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Trump calls off aid talks, Biden says president 'turned his back' on Americans

Published 10/06/2020, 12:34 AM
Updated 10/07/2020, 01:17 AM
© Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump pulls off his face mask as he returns to the White House after being hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Washington

© Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump pulls off his face mask as he returns to the White House after being hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Washington

By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, still being treated for COVID-19, abruptly ended talks with Democrats on an economic aid package on Tuesday, drawing criticism from presidential rival Joe Biden that he was abandoning Americans in the midst of a pandemic.

Trump's tweet breaking off talks for a new round of stimulus spooked Wall Street, sending stocks down as much as 2% from their session highs and tarnishing one of the metrics that the Republican president has touted as a sign of his success.

Along with Democrat Biden, the former vice president whom he will face in the Nov. 3 U.S. election, congressional Democrats and some Republicans blasted Trump, saying more was needed to help the millions who have lost their jobs in a crisis in which the United States leads the world in deaths and infections.

"The president turned his back on you," Biden said in a Twitter post.

Late Tuesday, Trump in a series of tweets urged Congress to quickly pass $25 billion in funding for passenger airlines, $135 billion for small businesses and provide $1,200 stimulus checks for Americans. "I am ready to sign right now," Trump wrote.

Trump, 74, returned to the White House on Monday after three nights at a hospital to be treated for the novel coronavirus. His doctor said on Tuesday that Trump reported no COVID-19 symptoms and was doing "extremely well."

But the disease continues to spread among Trump's top aides, with White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller saying he tested positive on Tuesday.

The top U.S. military leaders are also isolating after the Coast Guard's No. 2 tested positive for the disease, Pentagon officials said.

Officials said Trump was working from makeshift office space in the residence rather than the Oval Office, with few senior staff given face-to-face access exactly four weeks before the U.S. election in which he is seeking a second term.

In his first major policy pronouncement since leaving the hospital, Trump called off talks with Democratic lawmakers on coronavirus relief legislation until after the election, even as cases are on the rise across much of the country.

"I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business," Trump wrote on Twitter.

Despite Trump's bravado, support for Biden has grown by about 4 percentage points since mid-September, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling from Friday to Tuesday, with 52% of likely voters backing Biden versus 40% for Trump.

Speaking at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of one of the U.S. Civil War's bloodiest battles, Biden said the country was experiencing "total unrelenting partisan warfare" and, without naming Trump, faulted his handling of the disease.

"Wearing a mask isn't a political statement. It’s a scientific recommendation," he said, alluding to Trump's reluctance to wear a mask even after falling ill. On his return to the White House, Trump removed his mask to pose for pictures.

'FORGET ABOUT HIM'

Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed Trump's comment, saying he would lose the election and Congress would pass stimulus during the "lame-duck" session when a president awaits replacement by his successor.

"Forget about him. Four weeks, six, seven hours from now, lame duck," she said in an online conversation on Tuesday evening with journalist Jonathan Capehart, using a term that also denotes the dwindling powers of a departing president.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, in a tight re-election battle in Maine, called Trump's decision to end the talks a "huge mistake."

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said he agreed with Trump, telling reporters that "his view was that they were not going to produce a result and we need to concentrate on what’s achievable."

Democrats' chances of capturing a Senate majority inched higher in recent days as three nonpartisan U.S. elections analysts added Lindsey Graham (NYSE:GHM)'s South Carolina seat to the list of what are now 10 Senate seats in play, which includes eight potentially vulnerable Republicans and two vulnerable Democrats.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in that chamber.

McConnell plans to focus on pushing through the confirmation of Trump's third Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, which would cement a 6-3 conservative majority.

DOWNPLAYS RISK

Trump, who said on Friday he had tested positive for the coronavirus, after months of minimizing the deadly infection, continued to play it down and garnered rebukes from Facebook and Twitter for spreading misinformation.

"Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!" Trump wrote on Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) responded by putting a warning label on the post, saying it included potentially misleading information. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) removed the Trump post for breaking its rules on COVID-19 misinformation, according to CNN.

The United States has the world's highest death toll from the pandemic, with more than 210,000 deaths. By comparison, influenza typically kills between 22,000 and 64,000 people a year in the United States, U.S. government statistics show.

Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious diseases expert, said the rash of White House infections could have been avoided.

"Take a look at what happened this week at the White House. ... Every day that goes by, more people are popping up that are infected," he told American University's Kennedy Political Union in a webcast interview. "That could have been prevented."

Trump, who has not been seen in public since Monday night and has no public events scheduled on Wednesday, tweeted that he looked forward to a second debate with Biden set for Oct. 15 in Miami.

Biden told reporters, however, that if Trump "still has COVID, we shouldn’t have a debate."

"President Trump will be healthy and will be there," said Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh. "There’s no getting out of this one for Biden."

© Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House after treatment for the coronavirus at the White House in Washington

Latest comments

We’ve already had Obama. Now Biden again? Biden is not a man for all seasons. He is a man for no season whatsoever.
I like a president who doesn’t get Covid-19
I don’t support Trump. But I just feel that I don’t like Biden either. But have no reason.
REPUBLICAN party is no longer your old party. It's now Drumpf party. only cares about WS, b/c it's their score card.
If debate is held is hardly Murtaugh's decision. Unless Trump tests negative (verified by both parties), debate will not be held
Donnie's actions, especially as a supposed leader, is extremely disrespectful to the nation, going deep into the mental and physical INCOMPENCE area. Many of his true mental diseases come out into the open, which they censor out here, just to name a few. No POTUS should ever be that insensitive to the needs of others especially when others need a guiding hand here. No potus should remain part of the problem 7 months after Asian nations have first gotten COVID into grip and under lock, most of the time.
No stimulus and blame Trump/Republicans. Best possible scenario for Democrats. Trump not only threw only possible hope of losing by less than 10 points, the Republican senate majority is gone
only liberal media blames trump. the real country knows the blame is on Pelosi/Dems
How would you vote right now:(1) Biden(2) Trump(3) Nobody McDougal
1 , because BIDEN IS THE LESSER EV _IL right now , and because Trump deserves to sit one term out. He earned it and America needs to see how he acts on the way out, whether he really loved America and his cu 'lt members or if all was a big con job.
Covid19 test positive for Donald Trump.
What's the point of Trump even continuing his campaign? He is obviously going to lose the election in a landslide and his only hope/plan is to get rid of democracy in the US and have the election handed to him by corrupt means
He will lose same as polls forecasted in 2016, right?
'The United States has the world's highest death toll from the pandemic, with more than 210,000 deaths.' .. and clearly Donnie is on record to be PART OF THE PROBLEM, sh #ame on him! --- 'President Trump will be healthy and will be there," said Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh.' --- Murtaugh appears like another con-job. It's outright foolish to gamble on the future for a gov't person who's supposed to be factual and accountable to his utterings. Right now Murtaugh is outright gambling with a prediction that has only a 50% chance of the desired outcome. Sh &ame on Murtaugh!
do we have a list for biden of what he plans to do and what he promises? I haven't seen or heard any of what he's planning. your comment very much anticipated.
Fools.  Not one part of the article states what the Democrats wanted. But we all going to just settle for whatever.  Whatever to all you who make an opinion and no know facts. Sorry for you all.
jake, no known facts? where you'd been all this time? accusing everyone else without facts or any shred of evidence by psychopathic fascist dictator Drumpf.
Dow futures up 200. Fed printer is pumping again.
So now he is taking economic recovery and aid to people in need as a hostage unless ransom (= being re-elected) is paid. This man is a criminal abuser of power. Vote him out!
read his last tweet.
I think trump will lose this election if his party doesn’t agree to 2T stimulus. At this point of time, trump is villain in the eyes of voters who’re expecting this check to come through, and many of these ppl not bothered about raising national debt bec many of them are worried about their current financial situation.
why do we need 2T??? if we gave every citizen 1200 and every business 20k it would come out to 1T. where is the other 1T going??????
Dil do
Is that a ***in his hand?
President Trump will lose the election for sure. Imagine the thousands thousands families that have lost loved ones in the pandemic who are they gonna vote. The situation could be a lot better if President Trump could have taken it serious. Now he is demonstrating how wrong he is himself. This virus damages your lung
President Trump is going to win whether you like it or not. In the end, people care most about the economy and will not vote for someone who may possibly raise taxes after a pandemic. Moreover, the Democrat party is no longer the Democratic party of old. Many older, life long Democrats will have no choice but to vote for Trump, given many of the Democrat ideals that were once the backbone of the party, no longer exist. The Democrats played the election the same as they did in 2016, except this time they used rascism as their tool to push their message. Constant talk of divisivness is a tactic the Democrats have always used, but this time it has gone too far.
Rich people don't pay taxes, you must be poor
Every country are competitive against another one for making their standard living. You can't hate any country.
I agree with you. If those want to reduce tax for business,It shoud cut corporate welfare. It is my opinion.
America is strong cant have someone who couldnt be able to handle this sample thing to americans
He s the most and dumpest person i have never seen in my life vote him out
If Hillary, Obama, and all other players aren't held accountable now (with new declassified documents), and if Trump loses the election, state secessions will begin. It will be the start of a "New America". Mark my words.
Lol and you believe that explains everything
"that"? explain what "that" is?
Save if for YouTube MAGA lackey
IL Duce goes to Washington .. in theaters now
Trump is winning this election again regardless of fake news
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