One of President Trump's top aides has tested positive for the coronavirus. Hope Hicks, 31, traveled with the president as recently as Wednesday on Air Force One. She went to Cleveland with him for the presidential debate Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. Hicks was photographed without a mask getting off Air Force One in Cleveland and at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. She's the closest aide to the president to test positive so far, per the AP; she holds the title of counselor to the president. Trump doesn't wear a mask, either, and is often seen in close quarters with aides. The White House would not say when Trump was last tested.
Spokesman Judd Deere issued a statement Thursday saying, "The President takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously." Several White House offices, he said, work together "to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidance and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the President is traveling." The White House said daily testing for senior aides was begun after other positive tests among aides. (More Hope Hicks stories.)