The Trump campaign and republican National Committee provide state health department officials with incomplete information on the attendees to Trump’s fundraising event at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, frustrating efforts to trace contacts after Donald Trump was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus, CBS News reports.
The Trump campaign sent an email Friday to attendees advising them of Trump’s positive test results.
With the subject line “Trump victory,” the email read, “Dear Supporter, We cannot thank you enough for all you do for our president. We unfortunately write today to notify you that, as you have probably seen, President Trump confirmed late last night that he and the First Lady were tested for COVID-19 and produced positive results.”
But the Trump campaign and RNC officials have only provided New Jersey health department officials with the names and emails of the people in attendance, omitting addresses and phone numbers the groups legally have to collect for the people to be donors.
New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy told CBS News that the RNC’s rationale for not providing the information was that the 206 guests were “nationally based, not just in New Jersey.”
The RNC, however, failed to recognize that if people in the crowd were from out-of-state, they could be starting an interstate or even national outbreak.
“A full contact tracing, consistent with CDC guidelines, was completed for the Bedminster, NJ trip.” White House spokesperson Judd Deere stated. “The President did not have any interactions with Bedminster staff or guests that would be considered to be ‘close’ based on CDC guidelines (more than 15 minutes and within 6 feet).”