White House senior adviser Stephen Miller tests positive for coronavirus
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said he tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, the latest case as the virus spreads among those close to President Donald Trump after he tested positive last week.
"Over the last five days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday," Mr Miller said in a statement.
"Today, I tested positive for Covid-19 and am in quarantine."
Mr Trump returned to the White House on Monday after three nights in a military hospital, urging Americans not to be afraid and not to let coronavirus dominate their lives.
The pandemic has killed more the 210,000 people in the United States, more than any other country.
Mr Miller is a top policy adviser and Trump speechwriter, who has been an architect of the president's restrictive immigration measures.
His wife Katie Miller, who serves as communications director to Vice President Mike Pence, had the virus earlier this year.
She had been in Salt Lake City with Mr Pence where he is preparing to debate Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, but she left as soon as she found out about her husband's diagnosis, officials said. She tested negative on Tuesday.
Less than two days before the president tested positive, Mr Miller was seen boarding Marine One alongside him. He was accompanied by other advisors to Mr Trump, including Hope Hicks, Dan Scovino and Jared Kushner. Ms Hicks tested positive for the virus shortly before the president.
Numerous military leaders are also now self isolating after Coast Guard official Admiral Charles Ray tested positive.
One of Mr Trump's military aides, who often carries the famed 'nuclear football' also tested positive over the weekend, according to CNN.
Jayna McCarron, a US Coast Guard aide, can often be spotted alongside Mr Trump carrying the briefcase with nuclear codes. She was last seen with the president when she traveled with him on a trip to his New Jersey golf club.
As Mr Trump boarded Marine One to be airlifted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last week, his ‘nuclear football’ was loaded alongside him.
Since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the case - officially called the Presidential Emergency Satchel - has accompanied every president when they are away from the White House.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern told CNN late on Tuesday that there were no new Covid cases in the White House besides Mr Miller.
Others announcing they had tested positive in recent days include White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany; Mr Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien; and Republican Senators Mike Lee, Thom Tillis and Ron Johnson.
