Trump COVID-19 live updates: What you may have missed from Trump’s weekend at Walter Reed hospital
This weekend brought more questions than answers about President Donald Trump’s health as he battles COVID-19, despite two briefings from the doctors treating him at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
While White House physician Sean Conley offered rosy assessments of Trump’s progress, declaring Sunday the president could be ready to leave the hospital as soon as Monday. But infectious disease experts said the details he offered about the president’s treatment were indicative of a patient battling a serious case of the disease brought on by the coronavirus.
Conley said Sunday he had been evasive the day before about whether Trump had been given supplemental oxygen because he wanted “to reflect the upbeat attitude” of the president. Trump worked to project an image of himself in good health over the weekend, sharing photos of himself working from the hospital and posting videos in which he said he was feeling better and had “learned a lot about COVID.”
On Sunday, Trump took a brief ride in an SUV to greet supporters outside the hospital – a move that was widely condemned for endangering Secret Service agents. One attending physician at Walter Reed called it “insanity.”
The weekend also brought more news of positive coronavirus test results for some of those close to Trump, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped Trump prepare for Tuesday’s presidential debate and is now in the hospital with COVID-19.
☕ The latest:
- The White House has sent mixed signals about his condition and the timeline of events leading up to his transfer to the hospital.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee is pushing forward on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court even after two of its GOP members tested positive.
📊 What the polls are saying: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s national lead over President Donald Trump widened after last week’s chaotic first debate in Cleveland. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted after the debate showed 53% of voters backed Biden, compared to 39% who are supporting Trump. Another poll released Sunday also showed Biden widening his lead over Trump. The Reuters/Ipsos poll taken after Trump contracted COVID-1 found Biden led Trump 51%-41%, a 1-point jump from a Sept. 30 poll.
📆 29 days until Election Day, two days until the vice presidential debate, 107 days until Inauguration Day, 88 days left in 2020.
🙋Got questions about Trump and COVID? Ask us. You can use this form to submit your own.
🗳️ Voting: See USA TODAY’s Voter Guide for information on registering to vote, when your state begins voting and what the candidates think about the issues.
We will update this article throughout the day. You can follow all of USA TODAY’s politics reporters on Twitter or subscribe to our daily On Politics newsletter.
Melania Trump will ‘continue to rest’ at the White House
First lady Melania Trump, while isolating due to testing positive for COVID-19, hasn’t left and won’t leave the White House to visit the president in the hospital.
On Monday, she tweeted a new status report, saying, “I am feeling good and will continue to rest at home.”
“My family is grateful for all of the prayers support! I am feeling good will continue to rest at home. Thank you to medical staff caretakers everywhere, my continued prayers for those who are ill or have a family member impacted by the virus,” her post on her official Twitter account read.
NBC News on Sunday and CNN on Monday reported that an unnamed White House official confirmed that the first lady would not break isolation to visit her husband due to concern she would expose the Secret Service agents who would drive her there, and the medical staff who would greet her.
– Maria Puente
First lady:Melania Trump will ‘continue to rest’ at White House, thankful for ‘prayers support’
Mike Pence, Karen Pence test negative for COVID-19
Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence both tested negative Monday for COVID-19.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the virus last week. The president has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Friday for treatment.
The Pences are scheduled to leave Washington Monday afternoon for Salt Lake City, the site of the vice presidential debate Wednesday.
– David Jackson and Sean Rossman
Meadows: Trump ‘continued to improve’ overnight
President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Monday the president “continued to improve” over Sunday night.
“He continued to improve overnight and is ready to get back to a normal working schedule,” Meadows told Fox News. “He will meet with his doctors and nurses this morning to make further assessments of his progress.”
Echoing comments the president’s doctors made Sunday, Meadows told Fox “we are still optimistic that he will be able to return to the White House later today.”
Meadows later phoned in to “Fox Friends” to say there had been “real concern” about Trump’s COVID-19 condition on Friday, and that was why he was moved to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Since then, the chief of staff said, the president has “improved very quickly” in his battle against COVID-19, and will speak with doctors Monday afternoon about returning to the White House.
“That decision won’t be made until later today,” Meadows said.
– David Jackson
Former Secret Service officials decry Trump’s SUV ride at Walter Reed
After President Donald Trump took a spin around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in an SUV on Sunday, many decried the decision to risk exposing the Secret Service agents in the vehicle with him to COVID-19.
While agents make safety recommendations that generally are accepted, the bottom line is that the president makes final the call.
“Ultimately, our job is not to say ‘no,’ it is to protect,” Patricia Beckford Acheson, who worked on then-Vice President George H.W. Bush’s protective detail in the early 1980s, told USA TODAY.
Former Secret Service Director W. Ralph Basham said the security and health challenge posed by the coronavirus is unprecedented.
“We are in uncharted waters,” said Basham. “We haven’t seen anything like this before.”
– John Bacon and Kevin Johnson
Trump’s SUV ride:If the president engages in risky behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, can the Secret Service – or anyone – stop him?
Trump begins Monday with barrage of tweets from the hospital
President Donald Trump spent the early hours of Monday unleashing a barrage of tweets – most of them in all caps – promoting his reelection bid.
“MASSIVE REGULATION CUTS. VOTE!” the president wrote in one of the tweets from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been battling a case of COVID-19 since Friday.
In more than 15 tweets before 7:15 a.m. EST, Trump stated various campaign slogans and policy platforms, often ending the messages with “VOTE!”
Political opponents pushed back Trump’s hospital-based tweet storm.
“IF YOU WANT A PRESIDENT WHO ACTUALLY PAYS THEIR TAXES VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN,” tweeted Joe Lockhart, a press secretary for President Bill Clinton, tweeted.
– David Jackson