Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who is leading efforts to overturn the election, has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. The President announced Mr Giuliani had contracted the virus in a tweet on Sunday afternoon. US media subsequently reported the former New York Mayor had been admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC. “Rudy Giuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Mr Trump tweeted. Mr Giuliani has not commented publicly on his condition other than to tweet on Sunday evening thanking a well-wisher. His son, Andrew Giuliani, later said his father was “resting, getting great care and feeling well”. “Thank you to all the friends who have reached out concerned about his well being,” he wrote. The 76-year-old has been heading Mr Trump’s legal team in a series of hearings in front of state lawmakers in recent weeks, presenting the campaign’s evidence of election fraud. The Trump campaign is attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in key battleground states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada through a double-pronged strategy of legal challenges and pressuring state legislatures overrule the popular vote and appoint their own pro-Trump electors. Mr Giuliani, who smokes cigars and was treated for prostate cancer two decades ago, at times appeared out of breath during hearings at the Georgia State Capitol on Friday. In Michigan on Wednesday, Mr Giuliani asked a woman sitting next to him to remove her face mask. “I don’t want you to do this if you feel uncomfortable, but would you be comfortable taking your mask off, so we can hear you more clearly?” he asked Jessy Jacob. Ms Jacob, who testified to witnessing Detroit election workers illegally backdating ballots, opted to keep her mask on after asking the panel, “Can you hear me?” On Sunday, Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis tweeted, “Prayers for Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He is a tough warrior! The Trump Legal Team will continue our important work to fight for election integrity! We have a great team, along with able local counsel in each state. Our work won’t be affected and we press on. #CountAllLegalVotes” It comes after Andrew Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19 last month, along with Donald Trump Jr. and a number of others in the President’s inner circle including Boris Epshteyn, a member of Mr Trump’s legal team. Others Trump allies who have contracted the virus in recent months include White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr Ben Carson, and top aides David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski. In the US, nearly 60 per cent of all deaths from COVID-19 have been among over-75s, while the overall case fatality rate for the virus is 1.9 per cent. Mr Trump himself caught COVID-19 in early October along with First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump. He spent three nights at the Walter Reed military hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties. On Saturday, Mr Trump appeared at a packed rally in Georgia to support two Republican Senators facing run-off elections next month – his first public appearance since his election loss – where he only briefly mentioned the virus. The US is experiencing record daily numbers of new coronavirus cases as the pandemic death toll passes 280,000 since January. More than 1.3 million new cases have been recorded in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Daily deaths have returned to more than 2000 for much of the past two weeks, with health officials blaming a fresh surge in cases on tens of millions of Americans who ignored warnings and travelled to visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicted the US death toll could hit 400,000 by late January. “There is a grim future ahead of us for the next six weeks,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation. “People really need to protect themselves.” Mr Biden, who has repeatedly warned of a “dark winter” ahead and criticised the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic, last week said he would ask Americans to wear face masks for the first 100 days he is in office. “I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask, not forever,” he said – echoing the White House’s March 16 announcement of social distancing guidelines billed as “15 days to slow the spread”. Source
