President Donald Trump and onetime Vice President Joe Biden on Monday about the national response to the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported, attributing the news two people familiar with the phone call.
Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic Paety's nomination to face Trump in the Nov. 3 election, volunteered to speak with Trump after offering criticism of the president's handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Trump accepted that offer last week and earlier on Monday posted on Twitter, "what ever happened to that phone call he told the Fake News he wanted to make to me?"
Biden replied, "Happy to discuss anytime."
The full contents of the call were not immediately available.
However, in his daily news briefing on the nation's virus response, Trump said he'd had a "very nice" conversation with Biden about the crisis.
"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," Trump said at the news briefing.
Biden has noted that during the Obama administration, he gained some experience with infectious diseases as the White House sought to provide guidance to Africa on the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus and grappled with the swine flu in the U.S.
“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,” the former vice president said during a virtual press briefing last week.
Critics of the Trump administration, Biden among them, have assailed the White House for a slow and disjointed response.
Earlier Monday, it was reported by ABC News that Biden's campaign was also reaching out to state and local officials, offering to assist with their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to an email addressed to “State and Local Officials” and obtained by ABC News, the campaign was seeking to “connect those offering help with those in need of it.”
“The Biden for President Campaign has been receiving a significant number of offers from individuals or organizations eager to support your efforts to respond to the COVID19 pandemic by donating, volunteering, or otherwise contributing their resources or capacity,” Stacy Eichner, political chief of staff for the Biden campaign, said on Sunday, according to the network news organization.
“In this moment of national emergency, we are eager to connect those offering help with those in need of it – we would like to provide these individuals and organizations with a way to reach your offices directly. Please let us know if you would like to identify a designee from your office for this contact list.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for more detail.
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