Donald Trump’s lieutenants Meadows and Gaetz got tested for coronavirus when normal people would NOT

Two Republican congressmen who are both allies of President Trump have received coronavirus testing at a time tests are in great demand and short supply. 

One of the lawmakers, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, received testing after flying about Air Force One with the president Monday when Trump was returning to Washington after a trip to Mar-a-Lago and a fundraiser in Orlando.

Gaetz tweeted that the results were negative. Gaetz told the Pensacola News-Journal before the results were in that he was waiting for information from the White House physician’s office, after saying he planned to get tested at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who is stepping down to become Trump’s chief of staff, also got tested there, the Washington Post reported. 

The president gets his annual physical there and many lawmakers get treated there as well. The Capitol physician’s office was not encouraging testing for lawmakers who came in contact with a man who attended the CPAC conference and later tested positive.

Both Gaetz and Meadows have put themselves in isolation following contact with the man.

The White House said Monday night that Trump had not been tested, hours after reporters asked Trump and Vice President Mike Pence about it during a press briefing.

Representative Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina, who was in contact with a man who was at CPAC and tested positive for coronavirus, also got tested

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Wednesday wore a gas mask on the House floor during a vote on an emergency funding bill to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. He said he was not making light of the epidemic

Gaetz told a reporter he slept in a Wall-Mart parking lot after putting himself in isolation and driving from the Washington area to Florida

The White House says President Trump has not been tested for the coronavirus

‘The President has not received COVID-19 testing because he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms. President Trump remains in excellent health, and his physician will continue to closely monitor him,’ White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a written statement. 

Gaetz told the Pensacola paper several details about his Air Force One trip. He said he answered hurricane recovery questions from Trump that an aide brought written on paper during a period when he put himself on an isolated part of the plane. He said Trump had been using hand sanitizer when Gaetz accompanied him in the presidential limo. He drove himself to Florida after being told on the flight he had come in contact with the coronavirus patient.

“I slept in a Walmart parking lot somewhere off (Interstate) 85,’ he said. He told the paper he got the test in a government facility he would not identify.

The influential lawmakers got tests at a time when the administration and health officials are under fire for a lack of testing. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York grilled top health officials about why there had only been about 5,000 tests through public health labs in the U.S. but  more than 66,000 tests in South Korea ‘within just one week of its first case of community transmission.’

‘Why did it take so long? We must do better,’ she asked. Two members of her committee, the Oversight and Government Reform panel, missed the hearing due to being in isolation. 

Vice President Mike Pence says millions of tests are on the way through private and government sources. 

Gaetz is 37 and Meadows is 60. Neither are thought to be at special risk.