President Donald Trump on Thursday received a positive coronavirus test result but did not disclose it. He even did a Fox News interview Thursday night with his close friend and unofficial advisor Sean Hannity, and did not publicly reveal he had COVID-19.
The President, upon learning of a top aide’s positive coronavirus test, told them to keep it quiet.
“Don’t tell anyone,” President Trump directed, according to The Wall Street Journal, which did not name who that advisor was.
Trump finally announced his coronavirus status after a second positive test, just before 1 AM Friday morning.
Trump on Thursday flew to his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey to attend a high-dollar donor fundraiser, knowing that Hope Hicks had COVID-19 and that he had been exposed. It’s unclear if his first positive coronavirus test result had come back at that point, but having been exposed CDC guidelines state clearly he should have been self-quarantining at that point regardless.
“Mr. Trump and his top advisers also aimed to keep such a close hold on the early positive results that his campaign manager, Bill Stepien, didn’t know that Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest White House aides, had tested positive on Thursday morning until news reports later that evening, according to a person familiar with the matter,” The Journal adds. “The Trump campaign said Friday evening that Mr. Stepien had tested positive.”
This is a breaking news and developing story.