Robert O\u2019Brien is the first White House official known to have contracted the virus since May.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump\u2019s national security adviser, Robert O\u2019Brien, has tested positive for the coronavirus \u2013 making him the highest-ranking official to test positive so far. The White House said O\u2019Brien has mild symptoms and \u201chas been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site.\u201d Officials did not respond to questions about the last time the president and O\u2019Brien had contact, but the White House insisted that \u201cThere is no risk of exposure to the President or the Vice President\u201d and that the \u201cwork of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted.\u201d Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Monday that he wasn\u2019t sure when his national security adviser had tested positive and that he hadn\u2019t \u201cseen him lately,\u201d but would be giving O\u2019Brien a call.White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow had said earlier that O\u2019Brien\u2019s daughter also has the virus and that is how officials think he was exposed. O\u2019Brien also recently returned from a trip to France, where he met with top European officials and was photographed standing close to others and not wearing a mask. O\u2019Brien is the first White House official known to have contracted the virus since May, when a personal valet to the president and the vice president\u2019s press secretary tested positive for the virus that has now infected more than 4 million people nationwide. Numerous Secret Service agents and Trump campaign staffers have also tested positive, including national finance chair Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is the girlfriend of Trump\u2019s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. Senior White House staff and anyone who comes into close contact with the president and vice president are tested for the virus daily, but mask-wearing remains lax across the White House complex. Trump, who has long dismissed the severity of the virus and claimed wrongly earlier this month that \u201c99 percent\u201d of cases are \u201ctotally harmless,\u201d said in a recent interview on Fox News Channel that he had personally \u201clost five people, probably six, actually, as of this moment, I think, pretty soon\u201d to the virus. O\u2019Brien is Trump\u2019s fourth national security adviser, having been named in September to replace John Bolton, who was ousted over policy disagreements and went on to write a scathing tell-all book about his time at the White House. The national security adviser oversees the National Security Council and is the administration\u2019s point person on national security issues. O\u2019Brien had previously served as Trump\u2019s top hostage negotiator and successfully worked for the release of several Americans, including pastor Andrew Brunson, who spent two years in a Turkish prison. Since taking on his new role, O\u2019Brien has worked to establish an amiable relationship with the president, who has been drawn to O\u2019Brien\u2019s low-key California vibe and style. Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate. Already registered? Log in to join the discussion. Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here\u2019s why. Use the form below to reset your password. When you’ve submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code. Send questions\/comments to the editors. \u00ab Previous<\/p>\n