President Donald Trump said Sunday his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The lawyer is the latest in Trump”s inner circle to contract the disease that is now surging across the US.
The 76-year-old former New York mayor has travelled extensively to battleground states in recent days and weeks in an effort to help Trump subvert his election loss.
On numerous occasions, he has met with officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask.
Trump, who confirmed Giuliani’s positive test in a Sunday afternoon tweet, wished him a speedy recovery.
“Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump wrote.
Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment, AP said.
The lawyer attended a hearing at the Georgia Capitol on Thursday where he went without a mask for several hours. Several state senators, all Republicans, also did not wear masks at the hearing.
On Wednesday night, Giuliani was in Lansing, Michigan, to testify in a highly unusual 4 1/2-hour legislative hearing in which he pushed Republican lawmakers to ignore the certification of Joe Biden’s Michigan victory and appoint electors for Trump.
He did not wear a mask, nor did lawyer Jenna Ellis, who was sitting next to him. At one point, he asked one of his witnesses — a Detroit election worker — if she would be comfortable removing her mask.
Georgia state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat who attended Thursday’s hearing, expressed outrage after learning of Giuliani’s diagnosis.
“Little did I know that most credible death threat that I encountered last week was Trump’s own lawyer,” Jordan tweeted. “Giuliani — maskless, in packed hearing room for 7 hours. To say I am livid would be too kind.”
The diagnosis comes more than a month after Trump lost reelection and more than two months after Trump himself was stricken with the virus in early October.
Since then, a flurry of administration officials and others in Trump’s orbit have also tested positive for COVID-19, including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development.
The president’s wife, Melania Trump, and teenage son, Barron Trump, have also been infected with the virus.
Last month, Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani, a special assistant to Trump, said he tested positive for coronavirus.
“I am experiencing mild symptoms, and am following all appropriate protocols, including being in quarantine and conducting contact tracing,” the younger Giuliani said in a Nov. 20 tweet disclosing his COVID-19 positive test.