Psaki tears into Trump for not disclosing his COVID diagnosis

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday tore into former President Donald Trump for not disclosing he had reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 before debating now President Joe Biden.  

She extended that criticism to Trump's allies in Congress, with conservative Republicans now threatening to shut down the government Friday night if the Democrats include funding for Biden's vaccine mandates in a stop-gap bill. 

Psaki said those Republicans wanted the unvaccinated to be free to 'infect their co-workers, our children, filling hospitals.'  

'No one should be suprised that currently in Congress, as we're looking at the government staying open you have ... supporters of the former president who withheld information, reportedly, about testing positive, and appeared, apparently, at a debate,' she said. 

'Also held events at the White House, reportedly, with military veterans and military families, reportedly,' she continued. 'Many of you covered, so you can confirm that - and did that without disclosing.'

The Guardian got an early copy of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' book Tuesday and reported the shocking revelation that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 the same day as the Amy Coney Barrett 'super-spreader' event, which took place three days before he first appeared on the debate stage alongside Biden. 

Two days later, in the early hours of October 2, Trump announced he was positive.  

Trump took two COVID tests on Septmeber 26 with the first saying he was positive and the second saying he was negative - and he chose to believe the latter. He went on to hold a number of events including rallies, press conferences and an event with Gold Star families on September 27.    

At the briefing, Psaki expanded her criticism beyond Trump.

'And these supporters of the former president are advocating for shutting the federal government down so that 20 per cent of the public who are refusing to get vaccinated or tested can be free to infect their coworkers, our children, filling hospitals - that is what they are advocating for,' she said.  

She was responding to a Politico Playbook report that conservative Republicans are plotting to use Friday's government shutdown deadline to press Democrats to remove money for Biden's vaccine mandates from the funding bill. 

With a short deadline, and a elongated process to pass legislation in the Senate if all members don't agree to using unanimous consent, conservatives could trigger a short shutdown, despite Republican Leader Mitch McConnell saying Tuesday that it wouldn't happen. 

'I'm sure we would all like to simplify the process for resolving the [continuing resolution], but I can't facilitate that without addressing the vaccine mandates,' Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, told Playbook. 

At another point in the briefing, Psaki brought up Trump's COVID non-disclosure again as Fox News' Peter Doocy challenged Biden's record on the pandemic, with the Omicron variant detected in the U.S. earlier Wednesday.   

'Well I think the fundamental question here is what are you doing to save lives and protect people?' Psaki replied.  

'And the former president was suggesting people inject bleach, he apparently, reportedly didn't even share with people that he was going to interact with that he had tested positive for COVID himself,' she said. 

She also blamed Trump for continuing to 'provide a forum for misinformation,' which led people, she said, to be anti-mask and anti-vaccine.      

Psaki also said 'we were not aware' of Trump's positive COVID test until the reports came out Wednesday morning.   

Meadows wrote that Trump tested positive on September 26, the day he held a Rose Garden event announcing Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee, which turned into a super-spreader.  

It was six days before Trump tweeted that he was infected with the virus and subsequently hospitalized.   

As Trump boarded Marine One on the way to a Pennsylvania rally scheduled for after the Saturday Barrett event, White House Dr. Sean Conley told Meadows, 'Stop the president from leaving. He just tested positive for COVID.' 

It was too late to stop the helicopter, and when Meadows informed Trump of the positive test while onboard Air Force One, the president said something that rhymes with, 'Oh spit, you've gotte be trucking lidding me.' 

The Guardian obtained a copy of Meadows' book, The Chief's Chief, which comes out next week, on Tuesday. 

Meadows said Trump's initial test had been done using an old model kit and so the president was tested again using 'the Binax system, and that we were hoping the first test was a false positive.' 

The second test came back negative, with Trump taking that as 'full permission to press on as if nothing had happened.' 

At the time of their showdown in Cleveland on September 29, Trump was 74 years old, while Biden was 77.    

'The story of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News. In fact, a test revealed that I did not have COVID prior to the debate,' Trump said in a statement issued Wednesday morning. 

In the statement, Trump doesn't deny he received a positive test. 

'I don't think about the former president,' President Joe Biden replied when asked if he believed Trump put him at risk.

Trump went on to announce that he had COVID-19 in the early hours of October 2, three days after his debate with Biden.  

The White House said the then-president announced the positive result within an hour of receiving it. 

Trump flew to Walter Reed Medical Center for medical attention later that day.  

On Saturday evening, September 26, Meadows wrote that Trump looked 'a little tired' and he suspected the president had a 'slight cold,' but he was 'content' with Trump traveling to the rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania.    

Meadows wrote that Trump was surprised at the positive test results because he was a 'massive germaphobe' and avoided seeing anyone who hadn't been rigorously tested. 

At the same time, Trump and those around him mostly refused to wear masks throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the Barrett event in the Rose Garden, which likely led to Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, Sens. Mike Lee, Thom Tillis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie becoming infected, only a handful of attendees sported masks -

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