Rep. Louie Gohmert was scheduled to fly Trump to Texas on Wednesday.
Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who rejected calls to wear a mask while working on Capitol Hill, tested positive for the coronavirus, sources told ABC News.
Gohmert, 66, tested positive in a pre-screening procedure at the White House before he planned to fly with President Donald Trump to Texas on Wednesday. After his positive diagnosis, the representative returned to his Capitol Hill office to inform his staff, people familiar with the matter say.
It comes a day after Gohmert attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General William Barr and other top lawmakers.
Although social distancing precautions were taken, the video circulating on social media of a journalist for The Hill apparently shows Barr and Gohmert, both unmasked, entering the courtroom very close on Tuesday.
Justice Department spokesman Kerri Kupec says the attorney general will be examined for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Some lawmakers have already expressed anger at the news.
After Gohmert returned to his office Wednesday morning to share the results, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a tweet that members of Congress who refuse to wear masks endanger their colleagues and the Capitol Hill staff.
Last month, Gohmert said he was choosing not to wear a mask because he was being regularly evaluated, a reasoning that Trump has also used.
“I don’t have the coronavirus, it turns out that until yesterday I never had it. But if I do, you will never see me without a mask,” he told CNN in June.
When warned about asymptomatic transmission of the virus, Gohmert replied: “But I am still being tested and I am not. So I am not afraid of you, but if I succeed, I will wear a mask.”
The eight-term congressman is the 10th legislator in Congress to test positive for the new virus, sources say.
His staff has not responded to requests for comment.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin, John Parkinson and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
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