Thread by @shaneharris

“The White House’s handling of the period between the first known symptoms—those of Hicks on Wednesday—and the president’s infection, which was confirmed about 1 a.m. Friday, is what experts considered a case study in irresponsibility and mismanagement.” washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…

“Trump thought he could go to the fundraiser and keep it secret that Hicks  had it,” Republican donor Dan Eberhart said.

“They knew she was positive and they still let Marine One take off with the president. Why didn’t they ground him? That was the break in protocol,” said Kavita Patel, a practicing physician and former health adviser in the Obama White House.

En route back to the White House, Trump acknowledged Hicks’s diagnosis to his traveling team and said he was going to be tested, people with knowledge of his comments said.

A feeling of invincibility from the virus was pervasive. Guests were administered rapid coronavirus tests upon arrival and waited in a room wearing masks Then, “we were notified that we had all tested negative and were told that it was safe to remove our masks.”

McDaniel, who then spent two days with the president before beginning to show symptoms earlier this week, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. She told the president about her infection on Friday morning, although she had notified some White House officials before then.

In the debate hall on Tuesday, “The first family came in wearing masks, but they took them off,” Fahrenkopf said. “The rules said you had to wear a mask.”

Trump’s schedule continued apace Wednesday and Thursday. When he spoke about the virus in the Rose Garden on Monday afternoon, he all but declared victory over the virus.
“Tremendous progress is being made. I say, and I’ll say it all the time: We’re rounding the corner.”

That reporting on this historic day from @PhilipRucker, @jdawsey1, @AshleyRParker, and @costareports.