20:59

Trump on call with Biden: ‘We had a wonderful conversation’

Sitting in the White House briefing room on Monday, I noted that Donald Trump struck an unusually genial tone as he described a phone call with his likely presidential election rival, Joe Biden, whom he usually refers to as “Sleepy Joe”.



At the Coronavirus Task Force briefing, the president said: “We had a really wonderful, warm conversation. It was a nice conversation. We talked about pretty much this [coronavirus].

“He gave me his point of view, and I fully understood that, and we just had a very friendly conversation. It lasted probably 15 minutes and it was really good, really nice. So I appreciated his calling.”

Trump was asked by Jon Karl of ABC News if Biden offered any specific advice on handling the crisis. “We agreed that we weren’t going to talk about what we said,” he said. “He had suggestions. It doesn’t mean that I agree with those suggestions.”

The soft tone was all the more striking because Trump was on irascible form with reporters. At one point he lambasted Karl, whom he has known for 26 years, “You’re a third rate reporter … You will never make it!”

The president was asked if he would now make contact with predecessors Barack Obama or George W Bush to seek their advice. He will not.

And the détente did not last. Later in the briefing, Trump made spurious claims about the Obama-Biden’s handling of swine flu and failure to stockpile equipment. Biden, meanwhile, tweeted: “For months, I called on President Trump to step up and take the action necessary to combat COVID-19. But week after week, he downplayed the threat it posed, misled the American people, and failed to act.”