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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) The Trump campaign is rolling out Operation MAGA to keep the campaign moving forward after the president tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

WCCOs Esme Murphy spoke with the presidents eldest son earlier Monday. Donald Trump Jr. says his father is doing really well, and hes not stopped working.

When I spoke to him over the weekend, thats what he was doing. He was working, he was negotiating deals. You know, I couldnt even get through initially because he was busy doing other things! Trump Jr. said.

READ MORE: White House Physicians Claim That Trump Was 72 Hours Into Diagnosis Raises Questions About Minn. Visit

He admits his fathers COVID-19 diagnosis is a major blow to the campaign.

Its less than ideal, Trump Jr. said. Hopefully people like myself can, you know, pick up at least a little bit of that slack.

He dismisses reports that claim he and other family members are concerned about the presidents mental state after his controversial drive outside Walter Reed Medical Center, and an unusually large number of tweets mostly in capital letters.

Those reports are 100% false. I saw that on Twitter myself and I laughed, he said. Thats one of those, you know, left wing folks trying to create a controversy.

Trump Jr. denies what critics are claiming: The presidents diagnosis, and that of so many around him, shows he has wrongly and even dangerously downplayed the pandemic.

I think its ridiculous. The reality is, you know, Ive seen the protocols that go through for him. Its still a virus, just like we cant stop the flu entirely. We can take precautions, but we cant shut down the whole country again, like Joe Biden would do.

READ MORE: Paul Gazelka, Jason Lewis Tests Negative For COVID-19 After Meeting With Trump Last Week

And Trump Jr. expects to see his father back on the campaign trail soon, including possible stops in Minnesota.

Its a very important state. You know, Ive been there a bunch myself, he said. Theres obviously nothing quite like a Donald Trump in-person rally, you know, to get people going.

The president is expected to be released from the hospital and return to the White House Monday at about 6:30 p.m. CST.

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Donald Trump Jr. Dismisses Ridiculous Claims That His Father Downplayed Pandemics Severity - CBS Minnesota

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump continues to improve in his battle against COVID-19 and could be discharged as early as Monday, a White House physiciansaid Sunday, as White Houseaides sought to paintan image of business as usual despite uncertainty over the severity of the president's condition.

Navy Commander and White House physicianSean Conleysaiddoctors gave Trump supplemental oxygenon Friday,something he previouslyrefused to discuss,after the presidenthad a "high fever" and his oxygen levels dipped below 94%. Hesaid Trump experiencedanother drop in oxygen on Saturday, but did not discuss treatment.

"There are frequent ups and downs ... particularly when a patient is being so closely watched 24 hours a day," said Conley. "Ifhe continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House, where he can continue his treatment course."

Conley, seeking to clear up confusion from comments he madeSaturday, said Trump has "experienced two episodes of transient drops" inhis oxygen saturation, but that has been treated with medication.Conley was not specific about Trump's exact oxygen levelsand refused to say whether the president is in a negative pressure room, which hospitals sometimes use to helpprevent airborne diseases from escaping and infecting other people.

Dr. Sean Dooley, who is also treating the president, said Trump was given the steroid dexamethasone on Saturday following hisoxygen drop.The World Health Organization recommends that drug only for "severe and critical" cases. Dooley said the president will continue to receive the steriod"for the time being."

Thepresident alsocompleted his second dose of the antiviral drugremdesiviron Saturday and will continue his five-day course of remdesivir.

Asked why he evaded questions on Saturday about whether the president received supplemental oxygen, Conley said he was trying to reflect the "upbeat attitude of the president."

Dr. Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, briefs reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020. Trump was admitted to the hospital after contracting the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

"I was trying to reflectthe upbeat attitude that the team, thepresident, his course of illness has had," Conley said, adding that he "didn't want to giveany information that might steer the course of illness in another direction."

"Andin doing so, you know, came off (like) we'retrying to hide something, whichwasn't necessarilytrue," he added.

Throughout the weekend, the White House has sent mixed messages aboutTrump's condition as he wrestles with the virus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.

"While not yet out of the woods, the team remains cautiously optimistic," Conley said in a memo late Saturday.

After Trump's physician and other doctors provided an update on Trump's health at a news conference Saturday, an administration official later identified by the Associated Press and the New York Times as chief of staff Mark Meadows met withreporters and described the president's condition earlier in the week as "very concerning."

Meadows said "the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care."

More: Anatomy of a White House response: Timeline of what officials said about Trump's COVID-19 battle

The differing messages drew criticism.

"During a crisis, public information must be complete, consistent, and accurate," said Jack Pitney,professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California. "The White House has failed on all three counts. Recklessness, worsened by incompetence."

At one point Saturday, Conley said that Trump's case was"72 hours" old, meaning he would have been sick on Wednesday, the day he hosted a fundraiserin New Jersey.Conley later amended that comment, saying Trump who was tested daily did not have a positive result until Thursday night. The president took that testafter her learned that top aide Hope Hicks had been infected.

Conley issued a memo hours later on Saturday clarifying he should have said "third day," that is Thursday night, Friday and into Saturday, rather than "72 hours."

Matthew G. Heinz, a hospital physician andinternist from Tucson, Ariz.,noted thatConley side-stepped questions "about any lung involvement revealed in CT scans or chest films" involving Trump.

Heinz said it's unusual to use Remdesivir and dexamethasone therapy in mild casesand that could mean the doctors see evidence of viral pneumonia in the president's scans.

"The American people deserve complete transparency about the health of our leader which are still being denied by Dr. Conley and his team," Heinz said. "Its beyond galling for him to express regret for withholding information yesterday and then to walk away from the microphone after refusing to provide a clear response about findings chest X-rays and CT scans."

The president and his supporters expressed optimism over his prospects Sundayand predicted a quick return to the campaign trail, as new polls shows him losing ground to Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Trump may be on the disabled list right now, "but very, very shortly hes going to be back in the game throwing 95-mile-an-hourfastballs," Steve Cortes, a Trump campaign adviser, saidon Fox News Sunday.

Trump spent part of his day on social media.In the mid-afternoon, Trump tweeted a thank you to supporters who gathered outside the hospital: "The fact is, they really love our Country and are seeing how we are MAKING IT GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!"

Trump and aides have defended his decision to campaign and host large events in recent weeks, despite the pandemic.

Many people have gotten sick after those events, particularly a Sept. 26 event inthe White House Rose Gardenin which Trump announced his new Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Trump rarely wears masks; the same goes for many of his aides and supporters who attend his campaignrallies.

Seeking to reassure supporters, the White House use social media to convey the idea that Trump remains at work, even at Walter Reed Medical Center.

The White House sent out two pictures of Trump signing things Saturday one in which Trump is wearing a suit jacket and another in which he is not but the time stamps indicate the pictures were taken just ten minutes apart.

"Hes obviously not working, but MAGA will tell how hes working hard even when hes in the hospital," tweetedRobertKelly, professor of political science at Pusan University in South Korea. "Its all so predictable and insulting."

Trump also dictated a statement to his friend Rudy Giuliani, saying he felt fine and disputing negative news coverage of his condition.

I feel I could get out of here right now," Trump said, according to the statement Giuliani provided to The New York Post. "But theyre telling me there can always be a back-step with this disease. But I feel I could go out and do a rally."

More: Live updates on Trump and COVID-19: 'Feeling much better' in hospital video; Biden gets tested again today; brief acknowledgement on 'SNL'

More: President Trump has COVID-19: A timeline of his travels leading up to a positive coronavirus test

This all comes a time when Trump is seen asstruggling in his re-election race against Democrat Joe Biden.

Bidenhad a 51%-41% lead over Trump among adults who expect to vote, according toa Reuters/Ipsos poll released Sunday (and conducted Friday and Saturday). AnNBC News/Wall Street Journal poll also released Sunday gave Biden a lead of 14 percentage points. Thatsurvey was conducted after their contentious first debate, but before Trump went into the hospital.

During a four-minute video he tweeted out Saturday, Trump said he isis "starting to feel good"and is "doing well." and predicted he would return to the White House soon.

"I think I'll be back soon," Trump said. "And I look forward to finishing up the campaign, the way it was started."

Pitney, author of "Un-American: The Fake Patriotism of Donald J. Trump," said the upshot is no one can be sure how well the president is.

"Trump definitely has brief periods when he's well enough to sign blank pieces of paper or talk for a few minutes," Pitney said. "That's all we know for sure."

Conley said Sunday the bottom line is that the president is "doing really wellhe is responding."

He added: "If everything continues to go well, we'regoing to start discharge planning back to the White House."

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'Ups and downs': Doctors say Donald Trump is improving while hospitalized; aides project image of calm - USA TODAY

It brings me no joy to say this butof course,the president has coronavirus.

Virtually every decision that Donald Trump has made since the severity of this crisis became undeniable has rendered this moment all but inevitable.

When you believe that the virus is just a bad flu and will disappear; when you believe that masks are not necessary; when you believe that the unvetted half-baked notions from mooches and sycophants carry more weight than science you may easily come to believe, and come to behave, as though your own choices do not matter.

Magical thinking may comfort you from reality but, in the end, cannot change it.

Magical thinking may occupy a news cycle, but it cannot impede the following one.

Magical thinking is not charming.

It is lazy.

Today is Day Zero. Let us reset.

If the presidents diagnosis and alarming clinical course over the past several days havenot silenced any remaining doubters about theseverity of COVID-19, we must simply brush their views aside as kooky and irrelevant and begin anew without their participation. We must develop an actual plan that will carry us through the fall and winter months and beyond if necessary.

Today is Day Zero.

Let us reset.

Let us commit to truly doing something to stop the spread of this horrific disease while vaccine trials are completed.

Starting today, the full resources of the United States government should --at long last --be mobilized to ensure that there are enough affordable tests, masks, treatment and eventually, vaccines, for every American. Our own leaders are responsible for the state of affairs. Therefore, all of this must be free or affordable foreveryone.

We have to modify our behaviors and do so in ways that do not further magnify the disproportionate suffering already visited upon Black, Latino and Native American people. We need to provide isolation for those who need it, especially those who live with at-risk persons.

After basic infrastructure and the health and medical sectors, we must prioritize schools as the single most essential business. Until case counts are low enough that all education can safely be conducted in-person, there should be no indoor restaurant dining and no medium-sized or large gatherings in communities with meaningful numbers of active cases. We need to produce scores of tents and heat lamps that will allow some activities that would normally take place indoors and move them outdoors. We need to invest in air filters and modernize our buildings for better circulation.

But before any of that, we need mask mandates for indoor activities and we need Congress to provide relief to Americans whose work cannot continue while we get things under control.

Meanwhile, we need to organize our research efforts. While the for-profit pharmaceutical industry has a role to play, experts at the National Institutes of Health must standardize research objectives and the desired outcomes of interest which has been done in the United Kingdom so that researchers with conflicts of interest do not game the system and mold their data to paint a rosy, but ultimately less useful, picture of their proposed therapeutics. We must spurn science by press release and we must demand transparency during the approval process, especially at the Food and Drug Administration, where politics has run amok.

Finally, we need to have confidence in our public health agencies and our leaders. Two steps would be helpful. First, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be given the resources to collect and report all of the relevant information that the public and health officials need, without competing with other less prepared agencies, and without political interference. We need live data on case counts, hospitalization, mortality and more. We need demographic breakdowns for every iota of data so that we can monitor in as close to realtime as possible the effect that the virus is having in our most at-risk communities.

Second, the teams at the White House (and, at the moment, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) must commit to transparency and integrity. The presidents team cannot be permitted to change its story from day-to-day for the purposes of optics. They must provide the American public with accurate information, or plainly state that they are not able to provide any information at all.

On Sunday, the president said he had learned a lot about coronavirus during his hospitalization. Obviously, he had notlearned nearly enoughfrom the deaths of over 200,000 Americans ...

We are now in our 10th month of this crisis. We have more than enough knowledge to guide our efforts to control this virus and do so in ways that will propel our economic recovery, not hinder it.

On Sunday, the president said he had learned a lot about coronavirus during his hospitalization. Obviously, he had notlearned nearly enoughfrom the deaths of over 200,000 Americans, including some of his own friends and colleagues.If only he had truly listened to the stories that my fellow physicians on the frontlines have been telling for months and months.

Regardless, Im glad he is catching up. But I remain unsure whether he and his supporters realize that letting the disease run its course the herd immunity strategy is a fundamentally flawed strategy that is doomed to fail. It costs lives and does nothing to reassure the public so that they can go about business as usual. For too long, many have been left to wonder whether our efforts to control this disease might somehow be worse than the virus itself. It is my hope that in his recovery, President Trump finally realizes that this disease truly is far, far worse than the cure.

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Donald Trumps Magical Thinking About The Coronavirus - WBUR

President Donald Trump was taken Friday evening to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, hours after testing positive for the coronavirus.

President Trump remains in good spirts, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days.

In a short video posted to his Twitter account shortly after 5:30 p.m., Trump said, "I think I'm doing very well, but we're going to make sure that things work out."

Late Friday night, McEnany released a statement from the president's physician that said the president was "doing very well," did not need supplemental oxygen and was starting remdesivir therapy.

"He has completed his first dose and is resting comfortably," Sean P. Conley, Trump's physician, wrote in the statement.

Earlier Friday afternoon, Conley had disclosed the president was receiving an experimental antibody treatment. Trump remains fatigued but in good spirits, Conley wrote in a memo at the time.

A tweet from the presidents account late Friday said things were going well:

Trump was hospitalized less than 24 hours after announcing that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had tested positive for the virus. That revelation, late Thursday, came hours after news reports surfaced that one of the presidents closest aides, Hope Hicks, had become infected.

News of Trump's illness shook Washington and drew widespread expressions of concern from across the political spectrum on Friday.

"This cannot be a partisan moment," wrote Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, on Twitter. "It must be an American moment. We have to come together as a nation."

Friday featured a steady flow of notifications from people close to Trump testing positive for COVID-19. Most had attended a ceremony last Saturday at the White House Rose Garden, where Trump officially nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court justice.

Footage of the event circulated widely on social media Friday showing guests talking, hugging and even fist bumping in close proximity without masks.

By Friday night, at least seven people who had attended the Rose Garden event announced they tested positive for COVID-19: the president and first lady, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, University of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and an unnamed journalist.

The White House Correspondents Association also said that two other journalists working at the White House, including Michael D. Shear of The New York Times, had tested positive. Neither journalist had attended the Rose Garden event.

The president's illness led to the postponement of a Trump campaign event in Texas that would have featured the president's son. Trumps campaign manager Bill Stepien has also tested positive for the virus, according to reports by Politico and The New York Times.

Donald Trump Jr. had been scheduled to appear in McAllen for a get-out-the-vote lunch event Friday, alongside Trump adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle. But local GOP officials said the event would be moved back to a later date "out of an abundance of caution."

"As many of you know, President Trump has tested for COVID19 and both Kimberly and Donald Trump Jr have been in close proximity to President Trump, our First Lady, Ivanka Trump, and Hope Hicks," the Hidalgo County GOP wrote on Facebook on Friday. "Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. will be in quarantine for the next couple of days until they test negative for COVID."

The party said the event will be rescheduled.

"The great news is, the event is not cancelled. It is postponed. We will see Donald Trump Jr. in Hidalgo County before Election Day," the party said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott said he was "lifting up prayers" for the president and first lady on Twitter at about 1 a.m. Friday, about an hour after the president announced the news.

"May Gods healing powers touch them, strengthen them, and raise them up," he said.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also said he was praying for the president and first lady. That sentiment was echoed by much of the Texas delegation in the U.S. House, with multiple members from both parties urging Texans to take the virus seriously.

"This virus should be taken very seriously - wishing them a full and speedy recovery," said U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas.

U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, seemed to suggest on Twitter that Trump use the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine for treatment, even though in July the Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency use authorization to treat COVID-19. The FDA found that the drug had no benefit for decreasing the likelihood of death or seeing recovery, but did provide a risk for heart rhythm problems. Gohmert tested positive for the virus in late July and has since recovered.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, also responded and asked that other members of Congress who were in close quarters with the president not show up for work Friday.

"Thats why we put in place proxy voting during this pandemic," Castro said. "Sincerely, A Co-worker."

Aliyya Swaby contributed to this story.

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Donald Trump hospitalized at Walter Reed after positive COVID-19 test - The Texas Tribune

The last four years, you have promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but you have never in these four years come up with a plan, a comprehensive plan Yes, I have. to replace Obamacare. Of course I have. Well, Ill give you We got rid of the individual mandate. Im going to give you an opportunity Excuse me. I got rid of the individual mandate. Im not here to call out his lies everybody knows hes a liar. But you agreed Joe, youre the liar. I want to make sure You graduated last in your class, not first in your class. I [laughs] God. I want to make sure Mr. President, could you let him finish, sir? The question is, the question is A lot of new Supreme Court justices, radical left Will you shut up, man? One of the big debates we had with 23 of my colleagues trying to win the nomination that I won were saying that Biden wanted to allow people to have private insurance still. They can, they do, they will, under my proposal. Thats not what youve said, and its not what your party has said. That is simply a lie. Your party doesnt say it your party wants to go socialist medicine. My party is me. Right now, I am the Democratic Party. And theyre going to dominate you, Joe, you know that. I am the Democratic Party right now. The platform of the Democratic Party Not according to Harris. is what I, in fact, approved of. Is it true that you paid $750 in federal income taxes each of those two years? Ive paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax. Let me just say something, that it was the tax laws. I dont want to pay tax. Before I came here, I was a private developer, I was a private business people. Like every other private person, unless theyre stupid, they go through the laws, and thats what it is. Im going to eliminate the Trump tax cuts. Good. And were going to, Im going to eliminate those tax cuts OK. and make sure that we invest in the people who in fact need the help. People out there need help. But why didnt you do it over 20, the last 25 years? Because you werent because you werent president screwing things up. You were a senator Youre the worst president America has ever had. Come on. You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out antifa and other left-wing Thats right. extremist groups. But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups Sure. and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha and as weve seen in Portland. Sure, Im willing to do that, but Then do it. Go ahead, sir. I would say, I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing. So what are you, what are you saying Im willing to do anything I want to see peace. Well, then do it, sir. Say it. Do it. Say it. You want to call them what do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name. White supremacists and Go ahead, who would you like me to condemn? Proud Boys. Who? White supremacists and right-wing militia. Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But Ill tell you what, Ill tell you what. Somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing His own F.B.I. director said the threat is Are you questioning No, I think masks are OK. You have to understand, if you look, I mean, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on, you know, when I think I need it. Tonight as an example, everybodys had a test, and youve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to but I wear masks when needed. When needed, I wear masks. OK, let me ask I dont wear masks like him every time you see him, hes got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from he shows up with the biggest mask Ive ever seen. Masks make a big difference. His own head of the C.D.C. said if we just wore masks between now if everybody wore masks in social distance between now and January, wed probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters. And theyve also said the opposite. Theyve also said No serious person said the opposite. The fact is that there are going to be millions of people because of Covid that are going to be voting by mail-in ballots, like he does by the way. And this is all about trying to dissuade people from voting, because hes trying to scare people into thinking that its not going to be legitimate. As far as the ballots are concerned, its a disaster. A solicited ballot, OK? Solicited is OK. Youre soliciting, youre asking. They send it back. You send it back. I did that. This is going to be a fraud like youve never seen. The other thing: Its nice, on Nov. 3, youre watching and you see who won the election. And I think were going to do well, because people are really happy with the job weve done. But you know what? We wont know, we might not know for months because these ballots are going to be all over. Now that millions of mail-in ballots have gone out, what are you going to do about it? And are you counting on the Supreme Court, including a Justice Barrett, to settle any dispute? Yeah, I think Im counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely. I dont think well I hope we dont need them in terms of the election itself, but for the ballots, I think so. I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because thats what has to happen. I am urging them to do it. I am urging my people I hope its going to be a fair election. If its a fair election Youre urging them what? I am 100 percent on board. But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I cant go along with that. Heres the deal: They count the ballots. As youve pointed out, some of these ballots in some states cant even be opened until Election Day. And if theres thousands of ballots, its going to take time to do it. No one has established at all that there is fraud related to mail-in ballots, that somehow its a fraudulent process. Its already been established. He has no idea what hes talking about. Heres the deal. The fact is, I will accept it, and he will too. You know why? Because once the winner is declared, after all the ballots are counted, all the votes are counted, that will be the end of it.

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Donald Trump Burns the First Debate Down - The New York Times