President Trump said during a Saturday rally on the South Lawn of the White House that the coronavirus "is going to disappear."
Why it matters: The rally with 300 to 400 attendees was the president's first public event since he contracted the coronavirus, and included conservative activist Candace Owens and the group “Blexit,” which seeks to convince Black voters to join the Republican Party.
Between the lines: Though Judd Deere, a spokesperson for the White House, told reporters before the event that the gathering was unrelated to the president's reelection efforts, Trump's Saturday speech featured remarks he often makes on the campaign trail.
What he's saying: "I'm feeling great," the president said. "We're starting very big with our rallies ... because we cannot allow our country to become a socialist country."
- "Through the power of the American spirit, I think more than anything else, science, medicine will eradicate the China virus once and for all," he noted from the Truman Balcony.
- "We'll get rid of it all over the world. See big flare-ups in Europe, flare-up in Canada. You saw that today. A lot of flare-ups. It is going to disappear. It is disappearing and the vaccines are going to help and the therapeutics are going to help a lot."
Reality check: Though Trump acknowledged "flare-ups" in Canada and Europe, he did not comment on the status of the pandemic the U.S.
- The U.S. on Friday reported over 57,000 new coronavirus cases, marking the third consecutive day of more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases nationwide, per data from the COVID Tracking Project.
What's next: The president has a planned campaign rally on Monday in Florida.
