White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has tested positive for the coronavirus, she announced Monday.
“After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms,” she said in a statement. “No reporters, producers or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit.”
McEnany also said she “definitively had no knowledge of Hope Hicks‘ diagnosis prior to holding a White House press briefing on Thursday. Hicks, a top aide to President Donald Trump, tested positive on Thursday.
Trump said early Friday morning that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for Covid-19. The president is currently at Walter Reed military hospital receiving treatment.
Others who have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days include Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, three Republican senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was part of Trump’s presidential debate prep team. Trump, Hicks, McEnany, Tillis, Lee, Conway and Christie all attended the White House ceremony for Trump’s Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett just over a week ago and did not wear masks or practice social distancing.
McEnany said she will begin the quarantine process due to testing positive and would “continue working on behalf of the American People remotely.”
It’s unclear how many media members may have been exposed. McEnany briefed reporters without a mask on Thursday and Sunday.
McEnany, 32, a former spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign and a vocal defender on television, replaced Stephanie Grisham as White House press secretary in April. Others who held the role under Trump include Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
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