Kayleigh McEnany assured Trump he’d win in 2020 because of COVID: Jonathan Karl

Former President Donald Trump's White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, reportedly assured him that he'd win re-election as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Trump was having a meeting with this political team in the Oval Office, and was being presented with numbers — this was in the spring (of 2020) — showing that his re-election chances were looking grim, primarily because of what was happening with COVID. And he said, 'No, no, no, bring in Kayleigh!'" ABC News' Jonathan Karl said Tuesday on MSNBC, where he appeared to discuss his new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.

"And Kayleigh comes in, and he (Trump) says, 'Kayleigh, tell them what you were just telling me,'" Karl said. "And Kayleigh McEnany tells the president of the United States, 'I think you're going to win, sir, and I think you're going to win because of COVID.'"

McEnany's theory was that Republicans' biggest weakness in the 2018 midterms had been the issue of healthcare. But with COVID dominating the news, "Democrats wouldn't be able to talk as much about healthcare," Karl explained.

"You have to get your head around this, but she was saying that because of the greatest public health crisis of our time, of the last century, they wouldn't have to talk as much about healthcare, and therefore he was going to win," Karl said, before doing a brief drum roll on his desk.

Host Nicole Wallace responded by noting that MSNBC decided early in the Trump administration not to air White House briefings by his press secretaries.

"You just gave the best defense for a decision that was at times difficult to defend," Wallace told Karl.

Watch below.

Jonathan Karl on MSNBCwww.youtube.com