We reported earlier that many people in the D.C. elite have come down with COVID in the aftermath of the Gridiron dinner on Saturday, including Cabinet members, members of Congress, members of the D.C. press, and White House staff members. Those already identified as having tested positive include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX). Jamal Simmons, who is the new Communications Director for Kamala Harris, also came down with it and he was in attendance at the Obamacare event at the White House that Barack Obama attended on Tuesday, during which he hugged Obama. Obama got it there weeks ago. Kamala Harris who was in close contact with Simmons has said she will keep up her regular schedule.
But now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), 82, has come down with it. Her staff announced it before she generally does her weekly press conference. They did this formulaic bow down to the vaccine homage that Democrats do (despite it not preventing the transmission).
“After testing negative this week, Speaker Pelosi received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic,” Pelosi’s Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hamill announced. “The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided. The Speaker will quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted and test regularly.”
Pelosi was not at the Gridiron dinner, but she was at the White House Obamacare event on Tuesday and was at another White House bill signing event yesterday, not wearing a mask either day. She was in very close quarters to Joe Biden as well as multiple other officials. She touched Joe Biden’s hand and kissed him on Tuesday. She also was in close quarters to Barack Obama and held his hand to her mouth. Not to mention countless other people.
https://twitter.com/charliespiering/status/1512084877285347335
When President Donald Trump came down with the virus in 2020, Pelosi was not kind. Pelosi tried to chastise him about mask-wearing.
“Going into crowds unmasked and all the rest was sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen,” she said.
Pelosi was also supposed to be going to Taiwan during a planned trip to Asia this weekend, according to some reports. That’s a big move to make in terms of support for Taiwan, given China’s manic position on the island.
But China warned her not to go, saying they would take strong measures and such a visit would severely impact Chinese-U.S. relations. Her trip has now been canceled after she announced she had COVID. So her being ill will get her out of that situation without seeming to be backing down from the warning from China.
The CDC is now claiming that Pelosi is not considered to be in “close contact” with Joe Biden, the White House said.