NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
By JON HAWORTH and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is back in the White House and back on twitter as he fights a coronavirus infection.
The president left Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday evening, landing at the White House shortly before 7 p.m.
After Marine One landed on the White House South Lawn, Trump walked up the steps of White House, faced the cameras and took off his mask. Trump gave a thumbs up and an extended salute to Marine One, before walking inside the residence.
Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and spent several days in the hospital, tweeted Tuesday morning, “FEELING GREAT!”
The president is returning to a White House plagued by COVID-19 as 18 people in Trump’s orbit have reported testing positive since last week. Questions remain about how many more people at the highest levels of government had been exposed to the virus after a week of events involving the president where social distancing and mask-wearing were lax.
Melania Trump, who has been at the White House since she tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, “continues to rest and is doing well,” the first lady’s chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said Tuesday.
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife tested negative for the coronavirus again on Tuesday morning, the vice president’s office said. Pence is in Utah ahead of Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate.
Here is how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:
Oct 06, 11:46 am
Facebook removes Trump’s post for inflating flu death numbers
Facebook on Tuesday removed a post by the president, and Twitter tagged the post as misleading, after Trump incorrectly cited flu death numbers in a comparison to COVID-19.
Trump, the morning after returning from the hospital to be treated for COVID-19, tweeted, “Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!” he wrote.
According to CDC estimates, the annual flu death toll has ranged between 12,000 and 61,000 since 2010.
Trump also told Bob Woodward earlier this year that coronavirus is “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
Trump used a similar comparison early on in the pandemic, before death totals began to rapidly rise.
On March 9, Trump tweeted, “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
As of Tuesday, over 210,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.
Oct 06, 11:20 am
Trump tweets he plans to be in Miami for next week’s debate
The morning after leaving the hospital, Trump tweeted that he plans to attend next week’s presidential debate in Miami.
The debate is set for Oct. 15 — two weeks after the president tested positive for the coronavirus on Oct. 1.
When asked about the president campaigning, Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said Monday, “As far as travel goes, we will see.”
Trump’s campaign told ABC News on Monday that “it is the president’s intention to debate.”
ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report.
Oct 06, 9:17 am
Trump says ‘we are learning to live with Covid’
Trump, the morning after returning from the hospital to be treated for COVID-19, tweeted, “we are learning to live with Covid,” comparing the virus to the flu.
“Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!” he wrote.
According to CDC estimates, the annual flu death toll has ranged between 12,000 and 61,000 since 2010.
Trump also told Bob Woodward earlier this year that coronavirus is “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
Trump used a similar comparison early on in the pandemic, before death totals began to rapidly rise.
On March 9, Trump tweeted, “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
As of Tuesday, over 210,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.
Oct 06, 5:02 am
Trump campaign fundraising off president’s exit from Walter Reed
The Trump campaign is already fundraising off of President Trump’s exit from Walter Reed Medical Center Monday night, urging supporters not to be, “afraid of Covid,” which has killed over 200,000 Americans.
The subject of a fundraising email sent Monday night said: “I’M BACK” — even though his doctors said earlier in the day that he’s not out of the woods yet.
The email goes on to argue “under the Trump Administration, we have developed some really great drugs and knowledge,” but since testing positive the president has received some of the best treatment in the world — which most Americans don’t have access to.
“This is it…I need you to step up to the front lines during this critical time,” the email urges supporters.
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