Trump campaign adviser leading election lawsuits effort has COVID-19, reports say
David Bossie, an adviser for President Donald Trump’s campaign, has tested positive for COVID-19, according to multiple reports.
Bossie, who is in charge of the lawsuits and other efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election results, tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday, multiple sources told Bloomberg, ABC News and CBS News on Monday.
The Associated Press declared now President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the election Saturday. The Trump campaign has said it will bring the outcome to the courts, and in the days following the election, has filed suits in multiple battleground states.
The president has so far not conceded victory to Biden.
Trump’s campaign recently picked Bossie — who is not a lawyer — to head its legal efforts in the battleground states, officials told The New York Times on Friday.
Who is David Bossie?
He was tapped as Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016 and serves as head of Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group, according to NBC News.
He played a large role in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. FEC, according to Forbes. The court’s decision, which favored Citizens United, allowed corporations and other groups to spend an unlimited amount of money on campaigns.
Bossie was also a top investigator into former President Bill Clinton’s campaign finance practices in 1996 before being pressured to resign from the House inquiry in 1998, Forbes reports.
The White House had previously said it was looking for a “James Baker-like” person to head its efforts to contest the election, the Times reports.
Baker led George W. Bush’s legal team during the recount in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. The Trump campaign chose Bossie, one of the president’s “favorite defenders on television,” to manage its various legal efforts, according to The New York Times.
Other positive tests
News broke of Bossie’s diagnosis shortly after reports surfaced that Ben Carson, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has COVID-19.
Carson is the latest in the Trump administration to test positive for the virus, McClatchy News reports.
Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, tested positive a day after the election. At least five others at the White House have also reportedly tested positive.
Carson and Meadows attended an election night party in the White House during which few attendees were wearing masks or social distancing, the AP reports.
Multiple people in the Trump administration — including Trump and first lady Melania Trump — tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a nomination ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the White House Rose Garden in September. Photos at the time showed those in attendance were seated close together, with many not wearing masks.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Trump campaign adviser leading election lawsuits effort has COVID-19, reports say."
