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TRUMP: — I think they have to listen to their doctors. And I think they shouldn’t be jumping to get the test unless it’s necessary. But I think they have to listen to their doctors. I mean, I don’t know — I haven’t seen the picture. Somebody said there is a picture with somebody taking a picture with me. I haven’t seen it.
REPORTER: Doctors have said you might have it even if you don’t have symptoms. Are you being selfish by not getting tested.
TRUMP: I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be tested.
REPORTER: Are you going to be?
TRUMP: Most likely, yeah. Not for that reason but because I think I will do it anyway.
REPORTER: Will you let us know the results.
TRUMP: We are working out a schedule.
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will “most likely” get tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus, responding to questions from reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House.
Trump said he had not experienced any symptoms of the disease, but was consulting with his doctors on whether, and when, to do so.
“I think I will do it anyway,” the president said, though he did not commit to sharing the results of a possible test. “We are working out a schedule.”
Trump’s remarks, delivered during a news conference announcing he was invoking emergency powers to combat the outbreak, came after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he had tested negative for the virus.
Bolsonaro disputed a media report that he initially tested positive for the virus less than a week after meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Rio de Janeiro-based newspaper Jornal O Dia reported that Bolsonaro’s initial test for the virus has come back positive, but authorities are awaiting the results of a second test Friday to confirm the diagnosis. The Brazilian president took to social media to forcefully push back on the report.
Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo quickly denied the diagnosis on social media and then in an interview on Fox News, but late Friday morning the Brazilian president himself posted on his social media accounts that he had tested negative for the disease.
“DON’T BELIEVE IN THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA!” he wrote in Portuguese. “THEY’RE THE ONES THAT NEED YOU!”
Trump confirmed in his Rose Garden briefing that Bolsonaro tested negative for coronavirus and added that members of his delegation at the Mar-a-Lago meeting had “no symptoms whatsoever.”
“We had a great meeting with the president of Brazil, Bolsonaro, great guy. Very tremendous. He’s doing a fantastic job for Brazil,” Trump said. “And, as you know, he tested negative, meaning nothing wrong this morning and we got that word, too. Because we did have dinner with him. We were sitting next to each other for a long period of time.”
The denial from Bolsonaro echoed what his son Eduardo posted earlier in the morning.
“Too much lies and little information. Coronavirus exam done with the team that were with JB in USA have not yet been completed,” Eduardo said in a tweet, referring to his father by his initials. “There are always those people who tell lies in the media and if the story is confirmed they say ‘I told you!’, if not will be just 1 more fake news.”
In the interview on Fox, the Brazilian president’s son said that his father was not exhibiting symptoms of the respiratory illness and that “the information I have is the results that just came up, telling that he is negative for coronavirus,” clarifying that those were the results of his father’s first test.
The Brazilian media had reported Jair Bolsonaro is being monitored and undergoing testing for the fast-spreading virus after his press secretary Fabio Wajngarten, who also met and dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, reportedly tested positive for the disease.
Later Friday, The Miami Herald reported that Miami Mayor Francis Suarez had tested positive for the disease after meeting with the Brazilian delegation including Bolsonaro and Wajngarten.
Despite his close contact with individuals who have tested positive, Trump insisted just a day earlier that he was “not concerned” about coming into contact with Wajngarten. The White House has not confirmed whether Trump has been tested for the coronavirus, although Trump said Tuesday he was open to being tested.
Earlier Friday, an Australian government minister who last week interacted with Attorney General William Barr, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and White House adviser Ivanka Trump announced Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“This morning I woke up with a temperature and sore throat. I immediately contacted the Queensland Department of Health and was subsequently tested for COVID-19. I was advised by Queensland Health this afternoon that the test had returned positive,” Peter Dutton, Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, said in a statement.
“It is the policy of Queensland Health that anyone who tests positive is to be admitted into hospital and I have complied with their advice. I feel fine and will provide an update in due course,” Dutton said.
Dutton’s statement comes after he traveled to Washington and met last Thursday with Barr, Conway and Ivanka Trump — as well as representatives of the “Five Eyes” international intelligence alliance — to discuss efforts to combat online child exploitation.
In a statement Friday, DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said that Barr “is feeling great and not showing any symptoms. He is staying home today and has consulted with CDC. CDC is not recommending he be tested at this point.”
Still, Friday’s revelation from the high-ranking foreign official represents the latest example of the coronavirus infecting the upper echelons of governments around the world, and opens up Trump to another avenue of potential exposure to the fast-spreading disease.
Asked Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” whether someone who had stood next to an individual who tested positive should self-quarantine and get tested themselves, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said yes. But he declined to specifically say whether the president should be tested.
“I’m going to leave it to his physician, who is a very good physician,” Fauci said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is self-quarantining for 14 days after announcing Thursday that his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus. Trudeau “is in good health with no symptoms,” his office said in a statement, and therefore “will not be tested at this stage.”
Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.
