Joe wears TWO masks to Delaware church with Hunter's teen daughter Finnegan as laptop scandal threatens to derail his election hopes
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wore two masks on his trip to North Carolina after he attended church Sunday morning with Hunter's teenage daughter Finnegan as his son's laptop scandal threatens to derail his election hopes.
Biden hit the ground Sunday in North Carolina, one of a few swing states crucial in deciding the November election.
He was seen stepping off his plane at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport before heading to a campaign event at Riverside High School.
Biden, who was photographed wearing a white mask under a Navy blue one, was joined by Hunter's teen daughter, Finnegan, just days after her father's emails made national headlines.
Finnegan also appeared to be wearing a white mask under a Navy blue one that read: 'Vote.'
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Joe Biden wore two masks on his trip to North Carolina after attending church Sunday morning in Delaware
Biden was joined by Hunter's teen daughter, Finnegan, just days after her father's emails made national headlines
Finnegan also appeared to be wearing a white mask under a Navy blue one that read: 'Vote'
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper walks to greet Biden and his granddaughter Finnegan, as they arrive on his campaign plane at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Sunday
Cooper spoke with Biden and Finnegan before they headed to the former vice president's campaign event
The former vice president, who has charted a reserved itinerary shaped by pandemic concerns, flew to Durham before holding a virtual meeting with African-American faith leaders.
Earlier on Sunday, Biden attended St Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church with his wife, Jill, and Finnegan. The Biden family also went to visit Beau Biden's grave. Beau died in may 2015 from brain cancer.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, scrambling to make up lost ground, is on a furious multi-state barnstorming tour hopping from Nevada to California and then back to Nevada for a day of rallies and fundraising.
Both men, who each went to church on Sunday morning, are seeking to rouse their political bases and appeal to the seemingly small number of undecided voters in an election that could revolve on voter turnout.
One key moment to reach out to the American people comes this week with the candidates' final nationally televised debate, on Thursday evening in Nashville, Tennessee.
Their first debate descended into a chaotic stream of interruptions, head-shaking and angry rejoinders; the second was replaced by dueling town-hall meetings after Trump refused to debate virtually.
The final debate will be face-to-face, with topics including race in America, climate change and fighting Covid-19 set to ensure a combative evening.
If there was any doubt about the 74-year-old president's own recovery from the virus, his packed campaigning schedule appears to belie it, and his message has, if anything, grown more pointed.
Earlier on Sunday, Biden attended St Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church with his wife, Jill , and Finnegan
Biden and his wife Jill (second from right) and granddaughter Finnegan, (third from left) leave mass at St Joseph On the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware on Sunday. The Biden family also walked to pay respects at his son Beau Biden's grave
On Sunday, Trump again raised a disputed allegation that messages on a laptop computer belonging to Biden's son Hunter implicated the former vice president in corrupt links to Ukraine.
'Hunter Biden's laptop is a disaster for the entire Biden family, but especially for his father, Joe. It is now a proven fact,' Trump said on Twitter.
Biden's campaign has repeatedly rejected the allegations of corruption, and the candidate himself has angrily dismissed it as a 'smear campaign'.
But Trump has forcefully pursued the message. In a rally Saturday in Muskegon, Michigan he called Biden 'a criminal' and a 'national security risk' and even joined an enthusiastic crowd in chants of 'Lock him up.'
Trump also pursued US culture war themes, saying that the Democrats wanted to 'erase American history, purge American values and destroy the American way of life'.
On Sunday, Steve Bannon claimed everything that has come to light from Hunter's hard drive is true before labeling Joe Biden a 'stone cold liar' after revelations showed deep financial ties between the Bidens and Chinese Communist Party.
'Joe Biden has lied about this for years,' Bannon told Sky News in an interview.
'What Fox did, which was very interesting on that issue but also on the Chinese – they actually went to the people on the emails and contacted them. What was so stunning is that they reported last night that one, the guys on the emails said absolutely the meetings happened. This is not off of some Russia intelligence operation. That email's correct, the meanings correct and, by the way, that 10 per cent of the equity is Joe Biden's,' Bannon said.
On Sunday, Steve Bannon claimed everything that has come to light from Hunter's hard drive is true before labeling Joe Biden a 'stone cold liar' after revelations showed deep financial ties between the Bidens and Chinese Communist Party. 'Joe Biden has lied about this for years,' Bannon told Sky News in an interview
Trump weighed in on Hunter's emails on Twitter Sunday, and gave his Democratic rival a new nickname: '10% Joe'
The former White House strategist for Trump said Hunter's lawyer tried to email the repair shop to get the laptop back and has since then contacted Bannon and his team to retrieve the sensitive hard drive.
'Hunter Biden's lawyer has come to us both with phone calls and with emails saying, "Hey, I've got to get the hard drive back",' Bannon said.
'This is not some Russian intelligence operation; they admit it's their hard drive,' he continued in proving the validity of the information found on the laptop. 'We have the emails from the lawyer, if we need to release them, we'll release them.'
Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, is calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray to confirm or deny details regarding the hard drive.
In a letter to Wray, which was obtained by Fox News Sunday, Johnson says that a whistleblower contacted the committee on September 24.
He said they claimed to possess a laptop that Hunter left at his business, and that he had turned it over to the FBI.
Johnson noted in his letter that his staff immediately asked the FBI to confirm certain details to better validate the claim, but the bureau said they would not comment on any of the information.
Trump weighed in on Hunter's emails on Twitter Sunday, and gave his Democratic rival a new nickname: '10% Joe.'
'Hunter Biden's laptop is a disaster for the entire Biden family, but especially for his father, Joe. It is now a proven fact, and cannot be denied, that all of that info is the REAL DEAL,' Trump tweeted. 'That makes it impossible for '50%, or 10%' Joe, to ever assume the office of the President!'
Trump was seen putting a wad of $20 bills into the collection jar during a Sunday service at the International Church of Las Vegas
Trump attended services with aide Hope Hicks , among others, at a service in Nevada
Worshipers stood around Trump and prayed for him in Nevada Sunday where he attended services at the International Church of Las Vegas
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With the president trailing in polls, some analysts say he should instead focus on America's economic prospects, which Trump considers his strong point.
Nearly 220,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, the world's worst total, and the outbreak is now spreading in many states at rates unseen in months - a national crisis that Trump largely avoids in his speeches.
Polls show that an overwhelming majority of voters disapprove of his erratic handling of the pandemic, and Biden has made it a core theme, promising to bring what he terms more sober, less politicized leadership.
Ahead of Trump's Nevada events, Biden said the president 'needs to answer for his failed response to COVID-19 his refusal to pass additional financial relief for families desperately in need of help'.
'Donald Trump didn't take necessary precautions to protect himself and others. How can we trust him to protect Nevada families?'
Trump has dismissed his weak polling data, while Biden's supporters are also wary about over-confidence in an election that could tilt on a narrow margin of victory in a single state such as Florida.
Democrats assailed Trump on Sunday not just for his attacks on Biden but on Michigan Governor Whitmer, the recent target of a kidnapping plot by a heavily armed right-wing militia group.
The president is 'incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. It is wrong. It's got to end. It is dangerous,' Whitmer told NBC's Meet the Press.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, has been negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over a stimulus relief bill to alleviate the deep economic strains imposed by the pandemic.
She said Sunday on ABC that she remained optimistic of a deal, though many lawmakers say the two sides are still far apart.
More than 25 million Americans have already cast ballots in unprecedented early voting, caused in part by the pandemic.