CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Reports ‘A Small Group of Officials’ in White House Knew Thursday Morning Hope Hicks Tested Positive
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, hours after President Donald Trump announced he tested positive for the coronavirus, reported that people inside the White House were aware of Hope Hicks testing positive.
“We’re learning more about how this has transpired,” Collins told Don Lemon, “and there are going to be a lot of things that the White House has to answer for.”
SHe said that she’s heard from sources over the last hour that “there was a small group of officials inside the White House that, Thursday morning, knew that Hope Hicks was ill and that she had tested positive for coronavirus”:
“Despite knowing that and knowing that she was someone who is around senior staff, on Wednesday, a very late-night trip, and around the president, the president still went to New Jersey yesterday for a close-door fundraiser that was inside, despite knowing that he had spent several hours previously on a plane with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus. The other thing that that means is that Kayleigh McEnany, the press secretary, was also in close contact with hicks. Yet, despite that, did not inform reporters today and, instead, held a press briefing at the White House, where she came into the room, not wearing a mask, and briefed reporters for about 25 minutes.”
“So the question is going to be for the White House, why did the president still go to New Jersey knowing that he could potentially put these people at risk — these people, these donors and fundraisers that he was sitting with at this roundtable today,” Collins continued. “Why did the press secretary still hold a briefing despite knowing she had come into contact with somebody who had just tested positive for coronavirus?… She didn’t even tell us. Didn’t even tell reporters who were on the plane. Didn’t disclose any of that. And there are going to be serious questions about the white house keeping that information not just from the reporters in the room but also from the American people about the state of the health of the president and the people that he potentially came into contact with.”
She pointed out that this brings into question how rigorously the president is tested and asked, “What if they had waited another day, Don?”
Collins noted how Trump has been around family members and staffers and the Secret Service agents who protect him, saying, “It raises so many questions about the people who potentially could have been put at risk because of this and because of a lack of information and being forthcoming, coming from the White House, until the president himself, decided to tweet out his diagnosis.”
You can watch above, via CNN.
