Former US President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days before their first presidential debate with Biden in September 2020, according to the Guardian, citing a new book by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Book claims Trump tested positive for COVID ahead of Presidential debate
Each candidate was required “to test negative for the virus within seventy-two hours of the start time … Nothing was going to stop (Trump) from going out there,” Meadows wrote in his memoir titled “The Chief’s Chief,” which is due to be published next week by All Seasons Press.
Meadows admitted that the positive test came as a surprise to everyone in the White House.
“Mr President. I’ve got some bad news. You’ve tested positive for Covid-19,” Meadows reportedly told Trump ahead of the debates. Trump’s reply “rhyme[d] with ‘Oh spit, you’ve gotta be trucking lidding me’.”
The positive test was immediately followed by a negative test. Following that, Trump will face Biden in Cleveland on September 29, 2020.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced that they will have COVID-19 on October 2, 2020. The president was then treated for three days at Walter Reed Hospital with an experimental antibody cocktail that targets the coronavirus spike protein.
Trump’s Response
Trump says, story that he tested positive for COVID before or during the first debate with Biden is fake news.
“The story of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News. In fact, a test revealed that I did not have COVID prior to the debate,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday.
