President Trump rejected concerns that his White House had reached a “system breakdown” after multiple members of the staff tested positive for the coronavirus.
The White House confirmed last week that a member of Trump’s valet team and Vice President Mike Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, had tested positive for COVID-19. Several members of the team, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Robert Redfield, have entered a quarantine since then. During a press conference on Monday, Trump pushed back on claims that the White House was struggling with the internal outbreak.
“I don’t think the system broke down at all,” Trump said. “One person tested positive, surprisingly because the previous day, tested negative. And three people that were in contact, relative contact, who I believe they’ve all tested totally negative, but they are going to, for a period of time, self-isolate. So, that’s not breaking down.”
“We have a lot of people coming in and out,” he later added. “Many of those people, most of those people are tested, depending on what portion of the Oval Office area they’re going in. Everybody coming into the president’s office gets tested. And I felt no vulnerability whatsoever.”
Trump said he believes the staff members who tested positive will be “absolutely fine” as they overcome the illness and return to work in the future.
