Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus shortly before debate with Joe Biden, new book says

Ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows says in his memoir that the president had a positive test and mild symptoms, but got a negative result from a second test

Trump took this as ‘full permission’ to continue his schedule, including attending a campaign rally and the Biden debate three days later, the book says

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US President Donald Trump speaks during the first presidential in Cleveland, Ohio, in September 2020. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:54am, 2 Dec 2021Updated: 12:56am, 2 Dec 2021

Donald Trump had a positive Covid-19 test, quickly followed by a negative, shortly before he went into a presidential debate with challenger Joe Biden last year, according to a new book.

Despite getting the all-clear in that second test, Trump would get so sick with Covid-19 within a week that he had to be urgently hospitalised.

The testing detail emerged Wednesday in a report by The Guardian, which obtained an advance copy of The Chief’s Chief, a memoir by Trump’s chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows.

Trump tested positive three days before his first debate against Biden on September 29, 2020, and exhibited mild symptoms of what was taken to be a cold, the upcoming book recounts.

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows with Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters.

According to Meadows’ account, the result came through just as Trump was leaving the White House for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on September 26.