Rudy Giuliani Tests Positive For COVID-19

Rudy Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19, according to President Donald Trump.

Trump tweeted Sunday that Giuliani, his personal attorney, tested positive for the coronavirus. He said Giuliani “has been working tirelessly” trying to prove that Trump was the real winner of the November presidential election. (He wasn’t.)

“Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” the president tweeted, repeating the racist term, “China Virus,” that he’s attempted to make mainstream throughout the pandemic.

Hours later, Giuliani tweeted confirming that he has been infected with the virus.

“Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes,” he tweeted. “I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.”

It’s unclear why it was Trump who first announced Giuliani’s positive test result and whether Giuliani is symptomatic. The former New York City mayor is 76, and is therefore considered high-risk for the virus. Giuliani is undergoing treatment for the virus at Georgetown University Medical Center, according to The New York Times, which cited a person who is familiar with his condition but not authorized to speak on it publicly. 

Giuliani and the Trump campaign legal team have been working since the election to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s solid victory. They have filed dozens of lawsuits across the country, virtually all of which judges have ruled against for lack of evidence.

Giuliani has traveled across the country to push unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. 

Giuliani and fellow campaign attorney Jenna Ellis spent time less than a week ago questioning witnesses who accompanied them to hearings before Michigan state lawmakers. He most recently appeared before Georgia lawmakers without a mask on Thursday.

The Trump campaign’s legal team released a statement after the president’s announcement saying that Giuliani “did not experience any symptoms or test positive” for COVID-19 until more than 48 hours after he returned from his trip to Arizona, Michigan and Georgia. The team also said that under current guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “no legislators in any state or members of the press are on the contact tracing list.”

Nevertheless, Arizona’s state Legislature will be closed for the next week after at least 15 current or future Republican lawmakers were potentially exposed to COVID-19 through Giuliani, according to KTVK-TV. The Georgia Senate Republican Caucus also announced it was canceling an event on Sunday night due to “a large group of Senators being exposed” to COVID-19 through Giuliani at election hearings, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Michigan Republican Party chairwoman Laura Cox and other staffers who came into contact with Giuliani during his visit to the state GOP headquarters are being tested “and all appropriate precautions are being taken,” state party spokesman Tony Zammit told the Detroit News. 

Democratic state Rep. Darrin Camilleri, who is part of the Michigan House Oversight Committee that met with the attorney, told the newspaper that all lawmakers and staff who were in the meeting room with Giuliani should have to get a negative COVID-19 test before attending session again.

Giuliani’s positive test result comes after his son, Andrew Giuliani, and others linked to the White House became infected with the virus.

Andrew Giuliani, who is also Trump’s special assistant, said he tested positive on Nov. 20, a day after attending a crowded news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, where his father and other campaign attorneys did not wear masks.

Rudy Giuliani went viral on Twitter for sweating so much during the news conference that mysterious coloring began oozing down his sideburns. He also blew his nose on a handkerchief and rubbed the blown-in side around his mouth and forehead.

Giuliani’s communications director, Christianné Allen, confirmed that she has been quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19 in November, Salon reported Friday. Allen told the publication that she first began experiencing symptoms the day after the press conference ― which she attended ― and tested positive on Nov. 28 after two previous tests came up negative.