Whoops. Donald Trump dropped a f-bomb right before addressing the nation about the coronavirus pandemic, and it was caught on a hot mic. The president, 73, apparently freaked out when he noticed he had an ink stain on his lapel moments before he would be broadcasting live from the Oval Office. “A what? Ah, f**k! Uh-oh. I got a pen mark. Anybody have any white — do you have any white stuff?” he says, before asking an aide if they see the mark. He tests his mic, and then asks them to “let me see how the look is.” Whatever the “white stuff” is, it worked. There was no pen mark on his lapel during his speech. Trump isn’t seen during the hot mic moment, but it’s very clearly the president speaking in the audio, which you can listen to below. You may want to plug in your headphones first, though.
When Trump went live, he told the nation during an alarming address that the United States will suspend travel from Europe for 30 days. The travel ban will begin Friday, March 14 at midnight. The restrictions do not apply to the United Kingdom, and American citizens and Green Card holders “who have undergone appropriate screenings” will still be let into the United States, according to the president. The temporary travel ban comes after more than 1000 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States; the number is expected to keep growing. With a shortage of testing kits in the United States, it’s possible that others already have the virus and don’t know it. Thirty-eight people in the US have died from COVID-19 as of this article’s publication, according to the World Health Organization.
Worldwide, 129,854 people are infected with COVID-19, and 4751 have died. Trump’s Europe travel ban comes after Italy reached 10,000 cases and locked down the entire country in quarantine. The Italian government is now weighing potentially shuttering all businesses except pharmacies and food stores to prevent further spread.
https://twitter.com/pittst3r/status/1237911192368275456
WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic shortly before Trump gave his national address. “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity — and by the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO director, General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.