WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump appeared in public Friday evening for the first time since being
stricken by COVID-19, boarding his Marine One helicopter for a flight to a military hospital as the
virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans spread to the highest reaches of the U.S. government.

The White House said the visit of "a few days" to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
was precautionary and that Trump would continue to work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is
equipped to allow him to keep up his official duties.
Trump walked out of the White House and gave a thumbs-up but did not speak. Members of the aircrew,
Secret Service agents and White House staff wore face coverings to protect themselves from the president
onboard the helicopter.
"President Trump remains in good spirts, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the
day," said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. "Out of an abundance of caution, and at the
recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the president will be working from the presidential
offices at Walter Reed for the next few days."
Earlier Friday the White House said Trump had been injected with an experimental antibody cocktail by the
White House physician.
Just a month before the presidential election, Trump’s revelation that he was positive for the virus came
by tweet about 1 a.m. after he had returned from an afternoon political fundraiser. He had gone ahead,
saying nothing to the crowd though knowing he had been exposed to an aide with the disease that has
infected millions in America and killed more than a million people worldwide.
First lady Melania Trump also tested positive, the president said, and several others in the White House
have, too, prompting concern that the White House or even Trump himself might have spread the virus
further.
Trump has spent much of the year downplaying the threat of the virus, rarely wearing a protective mask
and urging states and cities to "reopen" and reduce or eliminate shutdown rules.
The president’s physician said in a memo late Friday that Trump received a dose of an experimental
antibody cocktail by Regeneron that is in clinical trials. Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley said Trump
"remains fatigued but in good spirits" and that a team of experts was evaluating both the
president and first lady in regard to next steps.
The first lady, who is 50, has a "mild cough and headache," Conley reported, and the remainder
of the first family, including the Trumps’ son Barron, who lives at the White House, tested negative.

Both Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have tested negative,
their campaign said. Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the virus Friday morning and
"remains in good health," his spokesman said.
Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who was with him and many others on Saturday and
has been on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers, also tested negative, the White House said.
Trump’s diagnosis was sure to have a destabilizing effect in Washington and around the world, raising
questions about how far the virus has spread through the highest levels of the U.S. government. Hours
before Trump announced he had contracted the virus, the White House said a top aide who had traveled
with him during the week had tested positive.
"Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery
process immediately," Trump tweeted just before 1 a.m. "We will get through this
TOGETHER!"
While House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday tried to assure the public that Trump was conducting
business as usual, even as he confirmed that the White House knew Hope Hicks, the aide, had tested
positive before Trump attended a Thursday fundraiser in New Jersey.
"I can tell you in terms of Hope Hicks, we discovered that right as Marine One was taking off
yesterday," said Meadows. Several staffers were pulled from the trip, but Trump did not cancel and
there was no direct evidence that her illness was connected to his.
Many White House and senior administration officials were undergoing tests Friday, but the full scale of
the outbreak around the president may not be known for some time as it can take days for an infection to
be detectable by a test. Officials with the White House Medical Unit were tracing the president’s
contacts.
Trump’s reelection campaign said it was putting on hold all events featuring Trump and members of his
family but that Pence would resume campaigning since he tested negative.
Trump was last seen by reporters returning to the White House on Thursday evening and did not appear ill.
He is 74 years old and clinically obese, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a
virus that has infected more than 7 million people nationwide.
Trump has been trying all year to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind
them. In the best of cases, if he develops few symptoms, which can include fever, cough and breathing
trouble, it will likely force him off the campaign trail and puts his participation in the second
presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, into doubt.
Trump’s handling of the pandemic has already been a major flashpoint in his race against Biden, who spent
much of the summer off the campaign trail and at his home in Delaware citing concern about the virus.
Biden has since resumed a more active campaign schedule, but with small, socially distanced crowds. He
also regularly wears a mask in public, something Trump mocked him for at Tuesday night’s debate.
"I don’t wear masks like him," Trump said of Biden. "Every time you see him, he’s got a
mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever
seen."
In a tweet Friday morning, Biden said he and his wife "send our thoughts to President Trump and
First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery. We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the
president and his family."
World leaders offered the president and first family their best wishes after their diagnosis, as
governments used their case as a reminder for their citizens to wear masks and practice social
distancing measures.
Trump’s announcement came hours after he confirmed that Hicks, one of his most trusted and
longest-serving aides, had been diagnosed with the virus Thursday. Hicks began feeling mild symptoms
during the plane ride home from a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday evening, according to an
administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private information. She was
isolated from other passengers aboard the plane, the person said.
Hicks had been with Trump and other senior staff aboard Marine One and Air Force One en route to that
rally and had accompanied the president to Tuesday’s presidential debate in Cleveland, along with
members of the Trump family. The Trump contingent removed their masks during the debate, in violation of
the venue rules.
Multiple White House staffers have previously tested positive for the virus, including Pence’s press
secretary, Katie Miller, national security adviser Robert O’Brien and one of the president’s personal
valets. An RNC official confirmed Friday that Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel learned she had tested positive
Wednesday afternoon. She has been at her home in Michigan since last Saturday and did not attend the
debate.
But Trump has consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable. He has mostly refused
to abide by basic public health guidelines — including those issued by his own administration — such as
wearing face coverings in public and practicing social distancing. Instead, he has continued to hold
campaign rallies that draw thousands of often maskless supporters.
"I felt no vulnerability whatsoever," he told reporters back in May.
As for Trump’s attendance at Thursday’s fundraiser, press secretary Kalleigh McEnany said, "He
socially distanced. It was an outdoor event, and it was deemed safe by White House Operations for him to
attend that event."
McEnany and Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino, who were originally set to join him on the trip,
were replaced at the last minute by other aides. McEnany briefed the press Thursday morning and made no
mention of any suspected illness, raising anew concern about White House transparency.
It is unclear where the Trumps or Hicks may have caught the virus, but in a Fox interview, Trump seemed
to suggest it may have been spread by someone in the military or law enforcement in greetings.
The White House began instituting a daily testing regimen for the president’s senior aides after earlier
positive cases close to the president. Anyone in close proximity to the president or vice president is
also tested every day, including reporters.
Trump is far from the first world leader to test positive for the virus, which previously infected
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent a week in the
hospital, including three nights in intensive care. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was
hospitalized last month while fighting what he called a "hellish" case of COVID-19.