President Donald Trump’s lawyer is infected with COVID-19 and reportedly in hospital after traveling to several states and meeting with lawmakers about the 2020 election.

Rudy Giuliani sought to calm concerns that he had exposed potentially hundreds of people to the risk of infection during his recent travels under his campaign to upend President-election Joe Biden’s election victory.
President Donald Trump’s lawyer tested positive for COVID-19 after holding maskless meetings this past week with state lawmakers to present what he claimed was evidence of widespread fraud that cost Trump the election.
The most recent of those was a December 2 public hearing at Michigan’s House Oversight Committee at which he presented alleged witnesses to election fraud. Evidence to date of fraud is either tiny in scale or fatally flawed and the claim that it led to Biden’s win is unsubstantiated.
On Sunday night amid speculation about who Giuliani, 76, may have exposed to the virus, Team Trump released a statement with the lawyer’s permission giving more detail on the timings of his positive test and symptoms, though there were no precise dates and times.
“Mayor Giuliani tested twice negatively immediately preceding his trip to Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia. The mayor did not experience any symptoms or test positive for COVID-19 until more than 48 hours after his return,” the statement said.
“No legislators in any state or members of the press are on the contact tracing list, under current CDC guidelines. Other team members who are defined as having had close contact will be following their physicians’ directives and CDC guidelines on isolation and testing.”
Dr. Megan Ranny, an emergency physician in Rhode Island and director of Brown University’s Center for Digital Health, told CNN that images of a maskless Giuliani greeting supporters on Thursday at the state House in Atlanta, Georgia were “so concerning” and left her “disturbed.”
“We know that the two days before someone develops symptoms before someone tests positive is the time when they are most infectious,” Ranney said.
“So Giuliani has not just exposed himself and caught COVID, he has potentially exposed hundreds and hundreds of Trump supporters to the virus during his most infectious phase.”
The news of Giuliani’s infection with COVID-19 broke in a presidential tweet. Trump tweeted on Sunday evening that Giuliani “by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!”
Late on Sunday night, Giuliani himself tweeted: “Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes. I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.”
According to the Associated Press and multiple other media reports, Giuliani was admitted Sunday to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. His infection comes amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases across the U.S.
Newsweek has asked Team Trump for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani listens to Detroit poll worker Jessi Jacobs during an appearance before the Michigan House Oversight Committee on December 2, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19.Rey Del Rio/Getty Images