Trump starts first on-camera interview since Covid diagnosis: ‘I feel very good and very strong’ Trump has kicked off his interview on Tucker Carlson’s show. He said he feels “very good and very strong” following his coronavirus treatment at Walter Reed hospital. He said he “didn’t have any breathing problems”, contradicting his doctor’s previous report that he was on oxygen while in the hospital. He said his primary symptoms were general fatigue and sore throat. Trump administration blocked a CDC mask order In September, months into a deadly pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people, the Trump administration blocked a CDC mandate that would have required masks on all public transportation. The coronavirus task force, which is required to sign off on all coronavirus-related policies, refused to pass the CDC recommendation, the New York Times reported. Under the ruling, masks would have been required on airplanes, buses, trains, and subways across the United States as well as in transit hubs like bus stops and train stations. From the report: The order would have been the toughest federal mandate to date aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, which continues to infect more than 40,000 Americans a day. The officials said that it was drafted under the agency’s “quarantine powers” and that it had the support of the secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, but the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, declined to even discuss it. In absence of a national mask mandate, individual states, cities, and transportation systems have been left to create their own rules. Health experts say this stokes confusion as the virus continues to spread. Donald Trump to undergo ‘medical exam’ on television shortly In his first on-camera TV appearance since his coronavirus diagnosis, Donald Trump will speak with Tucker Carlson on Fox News. We will be updating you live so stay tuned. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Trump is still obsessed with Hillary Clinton’s emails Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Friday he will release more emails from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, a move sparked by pressure from Donald Trump. “We’re going to get all this information out so the American people can see it. You’ll remember there was classified information on a private server, should have never been there, Hillary Clinton should never have done that, that was unacceptable behavior,” Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News on Friday. Trump spoke of the emails in a previous interview with Fox News on Thursday, saying Pompeo had not yet released emails deleted from Clinton’s private server, which she said in 2015 “were personal and private.” The president for at least the third time this week brought up the emails when speaking to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Friday, saying Clinton “should be in jail” for clearing out her inbox. An investigation by the State Department concluded in 2019 there was no “persuasive evidence” of widespread mishandling of classified information by Clinton or her aides. South Carolina debate canceled after Lindsay Graham refuses Covid-19 test A Friday debate between South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison and incumbent Republican senator Lindsay Graham was cancelled after Graham refused to take a coronavirus test beforehand. The hashtags #LindsayGrahamHasCovid andn #LindsayIsPositive were trending Friday after the cancellation. The candidates will now participate in two separate interviews, a half hour each, aired on the same network. Graham accused Harrison of adding on requirements to the debate to get out of it. Harrison’s demand for coronavirus testing comes after Donald Trump was diagnosed with Covid-19 just days after his debate with Joe Biden. Graham said he did not have to take the test, citing a note from the attending physician of Congress saying that he did not need one. “We’re disappointed that Lindsey has failed to take a simple coronavirus test, but we appreciate our hosts were able to change the event format to make it safer for everyone,” said Harrison campaign spokesman Guy King. “Jaime will be there in Spartanburg to talk to voters.” Trump rally comes with some distressing fine print Trump earlier announced he will hold a rally in Sanford, Florida on Monday - the first event outside the White House since his coronavirus diagnosis. As with other events held by the Trump campaign, attendees must sign a waiver acknowledging Covid-19 risks. From the registration page: By registering for this event, you understand and expressly acknowledge that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. In attending the event, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19, and waive, release, and discharge Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; the host venue; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers from any and all liability under any theory, whether in negligence or otherwise, for any illness or injury. Rallies for Trump have been criticized for allowing people in close quarters, many without masks. Anyone who is infected with the coronavirus at these events cannot take legal action against the campaign over it. Presidential debate cancelled as Trump plans first in-person events since Covid diagnosis There will no longer be a presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Thursday, the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed on Friday. The announcement comes after a public disagreement between the two candidates over the debate’s format. Trump, who is infected with the coronavirus, insisted on having an in-person debate while Biden and the commission advocated for a virtual debate for safety reasons. “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,” the commission said in a statement. Meanwhile, Trump is hosting two events at the White House this weekend and is planning a rally in Florida on Monday. It is not clear if the president, who announced a Covid-19 diagnosis one week ago, is still contagious. Human rights groups push tech companies to stop hosting Proud Boys content Human rights group Color of Change said Friday it had convinced Google Cloud to stop facilitating websites that contain content from the Proud Boys hate groups. “Big Tech companies can no longer passively support hate groups by allowing them to organize on their platforms,” said Rashad Roberts, president of Color of Change. “They - and Congress - must act.” The move comes as scrutiny surrounding tech companies and hate content intensifies. In 2019, web hosting firm Cloudflare cut off hate speech-filled message board 8chan from hosting on its platform after it was used to post a mass shooting manifesto. Last week, Facebook announced it would remove all pages and groups related to Qanon, a baseless conspiracy theory that has been linked to violence. Twitter recently began to remove calls to violence from Donald Trump’s account and Facebook similarly is flagging misinformation and other dangerous content from the president. A spokesman from Google Cloud said the websites were not direct customers of Google but of a website hoster who uses Google Cloud. “After a heads up from Color of Change, we notified one of our customers--a website hoster--who then took action,” Google Cloud said in a statement. “The websites in question were not Google Cloud customers.” Color of Change is still calling on others to take similar action and deplatform hate groups. It criticized PayPal for refusing to remove a fundraiser page for a domestic terrorist who killed two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. “Tech companies must enact and enforce a proactive, aggressive approach to stop the violent, hateful activity on its platforms— it cannot continue to fall on advocates, as it has for far too long,” Color of Change said in a statement. “Anything short of creating the policies and enforcement mechanisms necessary to proactively keep these hate-fueled groups off of tech platforms will only lead to more dangerous outcomes.” This post has been updated to reflect that the websites in question were not direct customers of Google Cloud. 3 people infected with coronavirus at the school of Amy Coney Barrett’s children Two students and a teacher at the school attended by children of supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett have tested positive for the coronavirus. The cases, confirmed by the New York Times, come after Coney Barrett brought her family to the Rose Garden celebration of her nomination on 26 September that became a superspreader event for Covid-19, infecting more than 20 people. The nominee reportedly kept her children home from school for days after learning of infections stemming from the event and allowed them to return after testing negative for the virus. A spokesman from the White House said there is “no evidence” the cases could be linked to the children, who are in high school. “It is disgusting that this publication, with no evidence, would insinuate that minor children spread Covid-19 after attending an event to celebrate their mother,” Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, said. “The Barrett children should be off limits. Period.” He added, “The White House Medical Unit conducted contact tracing consistent with CDC guidelines and appropriate recommendations were made.” Hello readers, Kari Paul here taking over from the West Coast for the next few hours. Stay tuned for updates! Summary Here’s a summary of everything that’s happened so far today: Donald Trump is planning to hold two in-person events over the next few days, his first since his Covid-19 diagnosis last week. The president will address the crowd from a White House balcony tomorrow about “law and order” and will attend a rally in Florida on Monday. Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci said that Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination ceremony at the White House was a super-spreader event. Coronavirus economic relief is still at a standstill, even as the White House presented House speaker Nancy Pelosi with its highest offer yet – $1.8tn. Pelosi’s camp said that the White House did not come up with a good enough plan to fight the virus and is waiting for more specifics from them. Pelosi also unveiled the House’s intent to invoke the 25th amendment through the creation of a Commission on Presidential Capacity, which will analyze a president’s physical and mental ability to serve his duties during a time of extreme crisis. The climate crisis is intensifying storms and hurricanes, no matter what the Trump administration says. Louisiana is bracing for yet another tempest this weekend. Trump campaign says president will hold rally in Florida on Monday Just an hour after the White House sent out invitations for an in-person event, Donald Trump’s first since his Covid-19 diagnosis, for Saturday, his campaign just announced that the president will be traveling to Florida on Monday for a rally. Trump had initially indicated that he was thinking of holding a rally on Saturday night. “I think I’m going to try doing a rally on Saturday night if we can, if we have enough time to put it together,” Trump said last night. Earlier today, the campaign said it would not be holding any in-person events with the president over the weekend. While Trump has been doing hours-long interviews with conservative hosts, it has only been just over a week since the country was made aware of the presidents’ diagnosis. Medical experts have voiced concerns that, because the White House has refused to show results of Trump’s chest x-rays and lung scans, the public does not have a complete picture of whether the president has fully recovered from the virus. The Washington Post just published a story about Hope Hicks’ diagnosis, which revealed that White House staffers were angered that she kept her diagnosis private even though she may have exposed many colleagues to the virus during her contagious period. News of Hicks’ diagnosis was first broken by a Bloomberg News reporter and has since led to an avalanche of Covid-19 coming from the president’s inner circle. But, the Washington Post points out, Hicks is not likely the White House’s patient zero as judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination ceremony at the White House, which Hicks did not attend, was revealed to be a super-spreader event. Here’s more from the Washington Post: Hicks had tested negative last Wednesday, the morning after Trump’s first debate with Joe Biden, but she started feeling unwell at a rally in Duluth, Minn., that night. She quarantined herself on Air Force One on the return trip, discreetly enough that other staffers did not know she was ill. When the plane landed, she exited from the rear entrance. The next morning, Hicks reported for work at the White House and tested positive for the coronavirus. She returned home to begin isolating — but told only the president and a small circle of senior staff, including chief of staff Mark Meadows. Many colleagues, including one aide who had been near her during her potentially contagious period, were enraged when they only learned about it several hours later through the grapevine or White House contact tracers; two said they would have curtailed their contact with other people and taken a test immediately had they known sooner. Several aides said they suspected there might be a positive case in the West Wing when co-workers started wearing masks, but by the time they learned about Hicks that evening, testing facilities were closed. But even after Trump learned of her diagnosis, he continued with a full day of activities, including his plan to attend, maskless, a fundraiser at his club in Bedminster, N.J., that afternoon. Only after he returned to the White House and held three tele-rallies that evening did he take a rapid test for the coronavirus and tested positive. He then took the more reliable PCR test for which it takes longer to obtain results. The Senate judiciary committee is set to begin the confirmation of judge Amy Coney Barrett for the supreme court on Monday. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has reiterated that his top priority is getting Barrett on the court, rushing her lifetime appointment before the presidential election. Two Democratic members of the committee tweeted this afternoon their frustration that Senate Republicans have shifted their focus to the supreme court while stalling talks for a much-needed coronavirus stimulus package. Democrats will likely continue to highlight the confirmation as a distraction to stimulus talks. Republicans and Democrats have been at a standstill since the summer on an aid package, with Senate Republicans looking for a bill close to $1tr and Democrats pursuing one that is $2.2tr. Donald Trump to hold first in-person event since Covid-19 diagnosis Donald Trump is planning to host his first in-person event since his Covid-19 diagnosis on Saturday at the White house, where he will discuss “law and order” even as the president potentially remains contagious for the virus. Trump is expecting to address a crowd from the White House balcony. The event is in conjunction with a previously planned event by Blexit, the group by conservative activist Candace Owens meant to encourage Black Americans to leave the Democratic party. According to an invitation by ABC News, the event will start at 11:30 am. White House physician Dr Sean Conley said Thursday in a press release that “based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics the team has been conducting, I fully anticipate the president’s safe return to public engagements” on Saturday, 10 days after Trump’s diagnosis last Thursday. Earlier today, Fox News reported that the Trump campaign will not do any events over the weekend, but will resume having Trump on the campaign trail starting Monday. Seems like talks between Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and House speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t go as well as planned. Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, tweeted out that the two spoke at 1.40pm for over half an hour. Hammill said the White House did not come to the table with “an agreement on a strategic plan to crush the virus” and said that they are still “awaiting language” from the White House as negotiations continue. Though the White House and Pelosi are doing direct negotiations, Senate Republicans, helmed by majority leader Mitch McConnell, do not seem to be interested in the larger package that the White House offered up. And while Trump himself appeared enthusiastic about the package, Republicans have indicated – even while millions remain unemployed and whole industries, especially the airline industry, are floundering – they are more focused on getting judge Amy Coney Barrett confirmed on the supreme court before passing another stimulus package. In an interview just moments ago, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said that Donald Trump’s nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court at the White House’s Rose Garden was a “superspreader” event. “The data speak for themselves. We had a superspreader event in the White House. It was in a situation where people were crowded together, were not wearing masks,” Fauci said. Fauci said that, because nearly half of Covid-19 cases can be asymptomatic, having everyone masked is essential to prevent the spread of the virus. Though the event was held outside, photos from the event show minimal social distancing and masks, with some attendees hugging and kissing each other on the cheek. There was also an indoor reception that likely aided the spread of the virus at the event. At least seven people who attended the event of about 150 people have tested positive for the virus, including US Senator Mike Lee, University of Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins, Chris Christie and Kellyanne Conway. Twitter announced today the limits it will place on users who are trying to spread misinformation or incite violence or election interference, including candidates for office. The platform said it will flag Tweets that falsely claim a win for any candidate and will remove from the platform any Tweets that encourage violence or election interference. Twitter said it will require an announcement from election officials or “a public projection from at least two authoritative, national news outlets that make independent election calls” for a declaration to be considered true. “Tweets which include premature claims will be labeled and direct people to our official US election page. In addition to the new features, Twitter said that when people attempt to retweet a Tweet with misleading information, they will see a prompt “pointing them to credible information about the topic before they are able to amplify it.” The platform plans to generally encourage users to quote tweet instead of retweet content in an attempt to slow the spread of misinformation. The new features posit the platform against Donald Trump, who has spent the last few weeks refusing to commit to a peaceful transition to power and has repeatedly made claims that the election will be rigged unless it turns up in his favor. Donald Trump said he would like to see a “bigger stimulus package” than is currently on offer by either party in the halting negotiations over a coronavirus relief package that he just days ago abruptly ended. “I would like to see a bigger stimulus package frankly than either the Democrats or Republicans are offering,” he said. “I’m going in the exact opposite now, OK?” The about-face came during a rambling, two-hour radio interview with the conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Towards the end of the radio broadcast, Limbaugh remarked that the president’s stamina was proof he had recovered from the coronavirus. “The president’s status with Covid-19 is pretty solid,” Limbaugh declared, adding: “Not once during the hour and 42 minutes has the president been stumped, has he not known what he’s wanted to say.” Trump spent most of the interview rallying against his enemies, real and perceived, including his favorite targets: the press, Democrats, the Russia investigators. But he also lashed out at Fox News, former DNC chair Donna Brazile, the Pulitzer Commission and LeBron James. One person who escaped his wrath was German chancellor Angela Merkel, who he called “smart” and “cunning”. Informed of an Axios report that the DoJ investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation would not be released before the November election, Trump expressed shock and frustration. “It’s a disgrace,” he said. “If Bill Barr made that statement, I would be very disappointed in him.” Trump also had some choice words for Iran: