abcnews.comBY: ADIA ROBINSON AND ADAM KELSEY, ABC NEWS
(WASHINGTON) — Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller dodged questions on ABC’s “This Week” about why Thursday’s fundraiser in Bedminster, New Jersey, was not canceled after the White House learned that Hope Hicks, a close adviser to the president, had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“What I can’t speak to, since I’m not part of White House operations, I’m not part of the White House medical unit, is the exact — how much time he was spending with Hope and in the proximity for these things,” he said Sunday after being pressed by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. “I can’t speak to that. I gotta let the the White House go and do that.”
Miller said that the president was tested after learning of Hicks’ diagnosis and didn’t receive his results until late Thursday.
He also pushed back on accusations that the president had not taken COVID-19 seriously enough.
“It hasn’t been cavalier all. We take it very seriously. It’s why we give everyone coming to rallies or to events we give them a mask, we check their temperature,” Miller said. “I’d say that with regard to Joe Biden I think too often he’s used the mask as a prop. A mask is very important, but even if he’s — he could be 20, 30 feet away from the nearest person, and still have the mask on. That’s not going to change anything that’s out there.”
In response to nearly identical questions, nearly three in four Americans, or 72%, said they thought Trump did not take the “risk of contracting the virus seriously enough,” nor “the appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health” in a new ABC/Ipsos poll released Sunday morning.
Trump announced that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Twitter just before 1 a.m. Friday. The president was flown to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Friday evening.
Several Trump administration officials and campaign staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, including Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest advisers, and campaign manager Bill Stepien. Advisers who attended a debate prep session, including ABC News contributor and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and attendees of last Saturday’s Supreme Court nominee announcement, like Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, also tested positive for the virus.
Miller said on “This Week” that he’s tested negative for the coronavirus, as had senior adviser to the president Steven Miller.
The president was having trouble breathing and received supplemental oxygen Friday, sources close to Trump told ABC News. Since Friday, Trump has been given Remdesivir and received a second dose of the antiviral drug Saturday, according to a memorandum from the president’s physician Dr. Sean Conley.
Conley’s memorandum also said that the president “continues to do well, having made substantial progress since diagnosis.” And the White House released photos of the president working in the medical suite at Walter Reed.
“I came here, wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now we’re working hard to get me all the way back,” Trump said in a video posted to Twitter Saturday evening. “I have to be back, because we still have to make America great again.”
Miller also said Sunday that he spoke with the president for a half hour Saturday and that the president sounded good, was joking and asking questions about the campaign.
Conflicting information from the White House and the president’s medical staff have raised questions of transparency.
The Trump campaign said Saturday it will move forward with in-person events after Wednesday’s vice presidential debate. It will host virtual events until then.
Vice President Mike Pence will take the lead on campaigning while the president is off the campaign trail. Pence and members of the first family will make “campaign appearances in key states.”
ABC News’ Will Steakin, Terrance Smith and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
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