Trump wanted to campaign in Florida. A phone call will have to do until Monday.
President Donald Trump hoped to travel to Florida this weekend for his first rally since announcing he had contracted COVID-19 a week ago.
Instead, the president found himself addressing about a dozen law enforcement officials in Miami-Dade County by speakerphone Friday, as his team worked to pull together a visit to Florida for next week.
“I look forward to seeing you personally,” Trump told the group, gathered on the second floor of a Hialeah police equipment retail outlet to announce an endorsement by the Florida Police Chiefs Association.
Trump had told Fox News on Thursday evening that he hoped to return to Florida as early as Saturday, the day his physician said would be the earliest possible date the president could resume public events after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
Trump qualified those hopes by saying he would come to Florida “if we have enough time to put it together,” a nod to the difficulties of arranging travel for the president on short notice. His campaign announced late Friday afternoon that he would return to the state on Monday.
“It’s very important for the president to get back to Florida,” said former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, in Hialeah Friday to accept the police chiefs’ endorsement on the president’s behalf. “He can’t wait to get back to Florida.”
Bondi arrived at Lou’s Police Distributors along with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Friday afternoon with the intention of getting Trump on the phone during the press conference. She wasn’t immediately able to do that, as Trump was on the air with Rush Limbaugh.
But she was able to get Trump on speakerphone after the press conference ended.
“I hope they can hear me, because I mean it. I’ll shout it from the rooftops, they’re my favorite people. They’re the bravest and the best, and I just want to thank you all,” he said. “As you probably know, I think I’ve gotten every policeman and every cop and every law enforcement person in the country. But especially in Florida, it means so much to me, I really appreciate it.”
Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden is ahead by several points in most public polling of Florida — a state that Trump claimed victory in four years ago and likely must win again this November to be reelected.
“I think we’re doing really well. We’re getting great poll numbers, folks. I tell you, the poll numbers are starting to really come out good,” he said.
Trump was last in Florida on Sept. 25, when he held a Latinos for Trump roundtable at his Doral golf resort. He was supposed to return on Oct. 2 but canceled a rally in the Central Florida city of Sanford after announcing that morning that he had contracted COVID-19.
The event has now been rescheduled for Monday at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, and it is expected to be Trump’s first in-person campaign rally since announcing he tested positive for the coronavirus. The Trump campaign announced his plans to return to Florida just before the Commission on Presidential Debates on Friday officially canceled the Oct. 15 debate between Trump and Biden scheduled for Miami.
Trump, who returned to the White House at the start of this week after a three-night hospital stay, said in a radio interview Friday that he met with a group of physicians earlier in the day and was “not taking anything” for his illness anymore. The White House and his doctors have avoided answering questions about when he last tested negative for coronavirus.
“There will be a test in place and rest assured that test will show that it’s not transmissible. He won’t be out there if he could transmit the virus,” Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said on Fox News.
The president’s physician, Sean Conley, in a memo said that Saturday would be the 10-day mark since Trump’s diagnosis a week prior. “I anticipate the President’s safe return to public engagements at that time,” Conley wrote.
A White House official told McClatchy that Trump would host a law and order event on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday. The details of the event that was billed as “remarks to peaceful protesters” were first reported by ABC News.
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Trump wanted to campaign in Florida. A phone call will have to do until Monday.."
