Just months before the election, President Donald Trump came down with a severe case of COVID-19 after he'd spent months downplaying the dangers the virus posed to Americans' health.
After a "super spreader" event in the White House Rose Garden, the virus spread through the Republican Party as 150 people huddled closely to hear Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speak.
One of those who got the virus was Hope Hicks, who realized she was sick days before Trump did. There were questions about whether Trump was positive or not as he entered the first presidential debate with Joe Biden.
Both candidates and their teams were supposed to take COVID-19 tests before being allowed inside the building. Trump's team arrived so late that it was impossible for them to be tested in time.
Michael Wolff's book describes the Hicks/Trump relationship as almost fatherly.
"Of all the exceptions you had to make for most of the people around Trump, Hicks seemed personable, professional, hardworking, normal. (Indeed, this had spurred a kind of parallel view of someone who must simply be hiding deep peculiarities.) She liked Donald Trump, and Donald Trump liked her," Wolff described. "She tried to protect him, and he looked after her. It was nearly … sweet."
"Beyond the election mess itself, Hicks had been hit hard by COVID, and was angry that the White House had been so cavalier about protecting the people in it from the virus," Wolff continued. "What's more, she had been hurt by the president's accusations (even if he was teasing) that she had given the virus to him. By the middle of November, she was effectively gone from the White House."
Trump then tried to hide that he was positive, appearing on Fox News after the test, Trump never revealed his results, putting everyone there at risk. It was recently reported that Trump was far sicker than anyone knew. His doctors were even fearful of complete organ failure. His oxygen level was dropping fast, even though the White House doctors had put him on supplemental oxygen from the residence. That's when he was told that he could walk out and go to Walter Reed or be taken out in a stretcher.
There was more evidence that it was Trump who gave Hicks COVID and not the other way around.
