Housing Department Secretary Dr. Ben Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced today – making him the latest official who attended a White House election night party to get COVID-19.
Shortly afterwards, David Bossie, the Trump aide in charge of his fight to overturn Joe Biden’s apparent election victory, tested positive for it too.
The word comes days after it was revealed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also contracted the virus.
Bossie was supposed to be the ‘James Baker’ figure leading the charge for Trump to win his series of legal challenges – most of them apparently still unfiled – against election results in states including Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Under CDC guidelines however he will have to quarantine for two weeks.
He is known to have traveled to Arizona on Thursday so all his contacts leading the legal fight to overturn Biden’s majority there will have to be traced, tested and may have to quarantine.
Five other White House and and a Trump campaign staffer have tested positive for the virus.
According to the statement: ‘Secretary Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus. He is in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery.’
It was not immediately clear why Carson’s test was performed at Walter Reed, the military hospital where Trump received treatment and where many top government officials receive care.
Trump took experimental medicines including Regeneron, which he claims ‘cured’ him, following his own positive test and stay at the hospital.
Carson was at the Election Night Party, which Meadows also attended.
Weeks before the election, Trump and first lady Melania contracted the virus, which complicated Trump’s closing message that the nation was ’rounding the corner.’
The U.S. has been suffering record new infections of about 1,000 per day the last several days.
The White House has refused to disclose how many people who attended the party have gotten the coronavirus, and the revelations have come from media reports.
It was a similar story for the White House party announcing Trump’s nomination of now Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which became a superspreader event. The ceremony also included indoor parties where officials were unmasked.
The news broke on a day Joe Biden was announcing his new coronavirus advisory panel of ‘distinguished public health experts,’ and Pfizer announced new progress in its vaccine.
The company was not part of the administration’s Operation Warp Speed, which funneled billions to companies in advance of a viable vaccine discovery in order to speed production.
‘Maybe it saves the life of a member of a place of worship .. Maybe it saves your life. So please, I implore you, wear a mask. A mask is not a political statement,’ he said.
Another key member of Trump’s circle, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, revealed that he tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, although he has ‘no clue’ when he was infected.
Vice President Mike Pence, the head of Trump’s coronavirus task force, appears ready to take some time off.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Pence is scheduled to travel to Sanibel, Florida, Tuesday through Saturday.
Pence has vacationed on the island along Florida’s Gulf Coast several times previously. Pence’s office didn’t immediately comment on the trip on Monday.
The trip comes as Trump has pledged to continue trying to contest the outcome of the election and as President-elect Joe Biden is ramping up his transition efforts.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are being briefed virtually on the coronavirus pandemic by a task force of experts their transition team announced today.