What Joe Biden's Covid means for the US election: 'I think that battle is over'

In brief...

• President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19, the latest set back in his campaign for the November election.
• Concerns over Biden's health have been exacerbated by recent public speaking gaffes and reports of a Parkinson's expert visiting the White House.
• Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, have privately expressed doubts about Biden's ability to win the upcoming election, potentially paving the way for Kamala Harris to take over.

"I'm sick", tweeted Joe Biden, shortly after it was confirmed the President of the United States had tested positive for Covid-19.

In a follow-up, he added that what he was *actually* sick of "Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election".

He's referring to the billionaire's promise to give $45 million per month to Donald Trump's election campaign, according to reports in the US press.

But huge sums of money supposedly pouring into his opponent's campaign is probably the least of Biden's worries right now, with Covid posing the latest health concern for the Democrat leader.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday that Biden was experiencing mild Covid symptoms, and would continue to carry out all of his duties "fully".

Until now, the focus has been on his mental health. His poor showing at the first debate with Trump heightened fears for the president's cognitive abilities, as he stumbled over his words and spoke in confusing sentences.

The White House has strenuously denied Biden is facing any serious problems, despite reports that a Parkinson's expert has visited the White House eight times in eight months.

Ahead of the NATO summit in Washington this month, Emily Maitlis said that Biden would be "untouchable" if he could make it through the week without controversy.

But that wasn't the case.

During a speech, he introduced Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as "President Putin", and referred to vice president Kamala Harris as "vice-president Trump".

Jon Sopel believes Biden's brush with Covid could be what finally kills his intentions to run as the Democratic Party candidate in November.

"I don't see now, given the alignment of forces against him how he can survive. I just don't think it's possible that he is the candidate," Jon says.

"If you have an election that is about strength versus weakness, and you've got Biden unable to form a sentence, off with COVID, stumbling over his words, unable to remember the name of his defence secretary.

"Then you've got Donald Trump who sprung straight up after being shot at and holds a fist up defiantly. I think that battle is over."

But this, Emily Maitlis says, could prove to be a positive thing for the Democrats, if Biden is off the board while he makes his recovery.

"I don't know whether him being out of the conversation, which obviously is outside his control, will now calm the waters or whether it just takes him off away from the airways, away from the interviews, and gives the senior Democrats time to just move the chess pieces," she says.

"They can work out if it definitely is Kamala Harris that takes over? Probably yes.

"If so, who becomes her VP? Who is moved into that second slot? It allows a bit of space for them to say, 'well, he won't be doing anything. He won't be saying anything right now. So let's look at what we've got, in case we need it.'"

Those chess pieces may already be moving, with news breaking after Biden's Covid diagnosis that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had told the president it would not be possible for him to win the election for the Democrats.

Numerous sources, reportedly briefed on the details of the call between the two, claimed Pelosi had presented Biden with polls revealing how poorly he was performing, to which he responded that he could still win the election.

The timing couldn't be worse for Biden.

"It does seem incredible that on the day Donald Trump, the official nominee of the Republican Party for president is about to make his speech, the first time he will have actually made a speech to the crowds since that attempt on his life on Saturday night, all the headlines, all the bulletins are leading on this overnight conversation that we heard about between Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden," Emily says.

"She has let it be known – or people around her have let it be known – there are private chats going on, in which she's shown him polling suggesting that he can't win.

"Well, a private chat that the entire world now knows about."

Jon adds simply: "It goes from bad to chronic."

Listen to the discussion in full on The News Agents.