Lawmaker Abruptly Leaves Trump Meeting After Positive Test – By Newser Editors and Wire Services (Newser) / Nov 30 2020
Source says Pennsylvania state senator was informed he had coronavirus
(NEWSER) – A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told the AP. Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano had gone to the White House last Wednesday with like-minded Republican state lawmakers shortly after a four-hour-plus public meeting that Mastriano helped host in Gettysburg—maskless—to discuss efforts to overturn president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Trump told Mastriano that White House medical personnel would take care of him, his son, and his son’s friend, who were also there for the Oval Office meeting and tested positive. The meeting continued after Mastriano and the others left, the person said. The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private session because the matter is politically sensitive.
Everyone who will be in close proximity to the president must take a rapid test. Trump was himself hospitalized in October after he contracted the virus. Dozens of White House staffers and others close to the president have also tested positive, including the first lady and two of the president’s sons. All participants in Wednesday’s meeting took COVID-19 tests, but the positive results were not announced until they were in the West Wing of the White House, the person said. “The president instantly called the White House doctor in and he took them back to, I guess, the medical place,” the person said. The meeting with Trump was to strategize about efforts regarding the election, the person said. After Mastriano and the others left, the discussion with Trump continued for about a half-hour. Mastriano did not return to the meeting. (More on the infamous Gettysburg meeting here.)
