Lawmaker at Trump meeting tests positive

HARRISBURG» A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press.

Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano had gone to the White House last Wednesday w ith l i ke - minded Republican state lawmakers shortly after a four-hour-plus public meeting that Mastriano helped host in Gettysburg — maskless — to discuss efforts to overturn presidentelect Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

Trump told Mastriano that White House medical personnel would take care of him, his son and his son’s friend, who were also there for the Oval Office meeting and tested positive. The meeting continued after Mastriano and the others left, the person said.

The person spoke to the AP on Sunday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private session because the matter is politically sensitive.

Positive coronav ir us cases are surging across the United States and the nation’s top infectious disease expert said Sunday that the U.S. may see “surge upon surge” in the coming weeks. The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the United States topped 200,000 for the first time Friday.

Everyone who will be in close proximity to the president must take a rapid test. Trump was himself hospitalized in October after he contracted the virus. Dozens of White House staffers and others close to the president have also tested positive, including the first lady and two of the president’s sons.

A ll pa r t ic ipa nt s in Wed ne sd ay ’s mee t i n g took COVID-19 tests, but the positive results were not announced until they were in the West Wing of the White House, the person said.

“The president instantly called the White House doctor in and he took them back to, I guess, the medical place,” the person said. The meeting with Trump was to strategize about efforts regarding the election, the person said.

After Mastriano and the others left, the discussion with Trump continued for about a half-hour. Mastriano did not return to the meeting.