Donald Trump Skips G20 Pandemic Preparation Event to Play Golf

The annual G20 summit — attended by leaders from all across the globe — went the virtual route this year due to COVID-19. While President Donald Trump reportedly attended the virtual event, he supposedly left it early for a particular reason. According to The Guardian, the president missed the G20's Pandemic Preparation event to play golf.

The G20's "Pandemic Preparedness" event featured remarks from leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. According to CNN, it didn't seem as though Trump's entire focus was on the event when he was taking part in it. The publication noted that he was tweeting about election results a little after 8 a.m. ET on Saturday, which happened to be the scheduled start time of the event. He reportedly appeared via video link during the event's opening remarks. However, by 10 a.m. ET, he was seen leaving the White House in order to head to one of his golf courses. Before he did leave to go to the golf course, Trump implied to the world leaders that he plans on working with them in the future, a reference to the fact that he has not yet accepted the results of the presidential election (Joe Biden was projected to be the winner on Nov. 7). He reportedly told them, "I look forward to working with you again for a long time."

The summit's "Pandemic Preparedness" event was focused on discussing a "coordinated response to the coronavirus pandemic and improved global pandemic preparedness." Trump reportedly skipped this event on the same day that there was a record number of 195,500 new COVID-19 cases that were reported in the U.S. in 24 hours. Over 250,000 Americans have already lost their lives due to COVID-19, the largest total in the world. Not only did the president reportedly skip this major event in the midst of rising COVID-19 numbers in the country, but this also comes as Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., recently revealed that he tested positive for the illness.

On Friday, Trump Jr.'s spokesperson revealed, "Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result. He's been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines." Trump Jr.'s diagnosis comes a little over a month after the president, First Lady Melania Trump, Barron Trump, and several of those in the president's inner-circle tested positive for COVID-19.