Team Trump gathers at Lincoln Memorial for COVID-19 town hall: Hope Hicks, Kayleigh McEnany and Mark Meadows watch amid huge security at DC landmark

Donald Trump's inner circle was on full display last night as the White House entourage descended upon the Lincoln Memorial for the virtual town hall meeting.  

Chief of staff Mark Meadows, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and counsel Hope Hicks swept into the venue with the secret service motorcade and were pictured talking to the president intermittently throughout the broadcast.

They were accompanied by an extensive security detail which fanned out inside and around the hall for the two-hour show.

The revolving door of administration personnel has seen the trio of staffers parachuted into their new roles recently - but they have been thrown in the deep end as they guide the president's coronavirus response.

Hardwired into their minds last night would also have been November's election and the need to rescue Trump's sliding approval ratings.

Before the cameras started rolling they were seen pacing around the memorial venue, having conversations with production staff and briefing their boss as he prepared to face the nation.

And during the Fox News commercial breaks Hicks and Meadows rushed back to the president's side, likely feeding him with talking points and providing encouragement. 

Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also watched from the wings before joining Trump for the final 30 minutes of questions.  

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President Donald Trump consults with counselor to the president Hope Hicks and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during a commercial break

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White House entourage including press secretary Kayleigh McEnany chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin walk up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial

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Counselor to the president Hope Hicks, who has recently been brought back into the fold, consults with a person involved in the production

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White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany is seen talking on her mobile phone outside the venue

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Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin watch as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 'America Together. Returning to Work' town hall

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Secret Service and White House staff troop into the Lincoln Memorial before Trump attends a town hall meeting

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President Donald Trump talks to Secretary Steven Mnuchin (centre left), Counselor to the President Hope Hicks (right in the blue) and some other members of the staff during a Virtual Town Hall 

Hicks in particular has made her presence felt seen being brought back into the fold after resigning as communications director in 2017.

As one of Trump's closest lieutenants, she is believed to be the driving force behind the daily press briefings which the president regularly uses to pick fights with reporters.   

With her phone glued to her hand and occasionally putting in an earphone, she joined Meadows at Trump's side as he prepared to face the nation. 

McEnany, who recently hosted her first White House press briefing - her predecessor did none - was also on hand.

The hordes of advisers and secret service agents fanned out across the room as they watched Trump fire off attacks on Democrats, blast Chinese secrecy and express optimism for a vaccine by the end of the year. 

With the two-hour long Fox News 'town hall,' Trump sought to wrap himself in the mantle of America's arguably greatest president - and to persuade a nation battered by death and mass unemployment to look ahead.

'We can't stay closed as a country, we're not going to have a country left,' he said on the show, where two moderators, as well as ordinary citizens via video, put questions to him in front of the monument.

'We're going to have an incredible following year,' he said. To a woman who called in expressing fear of financial ruin and eviction, Trump said her job would come back.

'You get a job where you make more money,' he said.

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Counselor to the president Hope Hicks (left), who recently rejoined the administration, and new Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (center, speak to President Trump during a commercial break during Sunday night's Fox News Channel town hall 

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President Trump is seen from his motorcade as he travels between the White House and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Sunday 

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President Trump's motorcade prepares to leave the White House Sunday for the short drive to the Lincoln Memorial 

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Hicks in particular has made her presence felt seen being brought back into the fold after resigning as communications director in 2017

Saying Americans should start going back to beaches this summer and recommending that shuttered schools need to reopen in September, Trump forecast good news on the hunt for a vaccine.

'We are very confident that we're going to have a vaccine... by the end of the year,' he said, admitting he was getting ahead of his own advisors with the prediction. 'I'll say what I think,' he said.

The businessman Republican is doing poorly in most polls ahead of the November presidential contest against Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who remains shuttered in his Delaware home.

Trump faces criticism for his bruising, divisive style during a time of national calamity. He is also accused by some of botching the early response to the COVID-19 virus.

Worse, the previously booming US economy, which was seen as a golden ticket to his second term, is now in dire straits due to the nationwide lockdown.

With officials saying the viral spread has begun to taper, Trump is itching to return to the campaign trail.

However he faces new criticism that he is trying to declare premature victory, even as the illness continues to kill thousands of Americans every week.

Having repeatedly minimized the death toll, claiming it will end at around 60,000, Trump conceded that now 'we're going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people.'

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White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany sits in a motorcade van looking at her phone outside the Lincoln Memorial

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The hordes of advisers and secret service agents fanned out across the room as they watched Trump fire off attacks on Democrats, blast Chinese secrecy and express optimism for a vaccine by the end of the year

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Trump consults with Hicks and Meadows during a commercial break at the Fox News town hall meeting last night

His emphasis, however, was not on the dead, but on resurrecting his image as a can-do leader who can end the skyrocketing unemployment caused by the lockdown.

That audacious shift began Sunday at possibly the most hallowed monument in the country - the statue of Abraham Lincoln, who led the country through civil war, urged reconciliation, and was assassinated in his moment of triumph.

Trump, who calls himself a 'wartime president' denied that the election will turn into a referendum on his handling of the crisis.

But he added: 'I hope it does because we've done a great job.'

In the next few days, Trump will follow up by breaking months of self-quarantine with long-distance trips to the key electoral states of Arizona and Ohio.

It's a play that will emphasize Trump's massive visibility advantage over Biden and, the White House hopes, rewrite the public relations script after gaffes including the president's suggestion that coronavirus patients ingest disinfectant.     

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Police troop into the Lincoln Memorial, which was crawling with secret service agents ahead of the president's arrival

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The Presidential motorcade rolls through Washington from the White House to the Lincoln memorial