United States, Trump and Melania positive for coronavirus. Nyt: mild case so far "but with symptoms". Negative Biden
To infect the presidential couple Hope Hicks who had flown with them on Air Force One, always traveling without a mask. The First Lady: "It happened to too many Americans." Election stop in Florida canceled. Trump has known about Hicks' positivity since Thursday morning and hasn't changed her appointments. Mike Pence negative (In the video the many occasions, from May to September, in which the head of the White House did not wear the mask)
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The head of the White House himself confirms this on Twitter. "The First Lady and I tested positive for Covid 19. Let's start the quarantine and the healing process right away. TOGETHER we will make it!". Melania also tweeted: "As happened to too many Americans this year, the president and I are quarantined at home after testing positive for Covid. We feel good and have postponed our commitments. We will stay safe and get through this together. ". It is not yet clear who, in the Trump circle, tested positive. Daughter Ivanka, husband Jared Kushner and son Barron are negative as are Vice President Mike Pence and Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a presidential candidate for the Supreme Court.
Joe Biden, and his wife Jill, wished "speedy recovery" to the presidential couple. The Democratic candidate for the White House tested negative.
Nyt: "Flu-like symptoms, but signs of lethargy"
Sources in the New York Times claim Trump has symptoms similar to those of a cold and "flu", with signs of lethargy. On Thursday, the president attended a fundraiser for his campaign at the golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where, according to a witness, he would be in contact with a hundred people. On that occasion, the president would have appeared "lethargic".
The White House doctor confirmed that the presidential couple, for now, have no symptoms. The Donald will continue to work "without interruption". But in the meantime he has canceled the meeting in Florida set for today.
To infect the president would have been the adviser Hope Hicks, one of the closest to Donald Trump, who tested positive on Thursday, after presenting some symptoms. Both Tuesday and Wednesday he flew alongside the president - needless to say, without a mask - accompanying him first to Cleveland, Ohio, where the first televised debate of this 2020 campaign was held. Then to Duluth, Minnesota, where Trump gave a rally outdoors.
Trump knew about Hicks but she didn't change her appointments
The president had been made aware of his advisor's positivity as early as Thursday morning, Bloomberg writes. That didn't stop him from sticking to the lineup of events he had to attend, including a fundraiser at his he New Jersey resort.
The discovery and confirmation
It was an anonymous source who told Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs what was happening in the president's inner circle. The confirmation, however, came from Trump himself who last night on Twitter announced that he had done the test, together with Melania, and that he immediately put himself in quarantine: "Hope Hicks worked very hard without ever taking a break, and now she is positive at Covid. Terrible news. The First Lady and I are waiting for the test results, in the meantime we begin the quarantine process ". The result came when it was half past one in America.
Vice President Pence is negative. What does the constitution provide in the event of the president's inability
Should Trump give up the reins of power, Mike Pence would take his place. The vice president tested negative for Covid and therefore able to comply with the 25th amendment to the constitution, invoked three times in history. The amendment, adopted in 1967 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, specifies in four articles the modalities for the transfer of executive powers in the event of resignation, death, dismissal or temporary incapacity of the tenant of the White House. This could be the case with Trump, should his health deteriorate.
According to article 3 of this amendment, the President of the United States should send the President of the Senate, Republican Chuck Grassley, and the Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, a written declaration declaring that he is unable to exercise his powers and to fulfill the duties of their office. "Until such time as he notifies them otherwise, these powers will be exercised by the vice president as interim president," adds the text. This article was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and by George W. Bush in 2002 and 2007. The two presidents had undergone surgical operations.
In the event that the vice-president is also unable, the helm of the country temporarily passes to the speaker of the House, in this case Nancy Pelosi, until the Congress decides by law which public official should perform the functions of the president.
Virtual and postponed election events
The campaign events will be "postponed or kept online". Trump's campaign staff announced this. "Events instead of the vice president, Mike Pence, will resume." It was the vice president today who opened the midday conference call with the governors on support for the elderly for the coronavirus emergency. Event attended by the president.
Trump in the most vulnerable range
President Trump, 74, has always refused to divulge details of his health. However, he had aroused concern and suspicion when he visited in November at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, not far from Washington. But at the time it was almost certainly just a routine test.
Who is Hope Hicks
Hope Hicks, a 31-year-old former model, was the White House chief of communications, who left the scene in 2018 after admitting lying to intelligence to protect the president. She was an early loyalist, a close friend of "First Daughter" Ivanka, she in the past had dealt with the public relations of the Trump Organization and in 2016 she had been the spokesperson for the first presidential campaign and then director of strategic communications. After Kellyanne Conway left for family reasons, Trump called her back to her side to help out in the new campaign. And last week she was always by his side.
Coronavirus in the White House
The virus has already entered the White House several times. In May it was the turn of a personal valet to the president, then Katie Miller, spokesman for Deputy Mike Pence, and soon after some escort agents. Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Junior's fiancée, had also recently tested positive. While in July the national security adviser Robert O'Brien, 54, a collaborator so close that he had his office right next to the Oval Office, became ill. Infected by a family member during a short vacation, he had not had recent contact with the president and his deputy. Hicks, on the contrary, was very close to Trump until a few hours before he discovered her positivity about her: when, the doctors confirm it, she was already very contagious.
