Everyone in the White House cluster who has said they tested positive for the coronavirus

With few wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus, members of Congress applaud President Trump as he introduces Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court on September 26. One attendee, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), has tested positive for the coronavirus. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

These are the White House officials, staffers, and journalists who reportedly have the coronavirus.

This week, at least nine people who work in the White House or have recently attended events there have tested positive for the coronavirus — including President Donald Trump himself.

The president announced late Thursday night that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus, joining several other high-ranking government officials who have contracted SARS-CoV-2.

Lawmakers have occasionally tested positive before. In addition to Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who followed Trump’s announcement with a tweet announcing a positive test of his own, two other Republican senators tested positive over the spring and summer: Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. The virus has also infected at least 14 House members — nine Republicans and five Democrats — since March. But this is the first time the virus, which has killed more than 208,000 Americans, has spread in such a concentrated manner among White House officials, staffers, and members of the press corps.

The White House, in other words, is now a Covid-19 hot spot.

While it’s not clear how the president was exposed, Trump was in regular contact this week with senior counselor Hope Hicks, who tested positive on Thursday afternoon. Hicks had traveled with Trump multiple times this week, including to Tuesday night’s presidential debate in Cleveland.

Multiple people who attended last Saturday’s event at the White House, when Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, have also tested positive. Lee, who also met with Barrett on Tuesday, was in attendance, as was University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

Barrett, for her part, was diagnosed with coronavirus over the summer but has recovered. It is unknown whether she now carries immunity.

As of early Friday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen have both tested negative, as have Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe tested negative as well.

Trump and his staff have been traveling to campaign events for several weeks. Just in the last week, the president has held rallies in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, in addition to the debate in Ohio.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, flew with Trump to the debate, and she is now getting tested and isolating “out of an abundance of caution.”

The White House and Capitol will now likely have to undertake major contact tracing efforts. As Vox’s Dylan Scott explained, the only way to figure out the full extent of the outbreak is contact tracing: “identifying who has been in close contact with the president since he became contagious, and asking them to quarantine to prevent Covid-19 from spreading to others, and to get tested themselves.”

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters about President Trump’s positive coronavirus test outside the West Wing of the White House on October 2.

The Trump campaign announced in a statement Friday that he and his family are suspending in-person events. Pence’s campaign travel will continue.

Here’s what we know about who has tested positive — and negative — for SARS-CoV-2 so far.

The list of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus

• President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump
• Hope Hicks, senior counselor to President Trump
• US Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah
• John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame
• Three journalists from the White House press corps, according to the White House Correspondents Association
• A White House press staffer, according to the correspondents’ association

A brief list of key politicians and officials who have tested negative

Given the level of uncertainty created by this news, Vox has compiled a list of key administration figures who help run the country, key lawmakers who have been in contact with the president, and key Democrats in the 2020 election cycle who have recently gotten negative test results for the virus.

While it could take several days for an individual who has contracted the virus to test positive, these are the initial negative tests. As of 6 pm ET Friday, here’s the list:

• Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Jill Biden
• Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence
• Sen. Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
• Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe
• Republican Reps. Pete Stauber and Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who traveled with Trump earlier this week, according to a reporter from the MinnPost

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Contact tracers scramble to find people infected by Trump and his entourage

President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis set off a scramble to contact and trace thousands of people across at least half a dozen states, a public health crisis fueled by the White House’s downplaying simple pandemic containment tools.

The possibility that the president and his White House entourage were traveling superspreaders is a nightmare scenario for officials in Minnesota, Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — four states where Trump rallied, debated or fundraised in the past week.

The White House itself may have become a nexus of infection in the Washington, D.C., area and beyond, hosting events like last Saturday’s celebration of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. At many Trump events, masks were a rarity, social distancing minimal. Video of the Barrett event, for instance, shows people shaking hands, hugging and standing close together.

“They’re way behind the curve in trying to catch all the folks that the president has been around,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “The fact that he’s been around so many people and that he doesn’t wear a mask, he could be a superspreader, we just don’t know yet.”

Trump on Friday evening was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he will spend the “next few days," the White House said.

The White House is complying with CDC guidelines and has started contact tracing, with notifications and recommendations for people who may have had exposure to an infected person, spokesperson Judd Deere said.

The Secret Service, while staying mum on how many of its employees have tested positive for Covid-19 or are quarantining, said it’s following CDC protocols on testing and tracing. Anyone who tests positive is immediately isolated, a spokesperson said.

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and his chief of staff spoke to the White House and the Republican National Committee — whose chair Ronna McDaniel has also been infected — about identifying and contacting people who were at a fundraiser at Trump’s Bedminster golf course on Thursday. It’s proven difficult, because some guests traveled from out of state and may have brought the virus home, seeding more outbreaks.

“We have to acknowledge there will be other communities, potentially other counties and perhaps even folks who came from other states,” Murphy said, urging attendees to self-quarantine and seek testing.

Contact tracing is further complicated by the inability to pin down when the president and his inner circle were infected, and when or how the chain of transmission began.

John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, tested positive for coronavirus after visiting the White House last weekend for Barrett’s nomination. That was six days before the president and first lady began isolating.

That night, the president held an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania where he promised to “crush the virus.” Thousands cheered, most without masks.

On Tuesday, Trump traveled to Ohio for the first presidential debate during which he mocked former Vice President Joe Biden for constantly wearing a face covering.

On Friday, the city of Cleveland announced 11 positive cases tied to pre-debate planning, with most coming from out-of-state residents. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who was not at the debate, said that he had spoken to the president aboard Air Force One on Tuesday before the event.

The governor and his wife, who are awaiting results from their own Covid test, wore masks and the president did not, DeWine said.

The president was in Minnesota on Wednesday for a rally where he again made representations that the virus was under control. It was on the trip back to Washington that senior aide Hope Hicks first felt ill, and was later confirmed to have contracted the virus. But Trump still visited his Bedminster club for Thursday’s high-dollar fundraiser.

Trump tweeted his diagnosis early Friday morning, setting off a mad dash to identify people who may have been exposed and to track down their contacts.

Minnesota health officials only learned of the president’s diagnosis from media reports, and as of Friday afternoon no one from the administration or campaign had reached out, according to state Director of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Kris Ehresmann.

The state health department is urging residents who attended the rally in Duluth to get tested even if they don’t show symptoms, noting there was already a spike in cases in surrounding St. Louis County prior to the president’s event.

The Trump campaign has not turned over a list of attendees for the rally or a private fundraiser he held in Minneapolis, making contact tracing by the state health department impossible.

Two attendees of the exclusive Minneapolis fundraiser were only alerted of a potential Covid-19 threat by the White House around midday Friday, a source familiar with the event told POLITICO. They were instructed to see a doctor if they have symptoms.

And on Thursday the president’s son Eric held a separate outdoor rally in Minnesota’s Becker County. Neither Eric Trump, his siblings nor first lady Melania Trump, who was also diagnosed with Covid-19, wore masks at Tuesday’s debate.

Trump’s diagnosis has put on ice all his in-person campaign events. But Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill, who have both tested negative, are pressing on with campaigning this weekend — a move that concerns some public health experts.

A single negative test does not guarantee an individual will not develop an infection in the future given the virus’ incubation period, said Eleanor Murray, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health.

“If it’s possible the Bidens were exposed [at the debate] on Tuesday, I really am not happy to hear they are going about their regular business on Friday,” Murray said. “The only way that you can test out of quarantine is to get a positive test and switch into isolation,” she added.

Biden’s campaign pointed to the former vice president’s Friday afternoon comments from Grand Rapids, Mich., where he quoted CDC Director Robert Redfield on the efficacy of masks to stop transmission. An aide added that traveling campaign staff have all tested negative.

“Vice President Biden tested negative and was not in close contact with President Trump,” a Biden official said. “He also wore a mask at all times, except for when he was on stage. And we implement social distancing, mask wearing, and other best practices in all of our campaigning."

Sam Sutton contributed to this report.

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‘God-tier genetics’: A stunned MAGA world offers blame, adulation after Trump’s diagnosis

Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis has stunned MAGA world, but it hasn’t changed how it reacts to bad news: blame others, accuse the left of craven behavior and cling tighter to the president.

As updates around Trump’s health fluctuated throughout the day — before the medical staff decided to move Trump to Walter Reed hospital Friday night — Trump’s hardcore base seemed unable to deviate from its traditional impulses.

The president’s backers furiously descended upon commentators who pointed out Trump’s comorbidities, such as his borderline obesity and age, which raise the risk of serious infection. Conservatives accused journalists and liberals of celebrating or even questioning Trump’s diagnosis, compiling lists of who they claimed were the most prominent offenders. On Capitol Hill, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) tweeted that China “gave this virus” to the president and first lady, and demanded: “WE MUST HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.”

Out on the MAGA world fringes, people were divided. Some swiftly predicted rosy outcomes — the president was already healthy, he could take hydroxychloroquine, a much-hyped drug Trump has touted as a Covid-19 treatment with no conclusive evidence. Others concocted theories that the Democrats were, somehow, trying to steal the election once again.

Meanwhile, the president was unusually silent. After his post-midnight tweet announcing he had the virus, Trump went silent until nearly 7 p.m., leaving his fervent online fan base without guidance on his preferred narrative.

Yet the base’s response mirrors the way Trump has instructed his followers to react to any pandemic-related news: downplay, craft optimistic storylines and accuse the Democrats and media of obfuscation and vitriol. It’s how the president has reacted to nearly every unwelcome pandemic-related development in recent months, whether it was early concerns over personal protective equipment and hospital space, or a death toll that recently surpassed 200,000.

“I think right now, a lot of Trump supporters are just stunned and they're not getting much direction from the president right now,” said Lee Stranahan, a former White House reporter for the right-leaning Breitbart News and a radio host on the Russian-funded Sputnik News.

Trump made his first brief statement before heading to the hospital Friday night. Appearing in a brief video, Trump thanked his supporters and said, “I think I’m doing very well” and that he was going to the hospital “to make sure things work out.”

Across the MAGA internet, Trump’s followers insisted the president’s deeply cultivated image of toughness, tirelessness and robust health would lead to his inevitable triumph over the virus.

“He works 20 hours a day. I think he’ll be tough,” said Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and a Trump surrogate flirting with the Minnesota governorship, in an interview. “He's a fighter. It'll be tough to keep him down.”

The less-inhibited MAGA crowd put it in blunter terms.

“You’ve never seen him sick. You’ve never seen him without energy,” Brenden Dilley, a self-described “MAGA life coach,” told his viewers on his radio show Friday. “[He’s] not walking around with weak-ass, p---- f------ genetics. He ain’t got those liberal genes. These are, like, god-tier genetics; top 1-percentile genetics.”

Wishful thinking abounded, as well: Dr. David Samadi, a urologist and commentator for Fox News and the conservative Newsmax outlet, set the goal posts by pointing out that while Covid-19 patients over the age of 70 had a 94.6 percent recovery rate, patients ages 24 to 49 had a 99.8 percent recovery rate. “I would put POTUS in the 20-49 category due to his strength and stamina,” he tweeted.

Further afield, Trump’s most fervent supporters could hardly accept that Trump caught the disease in the first place, with some suggesting the Democrats — or perhaps the “deep state” — were somehow to blame.

“Does anyone else find it odd that no prominent Democrats have had the virus but the list of Republicans goes on and on?” tweeted DeAnna Lorraine, a former congressional candidate who has backed baseless theories from the QAnon conspiracy movement, going on to blast masks as a Democrat-backed lie and questioning whether China had technically made an “assassination attempt” on the first family.

In the conspiracy swamps of QAnon social media, there was, oddly, a sense of elation: Trump’s infection was, in their opinion, another sign that Trump’s plan to purge the government of pedophiles was about to reach a culmination.

QAnon is a set of online-based beliefs that, at its core, claims a top tier of Satan-worshiping elites are running a secret pedophile ring out of Washington, D.C., and that Trump is the vanguard of an upcoming “Storm” that will lead to mass arrests and executions of these officials.

And on Friday, according to various QAnon theorists, Trump had left a secret message to his followers in his announcement on Twitter that he had tested positive for Covid-19. Some suggested that his use of the word “together” was, in fact, code for “to get her,” a reference to attacks on his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. Others thought Trump’s quarantining was part of a broader plan to isolate the president from potential violence associated with the upcoming election.

Kristin Doerer, the managing editor of Right Wing Watch, which monitors extremism and conservative media, predicted that without direct word from Trump, there would be no coherent messaging taking place in the base.

“I think he's probably going to want to show his face, I think that's what would really reassure his base — him showing his face and feeling healthy,” she said in an interview. “I think what a lot of the right wing activists and politicians are trying to do right now, they're trying to figure out their messaging and just kind of see what sticks best with their audience.”

Stranahan summarized the simplest message: “Send prayers and good thoughts, and talk about how vile the Democrats are.”

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Trump administration to launch antitrust suit against Google as soon as next week

The Justice Department and state attorneys general are expected to sue Google as soon as next week for alleged antitrust abuses, people familiar with discussions said Friday, marking a dramatic escalation of Washington’s fight to rein in Silicon Valley’s giants.

The Justice Department — which has been probing Google for 16 months — circulated text of a proposed complaint this week, according to three people with knowledge of the discussion. The complaint could come late next week or just after the Columbus Day holiday, two of the people said. All spoke anonymously to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The Justice Department and state prosecutors also spoke Friday afternoon to go over the proposed antitrust suit, two of the people said.

The long-expected suit — the United States’ biggest legal salvo in decades against an alleged corporate monopoly — will accuse the company of abusing its stranglehold on the online search market. The complaint is expected to include claims on Google’s contracts with smartphone manufacturers and Apple to make it the default search engine on mobile devices and touch on other aspects of Google’s search business.

The number of states that received the complaint and joined Friday’s call couldn’t immediately be determined. The Justice Department has been eager to attract Democratic support to avoid allegations the suit is politically motivated. However, some of the key Democratic-led states involved in the probe, including Colorado and Iowa, have pushed for a broader suit targeting Google’s search business and may opt against joining the DOJ's effort in order to file their own complaint later.

Last week, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry told CNBC and Bloomberg last week that he was ready to sign on to a Justice Department suit.

The DOJ and state attorneys general led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have also been probing the search giant over its control of the advertising technology market. Texas and other state AGs expected to file a separate complaint focused on that aspect of Google’s business empire in the next weeks, according to two of the people. But they are still in talks with the Justice Department about teaming up, they said.

A Google spokesperson didn’t have an immediate comment.

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