Trump news: Fears of new White House super-spreader debacle as president invites guests to public event
Follow the latest updates
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
After likely contracting Covid-19 from a "super-spreader" event at the White House, Donald Trump will mark his first public engagement on Saturday by holding… another event at the White House.
It comes after the president returned to the virtual campaign trail on Friday with a two-hour online rally with radio host Rush Limbaugh, ahead of a planned "televised evaluation" on Tucker Carlson's evening Fox News broadcast.
The two-hour love-fest with Limbaugh saw the president drop the F-bomb, call his experimental Covid treatment a "cure", and claim Nancy Pelosi was trying to oust Joe Biden with a 25th amendment play.
Trump's theory on Pelosi ousting Biden came after the House speaker announced a bill to create a new oversight commission, which would use the 25th amendment to remove the commander in chief form office if determined to be lacking the physical or mental capacity.
While it wouldn't apply to Trump before the election, it would apply to whoever wins the next term.
Trump believes he is at full capacity after his doctors gave the all-clear to return from Covid treatment from Saturday - giving him 24 days on the campaign trail until the election.
The president was set to give an in-person interview and undergo a “televised medical evaluation” on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show on Friday night, with a larger in-person rally to be held in Florida on Monday.
The second presidential debate, meanwhile, was officially cancelled after the format was changed to a virtual townhall. In a late radio interview, Trump said the debate commission was a "crooked" deal and that the moderator was a "never Trumper".
He was referencing C-SPAN's Steve Scully, who had faced allegations of bias for interning with Joe Biden decades ago and posing with him in friendly photos while socializing in 2016, when he also tweeted "No, not Trump, not ever" when sharing a news article.
CSPAN said on Friday that Scully’s Twitter was hacked when a tweet was sent from his account to anti-Trump activist and former White House staffer, Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci.
Trump plays the Trump Card
Trump’s latest tweet means we’ll have to watch this now to see what, exactly, the president is endorsing.
Written, produced, and directed by author Dinesh D’Souza, his website describes the Trump Card as "an exposé of the socialism, corruption and gangsterization that now define the Democratic Party”.
ICYMI: Trump says he will confront Barr over his 'terrible' decision on Russia probe review
The Independent’s Oliver O’Connell has more on Trump’s reaction to hearing, for first time, that the Durham investigation into the Russia probe won’t report before the election.
Trump says he will confront Barr over his 'terrible' decision on Russia probe review
President hears for first time investigation into Russia probe won’t report before election
Sheriff who appeared at rally with Michigan kidnapping suspect says alleged plot may have been an 'arrest’
The Independent’s Louis Hall has more on the story from Michigan, with a sitting Sheriff having appeared on stage at an anti lockdown protest with one of the men arrested.
“A lot of people are angry with the governor and they want her arrested,” Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf said.
Read the latest:
Sheriff who appeared at rally with Michigan kidnapping suspect says alleged plot may have been an ‘arrest’
‘A lot of people are angry with the governor and they want her arrested’
Trump said the Green New Deal requires ‘tiny little windows’. What does it actually say?
“I mean, they literally want to take buildings down and rebuild them with tiny little windows, OK, little windows, so you can't see out, you can't see the light,” the president said this week.
The Independent’s Louise Boyle takes a look at what’s actually in the Green New Deal.
Trump falsely said the Green New Deal requires ‘tiny little windows’. What does it actually say?
The proposal to tackle the climate crisis was introduced last year by progressive Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey
ICYMI: Donald Trump slams ‘nasty’ LeBron James as a ‘hater’ on radio show
Graeme Massie has more on this exchange from Donald Trump’s interview with Rush Limbaugh.
“We have enough difficulty during the week, you don't want to sit down watching a basketball game and then watch somebody that hates your guts. He’s a hater," Trump says.
Donald Trump slams ‘nasty’ LeBron James as a ‘hater’ on radio show
NBA superstar has been vocal critic of president and once called him a ‘bum’
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies