A White House official told CBS News on Saturday that the administration learned of Hope Hicks’s positive test on Thursday, “minutes” before the president was supposed to leave for New Jersey. Several staff members were pulled from the trip at that time. Only a small group was made aware of her diagnosis at that time — the official couldn’t confirm POTUS was told then but assumes he was.
The official said the president seemed “a little bit more tired than normal,” but again, they attributed that to the very late night arrivals back at the White House on Tuesday and Wednesday. “Tired for him is relative,” the official said.
Earlier on Thursday, “he was in great spirits, he was excited about the day,” was still talking about the debates and the upcoming rallies in Florida.
The official said the president did not get a rapid test until after his return from New Jersey. Marine One landed just before 6 p.m., the official wasn’t sure how immediately after that he took the test. The rapid test was undertaken because of Hicks’ diagnosis. The rapid coronavirus test came back positive, which prompted the PCR test to confirm. The officials said that when the president called into Hannity, he had already received the positive rapid test and was awaiting the PCR results. They came late Thursday evening, and he tweeted the results shortly after. The president had also held several tele-rallies that evening before Hannity; the official wasn’t sure if he had the positive diagnosis at that point or not.
The official said the president had not exhibited symptoms in New Jersey — no cough or nasal congestion. The official noted he seemed “a little tired,” though they had chalked that up to the late returns to the White House the previous two nights. The official could not confirm at what time Thursday night the President developed a fever.
Asked repeatedly why the president had not taken a test prior to his departure to New Jersey upon the White House learning of Hope’s positive result, the official said they assumed that the president had received a negative test earlier in the day, but was unable to confirm whether that was the case. The official noted the president has said in the past both that he is tested “regularly” and “daily.” The official noted they are not able to do the rapid test on the road.
