Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has tested positive for Covid-19, along with at least one other aide to the president.
Two senior administration officials confirmed the diagnosis to the Associated Press.
The news came just days after Meadows appeared with Trump at a White House event along with numerous people who were not wearing masks.
Kaitlan Collins
(@kaitlancollins)Worth noting that Mark Meadows was at the election night party at the White House Tuesday that hundreds of people attended. Officials said everyone would be tested beforehand.
Neither Meadows nor the White House has commented or confirmed that he contracted the virus and little is known about when or if he has developed symptoms, but advisers told reporters on Friday night that he shared the news with others at the White House after Tuesday’s election.
The news came during a week that the US set daily records for confirmed cases during the pandemic, which has so far killed more than 236,000 Americans.
Despite warnings from top health officials, Meadows has been critical of wearing masks, and even refused to keep one while speaking to reporters in October. He was seen in the early hours of Wednesday morning again without a mask on, standing close to the president’s family, as Trump took the stage to illegitimately and prematurely declare himself the winner in an election it looks increasingly unlikely he can win.
Edward-Isaac Dovere
(@IsaacDovere)Reminder that this is what the East Room looked like at the White House on election night as Trump spoke. Meadows was there. Literally the only person wearing a mask is Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar: https://t.co/JN6lakzZ6r
Nick Trainer, a Trump campaign aide, also has tested positive for the virus according to Bloomberg and sources say at least three other aids also have the disease. This marks what could be the third outbreak of Covid to hit the White House and more than three dozen associates have already gotten the virus, including the president and the first lady.
The administration has sought to contain the news when officials fell ill, and Meadows is largely believed to be behind those efforts. When pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper after several of vice-president Mike Pence’s staff tested positive last month, Meadows said “sharing personal information is nothing something that we should do”.
He also admitted that the Trump administration was no longer working to “control the pandemic” and was instead waiting for the development of a vaccine.
The Recount
(@therecount)Here’s the clip of Meadows on Election Night: pic.twitter.com/LYcMwkN9nJ
The new outbreak inside the White House comes as the US faces grim new records. On Thursday, roughly 122,000 new coronavirus cases were reported, the third consecutive day with more than 100,000. More than 9.7 million people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the US so far this year.
Agencies contributed reporting
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