Update 10/2/2020 1:00 a.m.:
In the wee hours of Friday morning, President Donald Trump announced he and first Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Tonight, [the first lady] and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Original story:
President Donald Trump announced that he would enter a quarantine process while waiting for the results of a coronavirus test after Hope Hicks, a former White House communications director and current counselor to Trump, tested positive for COVID-19.
“Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible!” the president tweeted. “The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”
Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Hicks had served as White House communications director from August 2017 to March 29, 2018, but Trump hired her as a counselor in February 2020.
Hicks has traveled with the president multiple times recently, including to the debate in Cleveland on Tuesday. According to CNN, Hicks boarded Marine One on Wednesday along with several other Trump aides, including Jared Kushner, Dan Scavino, and Nicholas Luna, who did not wear masks.
“She did test positive, I just heard about this. She tested positive. She’s a hard worker. Lot of masks, she wears masks a lot but she tested positive,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “Then I just went out with a test. I’ll see — you know, because we spent a lot of time — and the first lady just went out with a test also. So whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don’t know.”
Trump’s public schedule for Friday, released after his appearance on Fox, included a fundraiser at the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., and travel to Sanford, Fla., for a campaign rally.
“The President takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously,” White House spokesman Judd Deere told CNN in a statement. “”White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the President is traveling.”
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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