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Election town hall: Trump denounces white supremacy during town hall

Election town hall: Trump denounces white supremacy during town hall
Posted at 8:45 PM, Oct 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-16 11:29:05-04

President Donald Trump was at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami on Thursday night for a town hall moderated by "Today" host Savannah Guthrie as he took questions from voters as part of a town hall.

Coronavirus

Trump was evasive with Guthrie about whether or not he took a COVID-19 test on the day of his debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Guthrie asked Trump when his last test was; he told her he tests quite a bit. Guthrie then asked if he tested the day of the debate, and Trump said he probably did.

Trump did inform Guthrie that he has no remaining symptoms of the virus. He did add that his doctors told him that his lungs were "a little bit infected" when he was hospitalized.

Trump also claimed that the CDC found that "85% of the people that wear masks catch it." Guthrie responded that she knew of that study, and that's not what it says. Trump responded that is what he heard.

The CDC study that Trump referred to didn't even state a percentage of who doesn't wear masks. Trump also added the US was "expected to lose 2,200,000 people and maybe more than that" from coronavirus. Trump was likely referring to this report from March by scholars that predicted that a total of 2.2 million Americans could die from COVID-19 if no preventative measures were placed.

White supremacy

Trump denounced white supremacy during the town hall.

"I denounced white supremacy. I denounced white supremacy for years. But you always start with the question. You didn't ask Joe Biden whether or not he denounces Antifa," Trump said. "I denounced white supremacy. I denounce Antifa, and I denounce these people on the left that are burning down our cities, that are run by Democrats."

QAnon

During his town hall, Trump refused to denounce the QAnon conspiracy theory, telling Guthrie that he knows "nothing about QAnon."

The conspiracy Guthrie referred to was that the Democrats run a satanic pedophile ring, and Trump is its savior. Guthrie then asked Trump if he could state that it was not valid.

Trump said that all he knew about the conspiracy theory is that "they are very much against pedophilia" and agreed with that.

Guthrie also asked Trump about a tweet he recently retweeted about the conspiracy that former president Barack Obama and Biden "had SEAL Team 6 killed" and that Osama bin Laden's death was a hoax.

"I know nothing about it," Trump said. "That was a retweet — that was an opinion of somebody. And that was a retweet. I'll put it out there. People can decide for themselves." "I don't get that," Guthrie responded. "You're the president. You're not like someone's crazy uncle who can retweet whatever."

Taxes

During his hour-long town hall, Trump confirmed that he might owe $400 million personally but did not state to whom he owes the debt. He added that he didn't owe any money to Russia or to "sinister people." "$400 million is a peanut," Trump said.

Trump added that he is currently being audited and that the IRS mistreats him."

"I'm treated very badly by the IRS," Trump said. "They treat me very, very badly. You have people in there from previous administrations. They treat me very badly. But we're under audit. It's very routine in many ways. But we're under audit. They like to change the game, change the rules, do everything."