Biden Suggests Trump Should Shoulder Responsibility for Contracting the Virus

Biden Suggests Trump Should Shoulder Responsibility for Contracting the Virus Joe Biden travels to the Sun Belt, where recent polls show him leading President Trump. In a video, Mr. Trump tries to frame his coronavirus infection as a show of leadership. The debate commission says it will install plexiglass barriers at Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate. This briefing has ended. Follow our latest coverage of the Biden vs. Trump 2020 election here.

When asked about Trump, Biden says those who don’t take Covid precautions seriously are ‘responsible for what happens to them.’ Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Monday that “it was a little disconcerting” to look out from the debate stage and see a maskless Trump family. Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Monday suggested President Trump bore some responsibility for his positive coronavirus test because of the way he has flouted public health guidelines for months. “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think, is responsible for what happens to them,” Mr. Biden said at a town hall hosted by NBC, when asked whether Mr. Trump shouldered some responsibility for contracting the coronavirus. Last week Mr. Biden shared a debate stage with Mr. Trump in Cleveland, but said he was not fearful for his own health. “I’ve been fastidious about the social distancing,” Mr. Biden said. “I’ve been fastidious about wearing a mask.” He said he and Mr. Trump maintained their distance, but acknowledged, “it was a little disconcerting to look out and see that his whole section, no one had masks on, when my wife was sitting further down, had a mask on, the people with us had masks on. I didn’t quite get that.” He twice tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday, his campaign has said, and tested negative again on Sunday. His campaign has declined to say whether Mr. Biden is being tested daily, but have said he is being tested regularly, including before travel, as he did Monday to Florida. —

In a campaign-style video, Trump says contracting Covid-19 was a risk he had to take as ‘your leader.’ President Trump on the Truman Balcony after returning to the White House, where he stood and removed his mask on live television. Credit... Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times President Trump on Monday night sought to reframe his battle with Covid-19 in political, rather than medical terms, suggesting that his recent diagnosis was not a mortal threat to his health or an indictment about his handling of the pandemic but instead an exhibition of presidential leadership. “As your leader, I had to do that,” he said in a video posted online, appearing to suggest that exposing himself to the deadly virus by repeatedly ignoring warnings about mask-wearing and social distancing was simply part of his job as president. Mr. Trump made the remarks in a video posted online shortly after his return to the White House after a worrying three-night stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In the video, and another clip posted minutes earlier that showed his return home aboard the presidential helicopter, Mr. Trump said he “learned so much about coronavirus” but urged Americans “don’t let it dominate you, don’t be afraid of it” and boasted of the country’s having the “best medical equipment, the best medicines.” The announcement that Mr. Trump would be returning to the White House was a dramatic turn of events from a day earlier, when his medical team had presented mixed messages about his condition, saying that the president was feeling well but also revealing that he had been prescribed a steroid that is typically not used unless someone is very sick with Covid-19. Of his decision to risk contracting the virus through his own actions, Mr. Trump said in the video: “I knew there’s danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that’s a leader would not do what I did.” His comments were recorded on the same balcony where he stood and removed his mask on live television upon his return from Walter Reed, and only a few hours after he had tweeted that he would “be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!!” despite ongoing concern from his doctors about his condition and guidelines that most likely demand that he quarantine inside the White House well into next week. “We’re going back to work,” Mr. Trump said confidently. “We’re going to be out front.” The vaccines, he said, citing no evidence, “are coming momentarily.”

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Trump’s ‘Don’t be afraid of Covid’ exhortation is denounced by Democrats and disease experts. Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, whose father died after contracting the coronavirus, said President Trump’s tweet minimizing it was “an evil thing to say.” Credit... Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times President Trump’s exhortation “Don’t be afraid of Covid” was denounced by Democrats and others who criticized him for taking a dismissive tone about a disease that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, sickened more than 7.4 million and upended daily life across the country. “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter after announcing his plan to leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he was brought by helicopter on Friday after testing positive for the coronavirus. “Don’t let it dominate your life.” His statement quickly resonated in the political world, with some Democrats denouncing it as cavalier, saying it implicitly suggested that those who died after contracting the virus were weak. And several warned that minimizing the dangers posed by a virus that is spreading across the country — and the highest levels of government — sent a dangerous message at a moment health officials are pleading with the public to take precautions, wear masks and practice social distancing. “‘Don’t be afraid of Covid’ is an evil thing to say to those of us who lost our loved ones to Covid 19,” Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota whose father died from complications of Covid-19, wrote on Twitter. “This man is unfit to be President, he lacks the compassion and humanity it takes to lead our country.” Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University in Atlanta, responded to the president’s post with one of his own: “Are you telling the relatives of 210,000 Americans who have died of #COVID19 not to be afraid? Please tell everyone the truth once and for all, this is serious & #WearAMask You didn’t and got infected.” Are you telling the relatives of 210,000 Americans who have died of #COVID19 not to be afraid? Please tell everyone the truth once and for all, this is serious & #WearAMask You didn’t and got infected. — Carlos del Rio (@CarlosdelRio7) October 5, 2020 Julián Castro, a former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote: “More than 200,000 American lives have been lost to Covid-19. The president himself and countless staff have been infected. Yet, nine months into the pandemic, the president’s advice is ‘don’t be afraid of Covid.’” Several Republicans embraced Mr. Trump’s dismissive message. Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, tweeted: “COVID stood NO chance against @realDonaldTrump” and shared a crudely doctored video of the president in a wresting match with the virus. And Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida posted: “President Trump won’t have to recover from COVID. COVID will have to recover from President Trump.” Many Democrats noted that Mr. Trump has access to better health care than most Americans. Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, reacted to the president’s tweet by posting “tell that to all the Americans who - unlike you - DON’T have access to the best healthcare in the world, funded entirely by taxpayers.” Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut went further, noting reports showing that Mr. Trump had paid little or no federal income tax in recent years. “Don’t be afraid, says the guy with a team of a dozen doctors, access to experimental treatments that no one else gets, a four room hospital suite, who lives in a house with top doctors on site 24/7,” he wrote on Twitter. “All of which is provided to him for free because he refuses to pay taxes.” “In all seriousness, the President’s incompetence has already gotten 200,000 killed,” he added. “The consequences of this tweet will probably kill a couple thousand more. Just bone chilling.” The doctor overseeing President Trump’s care, Dr. Sean P. Conley, was asked about the president’s tweet at a news conference on Monday afternoon at Walter Reed. “I’m not going to get into what the president says,” he said at the briefing, where he had also noted that the president was not “out of the woods yet” in his fight against Covid-19. —

Plexiglass dividers will separate Harris and Pence at the vice-presidential debate. Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris will debate at the University of Utah on Wednesday. Credit... Patrick Semansky/Associated Press When Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris of California meet for the vice-presidential debate on Wednesday in Salt Lake City, the two will be separated by plexiglass dividers, according to a person familiar with discussions between the campaigns and the Commission on Presidential Debates. The dividers are intended as an extra safety precaution to prevent any transmission of the coronavirus, an idea that grew out of discussions between the debate commission, the Cleveland Clinic, which is advising on health and safety precautions,and the two campaigns. A virtual event is also under consideration for the scheduled town hall-style debate on Oct. 15 between President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to two people familiar with the commission’s deliberations. Much remains unknown about that second presidential debate, including if Mr. Trump, who has contracted the coronavirus, would be well enough to attend, and if Mr. Biden’s team would be comfortable with the former vice president sharing an indoor stage with a president who has been contagious. Beaming in the candidates remotely is one option being discussed by members of the Debate Commission, but both people said the conversations were still preliminary and that the commission is unlikely to finalize its plans until after this week’s vice-presidential event is completed. The commission had also planned to issue changes to its debate format in the aftermath of last week’s Cleveland debate, where Mr. Trump repeatedly interrupted Mr. Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News. A decision on those changes is likely to be delayed because of Mr. Trump’s positive test for the virus. But the option of muting a candidate’s microphones is unlikely to be implemented in the upcoming debates, one of the people said. Mr. Trump’s entourage, including several members of his immediate family, removed their masks in the Cleveland debate hall, flouting the safety protocols laid down by the Debate Commission. A spokeswoman for the debate commission did not respond to a request for comment. —

Campaigning in Florida, Biden urges mask mandates and warns Covid crisis ‘is far, far from over.’ Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:49 - 0:00 transcript Biden Says He’s ‘Reluctant’ to Comment on Trump’s Health Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, declined to weigh in on President Trump’s motorcade Sunday night to greet his supporters. Reporter: “Vice President Biden, do you have a reaction to President Trump leaving Walter Reed last night to speak to his supporters?” “I’m reluctant to comment on anything — the president’s health, what he’s doing or not doing. I’ll leave that to the doctors to talk about. But I’m not going to comment on any of his conduct or his — I don’t know enough to know.” Reporter: “If he’s feeling better by the 15th, and you have a debate, what kinds of safety precautions would you like to see — would you like it to be a virtual debate?” “If the scientists say that it’s safe, and the distances are safe, then I think that’s fine. I’ll do whatever the experts say is the appropriate thing to do. I’m not an expert on it, but I think we should be very cautious, as I’ve thought all along, and I’m going to continue to listen to the scientists.” Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, declined to weigh in on President Trump’s motorcade Sunday night to greet his supporters. Credit Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times As President Trump prepared to return to the White House on Monday after a three-night stay at the hospital, his Democratic rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., campaigned in Florida, where he expressed hope that the president was recovering but urged Americans not to minimize the threat posed by the coronavirus. “I hope the president’s recovery is swift and successful, but our nation’s Covid crisis is far, far from over,” Mr. Biden said at a gym in Miami’s Little Havana. Mr. Biden once again urged Mr. Trump — who has sent lukewarm-to-mixed signals on the importance of wearing masks, and who had mocked the former vice president at the debate just last week for wearing masks — to embrace universal masking, saying it would save lives. “I was glad to see the president speaking and recording videos over the weekend,” Mr. Biden said. “Now that he’s busy tweeting campaign messages, I would ask him to do this: Listen to the scientists. Support masks. Support a — mask mandates nationwide.” The president’s hospitalization after testing positive for the coronavirus — and the virus’s spread through his administration and orbit — brought the pandemic back to the center of the presidential campaign. As he prepared to leave the hospital on Monday evening, Mr. Trump signaled that the election remained front and center in his mind. “Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!!” he wrote on Twitter, though it was unclear how that would be possible. Earlier, before leaving Delaware on Monday morning, Mr. Biden declined to weigh in on Mr. Trump’s decision to briefly leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday to drive past his supporters, an excursion that may have endangered members of his security detail and that runs counter to health guidelines, which call for sick people to isolate. “I’ll leave that to the docs to talk about,” a masked Mr. Biden told reporters. Asked what precautions he would like to see for the next presidential debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, Mr. Biden said that he would follow the advice of experts. “Listen to the science,” he said. “I’ll do whatever the experts say is the appropriate thing to do,” he said. At one point, his wife, Jill Biden, physically pulled him a few feet back when he got too close to the news media. Mr. Biden is making a concerted push in the Sun Belt this week. On Monday afternoon, he visited the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami, where he appealed to South Florida’s Haitian-American community, and he participated in an NBC News town hall event on Monday night. And on Thursday, he plans to campaign in Arizona with his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. The trips are a telling shift in geographic focus for the former vice president, and it comes as polls show that the traditionally Republican belt of states stretching from North Carolina down to Florida and across the South to Texas and Arizona has become increasingly competitive. If Mr. Biden wants to assemble not just a winning map but an Electoral College landslide, these are the states he must bring into his column. — Michael Cooper, Thomas Kaplan and

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Trump leaves the hospital and returns to the White House, as more people in his orbit test positive. Image President Trump wore a mask during the short flight from Walter Reed to the White House, then ascended a set of stairs to a balcony and removed it before going inside. Credit... Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times President Trump returned to the White House on Monday after spending three nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but his physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, issued a stark warning as he prepared to depart: The president, he said, was not “out of the woods yet” in his fight against Covid-19. “Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve,” Dr. Conley said in announcing that Mr. Trump would return to the White House, where he will receive round-the-clock care. “He’s met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria.” Yet the full picture of the president’s health remained unclear as Mr. Trump’s doctors evaded some key questions about his condition, including his lung function and the date of his last negative coronavirus test. They said that he had received a third dose of the antiviral drug remdesivir, and that he has continued to take dexamethasone, a steroid drug that has been shown to be beneficial to patients who are very sick with Covid-19. The doctors’ remarks came after Mr. Trump tweeted that he would be returning at 6:30 p.m. to the White House, which has a medical suite of its own. In doing so, as he has throughout the pandemic, he downplayed the seriousness of a virus that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States, writing in his post, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” Democrats and doctors called the statement reckless. The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, which air nightly at 6:30 p.m., carried the live camera shot of Mr. Trump departing Walter Reed and his helicopter returning to the White House, the kind of blanket television coverage that Mr. Trump relishes. After landing on the South Lawn, Mr. Trump ascended stairs to a rarely-used White House balcony above the Diplomatic Entrance, into which he typically walks. He then turned to face his helicopter — and the live television cameras — and removed his mask before giving the departing Marine One a long salute. Amid questions about whether Mr. Trump could relocate to the White House without endangering himself and others came a reminder that the virus may still be spreading through the West Wing and beyond: Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, announced that she, too, had tested positive and would be isolating. Ms. McEnany, who said she had previously tested negative several times, had spoken briefly to reporters outside the White House on Sunday. She did not wear a mask. Two more members of the press team, Karoline Leavitt and Chad Gilmartin, who is Ms. McEnany’s relative, also tested positive but learned about their diagnosis before Ms. McEnany, according to two people familiar with the diagnosis. The announcement that Mr. Trump would be returning to the White House was a dramatic turn of events given that just a day earlier, his medical team had presented mixed messages about his condition, saying that the president was feeling well but also revealing that he had been prescribed the steroid dexamethasone, which is typically not used unless someone needs mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen. Some medical experts said on Monday that, given Mr. Trump’s risk factors — he is 74, male and overweight — that he should be closely watched for at least the first week of his infection, given that some patients quickly deteriorate several days into their illness. — Michael Crowley, Maggie Haberman and

Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate looms larger with the president sidelined. Image Wednesday’s debate will most likely compel Vice President Mike Pence to account for the administration’s record on the coronavirus and answer for his own stewardship as chairman of the federal virus task force. Credit... Mark Makela for The New York Times President Trump’s battle with the coronavirus has catapulted this week’s vice-presidential debate into the spotlight to an extraordinary degree, putting pressure on Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris to use this forum to reassure an anxious public they are prepared and qualified to step in as president. For Mr. Pence, Wednesday’s debate will most likely compel him to account for the administration’s record on a virus that has now infected 7.4 million Americans and answer for his own stewardship as chairman of the federal coronavirus task force. For Ms. Harris, a former prosecutor, the debate is a chance to show that she is capable of being president in a national emergency, as well as to demonstrate that she can challenge the Trump record on Covid-19 without seeming overly aggressive against an ailing president. The vice-presidential candidates bring markedly different styles to the event. Mr. Pence in debates has proved to be a calm and disciplined figure, difficult to fluster and, given his easy bearing, unexpectedly adept at going on the attack. He speaks quickly, rarely leaving a space between sentences for an opponent to jump in. “He is a very consistent, smooth, regulated debater,” said John D. Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman in 2016. “His experience as a radio host taught him to be well prepared. He’ll be the anti-Trump in this debate. It will be the opposite of what you saw last Tuesday.” Image Senator Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, is considered an intense and effective interlocutor. Credit... Joe Buglewicz for The New York Times Ms. Harris has proved to be an intense and effective interlocutor as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She raised her stock with Democrats with her aggressive questioning of, among other officials, William P. Barr, the attorney general. Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, called her a strong debater. “Because of her prosecutorial background,” he said, “she is someone who is good at mastering presentation like you would do in a courtroom.” “She is better on offense,” Mr. Weaver added. “When she is on offense, she is better scoring points than in a defense.” — Adam Nagourney and

Senator Ron Johnson, in quarantine with the virus, says if needed he would wear a ‘moon suit’ to confirm Amy Coney Barrett. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who tested positive for the coronavirus, said he would attend Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation even if it meant wearing a “moon suit.” Credit... Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times One of the three Senate Republicans who have the coronavirus vowed on Monday that nothing would stop him from voting in person to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court — even if it means wearing a “moon suit.” The senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, made the declaration to the conservative radio show host, Ross Kaminsky, of the Denver station KHOW, dismissing Democrats’ calls for the confirmation vote to be delayed. Republicans can least afford to lose any votes in the Senate, which they narrowly control, 53-to-47. “If we have to go in and vote, I’ve already told leadership I’ll go in in a moon suit,” Mr. Johnson said. Mr. Johnson, 65, announced on Saturday that he had tested positive for the virus, one day after two G.O.P. colleagues, Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said that they had been infected. All three senators are quarantining, as well as several of members of the Republican conference who came into contact with them. Mr. Johnson said on Monday that he was not experiencing any symptoms and that he was canceling all of his events ahead of the pivotal vote to avoid a prolonged quarantine. But the developments pose an obstacle to Republicans, who are scrambling to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the election, when they could lose control of the White House and the Senate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone who tests positive for the virus but does not have symptoms should quarantine for at least 10 days. Mr. Johnson said on Monday that there was no need for the Senate to hold in-person hearings with Judge Barrett before a vote. “We’ve learned to conduct the business of the Senate over the internet,” he said. Mr. Johnson accused the media of exaggerating the dangers of the virus. “Should people be so freaked out about this?” he said. “I think there’s a level of unjustifiable hysteria about Covid that I think is just unfortunate. Again, I’m not downplaying it. I didn’t want to get it.” Mr. Johnson has been a vocal critic of mask requirements and shutdown orders. On Monday, he said the United States should follow the model of Sweden, which eschewed a coronavirus lockdown in the spring, unlike its European neighbors. “We never should have gone through these shutdowns,” he said. “There’s an enormous human toll of these shutdowns.” —

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McConnell recesses the Senate for two weeks but says hearings on Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination will go ahead. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky pledged on Monday to proceed “full steam ahead” with the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, even as he was forced to recess the Senate for two weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak within the Republican ranks. In brief remarks in an emptied Senate, Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, acknowledged that the positive diagnoses of several Republican senators — Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — were a “stark reminder” that the virus was far from done with the United States or the Senate. He spoke in far more sober tones about the virus than Mr. Trump, who despite being hospitalized with the coronavirus, had tweeted hours earlier, “Don’t be afraid of Covid!” Mr. McConnell and Mr. Trump, though, were united in barreling ahead with Judge Barrett’s nomination before Election Day, despite unified Democratic opposition, and even as the virus’s continued spread would put other Senate business on hold. Republicans plan to convene four days of confirmation hearings next Monday, despite the broader Senate not being in session. Lawmakers who are ill or worried about health risks will be allowed to participate virtually. “We are full steam ahead with a fair, thorough and timely confirmation process that Judge Barrett, the court and the nation deserve,” Mr. McConnell said. He dismissed Democrats’ arguments, that the hearings should be postponed because of the outbreak, as “nonsense” given their previous promise to slow the confirmation any way they could. “Look, we have months, months of experience governing this way while protecting health and safety here in the Senate,” he said. “This body will not cease to function just because the Democrats fear they will lose a vote.” Mr. Johnson was so eager to confirm Judge Barrett, he told a radio interviewer on Monday, that he would leave quarantine to vote in person even if it means wearing a “moon suit.” Democrats made a brief attempt to extend the recess through Election Day to prevent Republicans from installing Judge Barrett on the court on their preferred timeline, but Mr. McConnell objected. The lone Democrat on hand, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, then agreed to let the Senate go out of session for two weeks, until Oct. 19. That timeline should still leave Republicans the time they need to confirm Judge Barrett, but they cannot afford to have other lawmakers get sick in the meantime, or Mr. McConnell could lose their narrow majority. —

A quarantined Ivanka Trump plans to serve as a campaign stand-in for the president this week. Ivanka Trump will take her father’s place at two virtual fund-raisers on Tuesday. Credit... Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times As President Trump’s re-election campaign shifts to accommodate a candidate who is sidelined by the coronavirus, Mr. Trump’s family members are trying to fill the holes he has left. To that end, his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, is planning to serve in his place at two virtual fund-raisers on Tuesday. Later this week, she will hold a virtual campaign event. Ms. Trump is still in quarantine after being part of the ring of people exposed to her father, to the senior White House adviser Hope Hicks, and others who have contracted the coronavirus. She is being tested daily and received another negative result on Monday. But she is likely to become a more visible presence in the remaining days of the campaign. Ms. Trump’s efforts are part of an “Operation MAGA” that is being rolled out by the Trump campaign to try to keep up a sense of forward movement if the president is forced off the campaign trail. She has been among the most requested surrogates to appear on behalf of her father, and the campaign has seen opportunities to get the Trump name into local news coverage of events by having Ms. Trump or her brothers Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump hold events in battleground states. Before the virus outbreak at the White House temporarily halted campaign events, Ms. Trump had made several stops in key states on behalf of her father. Carolina Hurley, a spokeswoman for Ms. Trump at the White House, said that she “takes this pandemic seriously, rigorously adhering to best practices including always wearing a mask when unable to maintain social distance and urging others to follow suit.” Ms. Trump was photographed taking off her mask in the debate hall last Tuesday when her father faced off against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., at a debate co-hosted by the Cleveland Clinic. Other members of the Trump family did the same, drawing widespread criticism for not abiding by the rules imposed on those sitting in the debate hall. —

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A Bernie Sanders speech offers clues about how Democrats might talk about Trump’s illness. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at one of his socially distant events Monday in Michigan. Credit... Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News, via Associated Press When President Trump was hospitalized with the coronavirus on Friday, it posed something of a political challenge for Democrats. While the president’s infection, after months of flouting public health guidelines, could be seen as bolstering the Democrats’ central argument that Mr. Trump had mishandled the pandemic, they were cognizant of the risks of being seen as callously attacking a president facing a life-threatening diagnosis. But after Mr. Trump announced Monday that he was feeling better and planned to leave the hospital, the contours of how Democrats might talk about his illness in the days to come began to take shape — as when Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke to a sea of parked cars at a socially distant drive-in Biden-Harris rally in Macomb County, Mich. “If there was ever any doubt, it should now be clear that no one, no one is safe from the pandemic,” Mr. Sanders said, after wishing a full, speedy recovery to the president, his aides, fellow members of the Senate and people across the nation with the virus. Then he began to make the case for Mr. Biden, and to implicitly draw a contrast with Mr. Trump. “Which candidate for president has shown that he will be disciplined, that he will be responsible, that he will do his best to protect the people around him as we deal with this pandemic?” Senator Sanders asked, on a day when several more White House staff members tested positive. “And the answer is: Joe Biden.” “Which candidate has made it clear that he will develop policies which are based on science, not politics, and that he will seek the advice of the best scientists and doctors in our country and around the world in order to effectively combat and defeat this pandemic?” he asked. “And the answer is, that candidate is Joe Biden.” “Which candidate for president will develop strong national protocols and guidelines and model the behaviors we all need to engage in to keep our families, co-workers and our neighbors safe?” he said. “And the answer is Joe Biden.” There was no audible applause on a video feed of the speech, but plenty of horn honking. —

Biden holds a steady polling lead over Trump in Arizona, and the Senate race looks tough for Republicans too. Joseph R. Biden Jr. is solidifying his lead in Arizona, a new poll by The New York Times and Siena College found. Credit... Mark Makela for The New York Times Joseph R. Biden Jr. has established a steady lead over President Trump in Arizona, a traditionally Republican but fast-changing state that is tilting increasingly Democratic, a New York Times-Siena College poll found. Mr. Biden leads Mr. Trump 49 percent to 41 percent there, with just 6 percent of likely voters saying they were undecided, according to the survey, which was taken before and after the president announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. The poll has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points. The results are essentially unchanged from a Times-Siena poll in mid-September that found Mr. Biden leading by nine points in Arizona. With Arizona beginning early voting and sending out mail ballots this week, Mr. Trump is running out of time to improve his standing in a state he carried by 3.5 points in 2016 and that last supported a Democrat for president in 1996. Mr. Biden is being propelled by support from women, younger voters and Hispanic voters, a coalition of the ascendant constituencies reshaping Arizona politics. Mr. Biden leads among women by 18 points and trails Mr. Trump by only two points among men. Among likely Hispanic voters, who are expected to make up about 20 percent of Arizona’s electorate, Mr. Biden is overwhelming the president, capturing 65 percent to Mr. Trump’s 27 percent. Image The retired astronaut Mark Kelly leads the incumbent, Martha McSally, in a hotly contested Arizona Senate race. Credit... Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star, via Associated Press The G.O.P.’s challenge in Arizona this year runs beyond the presidential race. The retired astronaut Mark Kelly, a Democrat, is leading Senator Martha McSally, a Republican, 50 percent to 39 percent in the Times-Siena poll, a slightly larger advantage than in last month’s survey, where he held an eight-point lead. The same constituencies lifting Mr. Biden are also propelling Mr. Kelly. And both Democrats are benefiting from the alienation some more moderate Arizona Republicans feel toward the hard-line version of the party under Mr. Trump. Mr. Biden and Mr. Kelly are winning far more registered Republicans — 9 percent and 12 percent — than Mr. Trump and Ms. McSally are capturing registered Democrats. —

House Democrats question whether Pompeo’s speaking trips are electioneering. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Republican state lawmakers in Wisconsin on Sept. 23, one of several speeches he delivered to people in battleground states. Credit... John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal, via Associated Press Two senior House Democrats are demanding that the State Department hand over any documents showing that it sought to ensure that speeches by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in three politically competitive states were legal or otherwise appropriate. Over the last two weeks, Mr. Pompeo has spoken at a Baptist megachurch in Texas and at the Wisconsin state capitol; on Saturday, he addressed Florida conservatives at a remote live videoconference. Mr. Pompeo has said he was making the appearances because “I want the American people to know what their State Department is doing for them,” but he also urged the congregation in Plano, Texas, to vote on Nov. 3. In a letter dated Monday, the Democratic Representatives Eliot L. Engel of New York and Joaquin Castro of Texas noted that past secretaries of state have avoided even appearing to participate in electioneering, and questioned whether Mr. Pompeo’s travel was a legal use of taxpayer-funded official travel. “It is concerning that the secretary is suddenly crisscrossing the country at taxpayers’ expense to speak with state legislators and private groups and that these events appear to be increasing in frequency as the Nov. 3 election approaches,” wrote Mr. Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mr. Castro, who heads the House oversight and investigations panel. Beyond documents showing that the department had sought legal guidance about the speeches, the two Democrats also asked for any records between the State Department and the White House showing that Mr. Pompeo was helping President Trump’s re-election campaign. The documents are due Oct. 12. Mr. Engel and Mr. Castro are already investigating whether Mr. Pompeo violated federal laws prohibiting government employees from politicking while on the job when he addressed the Republican National Convention while on an official diplomatic visit to Jerusalem. The State Department said Monday that it was considering how to respond to the lawmakers’ request. “The department takes all congressional oversight seriously, though the unilateral characterization of official travel as ‘political trips’ seems to reveal a less than serious tone to this oversight request,” the statement said. —

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