Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days before his first presidential debate in September 2020 with Joe Biden, according to a new book by Trump's former chief of staff.
In "The Chief's Chief," obtained by The Guardian before its Dec. 7 release, Mark Meadows writes that the then-president received a negative test shortly after the positive test and resumed his usual activities, including attending the debate against his Democratic challenger. Trump on Wednesday called the story "Fake News."
The revelation, if confirmed, would further show that the Trump White House did not take the virus seriously even as it spread among White House and campaign staff and eventually sent Trump to the hospital, where he required supplemental oxygen and experimental treatments.
The former president said Meadows' story "of me having COVID prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News. In fact, a test revealed that I did not have COVID prior to the debate."
Meadows retweeted Trump's statement. In an interview late Wednesday with Newsmax, Meadows said the story was being spun by the press.
"Well, the president's right, it's fake news," Meadows said. "If you actually read the book, the context of it, that story outlined a false positive. Literally he had a test, had two other tests after that that showed that he didn't have COVID during the debate."
The book's publisher, All Seasons Press, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House began a testing regimen for Trump's senior aides and those who would be in contact with him after earlier positive cases. But aides repeatedly refused to disclose when Trump was tested the week of the debate, leading to speculation that he may have had COVID-19 while onstage with Biden.
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News had said previously that he believed Trump may have had COVID-19 at the time of the debate because of the virus' incubation period. It typically takes several days between the time a person is exposed to the virus and when there is enough viral load to be detected.
Trump was 74 and Biden was 78 at the time, putting them at higher risk of serious complications from the virus. COVID-19 vaccines were not then available.
Trump announced in a tweet early on Oct. 2, 2020, that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus. He was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center later that day.
But Meadows writes that Trump received a positive test on Sept. 26, three days before the debate and the same day that he held a Rose Garden ceremony for his final U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, according to the paper. Trump travelled that evening to a rally in Pennsylvania.
Meadows, Trump's fourth and final chief of staff, writes that he received a call from the White House doctor as Trump's helicopter was lifting off from the White House for the rally. Meadows says he was informed that Trump had tested positive and was instructed to stop the president from departing.
When Meadows told Trump of the result, the president's reply, according to The Guardian, "rhyme(d) with 'Oh spit, you've gotta be trucking lidding me."'
But Meadows said the test had been conducted with an old model kit and he told Trump it would be repeated with a newer version. After "a brief but tense wait," Meadows reported that the second test had come back negative.
Trump took that result as "full permission to press on as if nothing had happened," Meadows wrote, according to The Guardian. In subsequent days, he held news events, met with Gold Star families at the White House, attended several fundraisers and appeared at the debate.
On the day of the debate, Sept. 29, Meadows wrote that Trump looked slightly better — "emphasis on the word slightly."
"His face, for the most part at least, had regained its usual light bronze hue, and the gravel in his voice was gone. But the dark circles under his eyes had deepened. As we walked into the venue around five o'clock in the evening, I could tell that he was moving more slowly than usual. He walked like he was carrying a little extra weight on his back," Meadows was quoted as writing.
Meadows noted that both candidates were required to test negative for the virus within 72 hours of the debate, but wrote that, "Nothing was going to stop (Trump) from going out there."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's top medical adviser, who also served in the Trump administration, said he was not aware of the test results but anyone who tests positive should isolate from other people.
"I'm not going to specifically talk about who put who at risk, but I would say as I said, not only for any individual, but everybody, that if you test positive you should be quarantining yourself," he said at a news briefing Wednesday.
Biden brushed off the report. "I don't think about the former president," he told reporters.
This story has been corrected to reflect that the book publisher is All Seasons Press, not All Season Press.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.