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Dec 6 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19, Trump said on Sunday, prompting a state legislature to close a week after Giuliani’s visit to try to persuade the lawmakers to help reverse Trump’s electoral defeat.
By Jan Wolfe and Karen Freifeld
The 76-year-old former New York mayor is the latest in a long line of people close to the White House, including Trump himself, sickened by a pandemic that has killed more than 280,000 Americans.
“@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in New York history, and who has been working tirelessly to expose the most corrupt election (by far!) In US history, has tested positive for the China virus “Trump said. using a term for COVID-19 that has generated backlash.
Giuliani tweeted his thanks to “friends and followers” Sunday night for their concern for him. “I am receiving great attention and I feel good. Recover quickly and keep up with everything, ”he wrote on Twitter.
Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that Giuliani was at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, on Sunday and one said he had been admitted for treatment. The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation.
Giuliani has spearheaded Trump’s hesitant effort to reverse his Nov. 3 electoral defeat to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden through a series of lawsuits. Both Trump and Giuliani have repeatedly claimed, contrary to the evidence, that the result was marred by widespread fraud.
State and federal officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of fraud on a significant scale.
Giuliani visited Georgia on Thursday, where he urged state lawmakers to intervene to overturn Biden’s victory in the state, after making similar remarks in Michigan on Wednesday and Arizona on Monday.
Following news of Giuliani’s test, the Arizona state legislature said it would close both houses this week as a precaution “due to recent cases and concerns related to COVID-19.” Giuliani met there last week with a dozen Republican lawmakers.
Trump and many of his close associates have refused the advice of public health officials to wear masks and avoid crowds to stop the transmission of the respiratory disease, which has reached record levels in the United States as winter approaches. .
Giuliani, who developed an international profile as “mayor of the United States” for his leadership after the September 11, 2001 attacks, has faced mounting legal problems during the Trump administration.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have been investigating Giuliani’s business dealings in Ukraine, and two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, have been charged with campaign finance violations.
Giuliani has not been criminally charged and has denied wrongdoing. Parnas and Fruman have pleaded not guilty. (Information from Jan Wolfe and Karen Freifeld; additional information from David Schwartz in Phoenix, Arizona; edited by Scott Malone, Daniel Wallis, Peter Cooney, and Diane Craft)
