Pence aide’s positive coronavirus test is second this week for White House as Trump tries to project normalcy
WASHINGTON – A member of Vice President Mike Pence‘s staff has tested positive for coronavirus, becoming the second administration aide this week to test positive for the disease just as the White House has sought to project a return to normalcy across America.
“There is a member of the vice president’s team who is positive for coronavirus,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced at a news briefing on Friday.
Multiple media reports said the staffer who tested positive is Katie Miller, Pence’s press secretary and the wife of Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump known for his hard-line stance on immigration.
At the White House, Trump also identified the ill staffer as “Katie” during a roundtable discussion with congressional Republicans on Friday.
The aide tested positive as Pence was preparing to depart for Iowa, where he was to meet with faith leaders Friday to discuss reopening religious services to the public and to hold a roundtable discussion about securing the nation’s food supply.
A senior administration official told reporters traveling with Pence that the staffer tested positive Friday morning after testing negative the day before. The staffer had been in contact with six people scheduled to fly with Pence, the official said. Those staffers were removed from the plane, delaying Pence’s departure from Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland for an hour.
“The person who tested positive was not on the plane and not scheduled to be on the trip,” the official said.
The official said neither Pence nor President Donald Trump has had any recent contact with the staffer.
The news that one of Pence’s aides tested positive for coronavirus comes just one day after the White House announced that a military valet to Trump had tested positive for the disease.
Trump said Friday that the valet was in the same room with him on Tuesday, the day the Navy employee started exhibiting symptoms. But Trump said he does not recall any direct contact with the aide.
The White House has said that both Trump and Pence were tested for coronavirus and that both tests were negative. But Trump said his aides will now be tested for coronavirus daily instead of weekly.
The positive tests for the Pence aide and the military valet complicate the administration’s efforts to project a return to normal life across the country amid the pandemic, which already has killed more than 76,000 Americans.
The White House has held several carefully orchestrated events in recent days to project the image of normalcy, including a series of Oval Office meetings between Trump and governors, nurses and business leaders.
On Tuesday, Trump traveled to Phoenix – his most extensive trip since the start of the pandemic – where he toured a Honeywell aerospace facility that makes respirator masks. Trump did not wear a face mask during the tour of the facility, despite a requirement that masks be worn on the site. Trump later told reporters he wore a mask briefly.
Michael Collins covers the White House. Reach him on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS.
