Nick Luna, one of President Donald Trump‘s personal assistants, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Luna’s diagnosis was confirmed by people familiar with the matter and first reported on by Bloomberg. The White House has not yet commented on the latest positive test results to come from the White House.
According to the outlet, Luna runs Oval Office operations for the White House and is known to be one of Trump’s “body men.” In this position, he “travels closely with the president, holding papers and helping keep Trump’s schedule.” Luna has other ties to Trump as well, as he married Cassidy Dumbauld earlier this year. Dumbauld is an assistant to White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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Luna marks just the latest member of the president’s inner circle of White House personnel to test positive for the virus, with Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest advisers, having been confirmed to be positive on Thursday. Luna had reportedly accompanied Trump on his trip to Cleveland for the presidential debate on Tuesday, which Hicks also attended, and was aboard Air Force One on the Minnesota trip when Hicks first began experiencing symptoms. So far, there have been more than two dozen White House-related coronavirus cases since Hicks’ diagnosis, including both the president and First Lady Melania Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Chris Christie, Sen. Mike Lee, Sen. Thom Tillis, Sen. Ron Johnson, Ronna McDaniel, John Jenkins, and Bill Stepien.
Trump had tested positive for the virus Thursday night, confirming the diagnosis just before 1 a.m. on Twitter. At the time, the president said he and his wife “tested positive for COVID-19” and would “begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately.” In a memo confirming the positive tests, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley, meanwhile, stated that both the president and first lady were doing well and that Trump was expected “to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering.”
Later on Friday, however, Trump was taken to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after he experienced a high fever and his oxygen levels fell, Conley stated. Conley said that Trump was “short of breath” and “tired,” though “after about a minute on only 2 liters, his saturation levels were back over 95%.” At the time, Conley added that the president’s condition has “continued to improve” and that he could be discharged as soon as Monday.