Former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway tests positive for COVID-19

Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
·3 min read

WASHINGTON — Kellyanne Conway, who left her role as a senior counselor in the White House at the end of August, has tested positive for COVID-19, she announced on Twitter Friday night.

"My symptoms are mild (light cough) and I’m feeling fine. I have begun a quarantine process in consultation with physicians," she said.

Conway is the latest person in President Donald Trump's orbit to test positive after both he and first lady Melania Trump received diagnoses. Two Republican senators and another White House staffer also tested positive. White House adviser Hope Hicks tested positive before the Trumps, prompting them to quarantine before they got results.

The president is currently at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he will remain for a few days working out of presidential offices there. Officials have said he is there out of precaution, but he is feeling "fatigued" and "in good spirits."

Conway was present in the Rose Garden on Saturday, Sept. 26 when Trump announced his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, before a crowd of an estimated 180 people, many of whom were not wearing masks.

So far at least seven people who were in attendance at that event have confirmed they tested positive, raising questions about whether it was a "super spreader" event, where the virus may have been transmitted. It may be impossible to determine how Washington officials were infected, though.

President Trump has COVID-19: A timeline of his travels leading up to a positive coronavirus test

Trump, the first lady, Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Rev. John Jenkins of the University of Notre Dame and a White House reporter also were in attendance and tested positive.

Conway's husband, George Conway, conservative attorney and frequent Trump critic, shared a photo of the audience at the event with a tweet that said "LIVID." He did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether he had been tested for the virus.

Kellyanne Conway's teenage daughter Claudia first posted in a TikTok video that her mother had tested positive, claiming that she "infect(ed) the whole family."

Who has COVID?: A running list of Washington figures being tested and their results

Conway said when she announced in August that she would be leaving the White House that she was doing so to focus more on her family. She and her husband both said they were stepping back from their roles to focus on their children.

The Conway family has been in the spotlight due to George's public feuds with Kellyanne's boss, despite the high position she held within the administration. She was also Trump's campaign manager in the final months of his 2016 run for president.

Conway said in her tweet that her "heart is with everyone affected by this global pandemic."

(L-R) White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Attorney General William Barr and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway talk in the Rose Garden after President Donald Trump introduced 7th U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 48, as his nominee to the Supreme Court at the White House Sept. 26, 2020 in Washington, DC.
(L-R) White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Attorney General William Barr and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway talk in the Rose Garden after President Donald Trump introduced 7th U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 48, as his nominee to the Supreme Court at the White House Sept. 26, 2020 in Washington, DC.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kellyanne Conway has COVID-19, says the former senior Trump adviser