Hope Hicks tests positive for COVID-19 on same night she flies on Air Force One with Trump

by Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday, Oct. 01, 2020 Thursday, Oct. 01, 2020 at 6:27:29pm PDT

Dan Scavino (L), Director of White House Social Media, Hope Hicks, White House counselor, and Stephen Miller (R), White House senior advisor, walk to Marine One prior to departing with US President Donald Trump from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, September 21, 2020, as he travels to Ohio. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) — Three terrible people

One of Trump’s closest advisers, Hope HIcks, has tested positive for the coronavirus. This, according to Bloomberg News and The New York Times, has been known by officials since Wednesday evening. According to the Times, Hicks traveled with Trump on Air Force One to attend his vitriolic and racist Minnesota rally Wednesday night.

According to the reports, officials knew by the time they were scheduled to fly home that Hicks had tested positive for the virus and she was quarantined on the flight back to D.C. Also on the flight were Jared Kushner and Dan Scavino.

NBC News reports that Air Force One was filled with “roughly 20 to 30 aides and family members and [Hicks] was seen backstage” at the previous Cleveland rally a couple days earlier. The White House deputy press secretary would not confirm these reports but released a statement saying, “The President takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously. White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current CDC guidelines and best practices for limiting COVID-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the President is traveling.”