Politics

Mark Meadows Seen Maskless At Election Day Events Before Testing Positive For COVID

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White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows appeared maskless at two Election Day events before testing positive for COVID-19, video shows.

Meadows was seen without a mask on Tuesday at a press conference at the Trump campaign base in Virginia, video from MSNBC shows, and was seen without a mask at President Donald Trump’s White House speech at 3 a.m. Wednesday, video from C-Span shows.

The White House chief of staff tested COVID-19 positive later Wednesday, according to a senior administration official, Bloomberg News reported.

Multiple people said a small number of people knew of Meadows’ diagnosis and were told to not say anything, Bloomberg News reported. Meadows told a small number of White House advisors that the day following Election Day that he had tested COVID-19 positive, a senior administration official said Friday, according to The New York Times.

Meadows also hadn’t been wearing a mask when he returned to the Trump campaign base on Wednesday, two people familiar with the situation said, according to Bloomberg News.

Meadows appeared at Trump’s White House Election night party along with hundreds of others and several of the attendees weren’t wearing masks, according to the Times. Five White House officials tested positive before and after Election Day, people familiar with the diagnoses said, the Times reported.

Nick Trainer, director of Battleground Strategy at Donald J. Trump for President, was one of those who tested COVID-19 positive, a person briefed on the diagnosis said, according to the Times.

Mark Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff, tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, an official said on Friday.https://t.co/KICPeaK6Go

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 7, 2020

Meadows didn’t work on White House property on Friday and reportedly told a close group of aides he doesn’t know the location where he was infected, according to the Daily Caller.