Trump tested positive for coronavirus before first debate with Biden, former chief of staff says

President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus days before his first debate against then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in September 2020, a former top aide says in a new book.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows writes that Trump tested positive for the virus on Sept. 26, 2020, three days before his Sept. 29 debate with Biden, according to the Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its official release next week.

The White House did not reveal the positive test at the time, and Trump received a negative result from a different test shortly thereafter, Meadows writes.

It was not until Oct. 2 that Trump revealed that he and his wife, then-first lady Melania Trump, had tested positive for the virus. Trump was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment later that day. By that point, a host of White House officials had also tested positive for the coronavirus.

In a statement Wednesday morning, Trump denied Meadows’s account of events.

“The story of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News,” Trump said. “In fact, a test revealed that I did not have COVID prior to the debate.”

According to the Guardian, Meadows writes that “nothing was going to stop (Trump) from going out there” at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, even though the debate rules required candidates to have tested negative for the virus 72 hours ahead of the start time.

In addition to attending the debate, Trump participated in a number of other events after his positive diagnosis - including a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, an indoor news conference at the White House and a close-quarters exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One - potentially putting dozens of other people at risk.

“Hours after he received the call from Meadows informing him of a positive test, Trump came to the back of AF1 without a mask and talked with reporters for about 10 minutes,” New York Times White House reporter Michael Shear said in a tweet Wednesday morning. “I was wearing a mask, but still got COVID, testing positive several days later.”

Meadows writes that Trump acted as though he had “full permission to press on as if nothing had happened” upon receiving the negative test after his initial positive test Sept. 26 - but Meadows “instructed everyone in his immediate circle to treat him as if he was positive,” according to the excerpts reported by the Guardian.

“I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, but I also didn’t want to alarm the public if there was nothing to worry about - which according to the new, much more accurate test, there was not,” Meadows writes, according to the newspaper.