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Defiant as ever about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting COVID-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters “a big fat kiss.” There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was spotty among the thousands who came to see Trump’s return to Florida. He held forth for an hour, trying to get his struggling campaign back on track with just weeks left before Election Day. (Colvin and Lemire, 10/13)

While claiming himself cured of COVID, Trump also asserted he is "immune" from the virus moving forward, though some medical professionals said there is no guarantee of that. "Now they say I'm immune. I just feel so powerful," Trump said. "I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and the... I'll just give you a big, fat kiss." (Jackson, 10/12)

President Trump’s mad dash to campaign with in-person rallies and other events this week will take him to Iowa, a state that even the president’s own Covid-19 task force has warned is seeing an uptick in preventable deaths due to the coronavirus. He’ll visit Pennsylvania and North Carolina, too, both of which have also seen cases spike in the last week. Monday night, he held an event in Florida. (Florko, 10/13)

Several major media organizations have declined to allow reporters to travel with President Trump aboard Air Force One to campaign events in recent days due to concerns about a lack of COVID-19 protocols observed by White House staff. The New York Times reported Monday that The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post had joined the Times in declining to send reporters with the president in recent days, forcing the White House Correspondents' Association to seek other journalists for White House press pool duties during those times. (Bowden, 10/12)

Hours before President Trump was set to return to the campaign trail in Florida on Monday, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, warned that holding large rallies was “asking for trouble” with cases of the coronavirus surging in many states. (Vigdor and Kaplan, 10/13)