White House chief of staff confirms President Trump exhibiting coronavirus symptoms
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows confirmed on Friday that President Donald Trump was showing “mild symptoms” of the coronavirus.
At 74 years old and overweight, Trump is particularly vulnerable for the coronavirus, health experts have said.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump announced on Friday morning that they had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The President tested positive after one of his closest advisers who also had COVID-19 traveled with him aboard Air Force One.
Anxiety grew on Friday, after former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said nobody was wearing a mask in the room where President Donald Trump was preparing to debate Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“No one was wearing masks in the room during that time when we were prepping the president,” Christie said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “The group was about five or six people in total.”
Christie was a member of Trump’s debate prep team. Also in attendance was the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The preparing took place at the White House map room.
The Chair of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel has tested positive for coronavirus after President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced they had contracted the virus.
Vice President Mike Pence and Second First Lady Karen Pence have tested negative for the virus and would be staying away from Trump as Pence may need to exercise the 25th amendment in case Trump is unable to lead the country for sometime.
Trump announced the diagnosis in a tweet on Friday morning.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!,” Trump said in his tweet.
One of Trump’s closest aides Hope Hicks tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. She’s experiencing symptoms.
Hicks traveled with Trump four times this week alone, first to the debate in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, and then to a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.
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.
