HOPE HICKS

Republicans hoping to emerge from crowded primaries this year have spent tens of thousands of dollars hiring operatives with ties to former President Donald Trump.

Former President Donald Trump is holding off on making a new endorsement in Pennsylvania’s closely watched Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

"In my eyes and the eyes of others who had stayed to deal with all of the craziness, Hope had taken the easy way out," the former White House press secretary said of Hicks' departure for Fox.

A new, inside the room account of the chaotic day Trump addressed the nation on the pandemic.

They offer vivid details, and try to save their reputations, in a new book by Post reporters.

The president on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020 confirmed in a tweet that Giuliani had tested positive for the virus. On numerous occasions, Giuliani met with officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask, including hearings last week with state lawmakers in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan. Giuliani spoke for hours last week before a Republican-led committee in Lansing investigating alleged election irregularities. Giuliani traveled last Monday to Phoenix, where he met with Republican legislators for an hourslong hearing in which he was maskless. The Arizona Republican Party tweeted a photo of Giuliani and several state GOP lawmakers standing shoulder-to-shoulder and maskless.

WASHINGTON – A Pentagon official installed in a top policy job last week has tested positive for COVID-19, the Pentagon said Thursday, just days after he met with the Lithuanian defense minister, who had contracted the virus. Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said Anthony Tata, who is serving as the undersecretary of defense, was tested Thursday after learning that Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis had tested positive. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tested positive after attending an election night party at the White House. Others who were at the party also tested positive, including White House political director Brian Jack, former White House aide Healy Baumgardner and Trump campaign advisers David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski. The assistant commandant of the Marine Corps later also tested positive, and all the chiefs were forced to quarantine at home for at least 10 days.

And the days when Vice President Mike Pence and other task force officials would head to Trump’s office to brief him immediately after their meetings. The White House won’t say when Trump last met with the task force. National and battleground public opinion polls suggest that Trump faces stiff headwinds in his bid for a second term. Public health experts say that by refusing to wear masks, Trump and his advisers are missing an opportunity to model behavior that is essential to keep the rest of America safe. Trump’s interest in engaging with Fauci and other top medical officials on the coronavirus task force waned long ago.

Bidens presidential campaign says Harris will suspend in-person events until Oct. 19, after two people associated with the campaign tested positive for coronavirus. According to Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign learned late Wednesday that two people associated with the operation had tested positive for the coronavirus. And as Trump returns to aggressive campaign travel before massive, often unmasked crowds, the Biden campaign reinforced its commitment to following public health guidelines. Since then, the White House has repeatedly declined to say how many staffers have tested positive, citing privacy concerns. The White House has not notified reporters, Secret Service agents or Trump campaign staffers who may have been exposed during the outbreak.

White House director of communications Alyssa Farah waves after speaking with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, in Washington. “Yeah, I’m not going to give you a detailed readout with timestamps every time the president’s tested," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters last weekend. And the White House refusal to answer makes it hard not to wonder what they're hiding, given other details they've shared. Senior White House staff and those who are in direct contact with the president are tested for the virus daily. What about Sept. 27, when he visited his golf course in Sterling, Virginia, held a late afternoon news conference in the White House briefing room, and held an evening reception for Gold Star families on the White House state floor?

Members of the White House press corps work outside the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020. BuzzFeed News pulled its political reporter out of the White House press pool on Wednesday, saying that Trump administration aides in the facility have "largely not worn masks" or abided by other basic coronavirus protections. The news site's decision to withdraw journalist Kadia Goba from the press pool came after images showed White House aides standing outside the White House not wearing masks. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Trump aide Hope Hicks and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany all have tested positive for Covid-19 since last Thursday, along with multiple other people connected to the White House and the president. Politico reporter Meridith McGraw was dispatched to the White House to replace Goba in the press pool.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and two of her deputies have tested positive for the coronavirus as President Donald Trump remains hospitalized with the virus. It was not clear when Gilmartin, who is principal assistant press secretary, and Leavitt, who is assistant press secretary, tested positives for Covid-19. In addition, at least three journalists who were at the White House over the past week have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the White House Correspondents Association. Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary, left, and Chad Gilmartin, principal assistant White House press secretary, arrive to a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Thursday, July 16, 2020. "I definitely had no knowledge of Hope Hicks' diagnosis prior to holding a White House press briefing on Thursday," McEnany tweeted Monday.

Still, the doctors said Trump’s health is improving and that he could be discharged as early as Monday. In a short video released by the White House on Sunday, Trump insisted he understood the gravity of the moment. It was the second straight day of obfuscation from a White House already suffering from a credibility crisis. At the time of the briefing, Trump’s blood oxygen level was 98% — within normal rage, Trump’s medical team said. They were particularly upset by the whiplash between Conley’s upbeat assessment Saturday and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ more concerned outlook.

And yesterday with the team, while we were all here, he was not on oxygen,” Conley said. Meadows himself had insisted Friday morning that Trump had only “mild symptoms" as the White House tried to project an image of normalcy. “President Trump remains in good spirits, has mild symptoms and has been working throughout the day,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said late in the day on Friday. The first word that a close aide to Trump had been infected came from the media, not the White House. At the same time, the White House has been working to trace a flurry of new infections of close Trump aides and allies.

Crowds of people gathered shoulder to shoulder on the White House South Lawn. Instead, he flouted his own government’s guidelines and helped create a false sense of invulnerability in the White House, an approach that has now failed him as it did a nation where more than 200,000 people have died. And their use, while technically required, wasn’t enforced in the White House either. Even in the hours after the president’s diagnosis, senior White House staff, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and economic adviser Larry Kudlow, walked around the White House complex without wearing masks. The White House, even now, says the face coverings are a matter of “personal choice” for most staffers.

Chris Christie, seen in an AP photo with his arm around another guest while chatting up several face to face, announced his positive virus test this weekend. Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who attended the debate and helped him prepare with Christie, has tested positive for COVID-19. White House officials said they began learning of Hicks’ positive test after Trump boarded Marine One to start his journey to New Jersey. Despite the abject failure to keep the president protected from the virus, White House officials defended their current protocols as well thought out. And masks still won't be required on the White House grounds for all West Wing employees.

President Trump’s positive test came just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest advisors, had tested positive Thursday after several days of traveling with the president. With just a month to go until the election, President Trump had a busy schedule during the week the coronavirus hit home with him. Here’s a look at last week’s appearances by President Trump. Hicks tested positive for Covid-19 the next day. Chris Christie, left, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani listen to President Trump during a briefing at the White House on Sunday.

The revelation about how much President Donald Trump pays in taxes? Then, just as quickly, they receded into memory with the revelation Friday that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. The coronavirus story unfurled shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday when Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg News White House reporter, tweeted that sources had told her that Hope Hicks, one of Trump's closest aides, had tested positive. Then, at 12:54 a.m. Eastern, the president tweeted that both of them were positive. Were reporters who attended a White House news briefing on Thursday at risk?

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Friday there were no changes to the Defense Department's state of alert as the world reacted to the news of President Donald Trump's positive coronavirus test results. Trump announced early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley met with Trump at the White House on Sunday for a Gold Star Families event. Esper tested negative for coronavirus on Monday and again on Wednesday. Health experts say that even with a negative test, it is wise to isolate for 48 hours after exposure.

The Constitution restricts the president and vice president to four-year terms. Those allowed inside the debate hall tested negative for COVID-19 before entering, according to the clinic. “Individuals traveling with both candidates, including the candidates themselves, had been tested and tested negative by their respective campaigns,” the clinic said in a statement. The vice presidential debate on Oct. 7 will continue as scheduled, according to Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates. The former vice president tested negative twice on Friday.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has tested positive for Covid-19, and he isn't the first sitting president to contract a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus in the middle of a pandemic. Trump tweeted overnight that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus after the White House confirmed that aide Hope Hicks had tested positive and had some symptoms. The announcement came hours after the administration confirmed that White House aide Hope Hicks tested positive for the virus. Unlike today, Wilson did not get sick during his reelection, Markel said. Well then the elected vice president becomes president."

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that plunges the country deeper into uncertainty just a month before the presidential election. Hours before Trump announced he had contracted the virus, the White House said a top aide who had traveled with him during the week had tested positive. [MORE COVERAGE: Sanford rally canceled after president tests positive for virus | POTUS joins growing list of virus-infected world leaders | Shock, sympathy, mockery: World reacts to Trump infection]“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. Multiple White House staffers have previously tested positive for the virus, including Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, national security adviser Robert O’Brien and one of the president’s personal valets. But Trump has consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable, even after White House staff and allies were exposed and sickened.

Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence have tested negative for the coronavirus, Pence's spokesman said Friday, hours after President Donald Trump announced he and the first lady tested positive. "Vice President Pence remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery," Devin O'Malley, the vice president's press secretary, said in a tweet. "As has been routine for months, Vice President Pence is tested for COVID-19 every day." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is fourth in the line of succession, said Friday he tested negative. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is fifth in line, also tested negative, according to a tweet from his spokeswoman.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA chief in the Trump administration, told CNBC on Friday that White House doctors are "probably considering" whether to give President Donald Trump remdesivir, Gilead Sciences' the antiviral drug approved for treating Covid-19 under emergency use authorization. ET that he and the 50-year-old first lady tested positive for Covid-19, hours after the president said he would begin a quarantine process after the 31-year-old Hicks' positive test. Gottlieb said the White House is likely to "cast a wide net" on tracing whom the president came into contact. Pence and the second lady, Karen Pence, tested negative, the White House announced Friday. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tweeted Friday morning: "Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery.

First lady Melania Trump also tested positive, the president said, and several others in the White House have, too, prompting concern that the White House or even Trump himself might have spread the virus further. Also testing positive: Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien. “President Trump remains in good spirts, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day,” said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday confirmed that the White House knew Hope Hicks, the aide, had tested positive before Trump attended the fundraiser. An RNC official confirmed Friday that Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel learned she had tested positive Wednesday afternoon.

LONDON — U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed early Friday that he had tested positive for coronavirus, in an announcement that looks likely to spark volatility across global markets. The president revealed on Twitter in the early hours that he and first lady Melania Trump had contracted Covid-19, just two hours after revealing that close aide Hope Hicks had tested positive. Trump added: "We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. Dow futures plunged more than 450 points on the news and were down by 355 points as of 3:10 a.m. He added that Trump's diagnosis would focus investors' minds on the coronavirus pandemic once again.

Stocks are pulling lower Friday, as Wall Street's first reaction to President Donald Trump's testing positive for the coronavirus was to retrench. By the end of the day, it had trimmed its loss to 1%, down 32.38 points at 3,348.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung from a loss of 433 points to a gain of 44 points through the day. Stock futures and Treasury yields tumbled after Trump tweeted overnight that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. The White House also said Trump had been injected with an experimental antibody drug combination for the virus made by Regeneron.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President Donald Trump testing positive for the coronavirus and being hospitalized (all times EDT):12:10 a.m.President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Conway attended the Rose Garden announcement Saturday where President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. He issued the statement as President Donald Trump was being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for the same illness. ___6 p.m.Joe Biden’s campaign is taking down its attack ads in the wake of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection. ___11:55 a.m.First lady Melania Trump says she is experiencing “mild symptoms” after she and President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19.

President Donald Trump announced early Friday he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus, plunging the United States into further upheaval and uncertainty just over a month away from Election Day. Vice President Mike Pence, who is next in line for the presidency, and his wife tested negative, the White House announced later Friday. The White House physician said the president and first lady were "both well" at the moment. Previously, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had tested positive for coronavirus and survived, as did Britain's Prince Charles. The announcement came hours after the president said he would begin a quarantine process after top aide Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus.

President Trump said early Friday that he and the first lady had tested positive for the coronavirus. “We will get through this TOGETHER!”Trump’s positive test came just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest advisors, had tested positive Thursday after several days of traveling with the president. Shortly after Trump’s shocking tweet, the White House appeared to cancel the president’s rally in Orlando, Fla., on Friday night, removing it from an updated schedule. And Trump’s positive test could force several senior campaign and White House aides into quarantine with just more than a month left before the election. Among them: Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and the first lady.

President Donald Trump said late Thursday night that he and the first lady would begin a quarantine process after top aide Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus. After NBC News and other outlets reported on Hicks' positive test, Trump himself confirmed it Thursday night in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "She did test positive. She tested positive. Two weeks from Thursday is Oct. 15, the date of the second presidential debate between Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden.

U.S. and European stock futures and Asian shares fell Friday after President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the new coronavirus. "To say this potentially could be a big deal is an understatement," Rabobank said in a commentary. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020Trading in Asia was thin, with markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong closed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued their talks on Thursday, but no breakthrough arrived before stock trading ended on Wall Street. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 0.66% from 0.67% late Thursday.

Trump’s positive test comes just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week. Trump was last seen by reporters returning to the White House on Thursday evening and looked to be in good health. Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 205,000 people nationwide.

President Donald Trump listens to Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)

(AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)WASHINGTON – The Latest on the 2020 presidential election (all times local):10:50 p.m.President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden are painting a very different picture of the reliability of the upcoming election. ___10:20 p.m.President Donald Trump has sidestepped a question from moderator Chris Wallace about whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups. Biden made the comment during Tuesday night’s debate after President Donald Trump accused him of supporting abolishing private insurance. ___2:15 p.m.Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, have released more of their personal tax returns ahead of the first presidential debate. ___12:30 p.m.President Donald Trump spent Tuesday morning in informal preparations for the first debate with Joe Biden.

NEW YORK As anyone who has ever heard him speak knows, President Donald Trump loves to relive 2016. Our latest staff additions are making Team Trump even stronger and solidify Brads leadership.In the last week, the Trump campaign hired Jason Miller, communications director in 2016, to focus on strategy and coordinate between the campaign and the White House. And some of Trumps 2016 team never left: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the presidents daughter and son-in-law, are senior advisers. Kellyanne Conway, the presidents final 2016 campaign manager, remains a senior White House counselor. That includes Bannon, who remains supportive of Trump after a messy exit from the White House, and Keith Schiller, Trumps longtime security man.

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks, a favorite former aide of President Donald Trump's, is rejoining the administration to work for the president's senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Hicks, 31, was hired as the chief communications officer at Fox after she left the White House in April 2018. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Hicks will serve as "counselor to the president and senior advisor, working for Jared Kushner's office." Kushner told NBC News in a statement: "There is no one more devoted to implementing President Trump's agenda than Hope Hicks. Hicks had been dating former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who at the time had been accused of spousal abuse.

(CNN) - Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has joined Fox News as a contributor, the network announced on Thursday. Sanders, who exited the White House in June, will make her debut before a live studio audience episode of "Fox & Friends" on Sept. 6. Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director, joined Fox Corporation in 2018 as executive vice president and chief communications officer. And in July, Raj Shah, the former White House deputy press secretary, joined Fox Corporation as a senior vice president. Bill Shine, the former co-president of Fox News, joined the White House in 2018 in a top communications role.

The new material cited several phone calls involving Hicks in support of the application. That evening, Hicks initiated what would become a four-minute, three-way call with Trump and Cohen, according to the document. Before Oct. 8, Cohen had not spoken on the phone with Hicks for at least several weeks, the document said. Cohen had at least two more calls that evening with Hicks before the Journal story was published online, the FBI document said. The next morning, Cohen sent a text message to Hicks saying he felt the Journal story was getting little to no traction.Same, Hicks texted back.

Cohen learned around the same time that porn star Stormy Daniels was considering going public with her claim that she had sex with Trump. Cohen has said he paid her $130,000, at Trump's behest, in October 2016 to avoid Daniels going public with her allegation. The Access Hollywood reference is to a tape of Trump talking in 2005 to that NBC show's then-host Billy Bush in lewd terms about women. Hicks was interviewed by the FBI about the phone calls with Cohen, the documents indicate. Cohen personally paid Daniels $130,000 through a shell company he created, and later was reimbursed by Trump.