By Darlene Superville
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that she is positive again for COVID-19 and will not accompany President Joe Biden to Europe for meetings on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Biden tested negative on Tuesday, she said.
Psaki tweeted that she took a laboratory test for COVID-19 in preparation for the trip, which gets underway on Wednesday, and was later notified of a positive result.
She said she had two “socially distanced meetings” with Biden on Monday and that he is not considered a “close contact” under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said she shared the news “out of an abundance of transparency.”
Psaki tweeted and released a statement a short time before she was scheduled to step into the White House press room for her daily briefing, accompanied by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who was joining her to discuss the trip.
After a brief delay, Chris Meagher, a deputy press secretary, introduced Sullivan to a waiting White House press corps and he proceeded with the briefing.
Psaki said she will follow CDC guidance and no longer accompany Biden on his stops in Belgium, for a series of meetings with European leaders on Russia’s war in Ukraine, and in Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine and has taken in millions of Ukrainians fleeing warfare.
Psaki said she has only experienced mild symptoms and credited being vaccinated against COVID-19. She said under White House COVID-19 protocols, she will work from home and plan to return to work at the end of a five-day isolation period and a negative test.
This is the second time that COVID-19 has forced Psaki to bow out of accompanying Biden abroad. She sat out last fall's trip to Rome and Glasgow, Scotland, after disclosing she had tested positive.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
A new report finds the Department of Government Efficiency’s remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress.
A new poll finds U.S. adults are more likely than they were a year ago to think immigrants in the country legally benefit the economy. That comes as President Donald Trump's administration imposes new restrictions targeting legal pathways into the country. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds Americans are more likely than they were in March 2024 to say it’s a “major benefit” that people who come to the U.S. legally contribute to the economy and help American companies get the expertise of skilled workers. At the same time, perceptions of illegal immigration haven’t shifted meaningfully. Americans still see fewer benefits from people who come to the U.S. illegally.
Shares of Tylenol maker Kenvue are bouncing back sharply before the opening bell a day after President Donald Trump promoted unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism. Trump told pregnant women not to use the painkiller around a dozen times during the White House news conference Monday. The drugmaker tumbled 7.5%. Shares have regained most of those losses early Tuesday in premarket trading.
