Headlines for July 18, 2024

President Biden has tested positive for COVID and canceled a campaign speech Wednesday evening as he headed back to Delaware to self-isolate. The White House said Biden has mild symptoms and is being treated with the antiviral drug Paxlovid. Biden was set to address the UnidosUS conference in Las Vegas to appeal to Latinx voters.

Earlier in the day, an unmasked Biden was seen greeting supporters with close physical contact. Just hours before news of the President’s COVID diagnosis went public, Biden made headlines over comments during an interview with BET journalist Ed Gordon.

Ed Gordon: “Is there anything that you would look to — you personally, not anybody else, not other pundits, not even perhaps family members — that you would look to, to say, ‘If I see that, I will reevaluate’?”

President Joe Biden: “If I had some medical condition that emerged. If somebody, if the doctors came to me and said, ‘You got this problem, that problem.’”

Later in the same interview, Biden appeared to forget the name of his secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, referring to him as “the Black man.”

Separately, on Wednesday, California congressmember and U.S. Senate candidate Adam Schiff publicly called on Biden to “pass the torch,” after reports he told donors privately Biden could cost Democrats the presidency and the Senate if he stays in the race. This comes amid reports that top Democrats Nancy Pelosi and party leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have directly expressed concerns to President Biden over his ability to beat Trump.