President Donald Trump says his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for coronavirus.
The former New York mayor has traveled extensively to battleground states in recent weeks in an effort to help Trump subvert his election loss.
Trump, who confirmed Giulianiβs positive test in a Sunday afternoon tweet, wished him a speedy recovery.
βGet better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!β Trump wrote.
Giuliani made an appearance earlier Sunday on Fox News to speak about his legal challenges in several states on behalf of Trump.
The diagnosis comes more than a month after Trump lost reelection and more than two months after Trump himself was stricken with the virus in early October. Since then, a flurry of administration officials and others in Trumpβs orbit have also been sickened, including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development.
Last month, Giulianiβs son, Andrew Giuliani, a special assistant to Trump, said he tested positive for coronavirus.
βI am experiencing mild symptoms, and am following all appropriate protocols, including being in quarantine and conducting contact tracing,β the younger Giuliani said in a Nov. 20 tweet disclosing his COVID-19 positive test.
The extraordinary spread in Trumpβs orbit underscores the cavalier approach the president has taken to a virus that has now killed more than 280,000 people in the U.S. alone.
Those infected now also include the vice president, his chief of staff, the White House press secretary, advisers Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller, as well as Trumpβs campaign manager and the chair of the Republican National Committee.
Trump spent the waning days of his campaign trying to persuade the American public that the virus was receding, and repeatedly claimed it would miraculously βdisappearβ after Nov. 3. Instead, the country is experiencing a record-breaking spike in infections.
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx on Sunday offered tacit criticism of Trumpβs attitude on the virus during an interview on NBCβs βMeet the Press.β
Asked about Trump and other administration members flouting public health expertsβ warnings to avoid large gatherings and calls to wear masks, Birx replied that some leaders are βparrotingβ myths and called the pandemic βthe worst event that this country will face.β
βAnd I think our job is to constantly say those are myths, they are wrong and you can see the evidence-base,β Birx added.
