Trump adviser attends sporting event, sans mask
PELHAM, N.H. » Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski was spotted at a children’s sports event in Pelham not wearing a mask among dozens of people on Saturday, a day after appearing on a national news outlet saying he was self-isolating after traveling with the president who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Haverhill resident Kerry Donohoe — who provided The Sun with a photo of a wandering and unmasked Lewandowski at a flag-football game — said she wanted to share the image as a way to hold accountable Lewandowski and others who disregard coronavirus public health safety guidelines.
“It’s explicitly clear that if a person who has had a known contact and then doesn’t wear a mask and is in a public space, that is in my mind gross negligence and putting lots of people at risk,” Donohoe said.
During an interview with CBS News on Friday, Lewandowski — a Lowell native — said he had been campaigning with Trump in Minnesota on Sept. 30. He also states during the interview he spent time with Trump on Sept. 26, when the president selected Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee.
Trump took to Twitter shortly before 1 a.m. Friday to announce he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the virus.
Hours after Trump’s announcement, Lewandowski was interviewed on CBSN, where he proclaimed he was self-isolating due to his proximity to the presi
dent during the previous week. During the interview, the UMass Lowell graduate said Trump’s infection “just goes to show that there is nobody in America that is immune from potentially catching this virus.”
Lewandowski also said he encourages people to wear masks and to social distance.
“I just got back home to my residence in New Hampshire,” Lewandowski said during the interview. “I am self-isolating right now. I have no symptoms whatsoever, but out of an abundance of cautiousness I will be conducting or having a COVID test this afternoon.
“I’m doing the right thing,” he added. “I’m home here, self-isolating. I’m going to go the hospital and be tested and await those results.”
Despite claims of selfisolation, Lewandowski was witnessed without a face covering and walking around outside among several people the day after the interview.
Donohoe said the photo was taken by her 77-yearold father Jim Donohoe. According to the timestamp on the photos, the images were captured shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday, in Pelham.
Kerry Donohoe said the images were taken outside St. Patrick’s Church during a flag-football league gathering among children and their family, including Kerry’s nephews.
Jim Donohoe, who lives in Vero Beach, Fla., said he didn’t take the photos because Lewandowski wasn’t wearing a mask, but because he was surprised to see Trump’s campaign adviser — a well-known national figure — at the event.
Both Kerry and Jim Donohoe assume Lewandowski was at the event for family reasons. Lewandowski, a married father of four, lives in Windham, N.H.
Jim Donohoe detailed the encounter at St. Patrick’s, noting he first saw Lewandowski pacing back and forth on his cellphone several feet away from him. Jim Donohoe — who was at the event to see his grandkids — estimated there were 50 to 60 people at the sporting event. He did not see Lewandowski with a mask at any point during the roughly 20 minutes he observed him.
“Most of the time he was socially distant,” Jim Donohoe said. “There were times when he came closer to people, maybe 6 feet, maybe a little closer.”
Jim Donohoe also pointed out the event was attended mostly by parents, but there were elderly people — like himself — in Pelham that afternoon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, the risk for severe illness from COVID19 increases with age, with older adults at highest risk.
Lewandowski said in a tweet shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday that his COVID-19 test came back negative. However, the CDC website states even if a person has tested negative for the virus, they should stay home for 14 days after their last contact with an infected person. A negative test could mean the person was not infected at the time the test was done, but they could still become infected.
Several attempts by The Sun to contact Lewandowski by phone went unanswered.
During Lewandowski’s interview on CBSN, reporter Vladimir Duthiers discussed the importance of politicians and those in high-profile positions setting a good example for others when it comes to wearing masks and social distancing, as they are suggested by health officials as life-saving measures. Lewandowski appears to agree with Duthiers.
‘Really important’
“I think it’s really important that people have a sense of personal responsibility, and I think people should wear masks and the president said that publicly, but I also think it’s up to individuals,” Lewandowski said during the interview. “I’m a small-government kind of guy and I don’t want the government mandating what I have to do.”
“I encourage people to wear their masks,” he later added. “I encourage people to maintain social distance, to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer, to not engage, particularly if you are in a high-risk category, then you need to take extra precautions, whether you’re elderly, or you have a pre-existing condition, we have to make sure you’re doing everything to stay safe.”
Several others in Trump’s circle have tested positive for the virus, including his aide Hope Hicks, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, adviser Stephen Miller and Nicolas Luna, assistant to the president. As for Trump, he staged a return to the White House on Monday after being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
In an Associated Press article released on Tuesday, it states Trump exited Marine One on Monday and climbed the South Portico steps, removed his mask and declared, “I feel good.” He entered the White House, where aides were visible milling about the Blue Room, without wearing a face covering, the article states.
Kerry Donohoe, who said she watched the interview with Lewandowski on CBSN on Friday, stressed the reason she shared the photo with The Sun was to raise awareness about the public’s lack of compliance to pandemic safety guidelines.
“I feel like we need to have a larger call to action around mask wearing and compliance,” Kerry said. “This isn’t about, ‘Oh, I got you, you’re caught,’ but more about building greater awareness. I think people sometimes are not taking the virus seriously. … People make personal choices within their own families and their own networks, but the minute we enter out into public communities, we are putting everybody else at risk.”