Trump Will Be Back to ‘Full Throttle Campaigning Very, Very Soon,’ Senior Adviser Predicts

Trump Will Be Back to ‘Full Throttle Campaigning Very, Very Soon,’ Senior Adviser Predicts
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Duluth International Airport in Duluth, Minn., on Sept. 30, 2020. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
10/5/2020
Updated:
10/5/2020

President Donald Trump will be back on the campaign trail very soon, a senior campaign adviser said Monday.

“We’re hopeful that he’s going to be released from the hospital today, and we’re extremely confident that this man, he’s an incredible fighter—he’s been governing throughout this whole process—but we’re confident that he’s going to be back at full throttle campaigning very, very soon,” Steve Cortes, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said on Fox Business’ “Mornings With Maria.”

Doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Trump is receiving treatment for COVID-19, say the president could be discharged back to the White House as soon as Monday.

“We in the campaign will defer to them. Of course we’re not going to pressure the president, but believe me, nobody needs to pressure him, this is a man who wants to get back to work yesterday,” Cortes said.

According to the White House and members of Congress, Trump has continued working since his recent diagnosis, keeping tabs on the Supreme Court nomination process and other matters, primarily through phone calls.

Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Oct. 1 and was moved to Walter Reed the following day after receiving supplemental oxygen.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
President Donald Trump participates in a phone call with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley in his conference room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 4, 2020. Not shown in the photo also in the room on the call is chief of staff Mark Meadows. (Tia Dufour/The White House/Handout via Reuters)
President Donald Trump participates in a phone call with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley in his conference room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 4, 2020. Not shown in the photo also in the room on the call is chief of staff Mark Meadows. (Tia Dufour/The White House/Handout via Reuters)

Until Trump can go back out and campaign in person, he may start doing virtual events, Cortes said.

“We’re going to see, depending on his condition, what he can do via videotape, digitally, until he’s ready to get out physically again,” he said.

Safety protocols at Trump campaign events won’t change, another campaign adviser said Sunday.

Both Cortes and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, expressed optimism about Trump’s condition.

“He’s feeling great,” Giuliani, who spoke to Trump on Sunday evening, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” earlier Monday.

“He wants to get out. He sounds perfect. I just cautioned him to listen to his doctors. I said, ‘I hope that’s not your decision, it’s the doctors.’ He said, ‘no, no, these guys are great. I’ll do what they tell me.'”

Giuliani defended Trump’s decision to take a quick trip in an SUV around Walter Reed to wave to his supporters.

“The president wanted to show people I’m around, I’m doing well,” Giuliani said.

Trump was in the vehicle with several Secret Service agents. All were wearing masks.

A White House spokesman told reporters later Sunday that “appropriate precautions were taken” and the movement was cleared by the medical team.