New Jersey governor slams Trump for 'putting lives at risk' by hosting Bedminster fundraiser after he knew he had been exposed - as officials try to keep tabs on more than 200 people who attended
New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy has slammed President Donald Trump' for 'putting lives at risk' during a fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club as officials scramble to keep tabs on more than 200 people who attended the event.
The event took place just hours before Trump announced that he had contracted the coronavirus last week. On Monday, Murphy called the trip the 'wrong decision at every level' and said it should have been canceled.
He said the state is trying to keep up with the 206 attendees and 19 workers in an effort to thwart a potential outbreak stemming from the gathering Thursday.
Guests at that event said it included a photo opportunity with Trump and an indoor roundtable with him that one attendee said lasted 45 minutes or more.
'The actions leading up to and following this event have put lives at risk,' Murphy said at an afternoon news conference. 'This is very much a race against the clock.'
New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy has slammed President Donald Trump' for 'putting lives at risk' during a fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club as officials scramble to keep tabs on more than 200 people who attended the event
Contact tracing is underway for more than 200 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a New Jersey fundraiser for President Trump last week.
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 5, 2020
New Jersey's @GovMurphy responds to the decision to hold the Bedminster event and how his state is handling the visit. pic.twitter.com/TEc7cbaK2d
Contact tracing is underway for more than 200 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a New Jersey fundraiser for President Trump last week.
New Jersey's @GovMurphy responds to the decision to hold the Bedminster event and how his state is handling the visit. pic.twitter.com/TEc7cbaK2d
Murphy, a Democrat, made several television appearances Monday, saying state and federal officials were still working on contact tracing and had reached most of the guests.
He urged anyone at the club while the president was there to quarantine for two weeks.
'If you think you've been in touch or in the midst of someone who is COVID positive you've got to take yourself off the field,' he said. 'This borders on reckless in terms of exposing people.'
The president attended a campaign fundraiser at his Trump National Golf Course on Thursday afternoon after disclosing that a close aide tested positive for the virus.
Murphy said the gathering may have violated state rules on large gatherings during the pandemic.
However, White House spokesman Judd Deere said the president didn't have any contact with donors or staff that would be considered close, based on the guidelines of longer than 15 minutes and within 6 feet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
But Dr Rich Roberts, a pharmaceutical executive from New Jersey who made a video describing the event, said he sat a seat away from Trump during the indoor roundtable.
Rich said the event involved about 19 people and lasted perhaps 45 minutes. Roberts did not return messages Sunday seeking comment about the video, which was posted on a local news site, The Lakewood Scoop.
State health officials in New Jersey have contacted 206 people who attended the campaign fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster just hours before he announced he had coronavirus. Trump is pictured arriving in New Jersey on Thursday
Murphy said the gathering at the golf club (file image) may have violated state rules on large gatherings during the pandemic
John Sette, the former Republican chairman of Morris County, said he felt the event was safely run.
Sette, 73, attended only the outdoor portion of the event, when the president spoke to supporters at a distance from a patio.
Sette feels fine, but saw his doctor and plans to be tested Wednesday 'just for my own satisfaction'.
He said he was happy to be contacted by tracers, because it shows the system is working.
'It was very well run, If I didn't think it was safe, I wouldn't have stayed,' said Sette, who said he wore a mask and has not seen many people, including his grandchildren in Florida, since February.
'Millions of people have it,' said Sette, noting the related hospitalization of former Gov Chris Christie, a friend. 'It's a terrible, terrible thing. Hopefully, we´ll get through it.'
Of the 206 guests at the event, Murphy said, 184 have been contacted by health officials in New Jersey.
Many people reacted positively to the outreach, but some questioned where the state got their contact information from and were 'not so positive,' said Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli.
'We are overwhelmingly in need of more federal support,' Murphy said.
Officials in Somerset County, which is where Trump's golf course is located, are also contacting the employees, most of whom live in the county, who worked the fundraising event.
The Trump campaign emailed all of those supporters who attended the round table event
Dallas businessman Daniel Hux (far left at the event), who attended the event, said he was feeling fine Sunday, and had just undergone another test, as he and other donors had before the fundraiser
The officials, who started seeking the information on Friday, said on Sunday that the White House had sent them the list of 206 guests.
They declined to say when they were given the names.
Dallas businessman Daniel Hux, who attended the event, said he was feeling fine Sunday, and had just undergone another test, as he and other donors had before the fundraiser.
'I'm grateful our President engaged his supporters safely while at the event,' Hux said in a statement. 'My prayers are with our President and the first lady.'
Hux, who owns a mortgage company, declined to say where he had traveled in the interim. He said he was never within 6 feet of the president, but was quarantining just in case.
Charlie Kolean, also from Dallas, said the coronavirus test he took upon returning home from New Jersey came back negative Sunday.
He said he'll take another one in a few days.
Kolean, who works in investments, said from what he noticed at the event, Trump campaign members were all masked and socially distant, as were Bedminster staff, who also wore gloves.
During the photo opportunity with the president, the 25-year-old said donors were required to stand 6 feet from the president on a marker taped to the floor.
'I know there were rumors of him being lethargic or tired. That was not the case at all at this event. He was very high energy, happy to be there. I noticed no difference in his health from previous times I've seen him,' Kolean said.