Anderson Cooper Asks When Trump Got Tested: Admin Has Lied Before and Right Now We’re ‘Relying on the President’s Honesty’

Anderson Cooper jumped on the air in the late night hours on CNN to cover the big news of President Donald Trump testing positive for the coronavirus, and at one point the issue of the Trump administration’s honesty came up.

One thing Cooper pointed out is really crucial to know is when Trump got tested, because as Kaitlan Collins reported, there were people in the White House who knew Thursday morning Hope Hicks tested positive — before the president traveled to New Jersey for a fundraiser.

Cooper and Collins talked about everything the press has learned so far about the timeline, with Collins saying, “We just know that once they had already been en route to Minnesota, we’re told that is when she started to feel symptomatic and we are told that she quarantined. But I really want to stress we don’t know exactly what that means, because you’re on an airplane, you can’t quarantine, there is not a ton of room on Air Force One.”

Given that Hicks was symptomatic Wednesday, Cooper noted, “They usually get tested in the White House, you said, in the mornings, so do we know was Hope Hicks feeling badly Wednesday and not tested until Thursday or do we know when she was tested?”

Collins reviewed what policy has been and said, “She likely would have been tested yesterday at the White House. So it’s not clear if that was a test that she got and it was a negative result or what happened there.”

As for when Trump got tested, Collins remarked it seems like he “didn’t seem to get tested until after this was already reported in the media,” citing what he said hours ago to Sean Hannity.

“Wait a minute,” Cooper said. “That’s relying on the president’s honesty for when he got tested. What you’re saying the president told Sean Hannity we just got tested and we’re waiting on it. But he’s the only one saying that. No one else has confirmed that, because seems highly unlikely.”

Because, Cooper argued, if people in the White House knew Hicks tested positive and Trump “wasn’t immediately tested,” then “that’s criminally negligent, that would be a huge breach of security.”

“And if he was tested, he was still allowed to go to New Jersey for a small fundraiser with a smaller staff, which I guess indicates they knew there might be a problem and Kayleigh McEnany still gave a briefing to reporters — she was there on the trip and potentially had exposure. So it becomes very important as to when exactly the president knew and got tested,” Cooper added.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta pointed out the serious implications of Trump testing positive, including the massive amount of contact tracing that needs to happen next.

Cooper then made this observation:

“This is where transparency and the record of the administration is so damaging right now, because we have seen them time and again lie about stuff, even the president’s health we don’t really know much about. He goes to the hospital, I believe it was back in November, for a surprise visit. Nobody says what it really was for. Even his medical records we’re not sure about some of the stuff his doctor has said, the details of it. They need to be transparent and it doesn’t even seem at this point that they’ve been transparent so far.”

You can watch above, via CNN.

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