Obama mocks Trump for being 'jealous of COVID's media coverage'
- Watch Former President Barack Obama mock President Donald Trump for being "jealous of COVID's media coverage."
- The former president told a campaign rally for Joe Biden in Orlando, Florida, that the president was trying to distract people from the fact he had "completely screw this [pandemic response] up."
- "What is his closing argument... That people are too focused on COVID. He said this at one of his rallies. 'COVID, COVID, COVID,' he is complaining. He is jealous of COVID's media coverage.
- Trump responded by tweeting that Obama is "drawing VERY small (tiny) numbers of people" to his speeches.
Donald Trump is "jealous of Covid's media coverage," former President Barack Obama said on Tuesday as he mocked the president's record on tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
"The pandemic would've been challenging for any president, but the idea that this White House has done anything but completely screw this up is nonsense," Obama told a campaign rally for Joe Biden in Orlando Florida.
"What is his closing argument?" Obama asked.
"That people are too focused on COVID. He said this at one of his rallies 'COVID, COVID, COVID'. He is complaining. He is jealous of COVID's media coverage."
Watch Obama mock Trump's coronavirus response
In an apparent response to the attack, Trump tweeted that Obama is "drawing VERY small (tiny) numbers of people," adding that "Biden is drawing almost no one."
Trump also appeared to criticise Fox News for covering Obama's speech, tweeting: "Now Fox News is playing Obama's no crowd, fake speech for Biden, a man he could barely endorse because he couldn't believe he won. Also, I PREPAID many Millions of Dollars in Taxes."
Over 70 million Americans are reported to have cast their voters in the presidential election in the run-up to the final polling day on November 3, according to a tally on Tuesday from the US Elections Project which was cited by Reuters.
Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger, has a durable national polling lead over President Trump, but the race between the two candidates appears much closer in several key battleground states.
President Obama was ranked the second most popular Democrat in the US in a YouGov survey carried out this year, behind only Jimmy Carter, meaning his vocal support for his former vice-president has been a potentially useful campaign asset.
At a drive-in rally for Biden in Philidelphia last week, Obama also attacked Trump's coronavirus response, telling the audience that Trump would not protect Americans from the pandemic because he could "barely take the basic steps to protect himself."
He also referenced a New York Times story which reported that Trump maintains a bank account in China, based on tax records obtained by the paper.
"He's got a secret Chinese bank account. How is that possible?" Obama said at the rally on October 22.
"Can you imagine if I had had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for reelection? You think Fox News might have been a little concerned about that."