Nov. 10 (UPI) — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Trump campaign legal adviser David Bossie both tested positive for COVID-19, as another wave of infection moves through the White House.
Carson and Bossie are among two dozen others in the orbit of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence who have tested positive for the virus.
Carson attended an Election Night television watching event at the White House on Tuesday. Bossie tested positive on Sunday.
Bossie, who was chosen to manage the Trump campaign’s legal challenges last week, is the president of Republican non-profit Citizen’s United and played a managing role in Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Bossie, 55, who must now quarantine, has been taken off the job of coordinating the legal team, “because he can’t be at the campaign headquarters and he can’t be in the Oval Office,” NBC News reported.
Within the last week, Bossie traveled with campaign staffers to Phoenix, Ariz., and back and forth to the Virginia campaign headquarters, and was photographed, maskless, Nov. 2 by campaign staffer Corey Lewandowski after traveling to a rally in Kenosha, Wis.
Meanwhile, Carson is “in good spirits” and “feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery,” the HUD leader’s deputy chief of staff told ABC News.
“Spoke with my brother Dr. Carson earlier and he is doing extraordinarily well,” Armstrong Williams, who helped lead Carson’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, said in a tweet “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 COVID-19.”
Carson’s diagnosis comes less than a week after President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows also tested positive. Two weeks ago, staffers of Vice President Mike Pence also tested positive, including Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff.
Carson, a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon who gained famed for his work in separating conjoined twins, retired from medicine in 2013 and two years later launched an unsuccessful presidential bid.
The president nominated Carson, an outspoken Trump supporter, as HUD secretary in December 2016. He was confirmed by the Senate three months later despite Democratic concerns over his lack of experience in housing matters.
Carson is the latest in a long line of Republicans and Trump administration officials to test positive. Trump tested positive last month and underwent several days of treatment. Others who have tested positive include first lady Melania Trump, Trump’s son Barron, former communications chief Hope Hicks and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
