Associated Press
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden spoke over the phone Monday afternoon about the coronavirus outbreak, according to a top Biden campaign aide.
Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement that the two had a “good call.”
“Biden shared several suggestions for actions the Administration can take now to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and expressed his appreciation for the spirit of the American people in meeting the challenges facing the nation,” she said.
The conversation was the culmination of a dayslong effort by aides to get the two on the phone, after White House adviser Kellyanne Conway called on the former Vice President to “offer some support” to Trump. Biden, the prospective Democratic presidential nominee, has in recent weeks released a series of suggestions and proposals for responding to the pandemic and has criticized the Trump administration for acting too slowly to stem the virus’ spread.
Biden said last week that he would “love” to speak to Trump and wanted to share with him lessons from the Barack Obama administration on how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
“We’ve been through this in a slightly different way in the past, and I hope they can learn some lessons from what we did right and maybe what we did wrong,” Biden said during a virtual press briefing.
