Trump and Meadows Laughed Off COVID After 2020 Debate, Book Says

Then-President Donald Trump and his chief of staff laughed off concerns about COVID on Air Force One after a debate with Joe Biden in 2020, a new book claims. Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Mark Meadows, writes in her upcoming memoir Enough that Trump had actually tested positive for the virus days earlier but was not convinced he had it, according to The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book. Noting that his voice had seemed a “little bit off” at an earlier rally, Trump reportedly told Meadows he didn’t want the press to “accuse me of something ridiculous, like having Covid.” Meadows is said to have “laughed and promised him that we would handle it if it happened.” Trump’s positive test came back three days before his debate against Biden, but he ignored it after subsequently testing negative. He went on to flout safety precautions even after his symptoms became obvious, and later ordered a group of legislators to take off their masks in the Oval Office, even those with COVID, according to Hutchinson’s book.