In this June 24, 2020 file photo, Robert O'Brien, assistant to the president for national security affairs, removes a face covering prior to speaking during a news conference in Phoenix. O’Brien has tested positive for the coronavirus. He’s the highest-ranking White House official to test positive so far. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
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.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
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Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
