Trump back at hospital after photo op visit to supporters outside that put secret service agents at risk of contracting COVID-19
President Donald Trump is back inside the Walter Reed National Military Hospital Center after a photo op visit to supporters outside that put secret service agents that rode in the same car with him at risk of contracting COVID-19.
Trump briefly left the military hospital where he is being treated for COVID-19 in a vehicle to greet supporters gathered outside.
Trump, who departed the hospital in an armored SUV, remained in the vehicle as he drove past a cheering crowd outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
A former secret agent Jonathan Wackrow speaking on CNN said the secret service agents who rode with Trump are now exposed to the deadly virus and could expose their own families and others. He said every action has consequences, and Trump’s insistence that they should drive himself could further erode the morality in the agency.
“I also think we’re going to pay a little surprise to some of the great patriots that we have out on the street,” Trump said in a brief video posted to his supporters.
The pool of reporters at the hospital were not alerted that Trump would be leaving the hospital.
In a short video before departing the hospital, Trump said he has “learned a lot” about the virus getting it himself.
“I learned it by really going to school,” he said. “This is the real school, this isn’t the ‘let’s read the books’ school. And I get it and I understand it. And it’s a very interesting thing.”
About 210,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus and over 7.3 million people have been infected by the deadly bug. On the average, more than 700 Americans have continued to die from the virus daily.
Apart from Trump, the virus continues to accelerate around Trump. Attorney General William Barr said he was going on self-quarantine out of caution after Trump and several other lawmakers tested positive for the coronavirus.
Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said on Sunday that Barr has had four COVID-19 tests since Friday and all have come back negative.
She said Barr will self-quarantine for several days out of the abundance of caution. He attended one meeting at the Justice Department headquarters on Friday and stayed at home during the weekend, although he went outside to be tested.
Barr also attended the White House event for the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barret last weekend and was seen on a video having a conversation with former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, who has tested positive for the coronavirus. Both were not wearing a mask or social distancing.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News on Sunday that President Trump was “very hopeful about getting out there in short order when the doctors deem it appropriate.”
Americans would be picking their next President in 30 days and most of Trump’s campaign events have been moved online.
Meanwhile, state and county officials in New Jersey are contacting more than 200 people who were at President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club for Thursday’s campaign fundraiser.
The officials were asking them to watch for possible coronavirus symptoms, be tested and self quarantine.
Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.
