AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
- President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19, he tweeted.
- First Lady Melania Trump also tested positive.
- The president got tested for the disease after his top aide and adviser, Hope Hicks, tested positive earlier this week.
- Hicks recently traveled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from the first presidential debate between him and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
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President Donald Trump has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, he tweeted. The first lady also tested positive.
Trump got tested for the disease after his close confidant and White House counselor, Hope Hicks, tested positive earlier this week.
White House Physician Sean Conley issued a statement confirming the diagnosis, saying the president and first lady “are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Hicks traveled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from his debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden on September 29, according to Bloomberg News. She was also in close contact with White House adviser Stephen Miller and campaign adviser Jason Miller when she was not wearing a mask.
At the debate, Trump mocked Biden for being vigilant about wearing a face covering to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“I put a mask on when I think I need it,” Trump said. “Every time you see him, he’s got a mask.”
At the debate, Trump’s entourage removed their face coverings, declining to wear masks offered them by a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, Bloomberg reported.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien were also on Air Force One when Trump and Hicks were on it.
Hicks was also spotted in a staff van with Stephen Miller, among others, while not wearing a mask.
O’Brien recently recovered from COVID-19, as did Miller’s wife, Katie Miller.
Trump told Fox News that he got tested for coronavirus after the Hicks news broke. “Whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don’t know,” he said Thursday night, before his diagnosis was confirmed. “We’ll see what happens. Who knows.”
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