Donald Trump's Latest Thoughts On COVID-19 Vaccines, Social Media, China And More
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on Fox Business with Stuart Varney for an hour Thursday morning to share his thoughts on several topics.
Congress continues to be at a stalemate over a potential stimulus offer. Trump said he would raise the stimulus offer above $1.8 trillion.
Trump said he directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to offer above the $1.8 trillion amount, but no deal has been reached.
Any amount above $1.8 trillion would go “directly to the people” according to Trump.
Trump On COVID-19: President Trump told viewers he’s tested a lot, though not every day, for COVID-19.
Trump was treated with an antibody treatment from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) when he was hospitalized with the coronavirus: “Regeneron is a great company. They really helped me.”
Trump doubled down on prior comments about Regeneron’s treatment and once again said, “We’re gonna be providing Regeneron at no cost” to Americans.
Companies that are working on COVID-19 vaccines have been hesitant to back the timeline from Trump of getting a vaccine approved before the election. Trump claimed during the interview that Americans will have a vaccine before Christmas.
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) CEO Stephane Bancel has said the company can’t apply for emergency use authorization until Nov. 25.
Several COVID-19 treatments in trials have faced setbacks with pauses to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and a halt for AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN).
See Also: Facebook, Twitter Spark Political Row Over Limiting New York Post Story On Joe Biden
Trump on Social Media: A report from the New York Post over Hunter Biden was blocked on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) this week. The block sparked outrage and led to allegations of the social media companies having political bias.
“We are looking at a lot of things,” Trump said when asked about regulating the social media giants.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are due to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee to testify on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act on Oct. 28. Trump has called for the repeal of Section 230.
Trump referred to Facebook and Twitter as the “third arm of the Democratic National Committee.”
Trump on Joe Biden, Tax Cuts: Trump argued that former Vice President Joe Biden will hurt the economy by getting rid of tax cuts that Trump put in place. He then told viewers he may consider bringing the tax rate down from 21% to 20%.
Trump on China: Tension between the United States and China continue to escalate. When asked about the relations between the countries, Trump appeared disinterested in reaching out to China: “I have not spoken to [Xi Jinping] in a while because I don’t want to speak to him.”
Trump would not confirm if Jinping had reached out.
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