'We want Hope!' Trump calls aide Hope Hicks onstage at his Florida rally weeks after each tested positive for COVID-19 – as his longtime advisor quips 'we can share a microphone now!'
President Donald Trump called his longtime aide Hope Hicks onstage at his Florida rally after each of them contended with a positive test for the coronavirur.
Hicks, who joined Trump's 2016 campaign from the Trump Organization, took her time getting before thousands of cheering fans and joked about overcoming the deadly disease.
'We can share a microphone now!' she quipped.
Thank you all. Thank you, President Trump. I have stage fright, so…' she said, quickly exiting the stage.
President Donald Trump called aide Hope Hicks on stage at his Florida rally. Hicks smiled and waived to supporters, but kept her remarks brief
Trump tipped his hat to Hicks, who traveled with him aboard Air Force One Thursday and Friday without wearing a mask, after saying his efforts helped bring hope back to the nation.
'Speaking of hope, Hope Hicks is here,' Trump said. 'The great Hope Hicks,' he said, to some cheers.
'You know she tested positive,' Trump said. It was Hicks' positive test, not immediately revealed by the White House, that was the first of a raft of positive results among White House officials including Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
'But she’s okay. 'We want hope?' he said, prompting more cheers from the crowd.
'Come here, Hope,' Trump told the advisor who joined him at the White House, then left for a corporate job at Fox only to return. 'She’s shy but not that shy,' he said.
Trump held a large outdoor rally in Florida Friday where supporters chanted 'Lock him up!' when he tore into rival Joe Biden, who himself blasted the 'refusal to condemn' a plot to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan.
'Come here, Hope,' Trump told the advisor
Trump cajoled Hicks into appearing with him on stage
'We can share a microphone now!' she quipped. Both Hicks and Trump battled the coronavirus
The crowd chants, at Trump's outdoor rally in Ocala, came as the president campaigned in the southeast in a push to try to turn back his rivals expansive polling lead. Trump teed off on a report based on information gleaned from Hunter Biden's laptop, claiming it showed the Biden family is 'corrupt.'
'It’s the biggest story worldwide. It’s a corrupt family. And these people didn’t ask him one single question about it,' Trump said, complaining about a Thursday night town hall meeting on ABC where voters did not bring up the story with Biden during his prime time appearance.
President Donald Trump called Joe Biden's family a 'corrupt family' at a campaign rally in Florida
'Lock him up!' chanted crowd members, who were packed closely together and mostly avoided wearing masks at the outdoor fathering.
'Look behind the fake news Can you believe how many people back there?' Trump told the crowd.
Trump railed against 'phony witch hunts phone impeachments - all of the things. And it ended up that they did it can you believe that?' he said.
Trump repeatedly attacked his rival as dirty, as voters give the Democrat a more desirable public approval rating than the incumbent. 'He’s a servant of the wealthy donor sand globalists,' said Trump. 'Joe Biden has been blatantly lying about his involvement in his son’s corrupt business dealing,' he said.
Trump's supporters crowded into an outdoor airport area for the rally
Democrat Joe Biden blasted Trump for a failure to 'condemn' the plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer introduces Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden to speak at Beech Woods Recreation Center in Southfield, Michigan, on October 16, 2020
This combination of pictures created on October 09, 2020 shows booking photos released by the Antrim County Sheriff's Office in Michigan (L-R, top to bottom) Michael Null, William Null, Eric Molitor, and Shawn Fix and images released by the Kent County Sheriff's Office in Michigan, Ty Garbin, Brandon Caserta, Kaleb Franks, Adam Fox, and Daniel Harris. All are suspects in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
William Null stands in the gallery of the Michigan Senate Chamber during the American Patriot Rally, organized by Michigan United for Liberty, to demand the reopening of businesses on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on April 30, 2020
'How many times you see him make fun of Biden wearing a mask? Because he refuses to practice social distancing he puts his supporters in such jeopardy,' Biden said, slamming Trump and claiming he puts his own supporters in danger
He once again went after Hunter Biden, who got an administrative discharge from the Navy reserve after failing a test for drug use.
'This is a guy that got thrown out of the military. Had no job. As soon as his father became vice president he became a vacuum cleaner for the family,' Trump said.
'They got the guy’s lap top. They got thousands of things,' Trump said, referencing a hard drive of information that his lawyer Rudy Giuliani provided to the New York Post.
Biden, appearing in battleground Michigan, referenced an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, an ally who was on his short list for vice president.
Federal and state authorities have charged 14 people, including self-described militia members, in the plot.
'It’s the sort of behavior you might expect from ISIS,' Biden said. 'And the failure to condemn these folks is stunning,' he said.
Trump in April tweeted 'LIBERATE MICHIGAN!' amid the governor's coronavirus lockdown order.
'That was a dog whistle,' Biden said Friday of the language.
'Just like when he said there were quote very fine people on both side sin Charlottesville,' he said, pointing to the 2017 clash in Virginia involving neo Nazis.
Biden praised Whitmer, saying he was 'grateful that the governor and her famiy are safe.
'It’s an unusual year,' he told his Michigan crowd. 'You stand up straight and tall and you don’t bend,' he told Whitmer. 'You stepped up to the crisis and you stepped up,' he said.
He also heaped praise on Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is in a tough race against John James, a Republican businessman. The race could be key to control of the Senate.
Biden blasted Trump for having 'refused to embrace wearing a mask.'
'How many times you see him make fun of Biden wearing a mask? Because he refuses to practice social distancing he puts his supporters in such jeopardy,' Biden said, slamming Trump and claiming he puts his own supporters in danger.