Trump finishes day of rallies with series of false claims
President Trump had an eye on Joe Biden and Barack Obama today, telling the crowd in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, at his fourth rally of the day he watched their events and that they "draw flies." Of course, the Biden campaign uses limitations due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which the Trump campaign does not.
Trump falsely suggested that the scientists advising Biden have called for "slowing down" a coronavirus vaccine for political gain and erroneously claimed that it was Biden and Kamala Harris who don’t believe in science, when it's been Trump himself often dismissing scientific evidence that the pandemic is still surging.
He also falsely claimed that Biden and Harris were trying to "discourage" people from taking the vaccine. Both Harris and Biden have said that they would be vaccinated if it was recommended by health professions, but not if it was only suggested by Trump.
"Our opponents do not believe in science. They want unlimited power over you and your family. They got to open it up. The so-called experts advising Joe Biden have called for slowing down the vaccine," Trump claimed without evidence. "Can you believe this? Now, if it weren't in my opinion so political, they just didn’t want to have it come out before the election. But everybody knows it's right there, and we're ready to go, but it became a big political thing and they were actually trying to discourage people from taking it. That’s so bad and so stupid and so dangerous."
A vaccine is not yet ready, though health officials have said the Food and Drug Administration may grant emergency use authorization to one by the end of the year. High-risk individuals and health care workers would likely be the first vaccinated, with all Americans possibly receiving the vaccine by June 2021.
At one point, seemingly oblivious to the optics, Trump started pointing out people in the packed, mostly maskless crowd who don't have as good an immune system as young people as he made a case for reopening schools.
"They have great immune systems; stronger than you or you or you. That guy, definitely stronger than him," Trump said, pointing out members of the crowd. "And they have got to go back to school, OK? They got to go back to school."
-ABC News' Will Steakin and Justin Gomez