US President Donald Trump made his first public appearance since returning to the White House on Monday from a three-day stay in hospital for Covid-19, even as his aides remained silent on whether he is still contagious.
Standing alone and not wearing a mask, Mr Trump spoke from the White House balcony at an event called "a peaceful protest for law and order," attended by a few hundred people standing on the lawn below. His appearance is seen as a first step towards resuming full campaigning next week.
Mr Trump appeared to be back to his usual rallying form, boasting about his record and hurling unsubstantiated allegations against his opponents as a packed crowd of supporters chanted, "We love you".
"I want you to know our nation is going to defeat this terrible China virus," Mr Trump told the crowd, most of whom were wearing masks but with very little social distancing at the outdoor event.
"It's going to disappear, it is disappearing," Mr Trump said of the virus, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans.
"Get out and vote - and I love you," he said.
It was the first public event Mr Trump has held since he was released from the hospital on Monday, when some observers watching his return to the White House said he appeared at times to be short of breath.
The White House has released videos and Mr Trump has called into television shows since then, but this was the public's first chance to see the president live.
The White House has not released the results of Mr Trump's latest Covid-19 test, and has declined to say when he last tested negative.
A White House spokeswoman said yesterday that Mr Trump would be tested for Covid-19 and would not go out in public if it was determined he could still spread the virus.
Scott Atlas, the doctor advising Mr Trump, declined to comment on Mr Trump's last test when approached by Reuters outside the event cordon. He was not wearing a mask.
Mr Trump, who has campaigned on a law-and-order theme during recent months of sometimes violent protests for racial justice, told today's gathering that the Republican Party had the support of America's police forces.
"We have law enforcement watching," he said. "We're on the side of right."
Mr Trump's efforts to portray himself as tough on crime have had little impact on his standing in national opinion polls, which show him trailing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden by double digits. But the gap between the two candidates is narrower in the battleground states that may determine who wins the White House.
'Medication-free'
Mr Trump appeared in his first televised interview since he was diagnosed with the virus, telling Fox's Tucker Carlson show he is now "medication-free".
In what the White House called an on-air "medical evaluation" the president told Fox contributor doctor Marc Siegel he has been tested again for Covid-19, saying he did not know the "numbers" but "I know I'm at either the bottom of the scale or free".
It was not clear when the interview was filmed.
Mr Trump has repeatedly asserted that he feels fine, and he has been backed up by statements from presidential physician Dr Sean Conley.
But in his Limbaugh interview, Mr Trump suggested for the first time that he had been close to death, had it not been for his aggressive regimen of therapeutic drugs.
"I'm talking to you today because of it. I could have been a bad victim," he said, adding that doctors told him: "You were going into a very bad phase".
Polls show Mr Biden leads heavily in key demographics including women and the elderly.
Mr Trump's biggest liability - overwhelming public dissatisfaction over his handling of the pandemic - has returned as the headline issue of the campaign thanks to his own infection.
Adding to the pressure, Democrats who control the House of Representatives unveiled plans for a commission to investigate a president's fitness for the job - a move clearly meant to jab at Mr Trump.
