Disdainful Mark Meadows Refuses Reporter Request To Put On His Face Mask
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows refused to wear his face mask while speaking to reporters Monday outside the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Meadows has spent several days in close proximity to President Donald Trump, who is reportedly also refusing to wear a mask in the White House even though he was diagnosed with COVID-19 just over 10 days ago.
Meadows’ exposure to Trump since the president was discharged from Walter Reed hospital could make him a strong candidate for contracting COVID-19 and possibly being infectious. Meadows last tested negative for the coronavirus a week ago, NBC News reported.
Before speaking to journalists in the hallway during a break in the hearing, Meadows pulled a microphone stand away from them — and removed his face mask. When CNN reporter Kristin Wilson objected, Meadows replied: “I’m more than 10 feet away,”
Then he immediately left in a huff back to the hearing room, announcing: “I’m not going to talk through a mask.”
Video of Capitol Hill reporters insisting WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wear a mask while talking with them and Meadows deciding he won’t talk to reporters if he has to wear a mask. pic.twitter.com/kDX10BLDnk
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 12, 2020
At the hearing, Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipplone sat in the front row — wearing masks.
Meadows apparently missed the alert last week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the coronavirus can be spread through aerosols, which “can linger in the air for minutes to hours” and travel farther than six feet, especially indoors.
The record on coronavirus prevention at the White House is abysmal.
Three White House reporters have tested positive for COVID-19 since the White House superspreader event at the Rose Garden on Sept. 26 when Trump announced Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Almost none of the 200-some guests there...
