WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump testing positive for the coronavirus (all times EDT):
8:55 am
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Friday that he and his wife Jill “send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery” after they tested positive for the coronavirus.
In a Friday morning tweet, he added, “We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family.”
It was not immediately clear whether the former vice president had been tested since appearing at Tuesday’s presidential debate with Trump or whether he was taking any additional safety protocols. Trump and Biden did not shake hands during the debate but stood without masks about 10 feet apart for the 90-minute event.
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8:10 am
Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for COVID-19 Friday morning, hours after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Spokesman Devin O’Malley says Pence “remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery.”
Pence is tested every day for the virus, O’Malley confirmed.
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5:15 am
Russian President Vladimir Putin is extending wishes of a speedy recovery to US President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, and expressing “sincere support in this difficult moment,” according to a statement released by the Kremlin on Friday.
Trump announced on Twitter early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Kremlin says Putin sent Trump a telegram saying, “I hope that your inherent vitality, good spirits and optimism will help you cope with the dangerous virus.”
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5 am
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he and his wife have tested negative for the coronavirus after they were examined on their airplane 20 minutes prior to landing in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Friday.
He said it was the fourth time in two weeks he has been tested.
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Pompeo says the last time he was with Trump was on Sept. 15, at the White House, for the signing of normalization agreements among Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The top US diplomat says he is reconsidering upcoming travel to Florida on Saturday and Asia starting Sunday as a precaution.
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4:30 am
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is wishing US President Donald Trump a “speedy recovery” from COVID-19.
Johnson tweeted Friday morning: “My best wishes to President Trump and the First Lady. Hope they both have a speedy recovery from coronavirus.”
Johnson was hospitalized for a week in April after he contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. After he was released, the prime minister thanked doctors and nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital for saving his life. Johnson was treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he received oxygen but was not put on a ventilator.
Trump announced on Twitter early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus.
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4:20 am
The Kremlin is sending wishes of speedy recovery to US President Donald Trump after he said he and his wife Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We certainly wish President Trump a speedy and easy recovery,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday.
Russia currently has the fourth largest coronavirus caseload in the world with over 1.19 million confirmed cases and more than 21,000 deaths. The outbreak in Russia started to grow rapidly in September, with health officials reporting 9,412 new confirmed cases Friday in the largest daily surge since late May.
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3:55 am
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wishing the US president and the first lady a “full and speedy recovery” after they said they tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Like millions of Israelis, Sara and I are thinking of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump and wish our friends a full and speedy recovery,” Netanyahu tweeted on his official account, referring to his wife.
Netanyahu led an Israeli delegation to the White House for the September 15 signing of normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at an outdoor ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Attendees did not practice social distancing and most guests did not wear masks.
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2:20 am
Vice President Mike Pence says he and his wife, Karen, are sending their “love and prayers” to President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump after the Trumps announced early Friday that they had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Pence says on Twitter, “We join millions across America praying for their full and swift recovery.”
Trump’s positive test came just hours after he confirmed late Thursday that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus.
The White House had no immediate comment on whether Pence had been tested after the Trumps’ and Hicks’ diagnoses.
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1:40 am
President Donald Trump’s White House doctor has issued a statement saying the president will continue carrying out his duties “without disruption” after contracting the coronavirus.
Dr. Sean Conley, the physician to the president, says the president and first lady Melania Trump “are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
Trump has canceled plans to attend a fundraiser and to fly to Florida for a rally on Friday, but he did keep on his schedule a previously planned midday telephone call “on COVID-19 support to vulnerable seniors.”
By the Associated Press
Photo: In this September 29, 2020, file photo, from l-r., first lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden during the first presidential debate at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president tweeted early Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
