According to former President Donald Trump's last chief of staff, Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days before his first debate against Joe Biden during the 2020 election.
Mark Meadows was the former president's fourth chief of staff and wrote about the former president's positive test from Sept. 26, 2020, in a new book, the Guardian reported.
Meadows wrote that even though Trump was aware he had "to test negative for the virus within seventy-two hours of the start time … Nothing was going to stop [Trump] from going out there."
In his new book, Meadows wrote that Trump produced a negative result from a different test shortly after he got a positive result.
However, the revelation of a positive result adds speculation as to whether or not Trump had the virus when he faced off with Biden on Sept. 29, as it was announced he had COVID on Oct. 2. Trump was sent to the hospital the day he received the results.
The former president announced on Wednesday in a statement that Meadows' claims were "Fake News."
However, Meadows broke down the series of events in his book, including conversations he had with the former president.
After celebrating the appointment of supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barret in a Rose Garden ceremony, Trump was set to head to an evening rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
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However, Meadows wrote that as Marine One was taking off, White House doctor Sean Conely called and delivered the bad news.
"Stop the president from leaving," Meadows wrote that Conley told him. "He just tested positive for Covid."
Meadows wrote that after he told the president about the result on a phone call from Air Force One, Trump responded with a statement that "rhyme[d] with 'Oh spit, you've gotta be trucking lidding me.'"
The test that produced the positive result was an old testing kit, according to Meadows and the second test that gave a negative result was "the Binax system."
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Meadows added that they "were hoping the first test was a false positive."
Meadows continued in his book, saying that Trump took the second test coming back negative as a signal that he could continue as if nothing had happened, but the former chief of staff advised everyone to treat him as if he had the virus.
"I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks," Meadows wrote. "But I also didn't want to alarm the public if there was nothing to worry about – which according to the new, much more accurate test, there was not."
The memoir from Meadows, The Chief's Chief, is set to be published next week by All Seasons Press and comes after Meadows announced he would cooperate with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
