Trump, Biden Talk About Pandemic in Phone Call

After days of back and forth—"I'd love to speak to him" and "I’m happy to hear he’ll take my call"—President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden talked by phone Monday about the pandemic. The brief conversation was pronounced "a good call" by a Biden aide, Politico reports. "Biden shared several suggestions for actions the administration can take now to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic," the aide said. It was a "really wonderful, warm conversation," Trump said at his daily press briefing on the coronavirus response, per USA Today. "He gave me his point of view, and I fully understood that, and we just had a very friendly conversation. Lasted probably 15 minutes. And it was really good, it was really good. Really nice," Trump said. "I appreciate his calling."

The call came during a timeout in their Twitter attacks on each other. Earlier Monday, the president tweeted that Biden "wants a ‘Virtual’ Convention, one where he doesn’t have to show up. Gee, I wonder why?" Biden answered, "Mr. President, I hope we can gather in Milwaukee, but that is going to depend on you stepping up and doing what needs to be done to handle this pandemic." Trump's tweet had ended with, "Also, what ever happened to that phone call he told the Fake News he wanted to make to me?” (More coronavirus stories.)