Trump adviser Lewandowski, RNC chief of staff Walters test positive for COVID-19

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WASHINGTON - Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to President Donald Trump, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Richard Walters also tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, The Hill and the New York Times reported.

Lewandowski recently traveled to Pennsylvania to assist Trump’s efforts to contest the state’s election results. He said Thursday he believes he was infected in Philadelphia and he's not experiencing any symptoms.

Lewandowski appeared with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani at an event last Saturday outside a landscaping company and lobbed unfounded accusations of voter fraud as the race was called for Trump’s challenger, now-President-elect Joe Biden.
Lewandowski was also at the election night party at the White House last week linked to several virus cases. Walters was not, according to The Hill and The New York Times.

Former campaign adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, Corey Lewandowski (R) and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speak to the media about a court order giving the Trump campaign access to observe vote counting operations on November 5, 202 (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

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Multiple White House and campaign officials have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in recent days, including Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

Meadows was diagnosed last week with COVID-19.

Meadows traveled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public the day after Election Day without a mask. He had been one of the close aides around Trump when the president came down with the virus more than a month ago.

Carson, Trump’s secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, tested positive after attending the White House election night watch party, a department spokesperson confirmed Monday.

It marked the latest case of the virus in the West Wing, coming not even two weeks after Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, and other aides tests positive for the virus.

Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and at least two dozen others tested positive for the virus in early October, after Trump held large gatherings of people not wearing face-masks, including the ceremony announcing the nomination of now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

The first lady also announced last month that her son, Barron, had tested positive in the wake of the initial White House outbreak.

The recent coronavirus cases tied to the Trump administration come amid a record-breaking virus surge across the U.S. Over 240,000 deaths and more than 10.3 million confirmed infections have been reported in the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Cases per day are on the rise in 49 states, and deaths per day are climbing in 39. A month ago, the U.S. was seeing about 730 COVID-19 deaths per day on average — that has now surpassed 970.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. This story was reported from Los Angeles.