Rose Garden ceremony attendees who tested positive for coronavirus
The autumn late afternoon was lovely. The scene at a packed White House Rose Garden to formally announce a conservative replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was jubilant. Republican senators, leading conservatives, and dozens of President Trump’s top supporters and aides hugged and cheered as Trump introduced Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 26.
[Visual timeline of Trump’s movements before his positive coronavirus test]
The ceremony, which included indoor receptions in addition to the outdoor announcement, is drawing scrutiny as a possible superspreader event as a coronavirus outbreak continues to spread through official Washington.
At least eleven people who attended, including a news photographer and a reporter, have tested positive for the virus. Trump was hospitalized with the disease it causes. Many of those who caught the infection were seated closely together. Scroll to see who else attended the ceremony.
Tested positive
President Trump
When tested positive: Announced in the wee hours of Friday morning, Oct. 2.
Where he has been: Trump held a fundraiser at his property in Bedminster, N.J., on Thursday, spoke with reporters and held a rally in Minnesota on Wednesday, participated in a debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday (Biden and running mate Kamala D. Harris have tested negative), held a White House event on coronavirus testing Monday and held a news conference last Sunday.
First lady Melania Trump
When tested positive: Announced alongside Trump’s diagnosis Friday morning, Oct. 2.
Where she has been: She attended the debate Tuesday, where she was pictured wearing a mask despite other members of Trump’s family not doing so. She also took part in a reception with Gold Star families last Sunday at the White House, where she and most others did not wear a mask.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
When tested positive: Friday, Oct. 2.
Where he has been: Met with Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday (Barrett has tested negative) and has met with Senate colleagues in recent days. He said he previously tested negative before a White House visit in recent days, apparently referring to attending Barrett’s outdoors announcement Sept. 26, where few were wearing masks.
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, the University of Notre Dame’s president
When tested positive: Last week.
Where he has been: Jenkins attended Barrett’s announcement on Sept. 26, after which he was criticized for not wearing a mask and later apologized. The university said he got tested after someone he was in contact with tested positive for the virus.
Kellyanne Conway
When tested positive: Friday night, Oct. 2.
Where she has been: The longtime strategist resigned her formal role at the White House earlier this year. But she spent days huddled with Trump and his debate prep team, and she attended the Barrett events.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
When tested positive: He said he received positive results of a rapid antigen test Friday, Oct. 2 and is asymptomatic.
Where he has been: He attended the Barrett events.
Chris Christie
When tested positive: Saturday, Oct. 3.
Where he has been: Christie prepared Trump for the debate, telling ABC News on Friday morning, “No one was wearing masks in the room when we were prepping the president. … The group was about five or six people in total.” Christie has been hospitalized since Oct. 3.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany
When tested positive: Monday, Oct. 5.
Where she has been: McEnany attended the Rose Garden ceremony on Sept 26. She is with the president frequently and conducts press briefings without a mask, including on Thursday, Oct. 1. She was pulled from a trip with the president to his Bedminister, N.J. golf club for a fundraiser shortly before the White House and campaign team took off. In a tweet on Oct. 5, she said she had tested negative on that day and each day since. And she said she was not aware that Hope Hicks had tested positive on Thursday before she briefed the press.
She pulled her mask off when approaching reporters on Sunday, Oct. 4.
Pastor Greg Laurie
When tested positive: Monday, Oct. 5
Where he has been: Laurie is the lead pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif. He was at large prayer rally events in Washington, DC with Franklin Graham and Vice President Pence and then attended the Rose Garden ceremony.
Tested negative
Vice President Pence and Karen Pence
When tested negative: Each day since Oct. 2
Where they have been: The vice president and his wife attended receptions for Amy Coney Barrett and one for Gold Star families, those who have an immediate family member who has died in the line of duty in military service. He also held a meeting of the White House coronavirus task force Tuesday in the Situation Room, where a photo released Saturday by the White House showed that no one wore a mask.
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett
When she was tested: The Washington Post reports Barrett actually came down with the virus this summer, but after recovering she is regularly retested and was negative Friday morning. Her husband also had covid-19 in August, the Post reported.
Where she has been: Barrett appeared alongside Trump on Sept. 26, with neither wearing a mask, when he announced her nomination. She has since then been meeting personally with senators ahead of her planned confirmation hearings, which remain planned for the week of Oct. 12.
Attorney General William P. Barr
When tested: Several times since Friday, Oct. 2.
Where he has been: Barr was in the same room, without a mask, as Trump and Barrett at the White House reception. He went to a meeting at the Justice Department on Oct. 2 but stayed home over the weekend and was “self-quarantining,” said spokeswoman Kerri Kupec. He returned to Justice headquarters Thursday, because, she said, Barr is an essential worker.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Tiffany Trump
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia
When tested negative: Friday, Oct. 2.
Where he has been: Scalia is the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom Amy Coney Barrett clerked. He and his wife, Patricia, and his mother, Maureen, were in the second row for the Rose Garden ceremony. All three also were inside the White House for a private reception with Trump and Barrett. Photos taken by New York Times photographer Doug Mills show no one in the Diplomatic Room event wearing masks.
Scalia also attended an indoor private fundraiser the night before, on Sept. 25, at the Trump International Hotel. Trump was there, as well as Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, who has tested positive.
In response to a question about whether Scalia and his family were tested for the coronavirus, a department spokesman sent a statement that Eugene Scalia tested negative on Friday.
His brother, the Paul Scalia, a Virginia Catholic priest, issued an apology to his parish Sunday, Oct. 5 for neither social distancing nor wearing a mask at the Rose Garden ceremony. He said he and the rest of the family had tested negative.