A senior administration official told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Saturday that the cluster of coronavirus cases among top Republican officials likely began at President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden event announcing the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
The official said it “seems highly likely this (outbreak) originated at the SCOTUS announcement last week. It may have come from the Hill. The next major concern will be securing Capitol Hill and protecting lawmakers.”
The ceremony last Saturday brought together top White House aides and allies, cabinet members, Republican lawmakers and friends and family of Barrett, who has since tested negative, but was revealed this week to have contracted the disease, along with her husband, earlier this year. Both have recovered. Trump, who announced he tested positive early Friday, was moved to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center later that day and was expected to be there for the next few days. The Supreme Court announcement took place outdoors, but Barrett and others also gathered inside the White House.