President Trump plans to take part in next week’s second presidential debate in Miami, which will take place less than two weeks after the president contracted the novel coronavirus, Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh told Fox News.
“The President intends to debate,” Murtaugh said.
Murtaugh’s comment came less than an hour after the president left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he had been receiving treatment for COVID-19 since Friday, and returned to the White House.
The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has already made it clear that he will travel to Florida for the next debate.
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Symone Sanders, a senior campaign adviser to Biden, said on Sunday that the former vice president is “looking forward” to the Oct. 15 town hall-style debate in Miami and that he is hoping Trump will be well enough to attend.
“We are looking forward to the debate on Oct. 15 in Miami,” Sanders said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “It’s a town hall and, as you know, Vice President Biden loves a good town hall.”
Sanders added: “And we are hoping President Trump can participate. We’re hoping that he’s medically able to participate, and that is up to his doctors to clear him. But Joe Biden will be at that debate.”
The future of the next presidential debate was thrown in jeopardy after the president revealed in the early morning hours last Friday that he and First Lady Melania Trump had contracted the coronavirus. Since Trump’s announcement, numerous members of his White House inner circle and his reelection campaign have come down with the contagion.
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Biden, who shared a stage with Trump at last week’s presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, has tested negative for the virus, but Sanders said Sunday that the Democratic nominee will receive another COVID test on Sunday and will continue to do so regularly.
Both Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, are in an age group that is highly susceptible to suffering severe complications from the coronavirus. Eight of 10 COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been in adults 65 years of age or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fox News’ Erin McEwan contributed to this report.
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