By Zeke Miller and Jill Colvin
Updated 12:32 pm ET
President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien has tested positive for the coronavirus — making him the highest-ranking official to test positive so far.
That's according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss it by name. The White House confirmed that O'Brien has mild symptoms and "has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site."
Officials did not respond to questions about the last time the president and O'Brien had contact, but the White House insisted that, "There is no risk of exposure to the President or the Vice President" and that the "work of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted."
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters Monday morning that O'Brien's daughter also has the virus, and that is how they think he was exposed.
O'Brien is the highest-ranking White House official known to have contracted the virus and the first since May when a personal valet to the president and the vice president's press secretary tested positive for the virus that has now infected more than 4 million people nationwide. Numerous U.S. Secret Service agents and Trump campaign staffers have also tested positive, including national finance chair Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is the girlfriend of Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Senior White House staff and anyone who comes into close contact with the president and vice president are tested for the virus daily, but mask-wearing remains lax across the White House complex.
Trump, who has long dismissed the severity of the virus and claimed wrongly earlier this month that "99 percent" of cases are "totally harmless," said in a recent interview on Fox News Channel that he had personally "lost five people, probably six, actually, as of this moment, I think, pretty soon" to the virus.
O'Brien is Trump's fourth national security adviser, having been named in September to replace John Bolton, who was ousted over policy disagreements and went on to write a scathing tell-all book about his time at the White House. The national security adviser oversees the National Security Council and is the administration's point person on national security issues.
O'Brien had previously served as Trump's top hostage negotiator and successfully worked for the release of several Americans, including pastor Andrew Brunson, who spent two years in a Turkish prison. Since taking on his new role, O'Brien has worked to establish an amiable relationship with the president, who has been drawn to O'Brien's low-key California vibe and style.
The Republican lawyer, who also worked in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, is generally seen as a jovial presence, frequently stopping by to chat with reporters traveling aboard Air Force One.
The news about O'Brien's positive test was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Donald Trump has a message for critics who think turning the U.S. government into a major stockholder of Intel is a “socialist” move: More is coming.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
