Jim Acosta Catches WH Staff Without Masks After Trump’s Diagnosis, Calls Them Out: ‘Not Everybody Has Gotten the Memo’ on How Serious This is

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta is calling out West Wing staffers for not wearing masks on the morning after President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis.

Appearing on CNN Newsroom Friday, Acosta said that he spotted senior White House staffer Johnny McEntee, Trump’s former body man and current director of presidential personnel, for being maskless in the White House following news that the president has the coronavirus.

“I’ve been here since early this morning, and I will tell you it does appear not everybody has gotten the memo as to the seriousness of the situation,” Acosta said. “For example, Johnny McEntee — who is a top official inside this White House, manages some of the personnel operations for the administration — he walked right past me this morning and said he was on his way to get a coronavirus test. But was not wearing a mask.”

Acosta also described an encounter with several more staffers who — the CNN correspondent says — rushed to put on their masks after being spotted by reporters.

“As I went up to what we call upper press inside the West Wing to talk to some White House staffers about what’s going on around here, a number of the White House staffers inside the West Wing were not wearing their masks,” Acosta said. “Aa I and other reporters walked into the room, they suddenly put on their masks.”

The CNN correspondent called it a “lagging coming to reality” on the part of the White House staff — noting that some staffers, like economic adviser Larry Kudlow, were wearing their masks this morning.

“This is indicative of what we’ve been seeing … from the very beginning of all of this,” Acosta said. He added, “It varies person-to-person as to how serious people inside this White House take the coronavirus. And we’re seeing that play out in real time this morning.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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