Former Chief Of Staff Makes Stunning Allegation About Trump's COVID Diagnosis

As you likely recall, former President Donald Trump announced he had COVID-19 on October 2, 2020, just days after his debate with Joe Biden on September 29. Trump was not tested for the virus at the debate because he arrived late. As reported at the time, he also was coy about when he had been last tested, telling NBC's Savannah Guthrie (via CNBC), "Possibly I did, possibly I didn't," referring to whether he had been tested that day. 

Trump's late arrival to the presidential debate and his COVID announcement days after led to speculation that the former president might have known he had the virus, putting the 77-year-old Biden at risk. Trump himself was considered to be at high risk for COVID, and the 74-year-old former president went to the hospital the same day he announced the virus diagnosis to the public. The Guardian reported that Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wrote he knew each candidate needed "to test negative for the virus within seventy-two hours of the [debate] start time ... Nothing was going to stop [Trump] from going out there." 

Now, it's reported that Meadows' upcoming memoir, "The Chief's Chief," contains even more shocking new information about the former president's COVID-19 diagnosis.

Mark Meadows' new book revealed that Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days before his first presidential debate against Joe Biden, per The Guardian. The former president tested positive for COVID on September 26, and the White House doctor told Meadows to stop Trump from taking off on Marine One. Meadows wrote in the book that it was too late to stop Trump from leaving, but White House aides immediately tested Trump a second time, which brought back a negative result. Meadows wrote that Trump took the second negative test as "full permission to press on as if nothing had happened."

Meadows confessed that even before the positive COVID diagnosis, there were concerns about Trump's health because the president had symptoms of a "slight cold." The Guardian preview of Meadows' "The Chief's Chief" reported that Trump looked ill on the day of his debate with Biden. "The dark circles under his eyes had deepened," Meadows wrote. "I could tell that he was moving more slowly than usual."

New York Times reporter Michael D. Shear weighed in on the new info about Trump's COVID diagnosis, tweeting, "Hours after he received the call from Meadows informing him of a positive test, Trump came to the back of AF1 without a mask and talked with reporters for about 10 minutes. I was wearing a mask, but still got COVID, testing positive several days later." Wow.