US Presidential elections 2020 live: Trump leaves hospital, flies back to White House

Three reporters have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks. Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive.The image of Trump standing on a balcony and removing his mask after a helicopter dropped him off Monday evening, then turning to enter the White House maskless, could hardly be reassuring to people who work there.

With four weeks to go before Election Day, more than 4 million Americans already have voted, more than 50 times the 75,000 at this time in 2016, according to the United States Elections Project, which compiles early voting data. The shift has been driven by an expansion of early and mail-in voting in many states as a safe way to cast a ballot during the coronavirus pandemic and an eagerness to weigh in on the political future of Trump, said Michael McDonald of the University of Florida, who administers the project. "We've never seen this many people voting so far ahead of an election," McDonald said. "People cast their ballots when they make up their minds, and we know that many people made up their minds long ago and already have a judgment about Trump."

Vice President Mike Pence and challenger Kamala Harris will be separated by a plexiglass barrier during their debate in an effort to lower the risk of coronavirus transmission, the commission overseeing the event said

Vice President Mike Pence's sole face-off against Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate, on Wednesday in Salt Lake City comes as the Trump campaign reels from a Covid-19 outbreak that has infected not only the Republican president but several in his inner circle.The pressure on Pence, who often toils in Trump’s deep shadow, is great. Trump trails Biden by 10 percentage points nationally, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, with voters faulting what they viewed as the president's carelessness about the pandemic.Pence needs to show the public he is ready to step in as president if the situation requires, while also defending the Trump administration’s handling of a 7-month-old health crisis that has killed nearly 210,000 Americans.

President Donald Trump's doctor leaned on a federal health privacy law Monday to duck certain questions about the president's treatment for Covid-19, while readily sharing other details of his patient's condition. But a leading expert on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act said a more likely reason for Dr. Sean Conley's selective disclosures appears to be Trump's comfort level in fully revealing his medical information.

Mike Pence takes lead role in campaign with Trump travel stopped

With President Donald Trump ill with COVID-19, Vice President Mike Pence took the lead role in campaigning Monday, starting a swing through key states to bolster the president's chance for reelection. Trump left Walter Reed Military Medical Center and returned to the White House Monday evening, but it's unclear when he'll be able to travel. "I spoke to the president a little while back. He sounded great," Pence told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before heading west to Utah for this week's vice presidential debate.

US President Donald Trump faced a fresh backlash on Tuesday for removing his mask when he returned to the White House and urging Americans not to fear the Covid-19 disease that has killed more than 209,000 people in the country and put him in hospital.

Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger Senator Kamala Harris are all set for a debate in the Sal Lake City of Utah on Wednesday. This will be for the first time in the American history that an Indian origin person will be taking up the podium for a vice presidential debate. Political analysts believe that an aggressive Harris, 55, will easily prevail over Pence, 61, during the only vice-presidential debate and help her running mate Joe Biden, 77, to widen his lead over Trump, 74.

Infected senator vows 'moon suit' to vote Trump's court pick

Shuttered by COVID-19 infections, the Republican-led Senate is refusing to delay confirmation of President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court. They are even willing to make special arrangements so sick senators can vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, and Democrats appear powerless to stop them.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ensured that a restrictive Republican-backed law in South Carolina that requires voters to have a witness sign mail-in ballots will be in place for the Nov. 3 election. The justices, granting a request by various Republican officials, put on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked the restriction. The court, in a brief order, said that ballots already sent would not have to comply with the signature requirement.

US Senate panel to start nomination hearing for US Supreme Court pick Barrett October 12

"The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on the nomination of the Honorable Amy Coney Barrett to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to begin Monday, October 12, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. and continue through Thursday, October 15, 2020 in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building," a notice said.

US President Donald Trump on Monday left the hospital where he has been treated for COVID-19 and boarded a helicopter to return to a White House hit by a wave of infections. Wearing what appeared to be a white surgical mask, Trump pumped his fist and gave a thumbs up as he walked down the steps of the Walter Reed Medical Center outside Washington.

Vice presidential debate to include plexiglass barrier after White House outbreak

Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris will be separated by a plexiglass barrier during their debate on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said, in an effort to lower the risk of coronavirus transmission. The debate, the only one scheduled between the vice presidential candidates, is scheduled for Salt Lake City, Utah, six days after President Donald Trump announced he had contracted the virus. Both Harris, a U.S. senator, and Republican Pence have tested negative in recent days, with the vice president working from home over the weekend instead of the White House. A number of White House staffers and Republican allies, including three U.S. senators, have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Biden campaigns in crucial Florida as Trump plans end to hospital stay

Florida is seen as a must-win for Trump's re-election campaign, which has almost no path to victory if he fails to collect the state's crucial 29 Electoral College votes. "Folks, if we win Florida, you've won," Biden told a group of Haitian Americans. "You've flat won." Florida was the most important of a dozen states that had voter registration deadlines on Monday.

A debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Biden's running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris, is still scheduled on Wednesday

President Trump’s hospitalisation with the coronavirus has catapulted Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate into the spotlight to an extraordinary degree, putting pressure on Mike Pence and Kamala Harris to use this forum to reassure an anxious public they are prepared and qualified to step in as president. Trump’s diagnosis — and the fact that he is 74 and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, is 77 — was a stark reminder that either Pence or Harris could end up being in the top post themselves.

Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden said on Monday he is willing to participate in next week's scheduled debate with President Donald Trump as long as health experts say it would be safe.

Conflicting updates on his condition from doctors and aides, and expectation that he would be released from the military hospital on Monday after only a three-night stay to treat Covid-19, has ignited a furious debate on how seriously ill or otherwise US President Donald Trump is and whether there are political motives behind his hospitalisation drama.

US President Donald Trump's surprise "drive-by" to see flag-waving supporters gathered outside Walter Reed undergoing treatment for Covid-19 raised eyebrows as many believed that he put his staff at risk of infection. Meanwhile, Democratic rival Joe Biden's campaign said it will keep its focus on Covid-19 response as Trump is treated in hospital.

A question mark hangs over US President Donald Trump's health as he continues treatment for Covid-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Doctors say he may go home on Monday.

Doctors to decide on Trump hospital discharge 'later today:' White House