Advertisement

Trump Was Already Infected with COVID-19 When He Called Into Fox News on Thursday: Reports

Drew Angerer/Getty Images President Donald Trump heads to Marine One outside the White House en route to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday night.

Amid a wave of conflicting information from the White House about when President Donald Trump was first diagnosed with COVID-19, multiple news outlets now report the president knew he had already tested positive by the time he called into Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on Thursday night.

The president had already tested positive for COVID-19 on a rapid test and was awaiting further confirmation from a more secure PCR test while he was speaking with Hannity, according to CBS News and The Wall Street Journal which cited White House sources.

Calling into the program from the White House, Trump revealed his close adviser Hope Hicks had tested positive earlier in the day, calling it a “terrible thing.”

Trump, 74, then told Hannity that he and First Lady Melania Trump, 50, were waiting on their own test results—but failed to mention he already tested positive on a rapid test earlier that afternoon.

"So whether we quarantine or whether we have it, I don't know," Trump said, referring to Hicks’ infection.

RELATED: Trump's Chief of Staff Says President's 'Blood Oxygen Level Dropped Rapidly,' Had 'Fever' on Friday

Shutterstock Donald Trump

The reports further extend the timeline of Trump’s infection last week, while White House officials and the president’s doctors have since given contradictory statements about the president’s current health status and when, or how, he contracted the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The Trumps’ positive diagnoses added their names to the 7.4 million Americans who have contracted the virus, according to a New York Times tracker. At least 209,603 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 this year.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Trump reportedly told a senior aide after he initially tested positive on Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump waves to onlookers during a brief trip outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday.

RELATED: Ivana Trump 'Stressed' and 'Afraid' Over Ex-Husband Donald's Hospitalization: 'He Was Careless'

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images Donald Trump's doctors

A White House official told CBS News that the Trump administration learned Hicks had tested positive “minutes before” Trump took off for a fundraising event at his private golf club in New Jersey on Thursday, forcing some officials to stay behind from the trip while a likely infected Trump carried on with his travels despite knowingly being exposed to the virus.

The official told CBS News that the White House isn’t able to do rapid testing on the road and Trump only received the rapid test upon returning back to Washington, D.C., later that evening.

RELATED: Secret Service Agents Slam Trump’s Car Ride Outside Walter Reed While Hospitalized with COVID-19

Yuri Gripas/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock President Donald Trump returns from Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday.

The Times reported that an infected Trump came in contact with about 100 people at the New Jersey fundraiser. Aides said the president appeared lethargic and tired that day.

Furthermore, reports indicate the secrecy around Trump’s diagnosis has been under wraps even from his own White House staff. “I’m glued to Twitter and TV because I have no official communication from anyone in the West Wing,” an administration official told WSJ.

The White House would not officially comment on the reports when reached by PEOPLE.