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Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days before his first presidential debate in September 2020 with Joe Biden, according to a new book by Trump’s former chief of staff.
In “The Chief’s Chief,” obtained by The Guardian prior to its release on Dec. 7, Mark Meadows wrote that the then president received negative test after positive test and resumed his usual activities, including attendance in the debate against his Democratic challenger. Trump on Wednesday called the story “Fake News.”
The revelation, if confirmed, would further show that the Trump White House did not take the virus seriously even though it spread to the White House and campaign staff and eventually sent Trump to the hospital, where he needed more oxygen and treatment experiments.
The former president told Meadows’ story “when I had COVID before, or during, the first debate was Fake News. In fact, one test showed that I had no COVID before the debate.”
Meadows retweeted Trump’s statement. In an interview late Wednesday with Newsmax, Meadows said the story was twisted by the press.
“Well, the president is right, this is fake news,” Meadows said. “If you really read the book, its context, that story framed a false positive. He literally had a test, there were two other tests after that showed that he had no COVID in the debate.”
The book’s publisher, All Seasons Press, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House has begun a trial regimen for Trump’s senior aides and those who will contact him after previous positive cases. But aides repeatedly refused to disclose when Trump was tried during the week of the debate, leading to speculation that he may have had COVID-19 while on stage with Biden.
Fox News Moderator Chris Wallace previously said he believed Trump may have had COVID-19 at the time of the debate because of the virus incubation period. It usually takes a few days between the time a person is exposed to the virus and when there is enough viral load to be determined.
Trump was 74 and Biden was 78 at the time, which puts them at higher risk of serious complications from the virus. COVID-19 vaccines were not yet available.
But Meadows wrote that Trump received a positive test on Sept. 26, three days before the debate and the same day he held a Rose Garden ceremony for his last Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, according to the paper. Trump traveled that night to a rally in Pennsylvania.
Meadows, Trump’s fourth and final chief of staff, wrote that he received a call from a White House doctor as Trump’s helicopter was leaving the White House for the rally. Meadows said he was told Trump had tested positive and was ordered to prevent the president from leaving.
When Meadows told Trump the result, the president’s response, according to The Guardian, was “rhyme (d) with ‘Oh spit, you’ve gotta be trucking lidding me.'”
But Meadows said the test was conducted using an old model kit and he told Trump it would be repeated in a newer version. After a “short but tense wait,” Meadows reported that the second test returned negative.
Trump took that result as “full consent to proceed as if nothing had happened,” Meadows wrote, according to The Guardian. In the days that followed, he held news events, met with Gold Star families at the White House, attended several fundraisers and appeared at the debate.
On the day of the debate, Sept. 29, Meadows wrote that Trump looks slightly better – “less emphasis on the word.”
“His face, for the most part, had regained its former light bronze color, and the gravel in his voice was gone. But the dark circle under his eyes deepened. As we walked into the venue around five in the evening, I could tell he was running slower than usual. He walked as if carrying a little extra weight on his back, “Meadows was quoted as writing.
Meadows said both candidates were required to test negative for the virus within 72 hours of the debate, but wrote that, “Nothing can stop (Trump) from coming out there.”
Dr. said. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser, who also served in the Trump administration, said he didn’t know the test results but anyone who tested positive on the test should be isolated from someone else.
“I’m not going to talk specifically about who is putting the risk, but I’ll say like I said, not just for any individual, but for everyone, that if you’re going to be positive you should quarantine the yourself, “he said in a news release. briefing Wednesday.
Biden cleared the report. “I’m not thinking about the former president,” he told reporters.
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This story has been corrected to show that the publisher of the book is All Seasons Press, not All Season Press.
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