

In the United States, the journal said, there was too little testing for the virus, especially early on. There was too little protective equipment, and a lack of national leadership on important measures like mask wearing, social distancing, quarantine and isolation.

There were attempts to politicize and undermine the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the journal noted.

As a result, the United States has had tens of thousands of “excess” deaths — those caused both directly and indirectly by the pandemic — as well as immense economic pain and an increase in social inequality as the virus hit disadvantaged communities hardest.

The editorial castigated the rejection of science by the administration of President Donald Trump, writing, “Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed ‘opinion leaders’ and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies.”

The uncharacteristically pungent editorial called for change: “When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.”

Scientific American, too, had never before endorsed a political candidate. “The pandemic would strain any nation and system, but Trump’s rejection of evidence and public health measures have been catastrophic,” the journal’s editors said.

The NEJM, like all medical journals these days, is deluged with papers on the coronavirus and the illness it causes, COVID-19. Editors have struggled to reconcile efforts to insist on quality with a constant barrage of misinformation and misleading statements from the administration, said Dr. Clifford Rosen, associate editor of the journal and an endocrinologist at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

“Our mission is to promote the best science and also to educate,” Rosen said. “We were seeing anti-science and poor leadership.”

Mounting public health failures and misinformation had eventually taken a toll, said Rubin, editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine.

“It should be clear that we are not a political organization,” he said. “But pretty much every week in our editorial meeting there would be some new outrage.”

“How can you not speak out at a time like this?” he added.

Dr. Thomas H. Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the journal’s editorial board, did not participate in writing or voting on the editorial.

But “to say nothing definitive at this point in history would be a cause for shame,” he said.

Medical specialists not associated with the NEJM applauded the decision.

“Wow,” said Dr. Matthew K. Wynia, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. He noted that the editorial did not explicitly mention Biden, but said it was clearly “an obvious call to replace the president.”

There is a risk that such a departure could taint the NEJM’s reputation for impartiality. While other medical journals, including JAMA, the Lancet and The British Medical Journal, have taken political positions, the NEJM has dealt with political issues in a measured way, as it did in a forum published in October 2000 in which Al Gore and George W. Bush answered questions on health care.

But it is hard to imagine such a deliberative debate in today’s acrimonious atmosphere, said Dr. Jeremy Greene, a professor of medicine and historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

The Trump administration, he said, had demonstrated “a continuous, reckless disregard of truth.”

“If we want a forum based on matters of fact, it strikes me that no form of engagement could work,” Greene added.

Throughout its 208-year history, The New England Journal of Medicine has remained staunchly nonpartisan. The world’s most prestigious medical journal has never supported or condemned a political candidate.

Throughout its 208-year history, The New England Journal of Medicine has remained staunchly nonpartisan. The world’s most prestigious medical journal has never supported or condemned a political candidate. Until now. In an editorial signed by 34 editors who are U.S. citizens (one editor is not) and published Wednesday, the journal said the Trump administration had responded so poorly to the coronavirus pandemic that it “have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.” The journal did not explicitly endorse Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, but that was the only possible inference, other scientists noted. The editor-in-chief, Dr. Eric Rubin, said the scathing editorial was one of only four in the journal’s history that were signed by all of the editors. The NEJM’s editors join those of another influential journal, Scientific American, who last month endorsed Biden, the former vice president. The political leadership has failed Americans in many ways that contrast vividly with responses from leaders in other countries, the NEJM said. In the United States, the journal said, there was too little testing for the virus, especially early on. There was too little protective equipment, and a lack of national leadership on important measures like mask wearing, social distancing, quarantine and isolation. There were attempts to politicize and undermine the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the journal noted. As a result, the United States has had tens of thousands of “excess” deaths — those caused both directly and indirectly by the pandemic — as well as immense economic pain and an increase in social inequality as the virus hit disadvantaged communities hardest. The editorial castigated the rejection of science by the administration of President Donald Trump, writing, “Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed ‘opinion leaders’ and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies.” The uncharacteristically pungent editorial called for change: “When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.” Scientific American, too, had never before endorsed a political candidate. “The pandemic would strain any nation and system, but Trump’s rejection of evidence and public health measures have been catastrophic,” the journal’s editors said. The NEJM, like all medical journals these days, is deluged with papers on the coronavirus and the illness it causes, COVID-19. Editors have struggled to reconcile efforts to insist on quality with a constant barrage of misinformation and misleading statements from the administration, said Dr. Clifford Rosen, associate editor of the journal and an endocrinologist at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. “Our mission is to promote the best science and also to educate,” Rosen said. “We were seeing anti-science and poor leadership.” Mounting public health failures and misinformation had eventually taken a toll, said Rubin, editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. “It should be clear that we are not a political organization,” he said. “But pretty much every week in our editorial meeting there would be some new outrage.” “How can you not speak out at a time like this?” he added. Dr. Thomas H. Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the journal’s editorial board, did not participate in writing or voting on the editorial. But “to say nothing definitive at this point in history would be a cause for shame,” he said. Medical specialists not associated with the NEJM applauded the decision. “Wow,” said Dr. Matthew K. Wynia, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. He noted that the editorial did not explicitly mention Biden, but said it was clearly “an obvious call to replace the president.” There is a risk that such a departure could taint the NEJM’s reputation for impartiality. While other medical journals, including JAMA, the Lancet and The British Medical Journal, have taken political positions, the NEJM has dealt with political issues in a measured way, as it did in a forum published in October 2000 in which Al Gore and George W. Bush answered questions on health care. But it is hard to imagine such a deliberative debate in today’s acrimonious atmosphere, said Dr. Jeremy Greene, a professor of medicine and historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. The Trump administration, he said, had demonstrated “a continuous, reckless disregard of truth.” “If we want a forum based on matters of fact, it strikes me that no form of engagement could work,” Greene added.

In a first, New England Journal of Medicine joins never-Trumpers

President Donald Trump’s order to his secretary of state to declassify thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails, along with his insistence that his attorney general issue indictments against Barack Obama and Joe Biden, takes his presidency into new territory — until now, occupied by leaders with names like Putin, Xi and Erdogan.

Trump has long demanded — quite publicly, often on Twitter — that his most senior cabinet members use the power of their office to pursue political enemies. But his appeals this week, as he trailed badly in the polls and was desperate to turn the national conversation away from the coronavirus, were so blatant that one had to look to authoritarian nations to make comparisons.

He took a step even Richard Nixon avoided in his most desperate days: openly ordering direct immediate government action against specific opponents, timed to serve his reelection campaign.

“There is essentially no precedent,” said Jack Goldsmith, who led the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush and has written extensively on presidential powers. “We have a norm that developed after Watergate that presidents don’t talk about ongoing investigations, much less interfere with them.”

“It is crazy and it is unprecedented,” said Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard Law School, “but it’s no different from what he has been saying since the beginning of his presidency. The only thing new is that he has moved from talking about it to seeming to order it.”

Trump’s vision of the presidency has always leaned to exercising the absolute powers of the chief executive, a writ-large version of the family business he presided over. “I have an Article II,” he told young adults last year at a Turning Point USA summit, referring to the section of the Constitution that deals with the president’s powers, “where I have the right to do whatever I want as president, but I don’t even talk about that.”

Now he is talking about it, almost daily. He is making it clear that prosecutions, like vaccines for the coronavirus, are useless to him if they come after Nov. 3. He has declared, without evidence, that there is already plenty of proof that Obama, Biden and Clinton, among others, were fueling the charges that his campaign had links to Russia — what he calls “the Russia hoax.” And he has pressured his secretary of state to agree to release more of Clinton’s emails before the election, reprising a yearslong fixation despite having defeated her four years ago.

Presidential historians say there is no case in modern times where the president has so plainly used his powers to take political opponents off the field — or has been so eager to replicate the behavior of strongmen. “In America, our presidents have generally avoided strongman balcony scenes — that’s for other countries with authoritarian systems,” Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian, wrote on Twitter after Trump returned from the hospital where he received COVID-19 treatment and removed his mask, while still considered contagious, as he saluted from the White House balcony.

Long ago, White House officials learned how to avoid questions about whether the president views his powers as fundamentally more constrained than those of the authoritarians he so often casts in admiring terms, including Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. They have something in common: Trump’s State Department has criticized all three for corrupting the justice systems in their countries to pursue political enemies.

(Russia, the State Department complained in its 2019 Human Rights report, engaged in a “crackdown on political opposition and other critics before and after presidential elections that Vladimir Putin won.” Turkey, it said the same year, has conducted the “arbitrary arrest and detention of tens of thousands of persons, including former opposition members of parliament.” In recent weeks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been particularly outspoken about the state’s use of a new national security law to arrest activists and political opponents of the Chinese Communist Party.)

Pompeo has always bristled when reporters have asked him to explain what the world should believe when it reads Trump’s most authoritarian-sounding tweets. He answers that what distinguishes the United States is that it is a “rule of law” nation, and then often turns the tables on his questioners, charging that even raising the issue reveals that the reporters are partisans, not journalists, intent on embarrassing Trump and the United States.

But his anger is often wielded as a shield, one that keeps him from publicly grappling with the underlying question: How can Washington take on other authoritarians around the world — especially China, Pompeo’s nemesis — for abusing state power when the president of the United States calls for political prosecutions and politically motivated declassifications?

“We’ve never seen anything like this in an American election campaign,” said R. Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary of state who is now an informal adviser to Biden. “It reduces our credibility — we look like the countries we condemn for nondemocratic practices before an election.”

“I have worked for nine secretaries of state,” Burns said. “I cannot imagine any of them intervening in an election as blatantly as what we are seeing now. Our tradition is that secretaries of state stay out of elections. If they wanted to release Hillary Clinton’s emails, they could have done it in 2017, 2018 or 2019. It is an abuse of power by Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo.”

Another career diplomat who served as both ambassador to Russia and deputy secretary of state, William J. Burns, said that what Trump had ordered is “exactly the kind of behavior I saw so often in authoritarian regimes in many years as an American diplomat.”

“In dealing with Putin’s Russia or Erdogan’s Turkey, we would have protested and condemned such actions,” he said. “Now it’s our own government that’s engaging in them.

“The result,” said Burns, now the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “is the hollowing out of our institutions at home and deep corrosion of our image and influence abroad.”

In the current cases, it is unclear whether Trump will get his wish — or whether his loyal appointees will slow-walk his requests. There is some evidence they are already looking for escape hatches.

Pompeo, the administration’s most conspicuous ideologue, Trump’s most vocal loyalist and a lawyer, was clearly taken aback when the president expressed displeasure, saying he was “not happy” that the State Department had not released emails sent through Clinton’s home server.

“You’re running the State Department, you get them out,” the president told Fox Business in an interview this week. “Forget about the fact that they were classified. Let’s go. Maybe Mike Pompeo finally finds them.”

Pompeo, one of his aides said Saturday, was in a box: The complaint about Clinton’s home server was that she was risking exposing classified emails by not using the State Department email system — a system Russia had already infiltrated — yet Trump was demanding that they be released in full. Just days before, he had announced, over Twitter, that he was using his executive power to declassify all of them, without redactions.

“We’ve got the emails,” Pompeo responded on Fox News. “We’re getting them out. We’re going to get all this information out so the American people can see it.”

But he also hinted that many of Clinton’s emails, mostly those that were stored on the State Department’s own system, have already been posted on the agency’s website, after an unusually diligent effort by the department to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests from Trump’s supporters. (They are often heavily redacted — to the point of containing no content — despite the president’s order to the contrary.)

“We’re doing it as fast as we can,” Pompeo told Dana Perino, a Fox News anchor who once served as President Bush’s press secretary. “I certainly think there’ll be more to see before the election.”

Pompeo clearly understands the problem: Even if he makes all of them public, they are unlikely to satisfy the president. Last year, the State Department’s own inspector general found that while Clinton had risked compromising classified information, she did not systematically or deliberately mishandle her emails.

William Barr may face an even greater challenge in satisfying the president. No attorney general since John Mitchell, who served Nixon and brought conspiracy charges against critics of the Vietnam War, bent the Justice Department more in a president’s direction. And Nixon himself, while urging the IRS to audit political opponents, stopped short of publicly calling for individual prosecutions. Yet in February, Barr told ABC News that Trump “has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” At the same time, he complained that the president’s tweets about the Justice Department “make it impossible for me to do my job.”

Now, clearly, the president has asked Barr to act in a criminal case — and not in a quiet phone call. Instead, he did it on Twitter and Fox News, expressing his deep disappointment with his second attorney general, for essentially the same reason he fired his first one, Jeff Sessions: insufficient blind loyalty.

His complaint appears to have been driven by Barr’s warning to the White House and other officials that there are likely to be no indictments before the election from the investigation being run by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut. Durham is searching for evidence that the inquiry into Russia was a politically motivated effort to undercut his presidency.

Trump says the case is clear-cut. He told Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host to whom he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the last State of the Union address, that Durham has had “plenty of time to do it.”

“Unless Bill Barr indicts these people for crimes — the greatest political crime in the history of our country — then we’ll get little satisfaction, unless I win,” Trump said on Fox Business.

“If we don’t win,” he said, “that whole thing is going to be dismissed.”

President Donald Trump’s order to his secretary of state to declassify thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails, along with his insistence that his attorney general issue indictments against Barack Obama and Joe Biden, takes his presidency into new territory — until now, occupied by leaders with names like Putin, Xi and Erdogan.

President Donald Trump’s order to his secretary of state to declassify thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails, along with his insistence that his attorney general issue indictments against Barack Obama and Joe Biden, takes his presidency into new territory — until now, occupied by leaders with names like Putin, Xi and Erdogan. Trump has long demanded — quite publicly, often on Twitter — that his most senior cabinet members use the power of their office to pursue political enemies. But his appeals this week, as he trailed badly in the polls and was desperate to turn the national conversation away from the coronavirus, were so blatant that one had to look to authoritarian nations to make comparisons. He took a step even Richard Nixon avoided in his most desperate days: openly ordering direct immediate government action against specific opponents, timed to serve his reelection campaign. “There is essentially no precedent,” said Jack Goldsmith, who led the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush and has written extensively on presidential powers. “We have a norm that developed after Watergate that presidents don’t talk about ongoing investigations, much less interfere with them.” “It is crazy and it is unprecedented,” said Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard Law School, “but it’s no different from what he has been saying since the beginning of his presidency. The only thing new is that he has moved from talking about it to seeming to order it.” Trump’s vision of the presidency has always leaned to exercising the absolute powers of the chief executive, a writ-large version of the family business he presided over. “I have an Article II,” he told young adults last year at a Turning Point USA summit, referring to the section of the Constitution that deals with the president’s powers, “where I have the right to do whatever I want as president, but I don’t even talk about that.” Now he is talking about it, almost daily. He is making it clear that prosecutions, like vaccines for the coronavirus, are useless to him if they come after Nov. 3. He has declared, without evidence, that there is already plenty of proof that Obama, Biden and Clinton, among others, were fueling the charges that his campaign had links to Russia — what he calls “the Russia hoax.” And he has pressured his secretary of state to agree to release more of Clinton’s emails before the election, reprising a yearslong fixation despite having defeated her four years ago. Presidential historians say there is no case in modern times where the president has so plainly used his powers to take political opponents off the field — or has been so eager to replicate the behavior of strongmen. “In America, our presidents have generally avoided strongman balcony scenes — that’s for other countries with authoritarian systems,” Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian, wrote on Twitter after Trump returned from the hospital where he received COVID-19 treatment and removed his mask, while still considered contagious, as he saluted from the White House balcony. Long ago, White House officials learned how to avoid questions about whether the president views his powers as fundamentally more constrained than those of the authoritarians he so often casts in admiring terms, including Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. They have something in common: Trump’s State Department has criticized all three for corrupting the justice systems in their countries to pursue political enemies. (Russia, the State Department complained in its 2019 Human Rights report, engaged in a “crackdown on political opposition and other critics before and after presidential elections that Vladimir Putin won.” Turkey, it said the same year, has conducted the “arbitrary arrest and detention of tens of thousands of persons, including former opposition members of parliament.” In recent weeks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been particularly outspoken about the state’s use of a new national security law to arrest activists and political opponents of the Chinese Communist Party.) Pompeo has always bristled when reporters have asked him to explain what the world should believe when it reads Trump’s most authoritarian-sounding tweets. He answers that what distinguishes the United States is that it is a “rule of law” nation, and then often turns the tables on his questioners, charging that even raising the issue reveals that the reporters are partisans, not journalists, intent on embarrassing Trump and the United States. But his anger is often wielded as a shield, one that keeps him from publicly grappling with the underlying question: How can Washington take on other authoritarians around the world — especially China, Pompeo’s nemesis — for abusing state power when the president of the United States calls for political prosecutions and politically motivated declassifications? “We’ve never seen anything like this in an American election campaign,” said R. Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary of state who is now an informal adviser to Biden. “It reduces our credibility — we look like the countries we condemn for nondemocratic practices before an election.” “I have worked for nine secretaries of state,” Burns said. “I cannot imagine any of them intervening in an election as blatantly as what we are seeing now. Our tradition is that secretaries of state stay out of elections. If they wanted to release Hillary Clinton’s emails, they could have done it in 2017, 2018 or 2019. It is an abuse of power by Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo.” Another career diplomat who served as both ambassador to Russia and deputy secretary of state, William J. Burns, said that what Trump had ordered is “exactly the kind of behavior I saw so often in authoritarian regimes in many years as an American diplomat.” “In dealing with Putin’s Russia or Erdogan’s Turkey, we would have protested and condemned such actions,” he said. “Now it’s our own government that’s engaging in them. “The result,” said Burns, now the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “is the hollowing out of our institutions at home and deep corrosion of our image and influence abroad.” In the current cases, it is unclear whether Trump will get his wish — or whether his loyal appointees will slow-walk his requests. There is some evidence they are already looking for escape hatches. Pompeo, the administration’s most conspicuous ideologue, Trump’s most vocal loyalist and a lawyer, was clearly taken aback when the president expressed displeasure, saying he was “not happy” that the State Department had not released emails sent through Clinton’s home server. “You’re running the State Department, you get them out,” the president told Fox Business in an interview this week. “Forget about the fact that they were classified. Let’s go. Maybe Mike Pompeo finally finds them.” Pompeo, one of his aides said Saturday, was in a box: The complaint about Clinton’s home server was that she was risking exposing classified emails by not using the State Department email system — a system Russia had already infiltrated — yet Trump was demanding that they be released in full. Just days before, he had announced, over Twitter, that he was using his executive power to declassify all of them, without redactions. “We’ve got the emails,” Pompeo responded on Fox News. “We’re getting them out. We’re going to get all this information out so the American people can see it.” But he also hinted that many of Clinton’s emails, mostly those that were stored on the State Department’s own system, have already been posted on the agency’s website, after an unusually diligent effort by the department to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests from Trump’s supporters. (They are often heavily redacted — to the point of containing no content — despite the president’s order to the contrary.) “We’re doing it as fast as we can,” Pompeo told Dana Perino, a Fox News anchor who once served as President Bush’s press secretary. “I certainly think there’ll be more to see before the election.” Pompeo clearly understands the problem: Even if he makes all of them public, they are unlikely to satisfy the president. Last year, the State Department’s own inspector general found that while Clinton had risked compromising classified information, she did not systematically or deliberately mishandle her emails. William Barr may face an even greater challenge in satisfying the president. No attorney general since John Mitchell, who served Nixon and brought conspiracy charges against critics of the Vietnam War, bent the Justice Department more in a president’s direction. And Nixon himself, while urging the IRS to audit political opponents, stopped short of publicly calling for individual prosecutions. Yet in February, Barr told ABC News that Trump “has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” At the same time, he complained that the president’s tweets about the Justice Department “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Now, clearly, the president has asked Barr to act in a criminal case — and not in a quiet phone call. Instead, he did it on Twitter and Fox News, expressing his deep disappointment with his second attorney general, for essentially the same reason he fired his first one, Jeff Sessions: insufficient blind loyalty. His complaint appears to have been driven by Barr’s warning to the White House and other officials that there are likely to be no indictments before the election from the investigation being run by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut. Durham is searching for evidence that the inquiry into Russia was a politically motivated effort to undercut his presidency. Trump says the case is clear-cut. He told Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host to whom he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the last State of the Union address, that Durham has had “plenty of time to do it.” “Unless Bill Barr indicts these people for crimes — the greatest political crime in the history of our country — then we’ll get little satisfaction, unless I win,” Trump said on Fox Business. “If we don’t win,” he said, “that whole thing is going to be dismissed.”

Taking page from authoritarians, Trump turns power of state against political rivals

Watch this special episode of WION-VOA Co-Production over US Election 2020: A civil Vice Presidential debate..

US Election 2020: A civil Vice Presidential debate | WION-VOA Co-Production

Twitter is set to take down calls for violence starting after polls close on US election day and slap warnings on premature victory claims to fight efforts to undermine the election.

Social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter have been in the spotlight since massive disinformation campaigns directed by Russian intelligence and other malign actors overshadowed the 2016 election.

Twitter requires an announcement by an election official or a public projection from at least two authoritative, national news outlets making independent election calls when it comes to a winner in any race.

The tech giant will also invite people to add their thoughts to retweets instead of just mindlessly sharing. The platform will also broaden its application of warning labels for misleading tweets by candidates leading up to election day on November 3.

Twitter will also label tweets that falsely claim a win and will remove "tweets that encourage violence or call for people to interfere with election results or the smooth operation of polling places."

It anyway forbids posts that manipulate or interfere with elections, and the platform already adds labels to tweets that violate rules against doctored media or misleading information concerning voting or Covid-19.

Beginning next week, people who try to retweet posts deserving warning labels because of misleading information will be shown a prompt directing them to credible facts about the topic first, according to the blog post.

Twitter will also start adding warnings and restrictions on tweets labelled as containing misleading information when they are from US political figures including candidates and campaign accounts.

The same will be done with misleading tweets from US-based accounts with more than 100,000 followers, or that spark significant engagement.

(with inputs)

Twitter is set to take down calls for violence starting after polls close on US election day and slap warnings on premature victory claims to fight efforts to undermine the election.

Twitter is set to take down calls for violence starting after polls close on US election day and slap warnings on premature victory claims to fight efforts to undermine the election. Social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter have been in the spotlight since massive disinformation campaigns directed by Russian intelligence and other malign actors overshadowed the 2016 election. Twitter requires an announcement by an election official or a public projection from at least two authoritative, national news outlets making independent election calls when it comes to a winner in any race. The tech giant will also invite people to add their thoughts to retweets instead of just mindlessly sharing. The platform will also broaden its application of warning labels for misleading tweets by candidates leading up to election day on November 3. Twitter will also label tweets that falsely claim a win and will remove "tweets that encourage violence or call for people to interfere with election results or the smooth operation of polling places." It anyway forbids posts that manipulate or interfere with elections, and the platform already adds labels to tweets that violate rules against doctored media or misleading information concerning voting or Covid-19. Beginning next week, people who try to retweet posts deserving warning labels because of misleading information will be shown a prompt directing them to credible facts about the topic first, according to the blog post. Twitter will also start adding warnings and restrictions on tweets labelled as containing misleading information when they are from US political figures including candidates and campaign accounts. The same will be done with misleading tweets from US-based accounts with more than 100,000 followers, or that spark significant engagement. (with inputs)

Twitter tightens rules to prevent election threats

US President Donald Trump will hold an in-person event on the White House lawns for the first time since contracting the viral disease on Saturday, and hit the election campaign trail from Florida on Monday.

The president took to Twitter to announce his decision to return to campaigning. "Will be in Sanford, Florida, on Monday for a very BIG RALLY!" he wrote on the microblogging site.

"Will be in Sanford, Florida on Monday for a very BIG RALLY!" he&nbsp;tweeted.

The events come despite continued questions over how sick Trump was and how complete his recovery is now, with White House officials refusing to answer basic queries including when the president first contracted the virus and whether he has tested negative since.

Saturday's speech, which a senior administration official said would be on Trump's favoured theme of "law and order," will give him a chance to dispel lingering doubts about his health.&nbsp;

The crowd will be on the South Lawn of the White House, while the president will speak from the balcony. All attendees will be required to wear masks and have their temperature checked.

This also comes in the backdrop of the Commission on Presidential Debates saying the next Thursday's debate was scrapped, leaving an October 22 event the final Trump-Biden showdown before election day on November 3.

Seeking to project strength and improved health, Trump had refused to participate in next week's scheduled debate after organizers shifted it to an online format out of coronavirus concerns.

That prompted accusations of bias from Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh, who said "there is no medical reason to stop" the October 15 debate from proceeding.

Biden, however, does not concur with the idea of a public appearance so soon after contracting the deadly virus and has called the president's behaviour "reckless."

At a drive-in style event in Las Vegas, Biden slammed the president.&nbsp;

"His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis, the destabilizing effect it's having on our government, is unconscionable," Biden said.

"He didn't take the necessary precautions to protect himself or others... How can we trust him to protect this country?"

As he boarded his campaign plane he offered a message for those attending Trump's public events: "Good luck. I wouldn't show up unless you had a mask and were distanced."

After Trump spent months mocking Biden for staying at home during the pandemic, ironically it is Biden who has barnstormed swing states this week.

He visited Arizona Thursday and campaigned Friday in Nevada. Trump won both states in 2016 but they are now narrowly tilting Democratic in polls.

On Friday, Trump also gave a marathon interview to right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh in which he said the experimental Regeneron antibody cocktail that he took as part of therapeutic treatment was "a cure."

In fact, there is no cure and still no approved vaccine for the coronavirus.

Trump repeatedly asserted that he feels fine and he has been backed up by&nbsp;statements from presidential physician Sean Conley.

But in his Limbaugh interview, Trump suggested for the first time that he had been close to death, had it not been for his therapeutic drug regimen.

"I'm talking to you today because of it. I could have been a bad victim," he said.

According to Conley, Trump is now fit for a "safe return to public engagement" from Saturday.

Polls show Biden leads heavily in key demographics including women and the elderly, prompting analysts to talk increasingly of a possible landslide victory. Trump's biggest liability -- overwhelming public dissatisfaction over his handling of the pandemic -- has returned as the headline issue of the campaign thanks to his own infection.

Adding to the pressure, Democrats who control the House of Representatives unveiled plans for a commission to investigate a president's fitness for the job -- a move clearly meant to jab at Trump.

(with inputs)

US President Donald Trump will hold an in-person event on the White House lawns for the first time since contracting the viral disease on Saturday, and hit the election campaign trail from Florida on Monday.

US President Donald Trump will hold an in-person event on the White House lawns for the first time since contracting the viral disease on Saturday, and hit the election campaign trail from Florida on Monday. The president took to Twitter to announce his decision to return to campaigning. "Will be in Sanford, Florida, on Monday for a very BIG RALLY!" he wrote on the microblogging site. "Will be in Sanford, Florida on Monday for a very BIG RALLY!" he tweeted. The events come despite continued questions over how sick Trump was and how complete his recovery is now, with White House officials refusing to answer basic queries including when the president first contracted the virus and whether he has tested negative since. Saturday's speech, which a senior administration official said would be on Trump's favoured theme of "law and order," will give him a chance to dispel lingering doubts about his health. The crowd will be on the South Lawn of the White House, while the president will speak from the balcony. All attendees will be required to wear masks and have their temperature checked. This also comes in the backdrop of the Commission on Presidential Debates saying the next Thursday's debate was scrapped, leaving an October 22 event the final Trump-Biden showdown before election day on November 3. Seeking to project strength and improved health, Trump had refused to participate in next week's scheduled debate after organizers shifted it to an online format out of coronavirus concerns. That prompted accusations of bias from Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh, who said "there is no medical reason to stop" the October 15 debate from proceeding. Biden, however, does not concur with the idea of a public appearance so soon after contracting the deadly virus and has called the president's behaviour "reckless." At a drive-in style event in Las Vegas, Biden slammed the president. "His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis, the destabilizing effect it's having on our government, is unconscionable," Biden said. "He didn't take the necessary precautions to protect himself or others... How can we trust him to protect this country?" As he boarded his campaign plane he offered a message for those attending Trump's public events: "Good luck. I wouldn't show up unless you had a mask and were distanced." After Trump spent months mocking Biden for staying at home during the pandemic, ironically it is Biden who has barnstormed swing states this week. He visited Arizona Thursday and campaigned Friday in Nevada. Trump won both states in 2016 but they are now narrowly tilting Democratic in polls. On Friday, Trump also gave a marathon interview to right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh in which he said the experimental Regeneron antibody cocktail that he took as part of therapeutic treatment was "a cure." In fact, there is no cure and still no approved vaccine for the coronavirus. Trump repeatedly asserted that he feels fine and he has been backed up by statements from presidential physician Sean Conley. But in his Limbaugh interview, Trump suggested for the first time that he had been close to death, had it not been for his therapeutic drug regimen. "I'm talking to you today because of it. I could have been a bad victim," he said. According to Conley, Trump is now fit for a "safe return to public engagement" from Saturday. Polls show Biden leads heavily in key demographics including women and the elderly, prompting analysts to talk increasingly of a possible landslide victory. Trump's biggest liability -- overwhelming public dissatisfaction over his handling of the pandemic -- has returned as the headline issue of the campaign thanks to his own infection. Adding to the pressure, Democrats who control the House of Representatives unveiled plans for a commission to investigate a president's fitness for the job -- a move clearly meant to jab at Trump. (with inputs)

Trump to hold in-person event Saturday and hit campaign trail Monday; Biden calls it 'reckless'

US President Donald Trump said he was "medication free" and revealed more details of his fight with Covid-19 in a televised interview aired Friday, one week after he was hospitalized with the virus.

The president appeared on Fox's Tucker Carlson Tonight for what the White House described as an on-air "medical evaluation" conducted remotely by Fox contributor doctor Marc Siegel.

"Right now I'm medication-free, I'm not taking any medications as of, you know, probably eight hours ago," Trump told Siegel.

It was unclear when the interview, which Carlson said was filmed by a White House camera crew, was taped.&nbsp;

Trump's doctors had previously said they have given him an aggressive cocktail of therapeutic drugs including the steroid dexamethasone, usually associated with serious Covid-19 cases.

Trump also said he had been tested again for the virus.

"I have been retested and I haven't even found out numbers or anything yet but I've been retested, and I know I'm at either the bottom of the scale or free," he said.&nbsp;

He said he did not know when his next test would be, adding that it was "probably tomorrow... they test every couple of days."

Trump said the virus had sapped his energy levels, adding he "didn't feel very vital."

He also said he "didn't have a problem with breathing." His doctors have said he was put on supplemental oxygen at least twice, and the president later said that lung tests had shown "some congestion in there."

Trump said he did not know where he had contracted the virus, adding: "It's highly contagious. That's one thing you learn, this is a contagious disease."

US President Donald Trump said he was "medication free" and revealed more details of his fight with Covid-19 in a televised interview aired Friday, one week after he was hospitalized with the virus.

US President Donald Trump said he was "medication free" and revealed more details of his fight with Covid-19 in a televised interview aired Friday, one week after he was hospitalized with the virus. The president appeared on Fox's Tucker Carlson Tonight for what the White House described as an on-air "medical evaluation" conducted remotely by Fox contributor doctor Marc Siegel. "Right now I'm medication-free, I'm not taking any medications as of, you know, probably eight hours ago," Trump told Siegel. It was unclear when the interview, which Carlson said was filmed by a White House camera crew, was taped. Trump's doctors had previously said they have given him an aggressive cocktail of therapeutic drugs including the steroid dexamethasone, usually associated with serious Covid-19 cases. Trump also said he had been tested again for the virus. "I have been retested and I haven't even found out numbers or anything yet but I've been retested, and I know I'm at either the bottom of the scale or free," he said. He said he did not know when his next test would be, adding that it was "probably tomorrow... they test every couple of days." Trump said the virus had sapped his energy levels, adding he "didn't feel very vital." He also said he "didn't have a problem with breathing." His doctors have said he was put on supplemental oxygen at least twice, and the president later said that lung tests had shown "some congestion in there." Trump said he did not know where he had contracted the virus, adding: "It's highly contagious. That's one thing you learn, this is a contagious disease."

Trump says he is 'medication-free,' describes coronavirus battle

The planned October 15 debate between US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden has officially been called off. The organisers' decision came a day after Trump rejected a decision by the nonpartisan commission organising it to change its format to a virtual event to guard against the spread of COVID-19.

The debate, originally scheduled as a town hall-style encounter in Miami, was intended to be the second of three presidential debates. The final one is planned for October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

After Trump refused to take part in the October 15 debate, Biden scheduled a televised town hall-style event for himself that evening.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said in an emailed statement: "It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15, and the CPD will turn its attention to preparations for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22."

Trump announced last Friday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and spent three days hospitalised receiving treatment before being released on Monday. The Republican president, seeking re-election on November 3, on Thursday called the format change in which he and Biden were to participate from remote locations "ridiculous" and said it would be a waste of his time to take part.

Trump's campaign on Friday accused the commission, headed by a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, "biased" toward Biden.

"There is no medical reason to stop the October 15 debate in Miami from proceeding as scheduled, since the President will be healthy and ready to debate," Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said, alluding to Trump's coronavirus infection.

The commission said both candidates have agreed to participate in the October 22 debate and would be subject to required coronavirus testing, mask-wearing and social distancing protocols.

"It's shameful that Donald Trump ducked the only debate in which the voters get to ask the questions - but it's no surprise," Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said.

Trump has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic, as well as for a lax approach to mask-wearing and social distancing in the White House and - in recent days - confusing messages about how ill he has been.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Americans steadily losing confidence in how Trump has managed the pandemic, with his net approval rating on the issue hitting a new low.

Questions remain about whether Trump is still contagious. The White House has declined to say when Trump last tested negative for the virus. But Trump, eager to get back on the campaign trail despite his bout with COVID-19, is set to give remarks to supporters outdoors at the White House on Saturday, and hold a rally in Florida two days later.

In the chaotic first debate, Trump constantly interrupted and talked over both Biden and the moderator.

The planned October 15 debate between US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden has officially been called off. The organisers' decision came a day after Trump rejected a decision by the nonpartisan commission organising it to change its format to a virtual event to guard against the spread of COVID-19.

The planned October 15 debate between US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden has officially been called off. The organisers' decision came a day after Trump rejected a decision by the nonpartisan commission organising it to change its format to a virtual event to guard against the spread of COVID-19. The debate, originally scheduled as a town hall-style encounter in Miami, was intended to be the second of three presidential debates. The final one is planned for October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. After Trump refused to take part in the October 15 debate, Biden scheduled a televised town hall-style event for himself that evening. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said in an emailed statement: "It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15, and the CPD will turn its attention to preparations for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22." Trump announced last Friday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and spent three days hospitalised receiving treatment before being released on Monday. The Republican president, seeking re-election on November 3, on Thursday called the format change in which he and Biden were to participate from remote locations "ridiculous" and said it would be a waste of his time to take part. Trump's campaign on Friday accused the commission, headed by a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, "biased" toward Biden. "There is no medical reason to stop the October 15 debate in Miami from proceeding as scheduled, since the President will be healthy and ready to debate," Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said, alluding to Trump's coronavirus infection. The commission said both candidates have agreed to participate in the October 22 debate and would be subject to required coronavirus testing, mask-wearing and social distancing protocols. "It's shameful that Donald Trump ducked the only debate in which the voters get to ask the questions - but it's no surprise," Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said. Trump has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic, as well as for a lax approach to mask-wearing and social distancing in the White House and - in recent days - confusing messages about how ill he has been. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Americans steadily losing confidence in how Trump has managed the pandemic, with his net approval rating on the issue hitting a new low. Questions remain about whether Trump is still contagious. The White House has declined to say when Trump last tested negative for the virus. But Trump, eager to get back on the campaign trail despite his bout with COVID-19, is set to give remarks to supporters outdoors at the White House on Saturday, and hold a rally in Florida two days later. In the chaotic first debate, Trump constantly interrupted and talked over both Biden and the moderator.

October 15 presidential debate between Trump and Biden cancelled

When President Donald Trump used the prime-time debate last week to urge his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully,” he wasn’t just issuing a call for a grassroots movement or raising the prospect of intimidation tactics at voting sites. He was also nodding to an extensive behind-the-scenes effort led by the lawyers and operatives on his campaign.

Over the summer, Trump named a new campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who was once a top aide to former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey before being fired amid the “Bridgegate” scandal. Stepien swiftly elevated a group of lieutenants focused on using aggressive electoral tactics, moves that led Marc E. Elias, the leading election lawyer for the Democratic Party, to tweet that Trump was “tripling down” on “opposing voting rights.”

One of the main architects of the effort is Justin Clark, whom Stepien promoted to deputy campaign manager. He has been viewed with suspicion among Democrats since he was recorded last year saying, “Traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places,” and adding that in 2020 the party would “start playing offense a little bit.”

Other key figures in the campaign include a senior aide who once oversaw a right-wing information-gathering operation for the conservative Koch brothers; an adviser who was involved in a secretive vote-challenge operation for President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004; and a campaign counsel who is coordinating a series of lawsuits aimed at preventing the expansion of mail voting.

With polls showing Trump trailing Joe Biden nationally and in most swing states, the president has increasingly focused attention on the voting process, declaring that the only way he could lose is if the election is rigged and refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. With the election less than a month away, his campaign has moved the idea of voting irregularities to the forefront of both its ground operations and its legal strategy.

The campaign is trying to shape the voting process in many ways. Following the president’s lead, it has undertaken a legal and rhetorical assault on mail-in balloting, claiming with no evidence that it is rife with fraud. It is also pushing the boundaries of traditional poll monitoring in ways that many Democrats believe amount to voter intimidation. And it has put legal pressure on states to aggressively purge their voter rolls.

Campaign officials tried to downplay Democratic anxiety and insisted they wanted everyone to vote who wants to do so.

“I think we need to just realize that we’re in a political campaign and all just follow the law,” Clark said in an interview. “There are laws everywhere about how many feet you can stand outside of a polling place and what you can wear and what you can do.”

Few of the campaign’s practices have prompted as much attention as its extensive plans for poll watching. While both parties have trained official poll watchers for decades, the president has stirred alarm among Democrats and some voting experts who fear he is encouraging extralegal menacing at polling sites by far-right groups and even random Trump supporters.

At the debate Trump said that the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, should “stand by,” a comment some interpreted as a call to arms in aiding his election prospects in ways that could intimidate voters.

Those fears were heightened by an episode in Fairfax, Virginia, last month, when Trump supporters disrupted early voting, impeding access to a polling site.

“These are not trained poll workers, these aren’t people who were recruited to do anything,” Clark said. “There are — shocker — there’s going to be politics in a presidential race. And people are going to wave flags and show stuff and drive around and hold mini-rallies and hold sign-waving rallies and do things like that, and it happens in a lot of places.”

Clark and other campaign officials have said they will put 50,000 poll watchers and electoral observers on the ground, including at least 1,600 in Philadelphia alone. They are instructing them to record minutiae like the timing of paper jams at polling places, but also pushing beyond the typical activity by monitoring people picking up absentee ballots and videotaping the drop boxes where they deposit them. Trump has even floated the idea of sending sheriffs to the polls.

Republican administrations in several states, including the battleground of Georgia, have appointed voter fraud task forces they say are designed to root out cheating, though Democrats view the panels, stacked with Republican prosecutors, as instruments of voter suppression.

“These come out of somebody’s Republican playbook,” said Cathy Cox, a Democrat who served as Georgia’s secretary of state. “Unfortunately the goal is to intimidate people and ultimately suppress votes.”

One Trump campaign official recently emailed party officials in North Carolina and told them “to not follow the procedures outlined” in a memo sent out by the state Board of Elections. Republican officials have also been tied to efforts to aid third-party candidates who could siphon votes from Biden.

The most visible Republican effort is in the courts. Matthew Morgan, who was promoted to campaign counsel this summer, had been directing a flurry of election litigation and challenging attempts to expand mail-in voting. Like Trump, he has disparaged mail balloting, claiming without evidence that “universal vote by mail opens the door to chaos and fraud.”

Election Day operations are now coordinated by Michael Roman, a Philadelphia native who once oversaw an operation for billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch that surveilled and gathered information on liberal adversaries. He frequently airs baseless claims that Democrats are plotting to “steal the election.” Roman also played a central role in promoting a 2008 video of two members of the New Black Panther Party outside a Philadelphia polling place, one carrying a baton; the video became a long running flash point for the right-wing media’s claims of election interference by Democrats.

“This is somebody who I think has a reputation for hyping and distorting incidents to make it appear as though Democrats are cheating, and I think it adds to an overall dangerous message about election rigging,” said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law who writes the widely read Election Law Blog.

Roman declined to comment for this article.

Other notable figures doing work for the campaign include Bob Paduchik, a senior campaign adviser, who was involved in a secretive operation during the 2004 Bush campaign dubbed the “Voter Reg Fraud Strategy.” The effort was aimed at challenging the legitimacy of absentee voters, according to emails released in a lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee.

Paduchik did not respond to requests for comment.

Poll watching is regulated by differing state laws. In official training videos, Republicans instruct workers to be courteous to Democrats, dress appropriately and stay on their toes: “Do not zone out.”

This year, for the first time in more than three decades, the Republican National Committee is taking an active role in poll watching, after the courts in 2018 lifted a consent decree that had barred the RNC from doing so. The ban stemmed from the committee’s involvement in an operation to intimidate New Jersey voters in 1981.

There are already signs that Republicans, who have won only one popular presidential vote since 1988, will be unusually aggressive. In recent weeks, the Trump campaign sent personnel to attempt to enter satellite facilities in Philadelphia where voters could pick up and fill out mail-in ballots — offices that are not regarded as polls. (In an interview, Morgan pushed back on that concept, saying: “They say this is not a polling place. To us this sounds absurd, when you can register, get your ballot and vote in that location. So we don’t accept that premise.”)

States led by Republicans are also working to restrict access to voting; in Texas, for instance, Gov. Greg Abbott last week moved to close many of the locations where voters can drop off their ballots.

Campaign officials said they had not been in contact with any outside groups to encourage or tacitly support unofficial poll watching and protests at polling sites, beyond the official poll watching activity that typically occurs. And they were confident there would not be a repeat of the kind of intimidation tactics that led to the consent decree.

“That’s why we are recruiting people,” Clark said. “We are training them, we are working with them to make sure that they’re doing things the right way.”

Still, Trump stirred alarm at the debate last week by equivocating when asked to condemn the Proud Boys; he only denounced them later amid criticism after the debate. When asked by The New York Times, the campaign also declined to renounce such groups.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director of counterintelligence, said the president’s remarks could be interpreted by violent right-wing groups as “a call to action, a call to arms.” Figliuzzi said the organizations’ online communications reveal they are making plans to gather at polling stations.

“There are specific posts, from Proud Boys, for example, that encourage it,” Figliuzzi said during a call held by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a voting rights group.

Such groups also point to curiously timed and seemingly alarmist announcements of voting fraud investigations arising from small incidents. The Justice Department, for instance, announced it was starting an inquiry after a handful of ballots were found in a garbage can in Pennsylvania, apparently accidentally discarded by a contract worker. It was a highly unusual step, coming as the Trump administration weakened long-standing department policy that discouraged making voter fraud investigations public before an election.

Like the Justice Department, Trump’s campaign is also amplifying his message.

“We’ve all seen the tweets about voter fraud and blah blah blah,” Clark said when he was recorded last year, referring to Trump’s claims. “Every time we’re in with him, he asks: ‘What are we doing about voter fraud, what are we doing about voter fraud?’”

Clark added, “He’s committed on this.”

When President Donald Trump used the prime-time debate last week to urge his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully,” he wasn’t just issuing a call for a grassroots movement or raising the prospect of intimidation tactics at voting sites.

When President Donald Trump used the prime-time debate last week to urge his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully,” he wasn’t just issuing a call for a grassroots movement or raising the prospect of intimidation tactics at voting sites. He was also nodding to an extensive behind-the-scenes effort led by the lawyers and operatives on his campaign. Over the summer, Trump named a new campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who was once a top aide to former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey before being fired amid the “Bridgegate” scandal. Stepien swiftly elevated a group of lieutenants focused on using aggressive electoral tactics, moves that led Marc E. Elias, the leading election lawyer for the Democratic Party, to tweet that Trump was “tripling down” on “opposing voting rights.” One of the main architects of the effort is Justin Clark, whom Stepien promoted to deputy campaign manager. He has been viewed with suspicion among Democrats since he was recorded last year saying, “Traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places,” and adding that in 2020 the party would “start playing offense a little bit.” Other key figures in the campaign include a senior aide who once oversaw a right-wing information-gathering operation for the conservative Koch brothers; an adviser who was involved in a secretive vote-challenge operation for President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004; and a campaign counsel who is coordinating a series of lawsuits aimed at preventing the expansion of mail voting. With polls showing Trump trailing Joe Biden nationally and in most swing states, the president has increasingly focused attention on the voting process, declaring that the only way he could lose is if the election is rigged and refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. With the election less than a month away, his campaign has moved the idea of voting irregularities to the forefront of both its ground operations and its legal strategy. The campaign is trying to shape the voting process in many ways. Following the president’s lead, it has undertaken a legal and rhetorical assault on mail-in balloting, claiming with no evidence that it is rife with fraud. It is also pushing the boundaries of traditional poll monitoring in ways that many Democrats believe amount to voter intimidation. And it has put legal pressure on states to aggressively purge their voter rolls. Campaign officials tried to downplay Democratic anxiety and insisted they wanted everyone to vote who wants to do so. “I think we need to just realize that we’re in a political campaign and all just follow the law,” Clark said in an interview. “There are laws everywhere about how many feet you can stand outside of a polling place and what you can wear and what you can do.” Few of the campaign’s practices have prompted as much attention as its extensive plans for poll watching. While both parties have trained official poll watchers for decades, the president has stirred alarm among Democrats and some voting experts who fear he is encouraging extralegal menacing at polling sites by far-right groups and even random Trump supporters. At the debate Trump said that the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, should “stand by,” a comment some interpreted as a call to arms in aiding his election prospects in ways that could intimidate voters. Those fears were heightened by an episode in Fairfax, Virginia, last month, when Trump supporters disrupted early voting, impeding access to a polling site. “These are not trained poll workers, these aren’t people who were recruited to do anything,” Clark said. “There are — shocker — there’s going to be politics in a presidential race. And people are going to wave flags and show stuff and drive around and hold mini-rallies and hold sign-waving rallies and do things like that, and it happens in a lot of places.” Clark and other campaign officials have said they will put 50,000 poll watchers and electoral observers on the ground, including at least 1,600 in Philadelphia alone. They are instructing them to record minutiae like the timing of paper jams at polling places, but also pushing beyond the typical activity by monitoring people picking up absentee ballots and videotaping the drop boxes where they deposit them. Trump has even floated the idea of sending sheriffs to the polls. Republican administrations in several states, including the battleground of Georgia, have appointed voter fraud task forces they say are designed to root out cheating, though Democrats view the panels, stacked with Republican prosecutors, as instruments of voter suppression. “These come out of somebody’s Republican playbook,” said Cathy Cox, a Democrat who served as Georgia’s secretary of state. “Unfortunately the goal is to intimidate people and ultimately suppress votes.” One Trump campaign official recently emailed party officials in North Carolina and told them “to not follow the procedures outlined” in a memo sent out by the state Board of Elections. Republican officials have also been tied to efforts to aid third-party candidates who could siphon votes from Biden. The most visible Republican effort is in the courts. Matthew Morgan, who was promoted to campaign counsel this summer, had been directing a flurry of election litigation and challenging attempts to expand mail-in voting. Like Trump, he has disparaged mail balloting, claiming without evidence that “universal vote by mail opens the door to chaos and fraud.” Election Day operations are now coordinated by Michael Roman, a Philadelphia native who once oversaw an operation for billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch that surveilled and gathered information on liberal adversaries. He frequently airs baseless claims that Democrats are plotting to “steal the election.” Roman also played a central role in promoting a 2008 video of two members of the New Black Panther Party outside a Philadelphia polling place, one carrying a baton; the video became a long running flash point for the right-wing media’s claims of election interference by Democrats. “This is somebody who I think has a reputation for hyping and distorting incidents to make it appear as though Democrats are cheating, and I think it adds to an overall dangerous message about election rigging,” said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law who writes the widely read Election Law Blog. Roman declined to comment for this article. Other notable figures doing work for the campaign include Bob Paduchik, a senior campaign adviser, who was involved in a secretive operation during the 2004 Bush campaign dubbed the “Voter Reg Fraud Strategy.” The effort was aimed at challenging the legitimacy of absentee voters, according to emails released in a lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee. Paduchik did not respond to requests for comment. Poll watching is regulated by differing state laws. In official training videos, Republicans instruct workers to be courteous to Democrats, dress appropriately and stay on their toes: “Do not zone out.” This year, for the first time in more than three decades, the Republican National Committee is taking an active role in poll watching, after the courts in 2018 lifted a consent decree that had barred the RNC from doing so. The ban stemmed from the committee’s involvement in an operation to intimidate New Jersey voters in 1981. There are already signs that Republicans, who have won only one popular presidential vote since 1988, will be unusually aggressive. In recent weeks, the Trump campaign sent personnel to attempt to enter satellite facilities in Philadelphia where voters could pick up and fill out mail-in ballots — offices that are not regarded as polls. (In an interview, Morgan pushed back on that concept, saying: “They say this is not a polling place. To us this sounds absurd, when you can register, get your ballot and vote in that location. So we don’t accept that premise.”) States led by Republicans are also working to restrict access to voting; in Texas, for instance, Gov. Greg Abbott last week moved to close many of the locations where voters can drop off their ballots. Campaign officials said they had not been in contact with any outside groups to encourage or tacitly support unofficial poll watching and protests at polling sites, beyond the official poll watching activity that typically occurs. And they were confident there would not be a repeat of the kind of intimidation tactics that led to the consent decree. “That’s why we are recruiting people,” Clark said. “We are training them, we are working with them to make sure that they’re doing things the right way.” Still, Trump stirred alarm at the debate last week by equivocating when asked to condemn the Proud Boys; he only denounced them later amid criticism after the debate. When asked by The New York Times, the campaign also declined to renounce such groups. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director of counterintelligence, said the president’s remarks could be interpreted by violent right-wing groups as “a call to action, a call to arms.” Figliuzzi said the organizations’ online communications reveal they are making plans to gather at polling stations. “There are specific posts, from Proud Boys, for example, that encourage it,” Figliuzzi said during a call held by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a voting rights group. Such groups also point to curiously timed and seemingly alarmist announcements of voting fraud investigations arising from small incidents. The Justice Department, for instance, announced it was starting an inquiry after a handful of ballots were found in a garbage can in Pennsylvania, apparently accidentally discarded by a contract worker. It was a highly unusual step, coming as the Trump administration weakened long-standing department policy that discouraged making voter fraud investigations public before an election. Like the Justice Department, Trump’s campaign is also amplifying his message. “We’ve all seen the tweets about voter fraud and blah blah blah,” Clark said when he was recorded last year, referring to Trump’s claims. “Every time we’re in with him, he asks: ‘What are we doing about voter fraud, what are we doing about voter fraud?’” Clark added, “He’s committed on this.”

Inside the Trump campaign’s strategy to make voting a tooth-and-nail fight

The morning after Sen. Kamala Harris became the first woman of color to take a debate stage as a member of a major party’s ticket, President Donald Trump disparaged her as “totally unlikable” and a “communist.” Then, twice, he called her “this monster.”

His dehumanizing language, extraordinary even by Trump’s own standards, was an unusually explicit example of the biased attitudes — about how women should behave, how people of color should behave, and especially how women of color should behave — that have pervaded commentary regarding Harris.

There was the “condescending” label, too, that undecided voters applied to Harris’ facial expressions as they assessed the debate in a focus group run by a Republican pollster, Frank Luntz. There was the member of the Trump campaign’s advisory board who called her an “insufferable lying bitch.”

And there was Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson’s depiction of her as a power-hungry usurper of Joe Biden’s would-be presidency, which played to an old racist and sexist trope even as Carlson insisted his remark had nothing to do with her identity.

These sorts of personal attacks on Harris have been coming since the day Biden chose her as his running mate, when conservative commentators repeatedly mispronounced her name and suggested she wasn’t Black, and a top Google search around that time was whether she was born in the United States.

She was, in California. But the interest in that question — which evoked the birtherism lie that Trump weaponized against former President Barack Obama — spoke to how differently she was being treated than the white vice-presidential nominees who came before her.

Her selection as Biden’s running mate thrilled many Americans who saw themselves represented in a major presidential campaign for the first time. It also unleashed a steady drip of racism and sexism, underscoring not only the double standards women and people of color face, but what happens when multiple identities meet: a Black woman, an Indian American woman, a woman whose parents were immigrants.

Tropes and Caricatures

One of the oldest racist tropes is that of the “angry Black woman.”

It was popularized in the minstrel-like sitcom “Amos ’n’ Andy,” which included a character named Sapphire who became synonymous with the stereotype of an “emasculating” Black woman, said Nadia E. Brown, an associate professor of political science and African American studies at Purdue University.

“Angry,” “mean,” “aggressive,” “disrespectful”: All of these words, which Trump has used to describe Harris, play to this stereotype, which was also used against Michelle Obama. False suggestions that Harris is scheming to run the country in Biden’s stead play to it, too.

“She’ll bulldoze her elderly, sentimental boss,” Carlson, the Fox News host, said Wednesday. “So tonight we’ll be airing the vice-presidential debate, but what we’ll actually be looking at is Kamala Harris’ audition for the presidency. That’s the office she’s running for, no matter what they tell you.”

The attacks on Harris as “unlikable,” which Trump pushed Thursday, also play into a double standard. Voters are more likely to see likability as mandatory for women than for men, research shows, and experts say Black women are often judged even more harshly.

It is something of a tightrope: Stereotypically feminine behavior can lead voters to see women running for office as more likable but less of a leader, while stereotypically masculine behavior can make voters see them as more of a leader but less likable.

This is “the classic double bind,” said Amanda Clayton, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University. “Women can either be seen as leaders or they can be seen as feminine, and the two don’t go together.”

These caricatures and double standards have been accompanied by sexualization, common against women of all races but especially those who are Black. This is another racist trope, the promiscuous, hypersexual “Jezebel.”

After Biden chose Harris, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested falsely, quoting from a conservative website, that she had “slept her way up.” T-shirts with the slogan “Joe and the Hoe” were briefly available on Amazon. The mayor of Luray, Virginia, called her “Aunt Jemima,” a nod to yet another stereotype, the “Mammy.”

“These are distinctly misogynoir tactics,” Brown said, referring to the combination of racism and sexism that Black women face. “We would not see these stereotypes or these kind of threats used against her if she were not a Black woman.”

Lawyer and civil rights activist Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” three decades ago to describe how various identities can overlap to produce discrimination more complex than just, for instance, racism plus sexism. Experts said Harris’ experience was a prime example.

Several activists and political scientists said they believed such attacks would backfire given voters’ increased awareness of double standards. But Crenshaw, who teaches at Columbia Law School and UCLA, said it was not necessarily that simple, because part of what makes intersectional bias so powerful is that prejudice against one identity can persist in communities of another identity.

She said she worried that “women may not vote against the rampant sexism because of race, and people of color may not vote against the racist and xenophobic dimensions of the Trump assault because of anti-Black racism within Indian communities and misogyny within Black communities.”

Identity Policing

Within hours of Harris’ selection, conservative talk-radio host Mark Levin went on a diatribe about descriptions of her as “the first African American woman” on a major presidential ticket.

“Kamala Harris is not an African American,” he said. “She is Indian and Jamaican. Jamaica’s part of the Caribbean. India is out there near China. I only point that out because if you dare raise that, you’re attacked, but the truth is she’s not, and so I just wanted to make that clear.”

There is nuanced debate within Black communities about what it means to be African American versus Black. But it is common, including among Black people, to use the two interchangeably.

Comments like Levin’s are sometimes referred to as identity policing. Among other things, it suggests that Harris is not who she says she is or that she cannot have multiple identities, as millions of Americans do.

“She’s going to be tasked with managing those perceptions of her identity,” Danielle Casarez Lemi, a fellow at Southern Methodist University’s John G. Tower Center for Political Studies who focuses on race and representation, said after Harris was nominated. “And that’s time that could be spent on the ground, building relationships with people and formulating policies.”

Identity policing is related to broader patterns of “othering,” or casting a person as “not one of us.”

The most brazen example for Harris was the revival of the “birther” lie: A conservative law professor made a discredited argument in Newsweek in August that being born in California might not make Harris a natural-born citizen if her parents were not citizens, and Trump suggested falsely that this notion might be valid.

But the same tendency can be seen in smaller forms, like the frequent mispronunciations of her name and descriptions of her as inauthentic.

On Wednesday, denying that sexism or racism played any role in criticism of Harris, Carlson said on Fox, “More likely, voters don’t like Kamala Harris because she is a transparent fraud, from her phony inflected accent to her synthetic bio to her featherweight work history.” (Harris has been the district attorney of San Francisco, the attorney general of California and a U.S. senator.)

Trump, for his part, began calling her “phony” over the summer. This is one of his favorite adjectives for nonhuman opponents like the Russia investigation and the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. But when used against a person, and especially a woman of color, experts say it has a harmful subtext.

“A word like ‘phony,’ neutral on its face, when leveled against a woman of color takes on a very culturally loaded meaning,” said Tina Tchen, chief executive of Time’s Up, which is part of the “We Have Her Back” coalition of groups formed to call out double standards related to Harris.

It speaks, Tchen said, “to this deeply held, internalized sense that we have in our culture that she’s a phony because she doesn’t belong here.”

The morning after Sen. Kamala Harris became the first woman of color to take a debate stage as a member of a major party’s ticket, President Donald Trump disparaged her as “totally unlikable” and a “communist.

The morning after Sen. Kamala Harris became the first woman of color to take a debate stage as a member of a major party’s ticket, President Donald Trump disparaged her as “totally unlikable” and a “communist.” Then, twice, he called her “this monster.” His dehumanizing language, extraordinary even by Trump’s own standards, was an unusually explicit example of the biased attitudes — about how women should behave, how people of color should behave, and especially how women of color should behave — that have pervaded commentary regarding Harris. There was the “condescending” label, too, that undecided voters applied to Harris’ facial expressions as they assessed the debate in a focus group run by a Republican pollster, Frank Luntz. There was the member of the Trump campaign’s advisory board who called her an “insufferable lying bitch.” And there was Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson’s depiction of her as a power-hungry usurper of Joe Biden’s would-be presidency, which played to an old racist and sexist trope even as Carlson insisted his remark had nothing to do with her identity. These sorts of personal attacks on Harris have been coming since the day Biden chose her as his running mate, when conservative commentators repeatedly mispronounced her name and suggested she wasn’t Black, and a top Google search around that time was whether she was born in the United States. She was, in California. But the interest in that question — which evoked the birtherism lie that Trump weaponized against former President Barack Obama — spoke to how differently she was being treated than the white vice-presidential nominees who came before her. Her selection as Biden’s running mate thrilled many Americans who saw themselves represented in a major presidential campaign for the first time. It also unleashed a steady drip of racism and sexism, underscoring not only the double standards women and people of color face, but what happens when multiple identities meet: a Black woman, an Indian American woman, a woman whose parents were immigrants. Tropes and Caricatures One of the oldest racist tropes is that of the “angry Black woman.” It was popularized in the minstrel-like sitcom “Amos ’n’ Andy,” which included a character named Sapphire who became synonymous with the stereotype of an “emasculating” Black woman, said Nadia E. Brown, an associate professor of political science and African American studies at Purdue University. “Angry,” “mean,” “aggressive,” “disrespectful”: All of these words, which Trump has used to describe Harris, play to this stereotype, which was also used against Michelle Obama. False suggestions that Harris is scheming to run the country in Biden’s stead play to it, too. “She’ll bulldoze her elderly, sentimental boss,” Carlson, the Fox News host, said Wednesday. “So tonight we’ll be airing the vice-presidential debate, but what we’ll actually be looking at is Kamala Harris’ audition for the presidency. That’s the office she’s running for, no matter what they tell you.” The attacks on Harris as “unlikable,” which Trump pushed Thursday, also play into a double standard. Voters are more likely to see likability as mandatory for women than for men, research shows, and experts say Black women are often judged even more harshly. It is something of a tightrope: Stereotypically feminine behavior can lead voters to see women running for office as more likable but less of a leader, while stereotypically masculine behavior can make voters see them as more of a leader but less likable. This is “the classic double bind,” said Amanda Clayton, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University. “Women can either be seen as leaders or they can be seen as feminine, and the two don’t go together.” These caricatures and double standards have been accompanied by sexualization, common against women of all races but especially those who are Black. This is another racist trope, the promiscuous, hypersexual “Jezebel.” After Biden chose Harris, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested falsely, quoting from a conservative website, that she had “slept her way up.” T-shirts with the slogan “Joe and the Hoe” were briefly available on Amazon. The mayor of Luray, Virginia, called her “Aunt Jemima,” a nod to yet another stereotype, the “Mammy.” “These are distinctly misogynoir tactics,” Brown said, referring to the combination of racism and sexism that Black women face. “We would not see these stereotypes or these kind of threats used against her if she were not a Black woman.” Lawyer and civil rights activist Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” three decades ago to describe how various identities can overlap to produce discrimination more complex than just, for instance, racism plus sexism. Experts said Harris’ experience was a prime example. Several activists and political scientists said they believed such attacks would backfire given voters’ increased awareness of double standards. But Crenshaw, who teaches at Columbia Law School and UCLA, said it was not necessarily that simple, because part of what makes intersectional bias so powerful is that prejudice against one identity can persist in communities of another identity. She said she worried that “women may not vote against the rampant sexism because of race, and people of color may not vote against the racist and xenophobic dimensions of the Trump assault because of anti-Black racism within Indian communities and misogyny within Black communities.” Identity Policing Within hours of Harris’ selection, conservative talk-radio host Mark Levin went on a diatribe about descriptions of her as “the first African American woman” on a major presidential ticket. “Kamala Harris is not an African American,” he said. “She is Indian and Jamaican. Jamaica’s part of the Caribbean. India is out there near China. I only point that out because if you dare raise that, you’re attacked, but the truth is she’s not, and so I just wanted to make that clear.” There is nuanced debate within Black communities about what it means to be African American versus Black. But it is common, including among Black people, to use the two interchangeably. Comments like Levin’s are sometimes referred to as identity policing. Among other things, it suggests that Harris is not who she says she is or that she cannot have multiple identities, as millions of Americans do. “She’s going to be tasked with managing those perceptions of her identity,” Danielle Casarez Lemi, a fellow at Southern Methodist University’s John G. Tower Center for Political Studies who focuses on race and representation, said after Harris was nominated. “And that’s time that could be spent on the ground, building relationships with people and formulating policies.” Identity policing is related to broader patterns of “othering,” or casting a person as “not one of us.” The most brazen example for Harris was the revival of the “birther” lie: A conservative law professor made a discredited argument in Newsweek in August that being born in California might not make Harris a natural-born citizen if her parents were not citizens, and Trump suggested falsely that this notion might be valid. But the same tendency can be seen in smaller forms, like the frequent mispronunciations of her name and descriptions of her as inauthentic. On Wednesday, denying that sexism or racism played any role in criticism of Harris, Carlson said on Fox, “More likely, voters don’t like Kamala Harris because she is a transparent fraud, from her phony inflected accent to her synthetic bio to her featherweight work history.” (Harris has been the district attorney of San Francisco, the attorney general of California and a U.S. senator.) Trump, for his part, began calling her “phony” over the summer. This is one of his favorite adjectives for nonhuman opponents like the Russia investigation and the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. But when used against a person, and especially a woman of color, experts say it has a harmful subtext. “A word like ‘phony,’ neutral on its face, when leveled against a woman of color takes on a very culturally loaded meaning,” said Tina Tchen, chief executive of Time’s Up, which is part of the “We Have Her Back” coalition of groups formed to call out double standards related to Harris. It speaks, Tchen said, “to this deeply held, internalized sense that we have in our culture that she’s a phony because she doesn’t belong here.”

Kamala Harris and the ‘double bind’ of racism and sexism

WASHINGTON — Elliott Broidy already had a record when he became a major fundraiser for the Trump campaign in 2016. Now he has become the latest Trump ally to face criminal charges, this time accused of evading foreign lobbying laws while trying to make money off his access to the administration.

Broidy was charged with a single count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act as part of an influence operation that prosecutors say sought to use his political ties to help Malaysian and Chinese interests, according to federal court filings that became public on Thursday.

The case centers on an accusation that Broidy accepted $6 million from a foreign client to lobby administration officials to end a federal investigation related to the looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, known as 1MDB. The court filing also accuses him of seeking the extradition of a Chinese citizen from the United States.

He did not succeed in either effort, and at one point sought to deceive his client about having raised the 1MDB case directly with President Donald Trump, the court filing said.

While the foreign client was not identified, people familiar with the case said he was the Malaysian financier Jho Low, who the federal authorities say played a key role in the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB.

Broidy, 63, is expected to enter a guilty plea to the charge, which was filed last week by prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity section and its election crimes branch and unsealed this week.

Broidy’s representatives declined to comment. The charge against him was detailed in a criminal information, which is often filed in cases in which a guilty plea has been agreed to.

The details of the accusations against Broidy are especially striking: They include a promised $75 million “success fee” from Low, and discussions about arranging for Malaysia’s prime minister to play golf with Trump. But they follow a pattern that has become familiar since Trump began seeking the White House.

People who had backgrounds or were pursuing business that was likely to have raised red flags in other campaigns and administrations marketed themselves as intermediaries to individuals, companies and countries wanting something from the Trump administration. They were able to do so because Trump ran for office and came to Washington without the established networks of gatekeepers, lobbyists and fundraisers who typically surround a president.

A number of Trump’s associates have been charged in the nearly four years since he was elected. Among those who have pleaded or were found guilty of charges related to their work for him are Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser whose case the Justice Department is now seeking to dismiss; George Papadopoulos, a former campaign adviser; and Roger Stone, a longtime friend whose sentence the president commuted.

Trump’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, and his deputy, Rick Gates, were charged with lobbying and financial crimes that predated their work for the president’s campaign. The two pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, as did Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer.

Cohen, Gates and Manafort had sought to parlay their perceived access to the president into business opportunities.

But few figures seized on the Trump presidency more ambitiously than Broidy, who owns a defense contracting firm.

He had been a top Republican fundraiser for years, but he had retreated from politics after pleading guilty in 2009 to a felony charge, later reduced to a misdemeanor, in an unrelated pension fund bribery case.

After Trump emerged as the Republican presidential nominee in 2016, Broidy threw his support behind him at a time when most elite Republican donors were staying away.

And when Trump was elected, Broidy became a leading fundraiser for Trump’s inauguration and the Republican National Committee, as well as a member of Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private resort in Florida.

Broidy enlisted Cohen to arrange a payout to a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair and paid Gates to help pursue a contract for his defense firm and administration appointments for his associates.

And Broidy began aggressively promoting his connection to the new administration to politicians, business executives and governments around the world, His defense company won big contracts from the United Arab Emirates and Angola. And Broidy discussed the possibility of a visit to Mar-a-Lago for an Angolan politician from whom he was seeking to collect additional payments.

But the charge against Broidy is not related to his defense company or its clients.

Rather, it stems from his arrangement with Low, a flamboyant Malaysian financier who federal authorities say orchestrated a multibillion-dollar embezzlement scheme from 1MDB.

Low, who is believed to be living in China, was charged in the United States in 2018 in connection with the 1MDB theft, but he has not appeared in criminal court in the United States.

The filing said that Broidy and a pair of associates agreed in 2017 to work for Low “to orchestrate back-channel, unregistered campaigns to lobby the administration,” to “end the 1MDB matters” and to send a dissident back to China.

The Chinese citizen is not identified by name in the filing, but he is known to be billionaire dissident Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of China who has been charged by its government with corruption and is seeking asylum in the United States.

Some of Broidy’s associates have already been charged, including Nickie Lum Davis, a fundraiser who pleaded guilty in August and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Another, George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department employee, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiring to lie to banks about the source of tens of millions of dollars he funneled into the United States from Low.

In his guilty plea, Higginbotham admitted that he and entertainer and businessman Pras Michel, a former member of the Fugees, a defunct hip-hop group, arranged for millions of dollars of Low’s money to be transferred to a law firm owned by Broidy’s wife to pay them to try to end the 1MDB investigation.

Prosecutors said that Michel received $8.5 million from Low, while Broidy was paid $6 million and Davis $1.7 million, but that they tried to “conceal Broidy’s contacts with and payments from” Low “to maintain Broidy’s credibility with United States officials and to further the illegal advocacy scheme.”

The prosecutors cited a contract with Broidy’s wife’s law firm, which is not named, agreeing that if the Justice Department dropped its civil forfeiture proceedings against Low within 180 days, Low would pay a $75 million fee, or $50 million if the matter was resolved within 365 days.

As part of the effort, prosecutors say Broidy asked Trump in June 2017 “if he would play golf” with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia. Najib is not identified in the charging document, but he was in office at the time and was planning a trip to Washington, despite being under investigation by federal prosecutors for his role in the 1MDB theft.

Broidy and Davis believed that a golf game with Trump “would please” Najib and allow him “to attempt to resolve the matter” of the 1MDB investigation, the filing said.

Najib did meet with Trump in September 2017, but he was denied the customary photograph in the Oval Office with the president, let alone the golf outing, despite Broidy’s repeated lobbying of Trump’s aides. Najib was later convicted in Malaysia of corruption charges related to the 1MDB theft.

In October 2017, the court filing said, Broidy met at the White House with Trump but did not raise the issue of 1MDB. Nonetheless, the filing said, Broidy told Davis that he had raised it, believing she would pass that misinformation to Low and Michel.

The Justice Department did not drop its investigation of 1MDB, instead charging Low and others in 2018 with conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB and of paying bribes to officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Low agreed last year as part of a civil forfeiture case to give up his claim to hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury apartments, yachts, jets and artwork that prosecutors said were bought with stolen money.

Prosecutors also claimed that Broidy and his associates traveled to Thailand, Malaysia and China to meet with Low, a Chinese government official and others to negotiate a multimillion-dollar deal to lobby on their behalf.

After one such trip, Broidy drafted a memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017 about the possibility of extraditing Guo, recommending a meeting with the Chinese official, according to prosecutors. They said the contents of the memo were provided by the Chinese official and Low.

A person close to Broidy has said he never sent that memo, and a Justice Department spokesperson has said Sessions never received it.

Guo remains in the United States, though a company linked to him and Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, is reportedly under investigation by federal and New York state authorities.

WASHINGTON — Elliott Broidy already had a record when he became a major fundraiser for the Trump campaign in 2016. Now he has become the latest Trump ally to face criminal charges, this time accused of evading foreign lobbying laws while trying to make money off his access to the administration.

WASHINGTON — Elliott Broidy already had a record when he became a major fundraiser for the Trump campaign in 2016. Now he has become the latest Trump ally to face criminal charges, this time accused of evading foreign lobbying laws while trying to make money off his access to the administration. Broidy was charged with a single count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act as part of an influence operation that prosecutors say sought to use his political ties to help Malaysian and Chinese interests, according to federal court filings that became public on Thursday. The case centers on an accusation that Broidy accepted $6 million from a foreign client to lobby administration officials to end a federal investigation related to the looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, known as 1MDB. The court filing also accuses him of seeking the extradition of a Chinese citizen from the United States. He did not succeed in either effort, and at one point sought to deceive his client about having raised the 1MDB case directly with President Donald Trump, the court filing said. While the foreign client was not identified, people familiar with the case said he was the Malaysian financier Jho Low, who the federal authorities say played a key role in the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB. Broidy, 63, is expected to enter a guilty plea to the charge, which was filed last week by prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity section and its election crimes branch and unsealed this week. Broidy’s representatives declined to comment. The charge against him was detailed in a criminal information, which is often filed in cases in which a guilty plea has been agreed to. The details of the accusations against Broidy are especially striking: They include a promised $75 million “success fee” from Low, and discussions about arranging for Malaysia’s prime minister to play golf with Trump. But they follow a pattern that has become familiar since Trump began seeking the White House. People who had backgrounds or were pursuing business that was likely to have raised red flags in other campaigns and administrations marketed themselves as intermediaries to individuals, companies and countries wanting something from the Trump administration. They were able to do so because Trump ran for office and came to Washington without the established networks of gatekeepers, lobbyists and fundraisers who typically surround a president. A number of Trump’s associates have been charged in the nearly four years since he was elected. Among those who have pleaded or were found guilty of charges related to their work for him are Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser whose case the Justice Department is now seeking to dismiss; George Papadopoulos, a former campaign adviser; and Roger Stone, a longtime friend whose sentence the president commuted. Trump’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, and his deputy, Rick Gates, were charged with lobbying and financial crimes that predated their work for the president’s campaign. The two pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, as did Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer. Cohen, Gates and Manafort had sought to parlay their perceived access to the president into business opportunities. But few figures seized on the Trump presidency more ambitiously than Broidy, who owns a defense contracting firm. He had been a top Republican fundraiser for years, but he had retreated from politics after pleading guilty in 2009 to a felony charge, later reduced to a misdemeanor, in an unrelated pension fund bribery case. After Trump emerged as the Republican presidential nominee in 2016, Broidy threw his support behind him at a time when most elite Republican donors were staying away. And when Trump was elected, Broidy became a leading fundraiser for Trump’s inauguration and the Republican National Committee, as well as a member of Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private resort in Florida. Broidy enlisted Cohen to arrange a payout to a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair and paid Gates to help pursue a contract for his defense firm and administration appointments for his associates. And Broidy began aggressively promoting his connection to the new administration to politicians, business executives and governments around the world, His defense company won big contracts from the United Arab Emirates and Angola. And Broidy discussed the possibility of a visit to Mar-a-Lago for an Angolan politician from whom he was seeking to collect additional payments. But the charge against Broidy is not related to his defense company or its clients. Rather, it stems from his arrangement with Low, a flamboyant Malaysian financier who federal authorities say orchestrated a multibillion-dollar embezzlement scheme from 1MDB. Low, who is believed to be living in China, was charged in the United States in 2018 in connection with the 1MDB theft, but he has not appeared in criminal court in the United States. The filing said that Broidy and a pair of associates agreed in 2017 to work for Low “to orchestrate back-channel, unregistered campaigns to lobby the administration,” to “end the 1MDB matters” and to send a dissident back to China. The Chinese citizen is not identified by name in the filing, but he is known to be billionaire dissident Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of China who has been charged by its government with corruption and is seeking asylum in the United States. Some of Broidy’s associates have already been charged, including Nickie Lum Davis, a fundraiser who pleaded guilty in August and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Another, George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department employee, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiring to lie to banks about the source of tens of millions of dollars he funneled into the United States from Low. In his guilty plea, Higginbotham admitted that he and entertainer and businessman Pras Michel, a former member of the Fugees, a defunct hip-hop group, arranged for millions of dollars of Low’s money to be transferred to a law firm owned by Broidy’s wife to pay them to try to end the 1MDB investigation. Prosecutors said that Michel received $8.5 million from Low, while Broidy was paid $6 million and Davis $1.7 million, but that they tried to “conceal Broidy’s contacts with and payments from” Low “to maintain Broidy’s credibility with United States officials and to further the illegal advocacy scheme.” The prosecutors cited a contract with Broidy’s wife’s law firm, which is not named, agreeing that if the Justice Department dropped its civil forfeiture proceedings against Low within 180 days, Low would pay a $75 million fee, or $50 million if the matter was resolved within 365 days. As part of the effort, prosecutors say Broidy asked Trump in June 2017 “if he would play golf” with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia. Najib is not identified in the charging document, but he was in office at the time and was planning a trip to Washington, despite being under investigation by federal prosecutors for his role in the 1MDB theft. Broidy and Davis believed that a golf game with Trump “would please” Najib and allow him “to attempt to resolve the matter” of the 1MDB investigation, the filing said. Najib did meet with Trump in September 2017, but he was denied the customary photograph in the Oval Office with the president, let alone the golf outing, despite Broidy’s repeated lobbying of Trump’s aides. Najib was later convicted in Malaysia of corruption charges related to the 1MDB theft. In October 2017, the court filing said, Broidy met at the White House with Trump but did not raise the issue of 1MDB. Nonetheless, the filing said, Broidy told Davis that he had raised it, believing she would pass that misinformation to Low and Michel. The Justice Department did not drop its investigation of 1MDB, instead charging Low and others in 2018 with conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB and of paying bribes to officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Low agreed last year as part of a civil forfeiture case to give up his claim to hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury apartments, yachts, jets and artwork that prosecutors said were bought with stolen money. Prosecutors also claimed that Broidy and his associates traveled to Thailand, Malaysia and China to meet with Low, a Chinese government official and others to negotiate a multimillion-dollar deal to lobby on their behalf. After one such trip, Broidy drafted a memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017 about the possibility of extraditing Guo, recommending a meeting with the Chinese official, according to prosecutors. They said the contents of the memo were provided by the Chinese official and Low. A person close to Broidy has said he never sent that memo, and a Justice Department spokesperson has said Sessions never received it. Guo remains in the United States, though a company linked to him and Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, is reportedly under investigation by federal and New York state authorities.

Elliott Broidy, a top Trump fundraiser, charged in foreign influence case

Democratic Party's presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will air his opinion on increasing number of judges on US Supreme Court if he defeats President Donald Trump in November 3 election. Donald Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. She is yet to get a nod from the US Senate for her appointment on the Supreme Court. Republican Party has said that it will push for confiemation from the Senate before November 3 election.

Following Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg`s death on Sept. 18, some Democrats have pressed Biden to consider "packing the court" with liberal justices if Trump`s Republican party fills Ginsburg`s seat ahead of the election and creates a 6-3 conservative majority.

Trump has criticized Biden for repeatedly declining to provide his view on the matter.

On Thursday, Biden told reporters that revealing it now would distract voters from focusing on Trump`s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the top court.

"The moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that other than - other than focusing on what’s happening now," Biden said.

It is believed that the Republican Party's push to confirm conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett is inanticipation of possble upper hand they will get in case court has to intervene to decide winner of the election. Such a situation has a precedent. In US Presidential Elections 2020, the court intervened to declare winner of the election.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-censors-us-vice-presidential-debate-when-pence-gets-asked-on-the-communist-nation-333731">China censors US vice-presidential debate when Pence gets asked on the communist nation</a>

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Biden`s comments were a sign he does plan to expand the court. "Voters deserve a clear answer, though we basically already have one," she said on Twitter.

The U.S. Senate, which has the power to confirm presidential nominees to the high court, is currently under Republican control though that could change after November`s elections. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to start hearings on Barrett on Monday.

The number of justices on the high court has remained at nine since 1869, but Congress has the power to change the size of the bench and did so several times before that.

(With Reuters inputs)

Democratic Party's presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will air his opinion on increasing number of judges on US Supreme Court if he defeats President Donald Trump in November 3 election.

Democratic Party's presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will air his opinion on increasing number of judges on US Supreme Court if he defeats President Donald Trump in November 3 election. Donald Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. She is yet to get a nod from the US Senate for her appointment on the Supreme Court. Republican Party has said that it will push for confiemation from the Senate before November 3 election. Following Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg`s death on Sept. 18, some Democrats have pressed Biden to consider "packing the court" with liberal justices if Trump`s Republican party fills Ginsburg`s seat ahead of the election and creates a 6-3 conservative majority. Trump has criticized Biden for repeatedly declining to provide his view on the matter. On Thursday, Biden told reporters that revealing it now would distract voters from focusing on Trump`s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the top court. "The moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that other than - other than focusing on what’s happening now," Biden said. It is believed that the Republican Party's push to confirm conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett is inanticipation of possble upper hand they will get in case court has to intervene to decide winner of the election. Such a situation has a precedent. In US Presidential Elections 2020, the court intervened to declare winner of the election. Also Read | China censors US vice-presidential debate when Pence gets asked on the communist nation White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Biden`s comments were a sign he does plan to expand the court. "Voters deserve a clear answer, though we basically already have one," she said on Twitter. The U.S. Senate, which has the power to confirm presidential nominees to the high court, is currently under Republican control though that could change after November`s elections. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to start hearings on Barrett on Monday. The number of justices on the high court has remained at nine since 1869, but Congress has the power to change the size of the bench and did so several times before that. (With Reuters inputs)

Will talk about Supreme Court expansion after US election results: Joe Biden

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer linked a plot to kidnap her to US President Donald Trump, arguing on Thursday in a speech hours after arrests were announced that Trump's words had been a "rallying cry" for extremists.

Whitmer's coronavirus response has faced criticism from conservatives, and the GOP-led Michigan Legislature sued her in May to try to invalidate her stay-at-home order and other measures.

The arrests and Whitmer's comments come less than a month before the presidential election in a key battleground state, where recent polls show Biden has a lead.

Thirteen people, including seven men associated with the Wolverine Watchmen militia group, were arrested in a sweeping takedown of plots to kidnap the Michigan governor, attack the state capitol building and incite violence.

The group aimed to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who has traded barbs with Trump over her response to the coronavirus pandemic, ahead of the November 3 presidential election, according to a criminal complaint.

At one point, the alleged plotters discussed recruiting a force of 200 to storm the state capitol in Lansing and take hostages, but later abandoned the plan in favor of surveiling and kidnapping Whitmer at her vacation home, the complaint said.

At a news conference, Whitmer accused Trump of encouraging extremist groups like the "sick and depraved men" that targetted her, citing his failure to condemn white supremacists at the recent US presidential debate against Joe Biden as an example.

"When our leaders meet with, encourage and fraternise with domestic terrorists they legitimise their actions, and they are complicit," Whitmer said.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany pushed back at her remarks, saying Trump has condemned all forms of hate.

Democrat Joe Biden sought to tie Trump to the plot as well, pointing to the president's tweet earlier this year to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN."

Whitmer, a Democrat, said the Republican president has spent the last seven months of the coronavirus pandemic "denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fomenting anger and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division."

She singled out Trump's debate comments, when he didn't condemn white supremacist groups and told one far-right extremist group to "stand back and stand by."

Internal US security memos in recent months have warned that violent domestic extremists could pose a threat to election-related targets, a concern exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, political tensions, civil unrest and foreign disinformation campaigns.

The FBI became aware through social media in early 2020 that a group of people were discussing the "violent overthrow" of multiple state governments and used confidential sources to track their movements, according to the complaint.

The group of six facing federal charges -- Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta -- could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on charges of attempting to kidnap Whitmer.

The Wolverine Watchmen has used Facebook since November 2019 to recruit members, according to affidavits in support of the state charges. The group, which is anti-law enforcement, trained with firearms to prepare for an uprising against the government and what they believe is an "impending politically motivated civil war," according to the affidavits.

Michigan is a key swing state in the 2020 presidential race, and Trump and his supporters demanded the governor relax social-distancing rules. Militia members were among those that took to the streets in April to protest the various rules.

The militia movement in the United States became prominent in the mid-1990s and surged again a little more than a decade ago with the arrival of social media and election of former President Barack Obama, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer linked a plot to kidnap her to US President Donald Trump, arguing on Thursday in a speech hours after arrests were announced that Trump's words had been a "rallying cry" for extremists.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer linked a plot to kidnap her to US President Donald Trump, arguing on Thursday in a speech hours after arrests were announced that Trump's words had been a "rallying cry" for extremists. Whitmer's coronavirus response has faced criticism from conservatives, and the GOP-led Michigan Legislature sued her in May to try to invalidate her stay-at-home order and other measures. The arrests and Whitmer's comments come less than a month before the presidential election in a key battleground state, where recent polls show Biden has a lead. Thirteen people, including seven men associated with the Wolverine Watchmen militia group, were arrested in a sweeping takedown of plots to kidnap the Michigan governor, attack the state capitol building and incite violence. The group aimed to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who has traded barbs with Trump over her response to the coronavirus pandemic, ahead of the November 3 presidential election, according to a criminal complaint. At one point, the alleged plotters discussed recruiting a force of 200 to storm the state capitol in Lansing and take hostages, but later abandoned the plan in favor of surveiling and kidnapping Whitmer at her vacation home, the complaint said. At a news conference, Whitmer accused Trump of encouraging extremist groups like the "sick and depraved men" that targetted her, citing his failure to condemn white supremacists at the recent US presidential debate against Joe Biden as an example. "When our leaders meet with, encourage and fraternise with domestic terrorists they legitimise their actions, and they are complicit," Whitmer said. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany pushed back at her remarks, saying Trump has condemned all forms of hate. Democrat Joe Biden sought to tie Trump to the plot as well, pointing to the president's tweet earlier this year to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN." Whitmer, a Democrat, said the Republican president has spent the last seven months of the coronavirus pandemic "denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fomenting anger and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division." She singled out Trump's debate comments, when he didn't condemn white supremacist groups and told one far-right extremist group to "stand back and stand by." Internal US security memos in recent months have warned that violent domestic extremists could pose a threat to election-related targets, a concern exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, political tensions, civil unrest and foreign disinformation campaigns. The FBI became aware through social media in early 2020 that a group of people were discussing the "violent overthrow" of multiple state governments and used confidential sources to track their movements, according to the complaint. The group of six facing federal charges -- Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta -- could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on charges of attempting to kidnap Whitmer. The Wolverine Watchmen has used Facebook since November 2019 to recruit members, according to affidavits in support of the state charges. The group, which is anti-law enforcement, trained with firearms to prepare for an uprising against the government and what they believe is an "impending politically motivated civil war," according to the affidavits. Michigan is a key swing state in the 2020 presidential race, and Trump and his supporters demanded the governor relax social-distancing rules. Militia members were among those that took to the streets in April to protest the various rules. The militia movement in the United States became prominent in the mid-1990s and surged again a little more than a decade ago with the arrival of social media and election of former President Barack Obama, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Michigan governor links Trump to foiled kidnapping plot

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence`s debate with Democrat Kamala Harris attracted 57.9 million TV viewers, the second-highest audience ever for a matchup between vice presidential candidates, according to Nielsen data released on Thursday.

The viewership figure for the Wednesday evening faceoff in Salt Lake City included people watching across 18 networks. The tally came in 56% higher than four years ago, when 37 million people tuned in to see Pence debate Democrat Tim Kaine.

During the policy-heavy 90-minute event, Pence and Harris clashed over the Trump administration`s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Vice presidential debates typically draw smaller audiences than presidential clashes. President Donald Trump`s Sept. 29 debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden pulled in 73 million viewers, making it the second-biggest event on U.S. television this year, after the Super Bowl.

The TV viewing record for a vice presidential debate was set in 2008, when Biden debated Republican Sarah Palin. That telecast drew 69.9 million viewers.

For the Pence-Harris matchup, Fox News Channel&nbsp;led all networks, with 11.9 million viewers.

The Nielsen numbers included people watching at home and at such venues as bars and restaurants. It also included some digital viewership through televisions connected to the internet.

The figures do not capture the full extent of online viewing, which has grown in popularity as traditional TV audiences decline, however. The debate was streamed live on Twitter, YouTube, network websites and other digital platforms.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence`s debate with Democrat Kamala Harris attracted 57.9 million TV viewers, the second-highest audience ever for a matchup between vice presidential candidates, according to Nielsen data released on Thursday.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence`s debate with Democrat Kamala Harris attracted 57.9 million TV viewers, the second-highest audience ever for a matchup between vice presidential candidates, according to Nielsen data released on Thursday. The viewership figure for the Wednesday evening faceoff in Salt Lake City included people watching across 18 networks. The tally came in 56% higher than four years ago, when 37 million people tuned in to see Pence debate Democrat Tim Kaine. During the policy-heavy 90-minute event, Pence and Harris clashed over the Trump administration`s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Vice presidential debates typically draw smaller audiences than presidential clashes. President Donald Trump`s Sept. 29 debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden pulled in 73 million viewers, making it the second-biggest event on U.S. television this year, after the Super Bowl. The TV viewing record for a vice presidential debate was set in 2008, when Biden debated Republican Sarah Palin. That telecast drew 69.9 million viewers. For the Pence-Harris matchup, Fox News Channel led all networks, with 11.9 million viewers. The Nielsen numbers included people watching at home and at such venues as bars and restaurants. It also included some digital viewership through televisions connected to the internet. The figures do not capture the full extent of online viewing, which has grown in popularity as traditional TV audiences decline, however. The debate was streamed live on Twitter, YouTube, network websites and other digital platforms.

Nearly 58 million watch US vice-presidential debate, big jump from 2016

US President Donald Trump should be able to resume "public engagements" from Saturday, the White House physician announced Thursday. The doctor added he had responded "extremely well" to Covid-19 treatment.

Trump, on his part,&nbsp;said he might try to attend a rally on Saturday night, probably in Florida.

He said he was feeling "so good" and that he would be keen to get back to campaigning.

"I think I'm going to try doing a rally on Saturday night, if we have enough time to put it together, but we want to do a rally... probably in Florida on Saturday night, might come back and do one in Pennsylvania in the following night," he said, in an interview with Fox News.

During the telephonic interview, he insisted&nbsp;he had recovered from&nbsp;Covid-19 and was “not contagious at all”. However, by the end of the call,&nbsp;he coughed --&nbsp;his voice audibly hoarse, telling a different story altogether.

He also said he would probably get a COVID-19 test on Friday.

Trump spent three days in the hospital before returning to the White House on Monday evening.

"Saturday will be day 10 since Thursday's diagnosis, and based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics the team has been conducting, I fully anticipate the President's safe return to public engagements at that time," Trump's doctor Sean Conley said in a statement.

Since his diagnosis, Trump has received an experimental antibody treatment, the antiviral drug remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone.

With only 26 days to go until the November 3 election, the president is keen to get back on the campaign trail to rally his base, with polls showing him trailing Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

The White House has become a Covid-19 hotspot, with dozens of people close to Trump testing positive.

US President Donald Trump should be able to resume "public engagements" from Saturday, the White House physician announced Thursday. The doctor added he had responded "extremely well" to Covid-19 treatment.

US President Donald Trump should be able to resume "public engagements" from Saturday, the White House physician announced Thursday. The doctor added he had responded "extremely well" to Covid-19 treatment. Trump, on his part, said he might try to attend a rally on Saturday night, probably in Florida. He said he was feeling "so good" and that he would be keen to get back to campaigning. "I think I'm going to try doing a rally on Saturday night, if we have enough time to put it together, but we want to do a rally... probably in Florida on Saturday night, might come back and do one in Pennsylvania in the following night," he said, in an interview with Fox News. During the telephonic interview, he insisted he had recovered from Covid-19 and was “not contagious at all”. However, by the end of the call, he coughed -- his voice audibly hoarse, telling a different story altogether. He also said he would probably get a COVID-19 test on Friday. Trump spent three days in the hospital before returning to the White House on Monday evening. "Saturday will be day 10 since Thursday's diagnosis, and based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics the team has been conducting, I fully anticipate the President's safe return to public engagements at that time," Trump's doctor Sean Conley said in a statement. Since his diagnosis, Trump has received an experimental antibody treatment, the antiviral drug remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone. With only 26 days to go until the November 3 election, the president is keen to get back on the campaign trail to rally his base, with polls showing him trailing Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The White House has become a Covid-19 hotspot, with dozens of people close to Trump testing positive.

US Election 2020: Trump can return to public events Saturday, may hold a rally in Florida

The coronavirus outbreak at the White House has now grown to more than 20 people, and evidence is mounting that the administration did little to prevent or contain the virus’s spread. For months, President Donald Trump minimized the threat of the virus and ignored basic safety precautions like wearing a mask or maintaining 6 feet of distance from other people. And at several events last week, White House staff members defied recommendations — from scientists, local authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — on curbing infection, even after the president tested positive. Here is a look at some of the ways Trump and his staff members ignored basic guidelines.

—

The White House relied too heavily on rapid tests.

THE GUIDELINES

The Food and Drug Administration approved the rapid coronavirus tests used by the White House for use only “within the first seven days of the onset of symptoms.” These tests frequently miss infections in people without symptoms.

The CDC says it may be necessary for those who test negative on a rapid test to confirm the result using a lab-based test, especially if they have symptoms or have been in contact with an infected person.

WHAT HAPPENED

Since the early days of the pandemic, the White House has regularly used rapid tests to screen staff members and guests for the coronavirus because they are fast, portable and easy to operate. But those who tested negative would often skip other precautions, like wearing a mask or social distancing. Experts say rapid tests are less accurate for people who are not showing any signs of infection, and they should not be used as the only precaution.

Testing negative does not guarantee a lack of infection, since people who have been recently infected may not have enough virus in their bodies for tests to detect. Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president, and Kayleigh McEnany, the press secretary, both tested positive early this week after testing negative in the preceding days.

And while officials had given the impression that Trump was getting tested every day, the White House has since conceded that tests were not as frequent and has refused to reveal the last time Trump tested negative.

—

Members of the administration held meetings indoors, did not wear masks, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt; and failed to maintain recommended social distance.

THE GUIDELINES

The CDC’s guidelines for preventing the spread of the coronavirus say to remain at least six feet away from people outside your household and to “cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others.” The nation’s health protection agency also recommends hosting gatherings outdoors when possible.

WHAT HAPPENED

The Trump administration allowed those who received a negative result to go without a mask to meetings and events, including at a reception inside the White House for the Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

The president also huddled with advisers for maskless preparation sessions ahead of the first presidential debate, held on Sept. 29. Several of those involved — including Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey; Kellyanne Conway, a former White House adviser; Hope Hicks, a current adviser; and Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager — have said they have since tested positive.

The president and his staff members also spent several hours in the enclosed space of Air Force One last week traveling to events in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio and New Jersey. At least eight people aboard those flights, including Hicks, McEnany, Miller and Stepien, have since tested positive for the virus.

—

The White House and Trump campaign hosted large gatherings that flouted state and local restrictions.

THE GUIDELINES

CDC guidelines say large, in-person gatherings where it is difficult to maintain social distance of at least 6 feet apart pose the “highest risk” of spreading the coronavirus among all types of gatherings and events. This includes both indoor and outdoor events.

WHAT HAPPENED

The White House and Trump campaign held several large rallies, fundraisers and other events in the week before Trump tested positive.

The day after Trump hosted at least 200 people in the Rose Garden, the president hosted a White House reception honoring Gold Star families. At least 100 people attended the indoor event, including Adm. Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, who has since tested positive, prompting many of the country’s top military officials to go into quarantine.

A citywide order in Washington prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people, but because the White House is on federal property, it is exempt from local rules.

The Trump campaign also held three large outdoor rallies that week in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, three states whose guidelines limit gatherings to 250 people. Officials in Pennsylvania criticized the Trump campaign for flouting local regulations, and the Virginia event also drew scrutiny.

—

The White House is not tracing contacts of those at a potential ‘super-spreader’ event.

THE GUIDELINES

The CDC advises contact tracing for close contacts of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus or are considered probable cases. Contact tracers notify, interview and advise the close contacts of the infected person, and the CDC says close contacts should themselves be tested.

WHAT HAPPENED

Even though at least 12 attendees have since tested positive, the White House has decided not to trace the contacts of those who attended the Rose Garden event for Barrett. Instead, the White House said it would notify only those who came into contact with Trump in the two days before his positive test on Oct 1.

A White House spokesman did say contact tracing “was completed” for Trump’s Oct. 1 trip to Bedminster, New Jersey. One guest confirmed he received three emails alerting him to possible exposure — one from the Trump campaign and two from state and local government tracers — but said no one had called him.

—

The president and his aides did not quarantine after people near them showed symptoms and tested positive.

THE GUIDELINES

The CDC says those who have been in “close contact” with someone who tests positive should quarantine for 14 days, starting from two days before the infected person’s illness onset. The White House says it is following CDC guidelines for essential personnel who have come in contact with infected people.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Sept. 30, Trump flew aboard Air Force One with staff members and members of Congress to Minnesota for a fundraiser and rally. That night, Hicks felt ill and sat apart from others at the back of Air Force One on the way home.

Anyone who was in close contact with Hicks in the two days before she started feeling symptoms should have quarantined.

Yet despite knowing of Hicks’ illness, Trump and his aides traveled the next day to Bedminster, to a small indoor round table and then a larger outdoor fundraiser. That evening, Bloomberg News reported that Hicks had tested positive, and after midnight, Trump revealed he had also tested positive.

Even after Trump and Hicks tested positive, McEnany, who had been in close contact with both of them, continued to go to work. She hosted a news conference while maskless on the White House lawn the day after the president tested positive and went to work that weekend, later saying she acted as an essential worker. On Monday, she said she had tested positive.

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and Dan Scavino Jr., a deputy chief of staff, have continued to work from the West Wing despite repeated exposure to the president. Both were with Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he was hospitalized over the weekend and joined the president in the Oval Office on Wednesday, six days after the president’s positive test.

—

The president failed to isolate after testing positive.

THE GUIDELINES

Those who test positive for the coronavirus should isolate themselves from others for a minimum of 10 days after testing positive, according to the CDC, or for at least 10 days after symptoms first appear.

WHAT HAPPENED

Officials say Trump tested positive on Oct. 1. That means he should have isolated until at least Sunday, Oct. 11 — even if he had stopped experiencing symptoms.

Instead, Trump, escorted by Secret Service agents, left isolation Sunday for a drive-by to greet supporters, flew to the White House on Marine One on Monday, and reentered the White House without wearing a mask, defying guidance that is intended to protect others. Video footage of the president before he walked into the White House on Monday showed him in proximity to a photographer and several other people.

The coronavirus outbreak at the White House has now grown to more than 20 people, and evidence is mounting that the administration did little to prevent or contain the virus’s spread.

The coronavirus outbreak at the White House has now grown to more than 20 people, and evidence is mounting that the administration did little to prevent or contain the virus’s spread. For months, President Donald Trump minimized the threat of the virus and ignored basic safety precautions like wearing a mask or maintaining 6 feet of distance from other people. And at several events last week, White House staff members defied recommendations — from scientists, local authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — on curbing infection, even after the president tested positive. Here is a look at some of the ways Trump and his staff members ignored basic guidelines. — The White House relied too heavily on rapid tests. THE GUIDELINES The Food and Drug Administration approved the rapid coronavirus tests used by the White House for use only “within the first seven days of the onset of symptoms.” These tests frequently miss infections in people without symptoms. The CDC says it may be necessary for those who test negative on a rapid test to confirm the result using a lab-based test, especially if they have symptoms or have been in contact with an infected person. WHAT HAPPENED Since the early days of the pandemic, the White House has regularly used rapid tests to screen staff members and guests for the coronavirus because they are fast, portable and easy to operate. But those who tested negative would often skip other precautions, like wearing a mask or social distancing. Experts say rapid tests are less accurate for people who are not showing any signs of infection, and they should not be used as the only precaution. Testing negative does not guarantee a lack of infection, since people who have been recently infected may not have enough virus in their bodies for tests to detect. Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president, and Kayleigh McEnany, the press secretary, both tested positive early this week after testing negative in the preceding days. And while officials had given the impression that Trump was getting tested every day, the White House has since conceded that tests were not as frequent and has refused to reveal the last time Trump tested negative. — Members of the administration held meetings indoors, did not wear masks, and failed to maintain recommended social distance. THE GUIDELINES The CDC’s guidelines for preventing the spread of the coronavirus say to remain at least six feet away from people outside your household and to “cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others.” The nation’s health protection agency also recommends hosting gatherings outdoors when possible. WHAT HAPPENED The Trump administration allowed those who received a negative result to go without a mask to meetings and events, including at a reception inside the White House for the Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. The president also huddled with advisers for maskless preparation sessions ahead of the first presidential debate, held on Sept. 29. Several of those involved — including Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey; Kellyanne Conway, a former White House adviser; Hope Hicks, a current adviser; and Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager — have said they have since tested positive. The president and his staff members also spent several hours in the enclosed space of Air Force One last week traveling to events in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio and New Jersey. At least eight people aboard those flights, including Hicks, McEnany, Miller and Stepien, have since tested positive for the virus. — The White House and Trump campaign hosted large gatherings that flouted state and local restrictions. THE GUIDELINES CDC guidelines say large, in-person gatherings where it is difficult to maintain social distance of at least 6 feet apart pose the “highest risk” of spreading the coronavirus among all types of gatherings and events. This includes both indoor and outdoor events. WHAT HAPPENED The White House and Trump campaign held several large rallies, fundraisers and other events in the week before Trump tested positive. The day after Trump hosted at least 200 people in the Rose Garden, the president hosted a White House reception honoring Gold Star families. At least 100 people attended the indoor event, including Adm. Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, who has since tested positive, prompting many of the country’s top military officials to go into quarantine. A citywide order in Washington prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people, but because the White House is on federal property, it is exempt from local rules. The Trump campaign also held three large outdoor rallies that week in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, three states whose guidelines limit gatherings to 250 people. Officials in Pennsylvania criticized the Trump campaign for flouting local regulations, and the Virginia event also drew scrutiny. — The White House is not tracing contacts of those at a potential ‘super-spreader’ event. THE GUIDELINES The CDC advises contact tracing for close contacts of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus or are considered probable cases. Contact tracers notify, interview and advise the close contacts of the infected person, and the CDC says close contacts should themselves be tested. WHAT HAPPENED Even though at least 12 attendees have since tested positive, the White House has decided not to trace the contacts of those who attended the Rose Garden event for Barrett. Instead, the White House said it would notify only those who came into contact with Trump in the two days before his positive test on Oct 1. A White House spokesman did say contact tracing “was completed” for Trump’s Oct. 1 trip to Bedminster, New Jersey. One guest confirmed he received three emails alerting him to possible exposure — one from the Trump campaign and two from state and local government tracers — but said no one had called him. — The president and his aides did not quarantine after people near them showed symptoms and tested positive. THE GUIDELINES The CDC says those who have been in “close contact” with someone who tests positive should quarantine for 14 days, starting from two days before the infected person’s illness onset. The White House says it is following CDC guidelines for essential personnel who have come in contact with infected people. WHAT HAPPENED On Sept. 30, Trump flew aboard Air Force One with staff members and members of Congress to Minnesota for a fundraiser and rally. That night, Hicks felt ill and sat apart from others at the back of Air Force One on the way home. Anyone who was in close contact with Hicks in the two days before she started feeling symptoms should have quarantined. Yet despite knowing of Hicks’ illness, Trump and his aides traveled the next day to Bedminster, to a small indoor round table and then a larger outdoor fundraiser. That evening, Bloomberg News reported that Hicks had tested positive, and after midnight, Trump revealed he had also tested positive. Even after Trump and Hicks tested positive, McEnany, who had been in close contact with both of them, continued to go to work. She hosted a news conference while maskless on the White House lawn the day after the president tested positive and went to work that weekend, later saying she acted as an essential worker. On Monday, she said she had tested positive. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and Dan Scavino Jr., a deputy chief of staff, have continued to work from the West Wing despite repeated exposure to the president. Both were with Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he was hospitalized over the weekend and joined the president in the Oval Office on Wednesday, six days after the president’s positive test. — The president failed to isolate after testing positive. THE GUIDELINES Those who test positive for the coronavirus should isolate themselves from others for a minimum of 10 days after testing positive, according to the CDC, or for at least 10 days after symptoms first appear. WHAT HAPPENED Officials say Trump tested positive on Oct. 1. That means he should have isolated until at least Sunday, Oct. 11 — even if he had stopped experiencing symptoms. Instead, Trump, escorted by Secret Service agents, left isolation Sunday for a drive-by to greet supporters, flew to the White House on Marine One on Monday, and reentered the White House without wearing a mask, defying guidance that is intended to protect others. Video footage of the president before he walked into the White House on Monday showed him in proximity to a photographer and several other people.

How the White House flouted basic coronavirus rules

Calling Iran, China and Russia as "leading influencers", White House in Wednesday expressed its concerns over the hacking of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/us-election">2020 presidential election </a>in the United States

"My biggest concern on something that can happen on the Election Day - hackers hacking to the Secretary of State website to change vote totals," White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said, as quoted by Sputnik News.&nbsp;

Also read&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="US Vice-Presidential debate: Kamala Harris blasts Trump govt for 'greatest failure' over COVID-19 pandemic">US Vice-Presidential debate: Kamala Harris blasts Trump govt for 'greatest failure' over COVID-19 pandemic</a>

He also described Russia, China and Iran as "leading influencers" on the presidential election.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-says-china-will-pay-big-price-for-coronavirus-outbreak-333368">Donald Trump says China will pay 'big price' for coronavirus outbreak</a>

In early September, Microsoft unveiled a report which accused Russia, China and Iran of causing cyberattacks to target individuals and organisations who are related to the US election.&nbsp;

"In recent weeks, Microsoft has detected cyberattacks targeting people and organisations involved in the upcoming presidential election, including unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both the Trump and Biden campaigns," said Microsoft's corporate vice president Tom Burt.

The tech giant also said staff from the campaigns of President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;and Democratic nominee <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden </a>have also been targetted.&nbsp;

"The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the US government and others have reported," Burt added.&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Calling Iran, China and Russia as "leading influencers", White House in Wednesday expressed its concerns over the hacking of 2020 presidential election in the United States "My biggest concern on something that can happen on the Election Day - hackers hacking to the Secretary of State website to change vote totals," White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said, as quoted by Sputnik News.

Calling Iran, China and Russia as "leading influencers", White House in Wednesday expressed its concerns over the hacking of 2020 presidential election in the United States "My biggest concern on something that can happen on the Election Day - hackers hacking to the Secretary of State website to change vote totals," White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said, as quoted by Sputnik News. Also read | US Vice-Presidential debate: Kamala Harris blasts Trump govt for 'greatest failure' over COVID-19 pandemic He also described Russia, China and Iran as "leading influencers" on the presidential election. Also read | Donald Trump says China will pay 'big price' for coronavirus outbreak In early September, Microsoft unveiled a report which accused Russia, China and Iran of causing cyberattacks to target individuals and organisations who are related to the US election. "In recent weeks, Microsoft has detected cyberattacks targeting people and organisations involved in the upcoming presidential election, including unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both the Trump and Biden campaigns," said Microsoft's corporate vice president Tom Burt. The tech giant also said staff from the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden have also been targetted. "The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the US government and others have reported," Burt added.

US election 2020: White House official expresses concern over hacking on day of voting

The coronavirus’s rampage through America threw a spotlight on its failings — on the galling inequality, the fatal partisanship, the susceptibility to fiction and the way in which rugged individualism had curdled into plain old selfishness.

The coronavirus’s rampage through the White House has had the same effect. What we have seen over recent days is Donald Trump’s presidency in miniature, his worst traits distilled. Two in particular — mendacity and recklessness — are on especially unsettling display.

When exactly did the president get sick and precisely how sick did he get? That’s knowable, but we still don’t really know it. He’s in the hospital. We’re in the dark.

How many people might he have exposed to the coronavirus since first experiencing symptoms himself? We’re still plumbing that mystery. We’re still doing that tally.

What is clear amid all this defensive murkiness is that Trump’s dismissive attitude toward the virus became its accomplice, as his disdain for masks and perverse sense of invincibility translated into a packed calendar of events and blasé behavior by the people attending them that amounted to epidemiological suicide.

Illness isn’t illuminating him, not to judge by a stunt he pulled early Sunday evening, when he left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center briefly to ride past and wave at supporters outside. Although he wore a mask, “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” Dr. James P. Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, wrote on Twitter. “They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”

Reviewing the timeline of the president’s activities leading up to his positive coronavirus test, journalists have focused, for good reason, on the Rose Garden ceremony on Sept. 26 at which he introduced his latest Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, to the nation. At least a half-dozen people who have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past few days were there, in a crowd where neither social distancing nor face covering was enforced. It may have been a superspreader event.

But the crazy part is that Trump’s next five days were a sequence of potential superspreader events, because his look-Ma-no-mask presidency is its own potential superspreader event: the rallies, the big convention speech outside the White House, the sessions of debate prep and the debate itself, at which the safety protocol decreed that everyone in the audience wear a mask.

Trump’s family members and Trump’s chief of staff did not and, according to the debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace, waved away an official from the Cleveland Clinic who offered masks to them. Wallace recounted that situation on “Fox News Sunday,” asking a Trump adviser if they think that “rules for everybody else” don’t apply to them.

Great question. With an obvious answer. They are trapped by their own denialism, which demands that they model the lack of concern that they push on voters, and they elevate looking undaunted over being smart, confidence over prudence, because that’s the administration’s way.

Besides, masks would have incensed Trump, who, based on his debate performance, needed to be cooled down, not fired up. As Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman reported in The New York Times, he created a “top-down culture of fear” about exhibiting any worry about infection. “If you wanted to make the boss happy,” Karni and Haberman wrote, “you left the mask at home.”

That’s a metaphor for a whole lot more. If you want to make the boss happy, you tell him that his inauguration drew many more people than it did. You tell him bad news is fake. You tell him the polls are off. You tell him Robert Mueller’s investigation is a hoax. You tell him that President Barack Obama spied on his campaign.

You become Attorney General Bill Barr, a one-man factory of exonerations and excuses. You abet his existence in an alternate reality, where the sun is always shining and will magically zap an inconvenient virus into oblivion.

Trump’s aides abetted him all the way to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, supplemental oxygen, steroids and remdesivir. In the course of making the boss happy, they helped make him sick.

A president’s diagnosis with a serious illness should be a moment of at least temporary conciliation, unity and healing, when political adversaries put away their weapons, journalists muffle their alarms and Americans say a public prayer for a speedy recovery.

But Trump’s path to this point and his manner at this point prevent that. They compel the telling of hard truths, because they’re so reflective of the mistakes made in battling this pandemic.

“What I hope is that what we have seen with the president is a cautionary tale for people” and that more of them “wear a mask to help other people,” one governor said publicly. That governor was a Republican, Mike DeWine of Ohio.

I’ve heard nothing yet from Trump or senior White House officials that suggests that necessary lessons have been learned — that a commitment to a new conscientiousness has been made. As of early Sunday evening, they’d offered absolutely no public information or assurances about contact tracing for all the people who’d attended Trump events recently or crossed paths with him.

On Saturday evening, Trump tweeted out a four-minute video in which he had the good grace to thank the medical professionals tending to him and the many Americans who’d sent kind wishes his way.

Nevertheless, he persisted in his irresponsibility. Instead of promoting mask wearing and proper social distancing — a message that would have had tremendous power, given the circumstances of its delivery — he defended all those crammed events of his, saying the alternative was sequestering himself upstairs in the White House and abdicating his duties.

“I had no choice,” he said, preposterously. There’s a middle ground between hiding out and a schedule that summons maskless throngs and dispenses with all caution. He just didn’t care to inhabit it.

And while he found no time in that video to discuss proper protection against the coronavirus, he did reassure Americans that medical advances, such as new treatments, would save the day. “They’re miracles, coming from God,” he said. That statement isn’t an incentive to behave better. It’s an invitation to nonchalance.

Early Sunday evening, he released another video, just over a minute long. Again, no mention of masks. No mention of social distancing. But lavish self-congratulation.

“We have enthusiasm like probably nobody has ever had — people that love the job we’re doing,” he said of his administration’s supporters. “We have more enthusiasm than maybe anybody.”

It’s certainly not the fruit of candor or transparency. He and his administration have demonstrated neither since the tweet in the wee hours of Friday morning when he told the world that he had the coronavirus.

Physicians and administration officials have contradicted one another. They have contradicted themselves. They have moved and muddled the timeline of his first symptoms and treatments. They have given us every reason to wonder about a cover-up and made calm impossible and trust a joke.

“What is the actual state of President Trump’s health — now and over the past 24 hours?” Jonathan Swan of Axios wrote late Saturday. “It’s one of the most high-stakes questions in the world, and I cannot answer it, despite having spent since 5 a.m. on Friday on my phone with sources inside and close to the White House.”

In fact, Swan added, some of those sources merely echoed and amplified his wonderment.

“They’re utterly perplexed about what’s going on,” he wrote. “They, like us, have little confidence in what they are being told.”

To my ears they’re not just talking about Trump’s current illness. They’re talking about his administration’s sickness from the start.

The coronavirus’s rampage through America threw a spotlight on its failings — on the galling inequality, the fatal partisanship, the susceptibility to fiction and the way in which rugged individualism had curdled into plain old selfishness.

The coronavirus’s rampage through America threw a spotlight on its failings — on the galling inequality, the fatal partisanship, the susceptibility to fiction and the way in which rugged individualism had curdled into plain old selfishness. The coronavirus’s rampage through the White House has had the same effect. What we have seen over recent days is Donald Trump’s presidency in miniature, his worst traits distilled. Two in particular — mendacity and recklessness — are on especially unsettling display. When exactly did the president get sick and precisely how sick did he get? That’s knowable, but we still don’t really know it. He’s in the hospital. We’re in the dark. How many people might he have exposed to the coronavirus since first experiencing symptoms himself? We’re still plumbing that mystery. We’re still doing that tally. What is clear amid all this defensive murkiness is that Trump’s dismissive attitude toward the virus became its accomplice, as his disdain for masks and perverse sense of invincibility translated into a packed calendar of events and blasé behavior by the people attending them that amounted to epidemiological suicide. Illness isn’t illuminating him, not to judge by a stunt he pulled early Sunday evening, when he left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center briefly to ride past and wave at supporters outside. Although he wore a mask, “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” Dr. James P. Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, wrote on Twitter. “They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.” Reviewing the timeline of the president’s activities leading up to his positive coronavirus test, journalists have focused, for good reason, on the Rose Garden ceremony on Sept. 26 at which he introduced his latest Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, to the nation. At least a half-dozen people who have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past few days were there, in a crowd where neither social distancing nor face covering was enforced. It may have been a superspreader event. But the crazy part is that Trump’s next five days were a sequence of potential superspreader events, because his look-Ma-no-mask presidency is its own potential superspreader event: the rallies, the big convention speech outside the White House, the sessions of debate prep and the debate itself, at which the safety protocol decreed that everyone in the audience wear a mask. Trump’s family members and Trump’s chief of staff did not and, according to the debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace, waved away an official from the Cleveland Clinic who offered masks to them. Wallace recounted that situation on “Fox News Sunday,” asking a Trump adviser if they think that “rules for everybody else” don’t apply to them. Great question. With an obvious answer. They are trapped by their own denialism, which demands that they model the lack of concern that they push on voters, and they elevate looking undaunted over being smart, confidence over prudence, because that’s the administration’s way. Besides, masks would have incensed Trump, who, based on his debate performance, needed to be cooled down, not fired up. As Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman reported in The New York Times, he created a “top-down culture of fear” about exhibiting any worry about infection. “If you wanted to make the boss happy,” Karni and Haberman wrote, “you left the mask at home.” That’s a metaphor for a whole lot more. If you want to make the boss happy, you tell him that his inauguration drew many more people than it did. You tell him bad news is fake. You tell him the polls are off. You tell him Robert Mueller’s investigation is a hoax. You tell him that President Barack Obama spied on his campaign. You become Attorney General Bill Barr, a one-man factory of exonerations and excuses. You abet his existence in an alternate reality, where the sun is always shining and will magically zap an inconvenient virus into oblivion. Trump’s aides abetted him all the way to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, supplemental oxygen, steroids and remdesivir. In the course of making the boss happy, they helped make him sick. A president’s diagnosis with a serious illness should be a moment of at least temporary conciliation, unity and healing, when political adversaries put away their weapons, journalists muffle their alarms and Americans say a public prayer for a speedy recovery. But Trump’s path to this point and his manner at this point prevent that. They compel the telling of hard truths, because they’re so reflective of the mistakes made in battling this pandemic. “What I hope is that what we have seen with the president is a cautionary tale for people” and that more of them “wear a mask to help other people,” one governor said publicly. That governor was a Republican, Mike DeWine of Ohio. I’ve heard nothing yet from Trump or senior White House officials that suggests that necessary lessons have been learned — that a commitment to a new conscientiousness has been made. As of early Sunday evening, they’d offered absolutely no public information or assurances about contact tracing for all the people who’d attended Trump events recently or crossed paths with him. On Saturday evening, Trump tweeted out a four-minute video in which he had the good grace to thank the medical professionals tending to him and the many Americans who’d sent kind wishes his way. Nevertheless, he persisted in his irresponsibility. Instead of promoting mask wearing and proper social distancing — a message that would have had tremendous power, given the circumstances of its delivery — he defended all those crammed events of his, saying the alternative was sequestering himself upstairs in the White House and abdicating his duties. “I had no choice,” he said, preposterously. There’s a middle ground between hiding out and a schedule that summons maskless throngs and dispenses with all caution. He just didn’t care to inhabit it. And while he found no time in that video to discuss proper protection against the coronavirus, he did reassure Americans that medical advances, such as new treatments, would save the day. “They’re miracles, coming from God,” he said. That statement isn’t an incentive to behave better. It’s an invitation to nonchalance. Early Sunday evening, he released another video, just over a minute long. Again, no mention of masks. No mention of social distancing. But lavish self-congratulation. “We have enthusiasm like probably nobody has ever had — people that love the job we’re doing,” he said of his administration’s supporters. “We have more enthusiasm than maybe anybody.” It’s certainly not the fruit of candor or transparency. He and his administration have demonstrated neither since the tweet in the wee hours of Friday morning when he told the world that he had the coronavirus. Physicians and administration officials have contradicted one another. They have contradicted themselves. They have moved and muddled the timeline of his first symptoms and treatments. They have given us every reason to wonder about a cover-up and made calm impossible and trust a joke. “What is the actual state of President Trump’s health — now and over the past 24 hours?” Jonathan Swan of Axios wrote late Saturday. “It’s one of the most high-stakes questions in the world, and I cannot answer it, despite having spent since 5 a.m. on Friday on my phone with sources inside and close to the White House.” In fact, Swan added, some of those sources merely echoed and amplified his wonderment. “They’re utterly perplexed about what’s going on,” he wrote. “They, like us, have little confidence in what they are being told.” To my ears they’re not just talking about Trump’s current illness. They’re talking about his administration’s sickness from the start.

A president in the hospital and a nation in the dark

Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama has accused President Donald Trump of "willful mismanagement" of the coronavirus crisis and of racism in a scathing new video four weeks before election day November 3.

Donald Trump is a "racist" president whose strategy of fearmongering, division and promoting ugly conspiracy theories could "destroy" America if he is re-elected, the former first lady said Tuesday.

In a 24-minute video offering closing arguments for Democratic White House nominee Joe Biden, Obama described Trump and his Republican allies as unfairly "stoking fears" about African Americans.

Obama noted&nbsp;that more Americans have died from COVID-19 than those who died in the Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korean wars combined. To her charade, she adds that "our commander in chief, sadly, has been missing in action."&nbsp;She also calls&nbsp;on all young and Black voters to not "waste" their votes.

Trump is "morally wrong" for taking actions that intimidate voters and for "lying" about how minorities will ruin US suburbs, she said.

"What the president is doing is once again patently false, it's morally wrong, and yes, it is racist," said the 56-year-old wife of Barack Obama, the nation's first black president.

But she warned such tactics have the potential to work, particularly because Americans lack the time and energy to fact-check everything being spread online or in US media.

"Because this is a difficult time, a confusing time, and when people hear these lies and crazy conspiracies repeated over and over and over again, they don't know what to think," she said.&nbsp;

"And the one thing this president is really, really good at is using fear and confusion, and spreading lies to win," Obama added.

Trump has declared himself the "law and order" president, and has repeatedly slammed protesters taking on racial injustice as violent extremists.

Obama's video targets a wide range of voters. Along with speaking to "black and brown folks," she urged white Americans to imagine "the millions of folks who look like me, and fought and died and toiled as slaves and soldiers and laborers to help build this country."

"As a black woman, like the majority of those in the country, having "done everything in my power to live a life of dignity and service and honesty, the knowledge that any of my fellow Americans is more afraid of me than the chaos that we are living through right now, well that hurts," she said.

"It is a heaviness that sits on our hearts."

Obama criticised Trump's "failure" to tackle the coronavirus, his belittling US military personnel as "losers" and his devotion to "enriching himself" and wealthy cronies.

Biden, she said, offers contrasting values aimed at helping working class families, healing divisions and protecting the environment.

"Search your hearts and your conscience, and then vote for Joe Biden like your lives depend on it," she said.

Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama has accused President Donald Trump of "willful mismanagement" of the coronavirus crisis and of racism in a scathing new video four weeks before election day November 3.

Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama has accused President Donald Trump of "willful mismanagement" of the coronavirus crisis and of racism in a scathing new video four weeks before election day November 3. Donald Trump is a "racist" president whose strategy of fearmongering, division and promoting ugly conspiracy theories could "destroy" America if he is re-elected, the former first lady said Tuesday. In a 24-minute video offering closing arguments for Democratic White House nominee Joe Biden, Obama described Trump and his Republican allies as unfairly "stoking fears" about African Americans. Obama noted that more Americans have died from COVID-19 than those who died in the Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korean wars combined. To her charade, she adds that "our commander in chief, sadly, has been missing in action." She also calls on all young and Black voters to not "waste" their votes. Trump is "morally wrong" for taking actions that intimidate voters and for "lying" about how minorities will ruin US suburbs, she said. "What the president is doing is once again patently false, it's morally wrong, and yes, it is racist," said the 56-year-old wife of Barack Obama, the nation's first black president. But she warned such tactics have the potential to work, particularly because Americans lack the time and energy to fact-check everything being spread online or in US media. "Because this is a difficult time, a confusing time, and when people hear these lies and crazy conspiracies repeated over and over and over again, they don't know what to think," she said. "And the one thing this president is really, really good at is using fear and confusion, and spreading lies to win," Obama added. Trump has declared himself the "law and order" president, and has repeatedly slammed protesters taking on racial injustice as violent extremists. Obama's video targets a wide range of voters. Along with speaking to "black and brown folks," she urged white Americans to imagine "the millions of folks who look like me, and fought and died and toiled as slaves and soldiers and laborers to help build this country." "As a black woman, like the majority of those in the country, having "done everything in my power to live a life of dignity and service and honesty, the knowledge that any of my fellow Americans is more afraid of me than the chaos that we are living through right now, well that hurts," she said. "It is a heaviness that sits on our hearts." Obama criticised Trump's "failure" to tackle the coronavirus, his belittling US military personnel as "losers" and his devotion to "enriching himself" and wealthy cronies. Biden, she said, offers contrasting values aimed at helping working class families, healing divisions and protecting the environment. "Search your hearts and your conscience, and then vote for Joe Biden like your lives depend on it," she said.

Michelle Obama slams Trump in closing arguments for Biden

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/michelle-obama-slams-trump-in-closing-argument-for-biden-332963">Michelle Obama slams Trump in closing argument for Biden</a>

Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama has accused President Donald Trump of "willful mismanagement" of the coronavirus crisis and of racism in a scathing new video ahead of the November 3 presidential election.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-vaccine-may-be-ready-by-year-end-whos-tedros-332953">COVID-19 vaccine may be ready by year-end: WHO's Tedros</a>

A vaccine against COVID-19 may be ready by year-end, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, without elaborating.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trio-awarded-nobel-physics-prize-for-research-into-black-holes-332913">Trio awarded Nobel Physics Prize for research into black holes</a>

Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the US won the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for their research into black holes.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hong-kong-teacher-struck-off-for-holding-pro-independence-classes-332917">Hong Kong teacher struck off for holding 'pro-independence' classes</a>

A Hong Kong teacher has been struck off for allegedly promoting the city's independence in classes.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/isro-plans-to-launch-new-rocket-before-december-2020-332899">ISRO plans to launch new rocket before December 2020</a>

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working towards launching its new rocket 'Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)' before December 2020, a senior official said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-is-the-only-patient-to-have-received-the-covid-19-treatment-he-did-332889">Trump is the only patient to have received the Covid-19 treatment he did</a>

If you contract the coronavirus in the United States, you may get a similar behavioural treatment the president -- Donald Trump -- received. But not the same kind of medical treatment.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-warner-bros-movies-calendar-batman-shifts-to-2022-matrix-4-to-2021-332823">Warner Bros. movies calendar: 'Batman' shifts to 2022, 'Matrix 4' to 2021</a>

Warner Bros., has released their movies release calendar with some major jigs between dates of ‘The Batman’, ‘Dune’ and other films.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/floods-in-italy-france-cause-dead-bodies-unearth-from-cemeteries-332931">Floods in Italy, France cause dead bodies unearth from cemeteries</a>

Massive floods in France and Italy have not just killed people along with causing other destruction, but their sheer intensity has also swept out corpses from cemeteries.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/scandalous-dutch-fertility-doctor-fathered-17-children-332938">Scandalous Dutch fertility doctor fathered 17 children</a>

A deceased gynaecologist has fathered at least 17 children with women, who thought they were receiving sperm from anonymous donors.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/maldives-former-vice-president-gets-20-years-for-graft-332893">Maldives former vice president gets 20 years for graft</a>

Maldives former vice president Ahmed Adeeb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to graft, money laundering and abuse of power.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/car-bomb-in-north-syria-kills-14-332924">Car bomb in north Syria kills 14</a>

A car bomb on Tuesday killed 14 people in the Turkish-controlled town of Al-Bab in northern Syria.

Michelle Obama slams Trump in closing argument for Biden Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama has accused President Donald Trump of "willful mismanagement" of the coronavirus crisis and of racism in a scathing new video ahead of the November 3 presidential election.

Michelle Obama slams Trump in closing argument for Biden Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama has accused President Donald Trump of "willful mismanagement" of the coronavirus crisis and of racism in a scathing new video ahead of the November 3 presidential election. COVID-19 vaccine may be ready by year-end: WHO's Tedros A vaccine against COVID-19 may be ready by year-end, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, without elaborating. Trio awarded Nobel Physics Prize for research into black holes Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the US won the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for their research into black holes. Hong Kong teacher struck off for holding 'pro-independence' classes A Hong Kong teacher has been struck off for allegedly promoting the city's independence in classes. ISRO plans to launch new rocket before December 2020 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working towards launching its new rocket 'Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)' before December 2020, a senior official said. Trump is the only patient to have received the Covid-19 treatment he did If you contract the coronavirus in the United States, you may get a similar behavioural treatment the president -- Donald Trump -- received. But not the same kind of medical treatment. Warner Bros. movies calendar: 'Batman' shifts to 2022, 'Matrix 4' to 2021 Warner Bros., has released their movies release calendar with some major jigs between dates of ‘The Batman’, ‘Dune’ and other films. Floods in Italy, France cause dead bodies unearth from cemeteries Massive floods in France and Italy have not just killed people along with causing other destruction, but their sheer intensity has also swept out corpses from cemeteries. Scandalous Dutch fertility doctor fathered 17 children A deceased gynaecologist has fathered at least 17 children with women, who thought they were receiving sperm from anonymous donors. Maldives former vice president gets 20 years for graft Maldives former vice president Ahmed Adeeb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to graft, money laundering and abuse of power. Car bomb in north Syria kills 14 A car bomb on Tuesday killed 14 people in the Turkish-controlled town of Al-Bab in northern Syria.

Top ten world news: Updates on US election 2020, Covid vaccine and more

US President Trump on Tuesday returned to the White House after being discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/white-house-press-secretary-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-332748">Also read | White House press secretary tests positive for coronavirus</a> 
 
Trump, who checked out of hospital after four days of emergency treatment for coronavirus infection, pulled off his mask the moment he reached the White House and vowed to quickly get back on the campaign trail.

“Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump tweeted downplaying the serious threat of the virus, which has killed 209,000 people in the United States.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/OxmRcZ5nUZ">pic.twitter.com/OxmRcZ5nUZ</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313267615083761665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

According to the US media, Trump’s doctor said it was unclear when the president would no longer be able to infect others.

After reaching White House, he walked up the steps onto the South Portico's stately balcony and demonstratively removed his mask, saluting the departing Marine One.

With less than a month until November 3 election day, polls show Trump behind Democrat Joe Biden and left scrambling even harder by his hospitalization to catch up.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/Sn4yTTg8eB">pic.twitter.com/Sn4yTTg8eB</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313267143232942081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

The return to the White House was minutely stage managed to show he is physically fit, while a series of striking tweets demonstrated Trump's coming angle of political attack — that he personally beat Covid and will now lead the country to its own comeback.

"Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!!" he said in one tweet.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!! The Fake News only shows the Fake Polls.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313243541959737349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

"Don't be afraid of Covid," he said in another, claiming to be feeling rejuvenated after his illness.

But the 74-year-old Republican's display of bravado came the same day as his own chief spokeswoman tested positive for the virus -- the latest in an outbreak raging within the White House.

And despite his claims to be in good health again, a combination of White House secrecy, conflicting information from officials and the viral spread among his own circle, damaged his credibility.

In a briefing from the hospital, presidential physician Sean Conley said Trump is "back" but also said he would not be "entirely out of the woods" for another week.

It wasn't clear how free Trump will be to move about in the White House's crowded corridors and small office spaces. The facility, however, has a medical team of its own which will monitor the president in case of relapse.

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

US President Trump on Tuesday returned to the White House after being discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. Also read | White House press secretary tests positive for coronavirus Trump, who checked out of hospital after four days of emergency treatment for coronavirus infection, pulled off his mask the moment he reached the White House and vowed to quickly get back on the campaign trail.

US President Trump on Tuesday returned to the White House after being discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. Also read | White House press secretary tests positive for coronavirus Trump, who checked out of hospital after four days of emergency treatment for coronavirus infection, pulled off his mask the moment he reached the White House and vowed to quickly get back on the campaign trail. “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump tweeted downplaying the serious threat of the virus, which has killed 209,000 people in the United States. pic.twitter.com/OxmRcZ5nUZ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020 × According to the US media, Trump’s doctor said it was unclear when the president would no longer be able to infect others. After reaching White House, he walked up the steps onto the South Portico's stately balcony and demonstratively removed his mask, saluting the departing Marine One. With less than a month until November 3 election day, polls show Trump behind Democrat Joe Biden and left scrambling even harder by his hospitalization to catch up. pic.twitter.com/Sn4yTTg8eB — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020 × The return to the White House was minutely stage managed to show he is physically fit, while a series of striking tweets demonstrated Trump's coming angle of political attack — that he personally beat Covid and will now lead the country to its own comeback. "Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!!" he said in one tweet. Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!! The Fake News only shows the Fake Polls. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020 × "Don't be afraid of Covid," he said in another, claiming to be feeling rejuvenated after his illness. But the 74-year-old Republican's display of bravado came the same day as his own chief spokeswoman tested positive for the virus -- the latest in an outbreak raging within the White House. And despite his claims to be in good health again, a combination of White House secrecy, conflicting information from officials and the viral spread among his own circle, damaged his credibility. In a briefing from the hospital, presidential physician Sean Conley said Trump is "back" but also said he would not be "entirely out of the woods" for another week. It wasn't clear how free Trump will be to move about in the White House's crowded corridors and small office spaces. The facility, however, has a medical team of its own which will monitor the president in case of relapse. (With inputs from agencies)

Trump, still infectious, returns to White House; removes mask despite having Covid

“Any man's death diminishes me,” wrote John Donne, “because I am involved in Mankinde.” With that thought, let us all wish Donald Trump a full and speedy recovery from his bout of COVID-19.

We wish him well because, even, or especially, in our hyperpolitical age, some things must be beyond politics. When everything is political, nothing is sacred — starting with human life. It’s a point the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century understood well.

We wish him well because the sudden death of any president is a traumatic national event that will inevitably animate every crackpot in the country. If the term “grassy knoll” still means something in America, just imagine the reaction in the QAnon world if Trump’s condition were to abruptly deteriorate after his stay at Walter Reed.

We wish him well because of Mike Pence.

We wish him well because, even as he tweets “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he could still serve as a living witness to the fact that if you stick a lot of maskless people close together you are likely to spread the virus, as it has to more than a dozen people, and counting, in his circle. Courage, says Aristotle, is the mean between rashness and cowardice. Trump may still be rash, but his followers don’t need to be.

We wish him well because doing otherwise would bring us down to his level — the victory he has always sought; the victory that, among both his fervent loyalists and angriest critics, he has largely gained. The goal of the Trump project is the diminishment of moral expectations and the debasement of public norms. For his enemies to wish him dead would be his ultimate vindication.

We wish him well because the country requires a political referendum, not a literal post-mortem, on this presidency. Trump’s illness is an incident of nature, but his brand of politics is a force in the world of ideas. If he loses reelection (at least if he loses by a wide margin), then right-wing populism loses also, in the U.S. and across the world. If he wins, then those of us who are his opponents will have to take stock of the ways in which we have hurt our own cause. That includes the way in which our personal distaste for the man and our condescension, overt or implicit, to his voters have made us even more distasteful to ordinary Americans than he is.

We wish him well because if, God forbid, the president were to die this month, he would go down undefeated, a martyr to the tens of millions of Americans who’ve treated him as a savior. Trump’s death would guarantee a long life for Trumpism, with his children as its principal beneficiaries.

We wish him well because Trump’s opponents — Democrats and NeverTrumpers alike — need a clean political victory. If Trump survives but is forced to endure a difficult recovery, it could put the hideousness of last week’s debate behind him, mute the criticism of his performance and soften his image in the eyes of wavering voters. The longer he lingers, the better his chances may be, at least politically.

We wish him well because if illness keeps him sidelined and he winds up losing the election, he will surely blame the disease for the loss. This could well be untrue (see above), but it won’t stop his supporters from believing it. Again, Trump the man needs to live — and lose — because it’s the only way the Trump cult might die.

We wish him well because it is too rich for words to see his chronic apologists in the media suddenly become appalled and dismayed by the bad manners of those who have gloated over Trump’s diagnosis. Who are these latter-day Capt. Renaults, “shocked, shocked” to discover the incivilities of American discourse? And where were they, other than cheering from the sidelines or murmuring evasions about the president’s “style,” when it was the president insulting and defaming his critics?

We wish him well because we are better than he is. We are better than the man who mocked Hunter Biden for his substance-abuse issues. We are better than the man who called NeverTrumpers “human scum.” We are better than the man who wants to put his political opponents in jail. We are better than the man who publicly humiliates his own advisers. We are better than the man who demeaned the gold-star parents of a fallen soldier. We are better than the man who pantomimed the physical disabilities of a reporter. We are better than the man who stiffs his suppliers and swindles his “students.” We are better than the man who uses his celebrity to grope. We are better than the man who took a bone-spur draft deferment so that he could live to denigrate the courage of prisoners of war. We are better than the man who race-baited and conspiracy-theorized his way into political relevance.

We wish him well because it’s the right thing to do. It’s more than reason enough.

“Any man's death diminishes me,” wrote John Donne, “because I am involved in Mankinde.” With that thought, let us all wish Donald Trump a full and speedy recovery from his bout of COVID-19.

“Any man's death diminishes me,” wrote John Donne, “because I am involved in Mankinde.” With that thought, let us all wish Donald Trump a full and speedy recovery from his bout of COVID-19. We wish him well because, even, or especially, in our hyperpolitical age, some things must be beyond politics. When everything is political, nothing is sacred — starting with human life. It’s a point the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century understood well. We wish him well because the sudden death of any president is a traumatic national event that will inevitably animate every crackpot in the country. If the term “grassy knoll” still means something in America, just imagine the reaction in the QAnon world if Trump’s condition were to abruptly deteriorate after his stay at Walter Reed. We wish him well because of Mike Pence. We wish him well because, even as he tweets “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he could still serve as a living witness to the fact that if you stick a lot of maskless people close together you are likely to spread the virus, as it has to more than a dozen people, and counting, in his circle. Courage, says Aristotle, is the mean between rashness and cowardice. Trump may still be rash, but his followers don’t need to be. We wish him well because doing otherwise would bring us down to his level — the victory he has always sought; the victory that, among both his fervent loyalists and angriest critics, he has largely gained. The goal of the Trump project is the diminishment of moral expectations and the debasement of public norms. For his enemies to wish him dead would be his ultimate vindication. We wish him well because the country requires a political referendum, not a literal post-mortem, on this presidency. Trump’s illness is an incident of nature, but his brand of politics is a force in the world of ideas. If he loses reelection (at least if he loses by a wide margin), then right-wing populism loses also, in the U.S. and across the world. If he wins, then those of us who are his opponents will have to take stock of the ways in which we have hurt our own cause. That includes the way in which our personal distaste for the man and our condescension, overt or implicit, to his voters have made us even more distasteful to ordinary Americans than he is. We wish him well because if, God forbid, the president were to die this month, he would go down undefeated, a martyr to the tens of millions of Americans who’ve treated him as a savior. Trump’s death would guarantee a long life for Trumpism, with his children as its principal beneficiaries. We wish him well because Trump’s opponents — Democrats and NeverTrumpers alike — need a clean political victory. If Trump survives but is forced to endure a difficult recovery, it could put the hideousness of last week’s debate behind him, mute the criticism of his performance and soften his image in the eyes of wavering voters. The longer he lingers, the better his chances may be, at least politically. We wish him well because if illness keeps him sidelined and he winds up losing the election, he will surely blame the disease for the loss. This could well be untrue (see above), but it won’t stop his supporters from believing it. Again, Trump the man needs to live — and lose — because it’s the only way the Trump cult might die. We wish him well because it is too rich for words to see his chronic apologists in the media suddenly become appalled and dismayed by the bad manners of those who have gloated over Trump’s diagnosis. Who are these latter-day Capt. Renaults, “shocked, shocked” to discover the incivilities of American discourse? And where were they, other than cheering from the sidelines or murmuring evasions about the president’s “style,” when it was the president insulting and defaming his critics? We wish him well because we are better than he is. We are better than the man who mocked Hunter Biden for his substance-abuse issues. We are better than the man who called NeverTrumpers “human scum.” We are better than the man who wants to put his political opponents in jail. We are better than the man who publicly humiliates his own advisers. We are better than the man who demeaned the gold-star parents of a fallen soldier. We are better than the man who pantomimed the physical disabilities of a reporter. We are better than the man who stiffs his suppliers and swindles his “students.” We are better than the man who uses his celebrity to grope. We are better than the man who took a bone-spur draft deferment so that he could live to denigrate the courage of prisoners of war. We are better than the man who race-baited and conspiracy-theorized his way into political relevance. We wish him well because it’s the right thing to do. It’s more than reason enough.

Wish a president well who doesn’t wish you well

WASHINGTON — For months, Joe Biden has gone to great lengths to model responsible behavior in the coronavirus era. He wears masks in public. He does not hold crowded rallies. When he gives speeches, reporters sit at a distance from one another, with white circles on the ground to mark their turf. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/irresponsibility-is-astounding-covid-positive-trump-faces-criticism-for-joyride-332525">Also read | ‘Irresponsibility is astounding’: Covid-positive Trump faces criticism for 'joyride'</a> 
 
These actions have so far helped keep Biden healthy and able to continue campaigning while President Donald Trump, who mocked masks and held large events, is now hospitalized with COVID-19. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-once-mocked-by-trump-now-has-the-proverbial-last-laugh-332139">Also read | Biden, once mocked by Trump, now has the proverbial last laugh</a>

But beyond the public examples of safety precautions, Biden’s health protocols have remained largely under wraps, with his campaign saying little about what steps it is taking to protect the 77-year-old Democratic nominee.

His aides will not answer questions about whether Biden is tested daily; they say simply that he is tested “regularly.” Until this weekend, they had promised to inform the public only if he had a confirmed positive case. Then, Saturday night, after two days of refusing to provide details about Biden’s testing procedures, the campaign committed to releasing the results of all his tests. He tested negative Sunday, his campaign said.

Transparency has taken on new significance in the presidential race given the conflicting information about Trump’s health and the fact that his Democratic rival, who is also in an age group that is particularly susceptible to COVID-19, was exposed to the president during their 90-minute debate Tuesday. Biden, who is ahead in national polls and many battleground state surveys, still faces the possibility of a positive test; he is continuing to campaign rather than follow public health guidelines to quarantine, and his campaign has been cagey about his health protocols.

The questions about Biden’s health come as he is confronting an unprecedented political reality: He would be the oldest president ever elected if he wins in November, and he faces the daily personal risks of a pandemic that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States. Trump’s diagnosis, and the apparent health threat he posed during a debate where he was often talking or shouting over Biden, are forcing the Biden campaign to grapple with its own next steps and disclosures regarding the health of the Democratic nominee.

WASHINGTON — For months, Joe Biden has gone to great lengths to model responsible behavior in the coronavirus era. He wears masks in public. He does not hold crowded rallies.

WASHINGTON — For months, Joe Biden has gone to great lengths to model responsible behavior in the coronavirus era. He wears masks in public. He does not hold crowded rallies. When he gives speeches, reporters sit at a distance from one another, with white circles on the ground to mark their turf. Also read | ‘Irresponsibility is astounding’: Covid-positive Trump faces criticism for 'joyride' These actions have so far helped keep Biden healthy and able to continue campaigning while President Donald Trump, who mocked masks and held large events, is now hospitalized with COVID-19. Also read | Biden, once mocked by Trump, now has the proverbial last laugh But beyond the public examples of safety precautions, Biden’s health protocols have remained largely under wraps, with his campaign saying little about what steps it is taking to protect the 77-year-old Democratic nominee. His aides will not answer questions about whether Biden is tested daily; they say simply that he is tested “regularly.” Until this weekend, they had promised to inform the public only if he had a confirmed positive case. Then, Saturday night, after two days of refusing to provide details about Biden’s testing procedures, the campaign committed to releasing the results of all his tests. He tested negative Sunday, his campaign said. Transparency has taken on new significance in the presidential race given the conflicting information about Trump’s health and the fact that his Democratic rival, who is also in an age group that is particularly susceptible to COVID-19, was exposed to the president during their 90-minute debate Tuesday. Biden, who is ahead in national polls and many battleground state surveys, still faces the possibility of a positive test; he is continuing to campaign rather than follow public health guidelines to quarantine, and his campaign has been cagey about his health protocols. The questions about Biden’s health come as he is confronting an unprecedented political reality: He would be the oldest president ever elected if he wins in November, and he faces the daily personal risks of a pandemic that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States. Trump’s diagnosis, and the apparent health threat he posed during a debate where he was often talking or shouting over Biden, are forcing the Biden campaign to grapple with its own next steps and disclosures regarding the health of the Democratic nominee.

After Biden’s exposure to Trump, his team is cagey on health questions

MONTREAL — There were heirs to Canadian fortunes who lived in hillside mansions and arrived at their high school in luxury cars.

There were children of Caribbean immigrants who commuted by bus or subway from a historically Black neighborhood.

There were Anglophones, Francophones and kids from Chinatown.

And then there was Kamala Harris, an extroverted American teenager who had moved to Montreal from California at age 12, dreamed of becoming a lawyer and liked dancing to Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

Thrown into one of Montreal’s most diverse public high schools, the young Harris — whose father was from Jamaica and mother from India — identified as African American, her friends from high school recalled. At the same time, they said, she deftly navigated the competing racial and social divisions at the school.

“In high school, you were either in the white or the Black group,” said Wanda Kagan, her best friend from Westmount High School, who had a white mother and an African American father. “We didn’t fit exactly into either, so we made ourselves fit into both.”

The future senator spent her formative adolescent years in a multicultural environment typical of many Canadian public schools. As she makes history as the first woman of color on a presidential ticket, Canadians have claimed her as a native daughter, seeing her as an embodiment of the country’s progressive politics.

“Joe Biden’s new running mate, Kamala Harris, is a Westmount High graduate,” gushed the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Such is the Kamala mania here that the school has designated an official to field media calls, which have come from across Canada as well as Latin America and Japan.

Some also have a sense that if her ticket wins, it could mend Canada’s fraught ties with a once dependable ally.

“She got educated in her earliest years through a Canadian lens and that was bound to have rubbed off,” said Bruce Heyman, a former ambassador to Canada under President Barack Obama.

Harris came to Montreal with her sister, Maya, and her mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher who was divorced from the girls’ father, an eminent economist, and moved the family to pursue her career.

Harris, who was born in 1964, has downplayed her time in Canada amid a racist misinformation campaign that she was not born American. She declined to comment for this article.

But in her memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” she described the culture shock of the move.

“I was 12 years old, and the thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in 12 feet of snow was distressing,” she wrote.

“My mother tried to make it sound like an adventure, taking us to buy our first down jackets and mittens, as though we were going to be explorers of the great northern winter,” she wrote. “But it was hard for me to see it that way.”

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Her mother initially sent the sisters to a Francophone school. It was a tumultuous time in Quebec, with an ascendant nationalist party and culture wars over language.

“I used to joke that I felt like a duck, because all day long at our new school I’d be saying, ‘Quoi? Quoi? Quoi?’” — What? What? What? — Harris wrote in her memoir.

At age 13, childhood friends said, Kamala mobilized local children to demonstrate in front of their apartment building because the owner had banned children from playing on the lawn. He backed down.

Eventually the family settled on the top floor of a spacious Victorian home in an affluent neighborhood bordering Westmount, one of Canada’s wealthiest districts.

“It was a comfortable home, with high ceilings, hardwood floors, Persian carpets,” recalled Kagan, who first met Harris in eighth grade and lived with her family for a time to escape an abusive stepfather.

In September, Harris wrote a tweet about her friend’s abuse, saying, “One of the reasons I wanted to be a prosecutor was to protect people like her.”

Westmount High, which counts Leonard Cohen among its alumni, was founded in 1874. Its catchment included not only the moneyed Westmount municipality, but also Little Burgundy — once known as “the Harlem of the North” — whose Black churches, Black community center and storied jazz clubs made it a center for Black culture.

The school was roughly 60% white and 40% Black in 1978-81, when Harris attended it, said Garvin Jeffers, a former principal who then led the math department.

Still, Kagan said the school’s divisions “were more about who had the latest Jordache jeans than about race.”

Harris straddled the school’s diverse worlds, her friends said.

Hugh Kwok, the child of Chinese immigrants, can be seen in a 1981 yearbook photo with Harris’ arm leaning on his shoulder. Harris, he said, “melted in with everyone.”

Anu Chopra Sharma, who was in Harris’ French and math classes, recalled the two bonding over having Indian names.

“She said to me, ‘You have an Indian name but you don’t look Indian,’ and I said the same to her,” she said.

“You couldn’t easily label her,” Sharma added.

Although Harris mingled widely, Kagan said “she identified as being African American.” She found belonging in the Black community, and “was drawn to the Little Burgundy kids.”

She recalled that she and Harris attended Black community dance parties and griped about having to be home by 11 p.m.

Above all, she found sisterhood in an all-female dance troupe, Super Six, later Midnight Magic. The girls wore glittering homemade costumes and performed aerobically charged disco moves in front of the school and at homes for the elderly. Harris was called Angel.

Kagan said she and Harris spent long hours rehearsing, inspired by “Solid Gold,” a 1980s pop music television show featuring performers lip-syncing, surrounded by writhing dancers in shiny Lycra.

“We were six girls with big personalities who were every shade of brown and Black, and Kamala could hold her own on the dance floor,” Kagan said.

Trevor Williams, a former basketball player on the Canadian Olympic team, dated Maya Harris in high school. He recalled Maya as more bookish and shy, and Kamala as more outgoing.

“Maya was more of the brainiac, every test 100%, Kamala was a bit more laid back,” he said. “They were always so organized compared to the rest of us.”

He recalled that the Harris sisters played down their relative affluence. “I didn’t even realize at the time that their mother was this high-powered doctor.”

Harris was prepared and forceful in intellectual discussions, her classmates recalled. She was also active — performing in fashion shows, working on the yearbook and part of the Pep Club, whose members yelled and sang at school events accompanied by a rabbit mascot, Purple Peter.

At the heart of it all, however, was her family life.

Harris’ mother was an abiding influence. Kagan recalled the warmth of their home, where Indian rice dishes simmered and studying was mandatory.

“Her mom was strong and instilled that in Kamala,” she said.

Every summer, the girls filled a freezer chest with blanched tomatoes in plastic bags, sucking the air out with straws. The tomatoes were used for soups and sauces.

Dr. Gopalan Harris, who had a doctorate in endocrinology and nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley, spent 16 years in Montreal, at the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University Faculty of Medicine. She developed a method for assessing cancerous breast tissue that became a standard procedure nationwide.

As high school drew to a close, the Canadian version of the prom arrived. Harris was part of a group of girls who attended without dates so that girls who hadn’t been asked out wouldn’t feel excluded.

“We decided that we were going to change the culture,” Kagan said. “Kamala was, like, ‘Let’s do it!’”

The next step for Harris was Howard University in Washington. She had already been pining for home.

In the high school yearbook she described her most cherished memory as a 1980 trip to Los Angeles. She thanked her mother and encouraged her sister: “Be cool MA YA!” Her favorite expression? “Naw, I’m just playing.”

“By the time I got to high school, I had adjusted to our new surroundings,” she wrote in her memoir. “What I hadn’t gotten used to was the feeling of being homesick for my country. I felt this constant sense of yearning to be back home.”

MONTREAL — There were heirs to Canadian fortunes who lived in hillside mansions and arrived at their high school in luxury cars. There were children of Caribbean immigrants who commuted by bus or subway from a historically Black neighborhood.

MONTREAL — There were heirs to Canadian fortunes who lived in hillside mansions and arrived at their high school in luxury cars. There were children of Caribbean immigrants who commuted by bus or subway from a historically Black neighborhood. There were Anglophones, Francophones and kids from Chinatown. And then there was Kamala Harris, an extroverted American teenager who had moved to Montreal from California at age 12, dreamed of becoming a lawyer and liked dancing to Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. Thrown into one of Montreal’s most diverse public high schools, the young Harris — whose father was from Jamaica and mother from India — identified as African American, her friends from high school recalled. At the same time, they said, she deftly navigated the competing racial and social divisions at the school. “In high school, you were either in the white or the Black group,” said Wanda Kagan, her best friend from Westmount High School, who had a white mother and an African American father. “We didn’t fit exactly into either, so we made ourselves fit into both.” The future senator spent her formative adolescent years in a multicultural environment typical of many Canadian public schools. As she makes history as the first woman of color on a presidential ticket, Canadians have claimed her as a native daughter, seeing her as an embodiment of the country’s progressive politics. “Joe Biden’s new running mate, Kamala Harris, is a Westmount High graduate,” gushed the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Such is the Kamala mania here that the school has designated an official to field media calls, which have come from across Canada as well as Latin America and Japan. Some also have a sense that if her ticket wins, it could mend Canada’s fraught ties with a once dependable ally. “She got educated in her earliest years through a Canadian lens and that was bound to have rubbed off,” said Bruce Heyman, a former ambassador to Canada under President Barack Obama. Harris came to Montreal with her sister, Maya, and her mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher who was divorced from the girls’ father, an eminent economist, and moved the family to pursue her career. Harris, who was born in 1964, has downplayed her time in Canada amid a racist misinformation campaign that she was not born American. She declined to comment for this article. But in her memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” she described the culture shock of the move. “I was 12 years old, and the thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in 12 feet of snow was distressing,” she wrote. “My mother tried to make it sound like an adventure, taking us to buy our first down jackets and mittens, as though we were going to be explorers of the great northern winter,” she wrote. “But it was hard for me to see it that way.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) Her mother initially sent the sisters to a Francophone school. It was a tumultuous time in Quebec, with an ascendant nationalist party and culture wars over language. “I used to joke that I felt like a duck, because all day long at our new school I’d be saying, ‘Quoi? Quoi? Quoi?’” — What? What? What? — Harris wrote in her memoir. At age 13, childhood friends said, Kamala mobilized local children to demonstrate in front of their apartment building because the owner had banned children from playing on the lawn. He backed down. Eventually the family settled on the top floor of a spacious Victorian home in an affluent neighborhood bordering Westmount, one of Canada’s wealthiest districts. “It was a comfortable home, with high ceilings, hardwood floors, Persian carpets,” recalled Kagan, who first met Harris in eighth grade and lived with her family for a time to escape an abusive stepfather. In September, Harris wrote a tweet about her friend’s abuse, saying, “One of the reasons I wanted to be a prosecutor was to protect people like her.” Westmount High, which counts Leonard Cohen among its alumni, was founded in 1874. Its catchment included not only the moneyed Westmount municipality, but also Little Burgundy — once known as “the Harlem of the North” — whose Black churches, Black community center and storied jazz clubs made it a center for Black culture. The school was roughly 60% white and 40% Black in 1978-81, when Harris attended it, said Garvin Jeffers, a former principal who then led the math department. Still, Kagan said the school’s divisions “were more about who had the latest Jordache jeans than about race.” Harris straddled the school’s diverse worlds, her friends said. Hugh Kwok, the child of Chinese immigrants, can be seen in a 1981 yearbook photo with Harris’ arm leaning on his shoulder. Harris, he said, “melted in with everyone.” Anu Chopra Sharma, who was in Harris’ French and math classes, recalled the two bonding over having Indian names. “She said to me, ‘You have an Indian name but you don’t look Indian,’ and I said the same to her,” she said. “You couldn’t easily label her,” Sharma added. Although Harris mingled widely, Kagan said “she identified as being African American.” She found belonging in the Black community, and “was drawn to the Little Burgundy kids.” She recalled that she and Harris attended Black community dance parties and griped about having to be home by 11 p.m. Above all, she found sisterhood in an all-female dance troupe, Super Six, later Midnight Magic. The girls wore glittering homemade costumes and performed aerobically charged disco moves in front of the school and at homes for the elderly. Harris was called Angel. Kagan said she and Harris spent long hours rehearsing, inspired by “Solid Gold,” a 1980s pop music television show featuring performers lip-syncing, surrounded by writhing dancers in shiny Lycra. “We were six girls with big personalities who were every shade of brown and Black, and Kamala could hold her own on the dance floor,” Kagan said. Trevor Williams, a former basketball player on the Canadian Olympic team, dated Maya Harris in high school. He recalled Maya as more bookish and shy, and Kamala as more outgoing. “Maya was more of the brainiac, every test 100%, Kamala was a bit more laid back,” he said. “They were always so organized compared to the rest of us.” He recalled that the Harris sisters played down their relative affluence. “I didn’t even realize at the time that their mother was this high-powered doctor.” Harris was prepared and forceful in intellectual discussions, her classmates recalled. She was also active — performing in fashion shows, working on the yearbook and part of the Pep Club, whose members yelled and sang at school events accompanied by a rabbit mascot, Purple Peter. At the heart of it all, however, was her family life. Harris’ mother was an abiding influence. Kagan recalled the warmth of their home, where Indian rice dishes simmered and studying was mandatory. “Her mom was strong and instilled that in Kamala,” she said. Every summer, the girls filled a freezer chest with blanched tomatoes in plastic bags, sucking the air out with straws. The tomatoes were used for soups and sauces. Dr. Gopalan Harris, who had a doctorate in endocrinology and nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley, spent 16 years in Montreal, at the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University Faculty of Medicine. She developed a method for assessing cancerous breast tissue that became a standard procedure nationwide. As high school drew to a close, the Canadian version of the prom arrived. Harris was part of a group of girls who attended without dates so that girls who hadn’t been asked out wouldn’t feel excluded. “We decided that we were going to change the culture,” Kagan said. “Kamala was, like, ‘Let’s do it!’” The next step for Harris was Howard University in Washington. She had already been pining for home. In the high school yearbook she described her most cherished memory as a 1980 trip to Los Angeles. She thanked her mother and encouraged her sister: “Be cool MA YA!” Her favorite expression? “Naw, I’m just playing.” “By the time I got to high school, I had adjusted to our new surroundings,” she wrote in her memoir. “What I hadn’t gotten used to was the feeling of being homesick for my country. I felt this constant sense of yearning to be back home.”

Kamala Harris, a disco-dancing teenager, yearned for home in Canada

Doctors will decide on Monday if United States President Donald Trump can be discharged from hospital following emergency treatment for the coronavirus.

The chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News that the "determination has not been made yet" but "doctors will make a decision on whether to discharge him later today."

The president has, meanwhile, signalled his determination to return to the election campaign with an early morning tweetstorm.

Conflicting official updates since Trump's hospitalisation on Friday have created confusion over his health, but his chief of staff said the 74-year-old's condition had improved overnight, raising hopes he could be discharged during the day.

Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis has upended the White House race less than a month from polling day -- and cast a harsh spotlight on the president's much criticised management of the pandemic which has claimed voer 200,000 American lives.

Eager to portray himself as in charge despite his sickness, Trump sent 15 block-capital tweets in 30 minutes, appealing to voters by claiming a record of successes in his first term including tax cuts and stock market highs, and protecting gun rights and religious liberties.

The tweetstorm came after the president sparked an angry backlash with a protocol-breaking visit to supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated.

He was masked as he waved from inside his bulletproof vehicle during the short trip outside Walter Reed military medical center near Washington on Sunday evening.

Trump, who has been repeatedly rebuked for flouting public health advice and spreading misinformation on the pandemic, said in a video on Twitter just before his outing that he had "learned a lot about Covid" by undergoing treatment.

But experts complained he had broken his own government's guidelines requiring patients to isolate while they are in treatment and still shedding virus -- and had also endangered his Secret Service protection.

The president was flown to Walter Reed with a high fever on Friday after a "rapid progression" of his illness, with his oxygen levels dropping worryingly low, White House doctor Sean Conley said in a Sunday briefing.

Conley admitted that he had kept from the public the fact that the president had been given extra oxygen, in a bid to reflect an "upbeat attitude."

He had given a rosy account of Trump's progress Saturday, only for chief of staff Meadows to tell reporters immediately after that Trump's condition had been "very concerning" and that he was "still not on a clear path to a full recovery."

Facing an uphill campaign ahead of the November 3 vote against Democratic rival Joe Biden, Trump's diagnosis and hospitalization have left him sidelined from what he loves -- campaigning in person.

Biden, who announced Sunday his latest negative test for the virus, will start the week with a trip Monday to key swing state Florida.

Recent polls give Biden a significant lead among registered voters.

Controversy has been mounting over the possibility that Trump might have exposed numerous others to Covid-19.&nbsp;

A timeline provided by his advisors and doctors suggested he met more than 30 donors on Thursday in Bedminster, New Jersey, even after learning that aide Hope Hicks had the virus -- and just hours before he announced his own positive test.

As well as Trump and Hicks, numerous White House insiders and at least three Republican senators have contracted Covid-19, along with First Lady Melania Trump, who has not experienced severe symptoms.

Public health experts have expressed alarm at the "White House cluster" that has been linked to the September 26 Rose Garden celebration of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court.

(with inputs from AFP)

Doctors will decide on Monday if United States President Donald Trump can be discharged from hospital following emergency treatment for the coronavirus. The chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News that the "determination has not been made yet" but "doctors will make a decision on whether to discharge him later today.

Doctors will decide on Monday if United States President Donald Trump can be discharged from hospital following emergency treatment for the coronavirus. The chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News that the "determination has not been made yet" but "doctors will make a decision on whether to discharge him later today." The president has, meanwhile, signalled his determination to return to the election campaign with an early morning tweetstorm. Conflicting official updates since Trump's hospitalisation on Friday have created confusion over his health, but his chief of staff said the 74-year-old's condition had improved overnight, raising hopes he could be discharged during the day. Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis has upended the White House race less than a month from polling day -- and cast a harsh spotlight on the president's much criticised management of the pandemic which has claimed voer 200,000 American lives. Eager to portray himself as in charge despite his sickness, Trump sent 15 block-capital tweets in 30 minutes, appealing to voters by claiming a record of successes in his first term including tax cuts and stock market highs, and protecting gun rights and religious liberties. The tweetstorm came after the president sparked an angry backlash with a protocol-breaking visit to supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated. He was masked as he waved from inside his bulletproof vehicle during the short trip outside Walter Reed military medical center near Washington on Sunday evening. Trump, who has been repeatedly rebuked for flouting public health advice and spreading misinformation on the pandemic, said in a video on Twitter just before his outing that he had "learned a lot about Covid" by undergoing treatment. But experts complained he had broken his own government's guidelines requiring patients to isolate while they are in treatment and still shedding virus -- and had also endangered his Secret Service protection. The president was flown to Walter Reed with a high fever on Friday after a "rapid progression" of his illness, with his oxygen levels dropping worryingly low, White House doctor Sean Conley said in a Sunday briefing. Conley admitted that he had kept from the public the fact that the president had been given extra oxygen, in a bid to reflect an "upbeat attitude." He had given a rosy account of Trump's progress Saturday, only for chief of staff Meadows to tell reporters immediately after that Trump's condition had been "very concerning" and that he was "still not on a clear path to a full recovery." Facing an uphill campaign ahead of the November 3 vote against Democratic rival Joe Biden, Trump's diagnosis and hospitalization have left him sidelined from what he loves -- campaigning in person. Biden, who announced Sunday his latest negative test for the virus, will start the week with a trip Monday to key swing state Florida. Recent polls give Biden a significant lead among registered voters. Controversy has been mounting over the possibility that Trump might have exposed numerous others to Covid-19. A timeline provided by his advisors and doctors suggested he met more than 30 donors on Thursday in Bedminster, New Jersey, even after learning that aide Hope Hicks had the virus -- and just hours before he announced his own positive test. As well as Trump and Hicks, numerous White House insiders and at least three Republican senators have contracted Covid-19, along with First Lady Melania Trump, who has not experienced severe symptoms. Public health experts have expressed alarm at the "White House cluster" that has been linked to the September 26 Rose Garden celebration of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court. (with inputs from AFP)

Doctors to decide on Trump hospital discharge 'later' on Monday: White House

Former US president Barack Obama self-admittedly plans to vote by mail in the upcoming November 3 election, calling it "safe" and "secure."

"I will vote by mail just because when I vote in person, I've got to admit, there's a fuss. I've been voting by mail since I was elected president. It's safe, it's secure as long as you follow the instructions and do it in a timely way," Obama said on Friday.

His comments come at a time when the incumbent president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly accused mail-in voting of being easily manipulated by fraud. The claim has, however, been rejected by many owing to lack of any evidence backing it up.

Also, Trump had tweeted in May: "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged &amp; even illegally printed out &amp; fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one."

The tweet received a notice from Twitter that said: "Get the facts about mail-in ballots."

The message linked to a page with statements asserting that there's no evidence linking mail-in ballots to voter fraud.

The Trump campaign has even filed lawsuit again mail-in ballots in Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, North Carolina, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

The US Postal Service' (USPS) recent delivery slowdown following the May 2020 selection of Louis DeJoy, a major GOP donor with no previous USPS experience, as Postmaster General has also contributed to rising doubts against mail-in voting.&nbsp;

Former US president Barack Obama self-admittedly plans to vote by mail in the upcoming November 3 election, calling it "safe" and "secure." "I will vote by mail just because when I vote in person, I've got to admit, there's a fuss.

Former US president Barack Obama self-admittedly plans to vote by mail in the upcoming November 3 election, calling it "safe" and "secure." "I will vote by mail just because when I vote in person, I've got to admit, there's a fuss. I've been voting by mail since I was elected president. It's safe, it's secure as long as you follow the instructions and do it in a timely way," Obama said on Friday. His comments come at a time when the incumbent president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly accused mail-in voting of being easily manipulated by fraud. The claim has, however, been rejected by many owing to lack of any evidence backing it up. Also, Trump had tweeted in May: "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one." The tweet received a notice from Twitter that said: "Get the facts about mail-in ballots." The message linked to a page with statements asserting that there's no evidence linking mail-in ballots to voter fraud. The Trump campaign has even filed lawsuit again mail-in ballots in Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, North Carolina, Iowa and Pennsylvania. The US Postal Service' (USPS) recent delivery slowdown following the May 2020 selection of Louis DeJoy, a major GOP donor with no previous USPS experience, as Postmaster General has also contributed to rising doubts against mail-in voting.

Barack Obama says plans to vote by mail in 2020 presidential election

Global equity markets slumped and investors piled into safer gold and the Japanese yen on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to market uncertainty just 32 days before U.S. elections.

Trump’s bombshell announcement sparked a risk-off mood among investors already concerned about an elusive coronavirus relief package aimed at bolstering a U.S. economy that has lost steam, as seen by slowing jobs growth in September payrolls data.

Gold headed toward its best week in nearly two months even as it pared early gains, while the Japanese yen made its sharpest advance in more than a month. But the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose mildly, entrenched in a narrow trading range it has held for three weeks.

How voters feel about the pandemic on voting day could determine the election’s outcome and that is highly unusual, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for the U.S. SPDR business at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.

“Today’s news demonstrates a bit of a weakness in terms of the Trump re-election campaign,” he said. “The range of outcomes has expanded and some of the more extreme outcomes have increased in probability and markets certainly don’t like that.”

Trump is experiencing mild symptoms but will keep working after testing positive, administration officials said.

Stocks on Wall Street mostly fell but regional indexes in Europe ended slightly higher after an initial sell-off on the Trump news. The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.22% to 1,405.35 and the STOXX Europe 600 added 0.25% to 362.69.

MSCI’s benchmark for global equity markets fell 0.5% to 565.15, while its emerging markets index fell 0.26%.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08%, while the S&amp;P 500 lost 0.61% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.99%.

How long the risk-aversion will last depends on the extent of the infection within the White House, said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Swiss wealth manager Prime Partners.

“It will weigh on the market today and early next week but will not induce a long-lasting correction if the infection is contained to Trump,” he said.

As for stock market shocks, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, caused the S&amp;P 500 to plunge nearly 3% and the New York Stock Exchange shut two hours before its regular closing time. But the losses were confined to a single day and the market recovered within two days.

The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday was the last before the Nov. 3 presidential election.

September’s employment gains were the smallest since the jobs recovery started in May and left the U.S. labor market a long way from recouping the 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April, indicating slower growth heading into the fourth quarter.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 661,000 jobs last month, below consensus expectations of 850,000, leading to mostly negative reaction by economists.

But both Arone and Steven Ricchiuto, U.S. chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA in New York, said the loss of government jobs, mostly seasonal in education, pulled numbers lower while the private sector’s gains were above overall expectations.

“The net result is the seasonal factors pulled down the state and local portion, very, very dramatically, in particular in the in education area,” Ricchiuto said. “The private sector component, however, continues to improve at a healthy pace.”

The government lost more than 200,000 jobs, Arone said.

“Those job losses on the government side are real, don’t get me wrong. But overall the private sector seems to be hanging in there pretty well,” he said.

<h2>BETS ARE OFF</h2>

With the election now more uncertain, online gambling site Betfair on Friday suspended betting on the outcome of the Nov. 3 vote.

The news from the White House triggered a rise in the dollar and the yen. The dollar index rose 0.103%, with the euro down 0.28% to $1.1714.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.15% versus the greenback at 105.37 per dollar.

The Australian dollar, which serves as a liquid proxy for risk assets, was down 0.23%.

Germany’s benchmark 10-year bond was down around 0.7 basis point at -0.536%.

Crude prices fell 4% on Trump’s positive test for COVID-19, roiling risky assets, and as rising global crude output threatens to overwhelm the oil market’s weak recovery.

Brent crude futures settled down $1.66 at $39.27 a barrel. U.S. crude futures fell $1.67 to settle at $37.05 a barrel.

Gold pared early gains to turn lower as stocks pared losses.

“If more members of the U.S. government’s senior leadership are diagnosed positive, gold could be set for an extended rally,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

Spot gold prices fell 0.17% to $1,901.77 an ounce. U.S. gold futures settled down 0.5% at $1,907.60.

Global equity markets slumped and investors piled into safer gold and the Japanese yen on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to market uncertainty just 32 days before U.

Global equity markets slumped and investors piled into safer gold and the Japanese yen on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to market uncertainty just 32 days before U.S. elections. Trump’s bombshell announcement sparked a risk-off mood among investors already concerned about an elusive coronavirus relief package aimed at bolstering a U.S. economy that has lost steam, as seen by slowing jobs growth in September payrolls data. Gold headed toward its best week in nearly two months even as it pared early gains, while the Japanese yen made its sharpest advance in more than a month. But the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose mildly, entrenched in a narrow trading range it has held for three weeks. How voters feel about the pandemic on voting day could determine the election’s outcome and that is highly unusual, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for the U.S. SPDR business at State Street Global Advisors in Boston. “Today’s news demonstrates a bit of a weakness in terms of the Trump re-election campaign,” he said. “The range of outcomes has expanded and some of the more extreme outcomes have increased in probability and markets certainly don’t like that.” Trump is experiencing mild symptoms but will keep working after testing positive, administration officials said. Stocks on Wall Street mostly fell but regional indexes in Europe ended slightly higher after an initial sell-off on the Trump news. The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.22% to 1,405.35 and the STOXX Europe 600 added 0.25% to 362.69. MSCI’s benchmark for global equity markets fell 0.5% to 565.15, while its emerging markets index fell 0.26%. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.61% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.99%. How long the risk-aversion will last depends on the extent of the infection within the White House, said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Swiss wealth manager Prime Partners. “It will weigh on the market today and early next week but will not induce a long-lasting correction if the infection is contained to Trump,” he said. As for stock market shocks, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, caused the S&P 500 to plunge nearly 3% and the New York Stock Exchange shut two hours before its regular closing time. But the losses were confined to a single day and the market recovered within two days. The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday was the last before the Nov. 3 presidential election. September’s employment gains were the smallest since the jobs recovery started in May and left the U.S. labor market a long way from recouping the 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April, indicating slower growth heading into the fourth quarter. U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 661,000 jobs last month, below consensus expectations of 850,000, leading to mostly negative reaction by economists. But both Arone and Steven Ricchiuto, U.S. chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA in New York, said the loss of government jobs, mostly seasonal in education, pulled numbers lower while the private sector’s gains were above overall expectations. “The net result is the seasonal factors pulled down the state and local portion, very, very dramatically, in particular in the in education area,” Ricchiuto said. “The private sector component, however, continues to improve at a healthy pace.” The government lost more than 200,000 jobs, Arone said. “Those job losses on the government side are real, don’t get me wrong. But overall the private sector seems to be hanging in there pretty well,” he said. BETS ARE OFF With the election now more uncertain, online gambling site Betfair on Friday suspended betting on the outcome of the Nov. 3 vote. The news from the White House triggered a rise in the dollar and the yen. The dollar index rose 0.103%, with the euro down 0.28% to $1.1714. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.15% versus the greenback at 105.37 per dollar. The Australian dollar, which serves as a liquid proxy for risk assets, was down 0.23%. Germany’s benchmark 10-year bond was down around 0.7 basis point at -0.536%. Crude prices fell 4% on Trump’s positive test for COVID-19, roiling risky assets, and as rising global crude output threatens to overwhelm the oil market’s weak recovery. Brent crude futures settled down $1.66 at $39.27 a barrel. U.S. crude futures fell $1.67 to settle at $37.05 a barrel. Gold pared early gains to turn lower as stocks pared losses. “If more members of the U.S. government’s senior leadership are diagnosed positive, gold could be set for an extended rally,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA. Spot gold prices fell 0.17% to $1,901.77 an ounce. U.S. gold futures settled down 0.5% at $1,907.60.

Stocks fall, dollar gains after Trump gets coronavirus

A new recording from US President Donald Trump's April 13 interview with journalist Bob Woodward has emerged that shows him saying he wasn't concerned about contracting the novel coronavirus.

The irony is Trump now is hospitalised with COVID-19 in the military hospital, upending the upcoming presidential election. And his Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who he used to mock for being too cautious about the virus, is now on a campaign trail.

CNN on Friday obtained a new audio recording from Woodward's April 13 interview with Trump that sheds new light on the president's mindset. While Trump admitted to Woodward the virus is a "plague" that "rips you apart," he dismissed concerns about his own health.

"You're risking getting it, of course," said Woodward. "The way you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that?"

"No, I'm not. I don't know why I'm not. I'm not," the President responded.

"Why?" Woodward asked.

"I don't know," Trump said. "I'm just not."

Trump has often been criticised for his mishandling and downplaying of the pandemic. He also has contradicted or undermined the recommendations from experts in his own administration. And he has repeatedly said that the end of the virus' spread was just around the corner.

The president's rosy assessment of the public-health crisis had not diminished even in the hours leading up to announcing his positive test results early Friday morning. In prerecorded remarks for Thursday night's Al Smith charity dinner, Trump proclaimed that the "end of the pandemic is in sight."

According to a previous report by CNN, Trump told Woodward a story about a meeting of about 10 people in the Oval Office where someone in the room sneezed.

"You know, just a sneeze, the entire room bailed out, OK? Including me, by the way," Trump said.

Meanwhile, Biden has the proverbial last laugh.

At a rally in Michigan, he said, "This is not a matter of politics. It's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. It's not going away automatically."

Biden urged all Americans to follow scientific guidelines, including wearing masks, washing hands frequently and staying 6 feet (1.83 m) apart. Health officials, including the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, have said masks are a crucial tool for slowing the spread of the virus.

"Be patriotic," Biden said. "It's not about being a tough guy. It`s about doing your part."

A new recording from US President Donald Trump's April 13 interview with journalist Bob Woodward has emerged that shows him saying he wasn't concerned about contracting the novel coronavirus.

A new recording from US President Donald Trump's April 13 interview with journalist Bob Woodward has emerged that shows him saying he wasn't concerned about contracting the novel coronavirus. The irony is Trump now is hospitalised with COVID-19 in the military hospital, upending the upcoming presidential election. And his Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who he used to mock for being too cautious about the virus, is now on a campaign trail. CNN on Friday obtained a new audio recording from Woodward's April 13 interview with Trump that sheds new light on the president's mindset. While Trump admitted to Woodward the virus is a "plague" that "rips you apart," he dismissed concerns about his own health. "You're risking getting it, of course," said Woodward. "The way you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that?" "No, I'm not. I don't know why I'm not. I'm not," the President responded. "Why?" Woodward asked. "I don't know," Trump said. "I'm just not." Trump has often been criticised for his mishandling and downplaying of the pandemic. He also has contradicted or undermined the recommendations from experts in his own administration. And he has repeatedly said that the end of the virus' spread was just around the corner. The president's rosy assessment of the public-health crisis had not diminished even in the hours leading up to announcing his positive test results early Friday morning. In prerecorded remarks for Thursday night's Al Smith charity dinner, Trump proclaimed that the "end of the pandemic is in sight." According to a previous report by CNN, Trump told Woodward a story about a meeting of about 10 people in the Oval Office where someone in the room sneezed. "You know, just a sneeze, the entire room bailed out, OK? Including me, by the way," Trump said. Meanwhile, Biden has the proverbial last laugh. At a rally in Michigan, he said, "This is not a matter of politics. It's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. It's not going away automatically." Biden urged all Americans to follow scientific guidelines, including wearing masks, washing hands frequently and staying 6 feet (1.83 m) apart. Health officials, including the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, have said masks are a crucial tool for slowing the spread of the virus. "Be patriotic," Biden said. "It's not about being a tough guy. It`s about doing your part."

Trump once said he wasn't concerned about contracting coronavirus