AP reporter errantly claims Kayleigh McEnany knowingly exposed reporters to COVID

Correction: A previous headline on this article falsely intimated that White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany knowingly exposed reporters to COVID. McEnany later said she found out about a Trump aide's positive COVID test after her press briefing.

On Monday's MSNBC's Morning Joe, an Associated Press reporter errantly claimed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany interacted with reporters despite knowing she'd been exposed to the coronavirus.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were appalled by the report — but it turns out not to have been true.

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and White House adviser Hope Hicks have all tested positive for the highly contagious virus, and Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire said some senior officials knew they had been exposed before holding public events.

"That's an important moment because it raised eyebrows at the time that he travelled with, this is before we knew anything about Hope Hicks, he travelled with a smaller party than usual yesterday to New Jersey," Lemire said, "and Kayleigh McEnany, who we were told was slated to travel with him did not. Instead, one of the deputy press secretaries did. Kayleigh McEnany was, we have now learned, notified of Hope Hicks' positive diagnoses yesterday and later in the day still held a briefing with White House reporters, and, of course, she was not wearing a mask."

The information — which later reporting revealed to be false — drew shock from MSNBC's hosts.

"Good lord," Scarborough said. "Are you kidding me?"

"Oh my god," Brzezinski added. "Stop right there."

"She knew that she had been exposed to this disease, and went out and still had a press conference in front of members of the press?" Scarborough said.

Lemire said that may have happened. Subsequent reporting, however, showed McEnany did not know about Hicks' positive test until shortly before the news broke Thursday evening.

But Lemire, at the time, espoused false information, suggesting malfeasance on McEnany's part.

""She still took the podium in the White House briefing room," Lemire said. "Yes, she took to the podium in the White House briefing room and spoke to reporters after learning that Hope Hicks had not been feeling well, after learning that Hope Hicks tested positive."

Though McEnany may have exposed reporters to the virus, the idea that she knew about it in advance turned out not to be true.