WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — President Joe Biden tested negative twice this week for coronavirus after he came into close contact with several high-profile individuals who tested positive, a White House source said.
The news comes after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tested positive for the virus after attending the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, which Biden attended and interacted with Trudeau. Meanwhile, both two members of the White House staff, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Health Secretary Xavier Becerra also tested positive.
Despite this, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly refused to reveal when the president was last tested at Thursday’s briefing when asked by NBC News’ Peter Alexander.
Jean-Pierre said she did not have information about the president’s most recent test but also seemed to suggest she would not be sharing the date once she got it.
“It’s a regular cadence. That’s what we do. We will share, per CDC, when he was a close contact, and he has not been a close contact. If he was a close contact, we will let you know,” she answered.
“So as soon as you go back there and find out the date, you’ll share it with us?” Alexander asked.
“I’m not saying that,” she responded.
“What we normally do is he gets tested weekly and that’s been his cadence as in coordination with his doctor. There have been times when he’s tested more than that because we’ve traveled. When we travel, we all have to take tests as we’re traveling or other things or when he went to the White House Correspondents Dinner, so sometimes it’s not once a week. But I’m saying to you right now it’s a weekly testing cadence. That’s what we do as it’s coordinated with his doctor,” Jean-Pierre said.
Two more reporters in the room asked about Biden’s most recent test, Jean-Pierre became visibly annoyed at the tense exchanges.
The White House has previously shared the date of the last time Biden was tested as did Jean-Pierre’s predecessor, Jen Psaki, who also quickly shared the date of Biden’s most recent test during her press briefings, as recently as May 4.
With Biden going maskless, the concern is he may test positive at some point but Jean-Pierre put that speculation to rest Thursday.
“Not that I know of,” she said. “We would share that. I think that is something we would share.”
