Trump lawyer Giuliani in hospital after positive virus test.
President Donald Trump says his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the latest in Trump’s inner circle to contract the disease that is now surging across the U.S.
Giuliani was exhibiting some symptoms and was admitted Sunday to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The 76-year-old former New York mayor has traveled extensively to battleground states in an effort to help Trump subvert his election loss to Joe Biden. On numerous occasions he has met with officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask.
Trump, who announced Giuliani’s positive test in a Sunday afternoon tweet, wished him a speedy recovery. The president later told reporters he spoke with Giuliani on Monday.
“Rudy’s doing very well,†Trump said. “I just spoke to him. No temperature.â€
Giuliani did not respond to a request for comment, but on Sunday evening he retweeted Trump’s announcement of his diagnosis. He also tweeted thanks to a conservative writer who had said he was praying for Giuliani.
Giuliani on Thursday attended a hearing at the Georgia Capitol, where he went without a mask for several hours. Several state senators, all Republicans, also did not wear masks at the hearing.
On Wednesday night, Giuliani was in Lansing, Michigan, to testify in a highly unusual 4 1/2-hour legislative hearing in which he pushed Republican lawmakers to ignore the certification of Biden’s Michigan victory and appoint electors for Trump. He did not websites wear a mask, nor did lawyer Jenna Ellis, who was sitting next description to him. He asked one of his witnesses, a Detroit election worker, if she would be comfortable removing her mask, but legislators said they could hear her.
Giuliani traveled on Monday to Phoenix, where he met with Republican legislators for an hourslong hearing in which he was maskless. The Arizona Republican Party tweeted a photo of Giuliani and several state GOP lawmakers standing shoulder-to-shoulder and maskless. The Arizona legislature announced Sunday, after Giuliani’s diagnosis became public, that it would close for a week out of an abundance of caution “for recent cases and concerns relating to COVID-19.â€
The Trump campaign said in a statement that Giuliani tested negative twice before his visits to Arizona, Michigan and Georgia. Unidentified Trump team members who had close contact with Giuliani are in self-isolation.
“The Mayor did not experience any symptoms or test positive for COVID-19 until more than 48 hours after his return,†according to the statement. “No legislators in any state or members of the press are on the contact tracing list, under current CDC Guidelines.â€
Giuliani also appeared maskless at a Nov. 25 hearing in Pennsylvania. And he did not quarantine after being near an infected person at a Nov. 19 news conference at the Republican National Committee’s headquarters. His son Andrew Giuliani, who is a White House aide, announced a day after the event that he had tested positive for the virus.
Research shows that people who contract the virus may become infectious to others several days before they start to feel ill.
Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 7, 2020
I’m getting great care and feeling good.
Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.
Georgia state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat who attended Thursday’s hearing, expressed outrage after learning of Giuliani’s diagnosis.