David Bossie, who was tapped last week to lead the Trump campaign’s post-election legal battles, is the latest person in the White House’s orbit to test positive for the coronavirus.
Bossie, who was Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016, has reportedly been inside the campaign’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, “several times” over the last week. According to Bloomberg, Bossie was diagnosed on Sunday after taking a test at the White House—which is required for all visitors seeing the president.
Citing two sources, NBC News also reported Bossie’s diagnosis means the Republican insider has been “sidelined” from his role in the post-election legal fight he was tasked to lead.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Because he can’t be at the campaign headquarters and he can’t be in the Oval Office [due to his diagnosis] Dave’s no longer a part of the decision-making process,” one source said.
On Friday, it also emerged that the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had tested positive for the deadly disease. In addition to Meadows, who routinely shrugged off wearing a mask, at least five White House aides have tested positive for the deadly virus in the days before and after Nov. 3. The list includes Nick Trainer, who worked on the president’s campaign.
Bossie, a longtime Republican insider, was tasked with coordinating the flurry of lawsuits the campaign filed in several battleground states in an attempt to stop mail-in votes from being counted. Several of these legal challenges are ongoing even after Joe Biden was named president-elect on Saturday.
According to the Times, Bossie was tapped by Bill Stepien, the Trump campaign manager, and Jared Kushner, who were looking for a “James Baker-like” figure to help explore all legal avenues to challenging the election results. Bossie lacks a law degree but has been an outspoken and loyal supporter of the president.
After Trump contracted the deadly coronavirus in October, Bossie was among the president’s allies to spin the diagnosis as a political advantage, stating that he had “learned firsthand what it’s like to be a COVID patient.”
During an Oct. 9 interview with CBS’s podcast, “The Takeout,” Bossie also revealed he attended the largely mask-free White House Rose Garden event to announce Justice Amy Coney Barret’s nomination to the Supreme Court. At least 13 people who attended the September event were ultimately diagnosed with COVID-19.
Bossie’s diagnosis comes hours after another Trump insider, 69-year-old Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, tested positive for the coronavirus. He attended an indoor Election Night party at the White House on Tuesday with Meadows and Bossie. It is not immediately clear where any of the three Trumpkins contracted COVID-19.
“Spoke with my brother Dr. Carson earlier and he is doing extraordinarily well. He is so grateful to have access to powerful therapeutics. We also pray for the millions who celebrated over the weekend and may have exposed themselves to COVID19,” Armstrong Williams, who advised the retired neurosurgeon’s 2016 presidential campaign, tweeted Monday.
