Trump COVID-19 updates: Top Trump aide Stephen Miller tests positive

Miller's married to the VP's communications director, who tested positive in May

ByJon Haworth, Emily Shapiro, Meredith Deliso, and Lauren King
Last Updated: October 8, 2020, 6:56 PM EDT

President Donald Trump is back in the White House and back on Twitter as he fights a coronavirus infection.

The president left Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday evening, landing at the White House shortly before 7 p.m.

After Marine One landed on the White House South Lawn, Trump walked up the steps of White House, faced the cameras and took off his mask. Trump gave a thumbs up and an extended salute to Marine One, before walking inside the residence.

Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and spent several days in the hospital, tweeted Tuesday morning, "FEELING GREAT!"

The president is returning to a White House plagued by COVID-19 as 20 people in Trump's orbit have reported testing positive since last week. Questions remain about how many more people at the highest levels of government had been exposed to the virus after a week of events involving the president where social distancing and mask-wearing were lax.

Melania Trump, who has been at the White House since she tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, "continues to rest and is doing well," the first lady's chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said Tuesday.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife tested negative for the coronavirus again on Tuesday morning, the vice president's office said, while Sen. Kamala Harris tested negative for COVID-19 on Monday, according to an aide. Pence and Harris are in Utah ahead of Wednesday night's vice presidential debate.

Latest headlines:

Here is how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Oct 06, 2020, 7:20 PM EDT

125 Hill workers have tested positive for COVID-19

Since March, 125 Capitol Hill workers have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a House Administration Committee spokesperson. 

That number includes nearly 50 Capitol Police officers, according to the chairman and first vice-chairman of the Capitol Police union. Forty-three of those officers have since recovered. 

The union has been requesting mandatory testing for officers on the Capitol complex since March, but it has yet to be implemented.

ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

Oct 06, 2020, 7:13 PM EDT

Top Trump aide tests positive for coronavirus

Top Trump aide Stephen Miller has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

He is married to the vice president's communications director, Katie Miller, who tested positive in May and was one of the first aides in the White House to contract the virus.

With the addition of Stephen Miller, it now means six out of the nine attendees in the Trump debate session from last Monday have tested positive.

PHOTO: From left, members of the White House staff, Nicholas Luna, Dan Scavino, Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller and Hope Hicks, walk to Marine One to depart from the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 30, 2020.
From left, Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations Nicholas Luna, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino, Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor Stephen Miller, and counselor to President Hope Hicks walk to Marine One to depart from the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 30, 2020.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

“Over the last five days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday," he said in a statement. "Today, I tested positive for COVID-19 and am in quarantine.”

ABC News' John Santucci and Ben Gittleson

Oct 06, 2020, 6:20 PM EDT

Now 23 COVID-19 cases with White House ties

Two members of the White House press shop and a military aide have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of cases with ties to the White House to 23 so far, according to a tally by ABC News.

Harrison Fields, assistant press secretary, and Jalen Drummond, deputy assistant press secretary, bring the total number of White House press shop members to test positive for the virus to five, ABC News has learned.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jayna McCarron also tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, ABC News confirmed. McCarron traveled with President Trump on Thursday to a campaign event in New Jersey. 

ABC News' John Santucci, Katherine Phelps and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.

Oct 06, 2020, 4:07 PM EDT

White House says residence 'staff wear full PPE'

The office of the first lady issued a statement Tuesday detailing the COVID-19 precautions in the "Executive Residence," which is part of the White House where Trump and the first family live.

"Staff wear full PPE and continue to take all necessary precautions, which include updated procedures to protect against cross contamination," the first lady's chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement.

"Residence staff in direct contact with the First Family are tested daily, with support staff tested every 48 hours," the statement continued.

The office said that since March, they've used "hospital-grade disinfection policies, had White House Medical Unit lead coronavirus workshops so staff could have their concerns addressed, significantly reduced staff, and encouraged maximum teleworking."

Grisham declined to tell ABC News if household staff were being given the option not to come in to work while the president and first lady were in isolation or whether staffing was reduced or staggered. Members of the first lady's office have been working from home, Grisham told ABC News.

ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.

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