Biden and Trump Campaign Amidst 9/11 Anniversary and COVID-19

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Courtesy of U.S. News & World Report

Pence, Biden meet briefly at 9/11 memorial.

Jack Birle Staff Writer

President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden find themselves locked in a tightening race less than three weeks before the first presidential debate.

According to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics, Biden leads Trump in Pennsylvania by 4.3 percentage points and Biden leads Trump in Michigan by 4.2 percentage points. Trump won both states in the 2016 election, despite trailing Clinton by 5.8 percentage points in Pennsylvania and by 6.0 percentage points in Michigan around this time four years ago.

On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence and Biden visited the 9/11 memorial in New York to pay their respects to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and Trump visited the Flight 93 National Memorial outside Shanksville, PA. 

Trump is under intense scrutiny for comments he made to Bob Woodward over a series of interviews for a book. In March, Trump said to Woodward that he wanted to downplay coronavirus.

“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump said to Woodward. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

The Biden campaign, along with Democrats, has claimed that Trump attempted to cover up the severity of COVID-19 based on these remarks and others in Woodward’s upcoming book. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House task force on coronavirus, refuted claims Trump misled the public on the dangers of coronavirus during an interview with Fox News.

“I didn’t see any discrepancies between what he told us and what we told him, and what he came out publicly and said,” Fauci said. 

Both Pence and Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited Wisconsin to campaign. Harris met with the family of Jacob Blake and spoke with Blake over the phone.

Blake was shot by Kenosha, WI police officers during an arrest in August, and he was left paralyzed from the incident.  

Harris caused controversy over comments she made after speaking with Blake. Harris said “she was also proud of him and how he is working through his pain.”

When Blake was shot, he was being charged with criminal trespass, third-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct, according to CBS News.

Trump visited Kenosha, WI in early September but did meet with Blake’s family because of the family’s request to have lawyers present.

Both Trump and Biden look to improve their poll numbers heading into the first presidential debate on Sept. 29.