The issue looming President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 condition still is tagged ambiguity, which was tackled in the latest NBC Town Hall event.
Separate town hall events are set in place, in lieu of a second Presidential Debate. This came after the first session was loomed with a COVID-19 scare, following POTUS Trump testing positive.
A supposed virtual debate was initially planned for by the Commission of Presidential Debates. However, the President strongly dissented such an idea. Instead, they’ve resorted to a separate town hall event for each candidate.
Trump on his COVID-19 condition
NBC catered to Trump’s town hall with an ample percentage of voters. The first topic that was discussed was, of course, the COVID-19 condition of the President.
As many have remembered, Trump announced he tested positive for COVID-19, just days after the first Presidential Debate. This sparked worries that he may have already been COVID-19 positive at the time of the debate.
The vagueness of answers from the White House only led to more confusion and added questions. During the town hall even, NBC host Savannah Guthrie clarified with Trump about his COVID-19 vigorous testing and results.
When asked whether he took a COVID-19 test that day, as required by the CPD, he failed to answer straight. When further pressed, the President says he doesn’t remember taking the test on the day of the first debate.
He motioned that he “tests quite a bit.”
“I don’t know, I don’t even remember but I tested all the time,” says the POTUS.
When did Trump last tested positive before debate?
He further expressed that he felt great during and after the debate. It was around Thursday evening, or even “late Thursday evening,” as Trump puts it, that he first found out that he was positive for COVID-19.
Guthrie further tried to clarify because the rules of the debate required coming with a negative COVID-19 result. “You say you don’t know if you got a test on the day of the debate?” the host tried to elucidate.
Per CBS News, the Presidential candidates were supposed to be tested ahead of the first debate, which was on September 29. However, Trump reportedly “arrived too late to be tested on-site.”
So, they did the honor’s system instead.
there are questions as to when Trump actually last tested positive. Dr. Sean Conley, the White House and president’s physician, has reportedly “repeatedly declined” in the past to reveal Trump’s last negative test.
The physician’s report on Trump does NOT say he has had a negative PCR test — only a negative rapid antigen test that’s notoriously inaccurate. He has no basis for claiming he’s no longer infectious.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) October 13, 2020
Conley did confirm recently that Trump has now tested negative for COVID-19 via Abbott BinaxNOW antigen card.
Featured image courtesy of NBC News/YouTube Screenshot