President Trump has claimed he is 'immune' from coronavirus after his physician gave him a clean bill of health
Credit: TOM BRENNER /REUTERS
Donald Trump said he was "immune" from coronavirus as he prepared for a week of barnstorming around the country as the presidential election enters its final lap.
Just six days after being released from the Walter Reed Medical Centre, a bullish US president contrasted his health with that of Joe Biden.
“It looks like I’m immune for, I don’t know, maybe a long time, maybe a short time. It could be a lifetime. Nobody really knows," he told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.
"I passed the highest test, the highest standards, and I’m in great shape," he added.
On Saturday night White House physician, Sean Conley, gave Mr Trump a clean bill of health, saying the US president was "no longer considered a transmission risk to others."
Mr Trump held his first campaign event since being discharged from hospital on Saturday night, addressing a crowd from the balcony at the White House.
Joe Biden's poll lead over Donald Trump in six key swing states
He is due to hold a rally in Sanford in Florida on Monday, before moving onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Tuesday and Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday.
Critics of the Trump campaign have accused the president of being reckless in holding events where supporters have not observed social distancing and frequently not worn masks.
The health of both candidates has taken centre stage over the past few days, with the Biden campaign angered that it was not told of the president’s positive coronavirus diagnosis as soon as it was known.
Fears that the US president could still be contagious led to plans being drawn up for the second election debate to be held virtually, only to be scrapped completely when Mr Trump insisted on an in-person confrontation with Mr Biden.
Following the president being given the all-clear, the White House called for an in-person debate to be held after all.
The president sought to turn the tables on his rival during the Fox News interview.
"Now you have a president who doesn’t have to hide in the basement, like his opponent," Mr Trump added as he claimed Mr Biden had been "coughing horribly" on Saturday.
Joe Biden has consistently tested negative for Covid-19
Credit: Carolyn Kaster /AP
The former vice president has repeatedly tested negative for Covid-19, his campaign said.
In the interview, Mr Trump signalled that he will make a bid to win the backing of disillusioned Bernie Sanders supporters — much as he did in 2016.
Both men were fiercely critical of trade deals by previous administrations which they said led to jobs being shipped abroad to countries where labour costs were lower.
According to one survey 12 per cent of people who backed the socialist Vermont senator in the Democratic primaries four years ago backed Mr Trump in the presidential election.
Hanging onto some of these votes could prove crucial in industrial swing states this time around.
An attendee wears a cutout mask in the likeness of U.S. President Donald Trump during a "Trump Train" rally in Laredo, Texas
Credit: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg
"Bernie Sanders people are going to vote for me because of what I’ve done on trade," Mr Trump added. "What I have done on trade has been a miracle."
However, the latest polls released over the weekend give the president little cause for optimism.
An ABC-Washington Post survey gives the Biden-Harris ticket a 12-point lead over Mr Trump and Mike Pence, with the president still paying the price for voters’ unhappiness at his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Polls in swing states released over the weekend brought further bad news for Mr Trump with Mr Biden leading comfortably in Michigan — which the president won in 2016.
Alarmingly for Mr Trump hitherto "safe states" such as Iowa and Georgia now seem to be too close to call.
Increasingly confident of victory, Mr Biden said the only way he could lose in November was through "chicanery" at polling places.
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