White House election night party has new COVID victims: Now Rudy Giuliani's guest and Donald Trump's political director test positive after Ben Carson and chief of staff got it too
More guests at President Donald Trump's election night event have tested positive for coronavirus, including the White House political director and a friend of Rudy Giuliani's.
Healy Baumgardner, a former Trump aide on his 2016 campaign, who was at the White House on election night as a guest of Giuliani, has the virus, Bloomberg News reported.
Baumgardner told NBC News she tested positive on Wednesday. Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, has been helping with Trump's lawsuits in key battleground states as the president refuses to concede the election to Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Additionally White House political director Brian Jack, who was also at the election night event, tested positive as did one other White House staffer but it's unclear if that person was at the election night festivities, The New York Times reported.
At least 12 people in President Trump's orbit have tested positive since White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did last week, according to a count by ABC News.
Healy Baumgardner, a former Trump aide on his 2016 campaign, and White House political director Brian Jack were both at the election night event at the White House and have tested positive for the coronavirus
President Trump's election night event featured several hundred guests most of whom were not wearing face masks
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, has been helping with the president's lawsuits in key battleground states
Three other people at the White House on the night of November 3 have tested positive for COVID, including Meadows, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and campaign adviser David Bossie.
As election returns came in, several hundred people gathered in the state floor of the White House to watch the results, eat hot dogs and french fries, and wait to cheer on President Trump, who later came down from the residence to address them.
Most did not wear face masks although the White House has said guests were given COVID tests before the event.
In addition to those mentioned, five other White House and and a Trump campaign staffer have tested positive for the virus but it's unclear if all were at the White House on election night.
Coronavirus cases are on the rise in the United States, with more than 100,000 people being infected every day. There have been more than 10 million infections in the United States and more than 241,000 deaths.
In addition to the election night event, Meadows was with President Trump when he paid an election day visit to his campaign headquarters in Northern Virginia. When President Trump was sick with the virus in October, Meadows accompanied him to Walter Reed Medical Center and stayed at the hospital with him.
Bossie, meanwhile, was supposed to be the 'James Baker' figure leading the charge for Trump to win his series of legal challenges against election results in battleground states.
Under CDC guidelines however he will have to quarantine for two weeks. He is known to have traveled to Arizona on Thursday so all his contacts leading the legal fight to overturn Joe Biden's majority there will have to be traced, tested and may have to quarantine.
Carson, meanwhile, told The Washington Post he contracted the virus 'probably somewhere, out there in the universe' but it is not certain how.
'I was on a bus tour last week. I was at the White House on election night, so there are multiple possibilities,' he said.
Carson was tested for the disease at Walter Reed and then went home to recover.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson , with his wife Candy Carson , applauds as President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a 'Make America Great Again' rally at Oakland County International Airport, on October 30, 2020, in Waterford Township, Michigan. He also attended a White House election night party. He tested positive for the coronavirus Monday
Testing times: David Bossie the 'James Baker' figure in the Trump fight against losing the election went to Arizona Thursday. He is now positive for COVID. Reps Debbie Lasko and Paul Gosar were with him at a press conference announcing a lawsuit which so far has gone nowhere
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the White House on election night; he tested positive for the coronavirus last week
Mark Meadows, circled, was with President Trump on Election Day during a visit to campaign headquarters in Northern Virginia
The White House has refused to disclose how many people who attended the election night party have gotten the coronavirus, and the revelations have come from media reports.
It was a similar story for the White House party announcing Trump's nomination of now Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which became a superspreader event. The ceremony also included indoor parties where officials were unmasked.
Another key member of Trump's circle, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, revealed that he tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, although he has 'no clue' when he was infected.