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Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, making her the second person working at the White House complex to test positive for the virus this week.
Katie Miller is married to Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s top advisers. She has been in recent contact with Pence but not with the President. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been examined or was still working outside the White House.
Katie Miller had tested negative on Thursday. A senior White House official said west wing staff are tested regularly, but much of Pence’s staff, who work alongside the Executive Office building, is performed less frequently.
Trump said he was “not concerned” about the spread of the virus in the White House. In any case, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the administration was stepping up mitigation efforts already recommended by public health experts and taking other unspecified precautions to ensure the president’s safety. The President and Vice President will now be evaluated daily, as well as some employees who interact closely with Trump.
One of Trump’s personal assistants tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week. The case marked the first known case in which a person who has approached the president has tested positive since several people present at his private Florida club were diagnosed with Covid-19 in early March.
Also on Friday, a hoard of international emails obtained by the Associated Press seemed to show that the decision to archive detailed advice from the country’s leading disease control experts to reopen communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the House. Blanca.
The document, titled Orientation to Implement the Opening Up America Again Framework, was researched and written to assist religious leaders, business owners, educators, and state and local officials as they begin to reopen. It included detailed “decision trees” or flow charts intended to help local leaders navigate the difficult decision of whether to reopen or remain closed.
This new CDC guide, a combination of previously published advice along with more recent information, had been endorsed and promoted by the highest levels of its leadership, including Robert Redfield, the CDC director. Despite this, the administration filed it on April 30.
According to the documents, the CDC continued to ask for days about the guidance that officials hoped to publish before May 1, the day Trump had targeted to reopen some businesses, according to a source who was granted anonymity because he was not allowed them to speak to them. the press.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Friday that the documents had not been approved by Redfield. The new emails, however, show that Redfield deleted the guide.
The files also show that after the news service first reported that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts to be quickly processed for approval.
The White House called the CDC and ordered them to re-file all decision trees, except one that pointed to churches. An email obtained by the AP confirmed that the agency forwarded the documents Thursday night, hours after the news.
“Attached to today’s earlier application are decision trees previously submitted to both OIRA and WH Task Force, minus faith tree communities,” the email reads. “Please let us know if / when / how we can proceed from here.”
Guardian staff contributed by reporting
