Biden news: Ex-VP ‘getting Covid test today’ as Trump diagnosis throws election into chaos
Read back our blog of the aftermath of Trump’s positive coronavirus test
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Your support makes all the difference.Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will get tested for coronavirus later today after sharing the stage with President Donald Trump during the presidential debate on Tuesday.
It comes just hours after the US president announced he and his wife, Melania Trump, have tested positive for coronavirus and are in quarantine.
Mr Trump’s diagnosis also comes during a crucial period before the November elections, with both his and Mr Biden’s campaigns thrown into a tailspin.
Questions have been raised over whether the former vice-president should suspend his campaign while his rival remains in quarantine for the next 15 days.
But the development settles the focus of the campaign right where Mr Biden has put his emphasis for months: on Trump's response to a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the US. And for the short term, it's grounded Mr Trump in isolation, denying him the large public rallies that fuel his campaign.
“From now until we get to the election, attention is going to be back where it should be: on Covid, the president's response and the impact — and on health care,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, a Biden supporter. “This proves our candidate was right all along.”
Karen Finney, another Democratic consultant and top adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, said the immediate focus should be on the Trumps' health. But she added the development proves that not even Mr Trump, no matter his talents for dictating headlines and framing events, can control a pandemic.
“It's a reminder that the American presidency is bigger than any one person, given the reach and depth this news has,” she said, noting that a health scare for a president not only dominates headlines but can rattle financial markets.
Trump tweeted Friday that he'd begin quarantining and recovery. He's cancelled his weekend itinerary in Wisconsin, one of the three Great Lakes states that he won by less than one percentage point in 2016 on his way to the presidency.
Americans have already begun voting in several states, meanwhile, and tens of millions will receive absentee mail-in ballots or be eligible for in-person early voting in the coming weeks.
Additional reporting by AP
A clip being shared on social media shows Donald Trump during Tuesday’s presidential debate mocking Joe Biden for wearing “the biggest mask I’ve ever seen”.
It is possible Mr Trump had already contracted coronavirus when he made this comment.
Who else has been exposed to Covid in the White House?
President Donald Trump announced late on Thursday that he and First Lady Melania Trump, had tested positive for the coronavirus and would immediately quarantine, leading to speculation as to whether his rival, Joe Biden, may also be at risk.
Mr Trump’s diagnosis came shortly after a White House counsellor, Hope Hicks, tested positive for the virus as early as Wednesday evening.
In the run-up to her result, Ms Hicks had accompanied the president to the presidential debate on Tuesday, and a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.
So, which other political figures have been exposed to the coronavirus?
Read more:
Who else has been exposed to the coronavirus in the White House?
The Trump administration put Joe Biden at risk, one expert says
What happens if Trump withdraws from election after Covid diagnosis?
With almost 30 days until the US presidential election, Donald Trump announced overnight he and wife Melania Trump have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
It marks an unprecedented turn of events for an election campaign nearing its climax - and a president who spent months downplaying the pandemic’s threat to the American public.
It comes as a close aide who travelled alongside Mr Trump this week on Air Force One tested positive with Covid-19 as early as Wednesday.
Read more:
What happens if Trump withdraws from 2020 election following coronavirus diagnosis?
How party national committees, state laws, and Supreme Court would intervene if president too ill to compete
Kamala Harris, who reportedly tested negative for coronavirus on Thursday, has tweeted wishing Donald and Melania Trump a “speedy recovery” from illness.
White House press secretary may have exposed reporters to coronavirus
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany may have exposed reporters and White House staff to the coronavirus during a contentious briefing on Thursday after Hope Hicks, a senior aide to the president, reported feeling ill the day before.
Donald Trump announced that Ms Hicks tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday night.
Two hours later, he announced that he also tested positive, along with first lady Melania Trump, hours after the president held an event at his New Jersey golf club with more than 100 people and travelled to Minnesota for a fundraiser and a rally on Wednesday.
Read more:
White House press secretary may have exposed reporters to coronavirus during combative press conference
Kayleigh McEnany says she did not know Hope Hicks tested positive during Thursday briefing
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