�Թϲ�����

Joe Biden on Thursday went after President Donald Trump again and again over his handling of COVID-19, calling Trump’s downplaying of the pandemic “criminal” and his administration “totally irresponsible.”“You’ve got to level with the American people — shoot from the shoulder. There’s not been a time they’ve not been able to step up. The president should step down,” the Democratic presidential nominee said to applause from a CNN drive-in town hall crowd in Moosic, outside his hometown of Scranton. (Jaffe and Weissert, 9/18)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said President Trump should step down over his coronavirus response during a town hall just outside of Scranton, Pa., on Thursday evening. "This is all about one thing, the stock market. He doesn't want to see anything happen," Biden said, answering a question about how he would get the right messaging out to Americans on how to protect themselves amid the pandemic. (Manchester, 9/17)

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday bluntly contradicted President Donald Trump’s suggestion that a coronavirus vaccine may be only weeks away, warning Americans they cannot trust the president’s word. “The idea that there’s going to be a vaccine and everything’s gonna be fine tomorrow - it’s just not rational,” Biden said during a CNN town hall in Moosic, Pennsylvania. (Ax, 9/17)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slammed Attorney General William Barr's recent comments about coronavirus restrictions on Thursday, calling the remarks "sick" during a town hall. Barr said Wednesday in northern Virginia that coronavirus restrictions are the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties" since slavery. (Manchester, 9/17)

A Joe Biden town hall does not hit the Pinocchio meter as much as a Donald Trump town hall. Biden tends to stick close to the facts but occasionally gets carried away with some over-exuberance. Here are five claims that caught our attention during his CNN town hall in Moosic, Pa., moderated by Anderson Cooper. (Kessler and Rizzo, 9/17)

A former GOP aide to Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday she is choosing “country over party” and voting for Democratic nominee Joe Biden because of the administration’s Covid-19 response in a new ad released by a political action committee against President Donald Trump. Olivia Troye, who worked as homeland security and counterterrorism aide to Pence for two years and served as his adviser on the Coronavirus Task Force, which he's helmed, said Trump showed indifference at the beginning of the pandemic and the administration’s response cost lives. (Clark, 9/17)

Healthcare is still a top policy issue in recent campaign advertising in key states, even as other issues loom large on voters' minds. The Biden campaign, Democrats' Senate campaign arm, and a drug pricing-focused political action committee have in recent days come out with new ads attacking Republicans on supporting legislation that would have eliminated protections for people with preexisting conditions and for opposing bipartisan drug-pricing legislation. The latest push comes as new polling finds healthcare is the fifth-most important issue for registered voters. (Cohrs, 9/17)