Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, speaks about the results of the 2020 US presidential election during a press conference in Washington on November 19, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Arizona and Michigan lawmakers said they would postpone work due to a positive coronavirus test for President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who appeared without a mask at briefings held by Republican lawmakers from both states last week.
The Arizona Senate and House of Representatives will close for a week on Sunday “out of caution about recent cases and concerns about Covid-19,” a letter to lawmakers said.
In Michigan, House Speaker Lee Chatfield said the House would meet on Tuesday “but there will be no vote and no participation will take place.”
“Several representatives have cautiously asked for time to get the results of the latest COVID-19 tests before returning to the meeting,” Chatfield said in a statement.
The moves came in response to Trump’s announcement on Sunday on Twitter that Giuliani, who led the president’s recent efforts to undo Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race, tested positive for the coronavirus.
The former New York City mayor and chief attorney was at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC on Monday with mild symptoms, according to a source speaking to NBC News.
Giuliani had appeared without a mask and not following social distancing guidelines at events hosted by GOP lawmakers in Arizona and Michigan in the days prior to his diagnosis.
At these events, Giuliani and others promoted unsubstantiated fraud allegations allegedly defrauding Trump from election victories in Arizona and Michigan, as well as other states that Biden had won.
In a statement released on Sunday evening, the Trump campaign said: “Mayor Giuliani tested negative twice just before his trip to Arizona, Michigan and Georgia.”
“The mayor only had symptoms or a positive test for COVID-19 more than 48 hours after his return,” the campaign said. No state legislature or press is on the contact tracing list under the current CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Guidelines. “
“Other team members who have been found to be in close contact are following their doctors’ instructions and CDC guidelines for self-isolation and testing.”
Trump told reporters during an event at the White House Monday that “Rudy is fine”.
“I just spoke to him. No temperature. He called me this morning. It was the first call I got,” said Trump, who was hospitalized in October after testing positive for Covid-19.
Giuliani’s son Andrew, who is a special assistant to Trump, tested positive for Covid-19 on November 20, the day after attending a crowded Washington press conference hosted by his father and Jenna Ellis, a senior legal advisor to Trump Campaign.
Neither the elder Giuliani nor Ellis or any of the campaign’s other legal advisors, Boris Epshteyn, wore masks or were socially distant during this press conference. Epsteyn himself tested positive for coronavirus six days after the press conference.
Giuliani had taken the lead in the Trump campaign after the original boss, David Bossie, tested positive for Covid-19.
All legal efforts by the campaign and that of the Trump allies have not invalidated any votes for Biden, who is expected to win 306 votes on the electoral college when it meets on December 14.
To win the presidency, a candidate needs at least 270 votes.
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