White House

Barack Obama condemned President Donald Trump in a speech on Wednesday at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, urging Americans to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden as "the next 13 days will matter for decades to come."

"Philadelphia, we got 13 days — 13 days until the most important election of our lifetimes. And you don't have to wait for Nov. 3 to cast your ballot," Obama said.

"Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself," he added. "Here's the truth. I want to be honest here. This pandemic would have been challenging for any president. But this idea that somehow this White House has done anything but completely screw this up is just not true."

Barron Trump tested positive for coronavirus during the time President Trump and first lady Melania Trump were sick. The White House initially said he had tested negative after both of his parents tested positive earlier this month.

The first lady said in a statement Wednesday that subsequent testing showed Barron had also come down with Covid-19 but had no symptoms.

White House aide Stephen Miller confirmed Tuesday that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and has been self-isolating for the past five days.

"Over the last 5 days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday. Today, I tested positive for COVID-19 and am in quarantine," so Miller in a statement.

His wife Katie Miller, who is Vice President Pence's communications director, has tested negative on Tuesday morning. Mrs Miller had Covid-19 several months ago.

President Donald Trump has left the Walter Reed Hospital after a three-day stay of receiving Covid-19 treatment. He arrived at the White House at 7 pm local time, removed his mask to pose for a photo op despite being close to staff members and then can be seen entering the White House without a mask.

"Don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it. You're gonna beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines, all developed recently," the President said in a video. "Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did. And I know there’s a risk, there’s a danger, but that’s OK. And now I’m better and maybe I'm immune – I don't know! But don’t let it dominate your lives. Get out there. Be careful."

Chad Gilmartin and Karoline Leavitt, two deputies to White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, have tested positive for Covid-19, according to two sources of CNN. Gilmartin tested positive in the past 24 hours, while Leavitt did so a few days ago.

Greg Laurie, a pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California who attended last week's White House Rose Garden Event for Amy Coney Barrett, has tested positive for Covid-19. Laurie told CNB News that he learned of his infection over the weekend and that he was doing well.

Last week, Laurie also attended large prayer rally events in Washington, D.C. with Franklin Graham and Vice President Mike Pence.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has tested positive for Covid-19. In her statement, McEnany said she tested positive on Monday and is not experiencing symptoms.

"After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms. No reporters, producers or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit. Moreover, I definitively had no knowledge of Hope Hicks' diagnosis prior to holding a White House press briefing on Thursday," McEnany wrote in a statement published on Twitter.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is the third senator who has tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. On Friday, Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina both tested positive for Covid-19 after having attended the White House event on Saturday.

"Senator Johnson was exposed to someone who tested positive for covid-19 on Sept. 14. He stayed in quarantine for 14 days without developing symptoms and tested negative twice during that time. He returned to Washington on Sept. 29 and shortly after was exposed to an individual who has since tested positive. After learning of this exposure, the senator was tested yesterday afternoon. This test came back positive," so his spokesman Ben Voelkel.

Johnson "feels healthy and is not experiencing symptoms" and will self-quarantine.

President Donald Trump, who was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday after testing positive for Covid-19, is doing "very well" and has started Remdesivir therapy, according to a statement by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

"This afternoon, in consultation with specialists from Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins University, I recommended movement of the President up to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for further monitoring. This evening I am happy to report that the President is doing very well. He is not requiring any supplemental oxygen, but in consultation with specialists, we have elected to initiate Remdesivir therapy. He has completed his first dose and is resting comfortably," the statement reads.

Trump has since tweeted for the first time since arriving at Reed Medical Center, writing: "Going welI[sic], I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!"

Former White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway announced that she has tested positive for Covid-19. Conway is the fifth person who attended Saturday's Rose Garden event known to have tested positive for the virus.

"Tonight I tested positive for COVID-19. My symptoms are mild (light cough) and I'm feeling fine. I have begun a quarantine process in consultation with physicians," so Conway on Twitter.

According to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, President Donald Trump is experiencing cold-like symptoms, including a low-grade fever, nasal congestion and a cough, after he tested positive for Covid-19.

The president has received an infusion of an experimental Covid-19 treatment by the biotech company Regeneron, additional to vitamin D, zinc, melatonin, daily aspirin and famotidine, a memo from his doctor Dr Sean Conley reveals.

"As of this afternoon, the president remains fatigued but in good spirits," so the memo.

Melania Trump is also experiencing mild symptoms but stated on Twitter that she is "overall feeling good" and is "looking forward to a speedy recovery."

Shortly after President Donald Trump has confirmed on Twitter that he and his wife both tested positive for Covid-19, Melania Trump tweeted that they are both quarantining and "are feeling good."

"As too many Americans have done this year, @potus & I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good & I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe & we will all get through this together," so Melania Trump on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump has picked the conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy at the Supreme Court on Friday.

A Canadian woman, who was arrested after sending a letter containing highly toxic ricin to Donald Trump, has been charged with threatening the US president. The 53-year-old was brought before a federal court in New York on Tuesday.

According to the indictment, the envelope containing the poison contained a letter to Trump in which the woman described the president as an "ugly tyrant clown". She accused him in the letter of "ruining the USA and leading it to disaster".

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has stated that they are assisting the FBI with an investigation after two letters to the White House that contained poison had been intercepted.

A woman from Canada is currently under investigation for the sending of ricin poison that could potentially cause nausea through to organ failure and death through a collapse in the circulatory system.

Today Americans are commemorating 9/11 with various tributes across the country. President Trump and the first lady held a moment of silence aboard the Air Force One, while the White House staff observed a moment of silence at 8:46 am ET.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence are attending the 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City.

During a White House press conference, President Trump suggested that a Covid-19 vaccine could be ready "before a very special date". While Trump did not mention a specific date, he previously claimed a vaccine could be available before the US election day.

"We're going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I'm talking about, " so Trump, who had asked journalists to take off their masks when addressing him.

Michael Cohen's tell-all book "Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump" paints President Donald Trump as a "master manipulator" and someone who has "low opinions on Black folks" but an admiration for "President Vladimir V. Putin’s willingness to treat Russia like a personal business."

The White House has since called the book "fan fiction" and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that "Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer who lied to Congress [...] and it’s unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off of lies."

Cohen's book will be released on September 8.

"He shows Trump’s relentless willingness to lie, exaggerate, mislead, or manipulate. Trump emerges as a man without a soul—a man who courts evangelicals and then trashes them, panders to the common man, but then rips off small business owners, a con man who will do or say absolutely anything to win, regardless of the cost to his family, his associates, or his country," so the book's summary.

According to Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, friend and former advisor of Melania Trump, the First lady used a private email account for communication.

"Melania and I both didn’t use White House emails," Wolkoff alleges in an interview with the Washington Post and states that the both corresponded multiple times a day to discuss government issues, schedules and finances for the presidential inauguration.

Wolkoff's book "Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady" was released on September 1, 2020.

US President Donald Trump has pardoned women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony, who had been convicted of participating in the 1872 presidential election. Trump announced the move on Tuesday at a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the right to vote for women in the USA at the White House.

Anthony's trial in 1873 fired up the women's movement in the United States and she had been sentenced to a fine. In August 1920 with the 19th Amendment to the American Constitution the United States introduced the right for women to vote. Anthony died in 1906 at the age of 86.