Joe Biden will not hold campaign rallies during coronavirus crisis

The move is in sharp contrast to Donald Trump, who has held rallies attended by thousands in Tulsa ,Oklahoma, and Phoenix, Arizona
REUTERS
Luke O'Reilly1 July 2020

Presumptive US Democrat Presidential nominee Joe Biden has said he will not be holding rallies while America continues to struggle to contain the spread of Covid-19

Mr Biden made the announcement as took aim at President Donald Trump's fitness for the Oval Office, suggesting he had abdicated his duty to protect both US troops abroad and American citizens facing a pandemic and economic calamity.

He told reporters at a press conference in Delaware that he was "following the doc's orders".

"I'm going to follow the doc's orders, not just for me but for the country, and that means that I am not going to be holding rallies", he said. "I won't be holding rallies."

The move is in sharp contrast to Mr Trump, who has held rallies attended by thousands in Tulsa ,Oklahoma, and Phoenix, Arizona. Mr Biden accused Mr Trump of "waving the white flag" as coronavirus cases surged nationwide and the death toll surpasses 125,000.

Mr Trump has held rallies in Oklahoma and Arizona
AP

While speaking to reporters, Mr Biden also said the president had "a lot to answer for" regarding reports he was advised as early as March 2019 of intelligence suggesting Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans.

He stopped short of saying Mr Trump had violated his oath of office or should face consequences from Congress based on any inaction on potential Russian bounties.

But he called it "an absolute dereliction of duty if any of this is even remotely true" and added, in that case, that the public should "unrelated to my running, conclude that this man is unfit to be president of the United States of America".

The Associated Press has reported at least one of Mr Trump's daily intelligence briefings included evidence of Russian bounties.

Mr Biden accused Mr Trump of cosying up to Vladimir Putin (Reuters)
REUTERS

Mr Trump has insisted he was never briefed on such details because they weren't credible.

Mr Biden said on Tuesday he had not had a classified briefing on the material or on Mr Trump's handling of it, but said he may request one soon.

Major-party nominees receive daily intelligence briefings, but Mr Biden is not yet the official nominee.

Throughout this election campaign, Mr Biden has hammered Mr Trump for "cosying up" to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other autocrats.

He has also warned Mr Putin's long-term goal is to destabilise NATO and Western alliances in place since World War II.

It has been alleged that Russia put bounties on American soldier's heads
AP

Mr Biden said Mr Trump should have called his military and national security team together to reconcile any intelligence discrepancies on the Russian bounty reports.

"He should have, at a minimum, picked up the phone and said, 'Vladimir, old buddy, if any of this is true ... you've got a big problem," Mr Biden said.

The 77-year-old also used Mr Trump's explanations - that he was unaware of any such intelligence reports - to turn the tables on the president's frequent mockery of Mr Biden's mental acuity.

Mr Biden said his 74-year-old rival "doesn't seem to be cognitively aware," and he embraced the possibility of general election debates.

"I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I'm running against," Mr Biden said.

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On the coronavirus, Mr Biden lambasted the president for not harnessing the power of the federal government.

"He called himself a wartime president," Mr Biden said. "What happened? Now it's almost July, and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered, waved the white flag and left the battlefield."

Mr Biden said he would implement a national system of testing for the virus and tracing the exposure path of those diagnosed, but warned Covid-19 "will likely worsen" during the coming flu season.

"We can't continue half recovering, half getting worse," Mr Biden said. "We can't continue half with a plan and half just hoping for the best. We can't defeat this virus with a piecemeal approach."

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