By Peter Baker and WASHINGTON Published 16 Mar 2020
The lights were low and the disco balls spinning as a cake with a fiery sparkler shooting flames into the air was brought out to a robust rendition of “Happy Birthday,” joined by President Trump. The birthday girl, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., then pumped her fist in the air and called out, “Four more years!”
It was a lavish, festive, carefree Saturday evening at Mar-a-Lago a week ago in what in hindsight now seems like a last hurrah for the end of one era and the beginning of another. In the days since then, the presidential estate in Florida has become something of a coronavirus hot zone. A growing number of Mar-a-Lago guests from last weekend have said they are infected or put themselves into quarantine.
A week later, the White House physician announced on Saturday night that the president had tested negative for the virus, ending a drama that played out for days as Mr. Trump refused repeatedly even to find out whether he had contracted it after exposure to multiple infected people. The result came less than 24 hours after the White House put out a misleading midnight statement saying there was no need for such a test at roughly the same time the president by his own account was actually undergoing one in deference to public pressure.
But either way, the Mar-a-Lago petri dish has become a kind of metaphor for the perils of group gatherings in the age of coronavirus, demonstrating how quickly and silently the virus can spread. No one is necessarily safe from encountering it, not senators or diplomats or even the most powerful person on the planet seemingly secure in a veritable fortress surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Some of last weekend’s guests worried it may be a sign of the times and the last party of its sort for a while at Mar-a-Lago. “I hope not,” Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, wrote in a text message. “Humans interacting with one another are typically happier and more productive in my experience.”
Mr. Gaetz’s experience is a cautionary tale. He attended events at Mar-a-Lago on both Friday and Saturday nights of that first weekend in March, not realizing that he had already been exposed to someone infected with the coronavirus at an earlier political event. Only last Monday, as he rode with Mr. Trump on Air Force One back to Washington was he told, at which point he was separated from the president and other passengers on the plane. He later went into self-quarantine but tested negative.
Several others at Mar-a-Lago that weekend have since tested positive, including some who accompanied President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to a dinner with Mr. Trump before Ms. Guilfoyle’s birthday party. Fabio Wajngarten, his press secretary, and Nestor Forster, his top diplomat in Washington, were both there and later tested positive. A spokeswoman for Nelsinho Trad, a Brazilian senator who has also tested positive, said he was at the dinner but the Brazilian Embassy denied that. Another member of the Brazilian delegation also tested positive but was not at Mar-a-Lago.
Another unidentified person at Mar-a-Lago the next day for a fund-raising brunch with the president has also tested positive. And on Saturday, Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee who introduced Mr. Trump at a fund-raiser at Mar-a-Lago the night before Ms. Guilfoyle’s party, revealed that she had become sick and was awaiting test results to determine if she has the coronavirus.
Mr. Bolsonaro said Friday that he tested negative, but the health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, later said the president would be tested again as a precaution. Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, who met with Mr. Bolsonaro while he was in town, reported on Friday that he had tested positive.
While he has been described as agitated in private, Mr. Trump has publicly insisted he had no concerns. “I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Saturday before the results were known, referring to questions he received the day before in the Rose Garden. “People were asking, did I take the test.”
His revelation came barely 12 hours after the White House statement released in the name of Cmdr. Sean P. Conley, the president’s physician, rejecting the need for a test since his exposure to Mr. Wajngarten “was extremely limited” and his interactions with Mr. Forster “occurred before any symptom onset.”
“These interactions would be categorized as LOW risk for transmission per C.D.C. guidelines, and as such, there is no indication for home quarantine at this time,” Commander Conley wrote. “Additionally, given the president himself remains without symptoms, testing for Covid-19 is not currently indicated.”
The White House did not explain on Saturday why it issued a statement saying no test was needed if the president was in fact taking one.
The White House physician’s office on Saturday took Mr. Trump’s temperature before his news briefing — he said it was normal — and began taking the temperature of others in the West Wing who would come into proximity of Mr. Trump, including journalists, one of whom was barred because of high readings.
The president has sought for weeks to play down the severity of the outbreak and been especially sensitive about giving the impression that he himself was at risk. Indeed, several advisers to Mr. Trump on Saturday privately expressed irritation at Ms. McDaniel for publicly acknowledging her illness.
Since the start of Mr. Trump’s presidency, supporters and hangers-on have gravitated to Mar-a-Lago, paying up to $200,000 for membership in the club — and for proximity to the president. Mr. Trump frequently holds court on the patio at dinnertime, shaking hands with members and waving them over to his table.
But the club has been criticized for lax security practices. Last year, a Chinese woman carrying a malware-laced device made it onto the grounds before she was arrested, prompting a rare admonishment from the Secret Service, which effectively blamed the club for porous admission policies.
Despite the coronavirus, the president has not changed his practice of greeting guests, according to a member. Mr. Trump believes his willingness to shake hands and connect with supporters helped propel him into office and the club’s unwritten rule is that those who love him or trade on connections with him can come into contact with him.
This rule was on display last weekend in the club’s ballroom, when the president hosted both Mr. Bolsonaro for dinner and the extended Trump family for Ms. Guilfoyle’s birthday, the two events overlapping to some extent. As Mr. Trump escorted Mr. Bolsonaro into the club, a reporter asked if newly reported coronavirus cases in the Washington area made him worry that it was getting closer to the White House.
“No,” he said with Mr. Bolsonaro at his side, “I’m not concerned at all.” ( NY Times )
