Top Trump adviser Stephen Miller tests positive for coronavirus

More than a dozen people within Trump inner circle have tested positive for Covid-19

White House official Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser to Donald Trump, has tested positive for the coronavirus, joining a list of several administration officials to become infected.

“Over the last [five] days I have been working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day through yesterday,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “Today, I tested positive for Covid-19 and am in quarantine.”

The president returned to the White House on Monday after a stay in hospital following his coronavirus diagnosis. First Lady Melania Trump also has tested positive for Covid-19.

Positive cases within the administration and the president’s inner circle, which have upended the White House and president’s re-election campaign within weeks of Election Day, now include the president’s press secretary, four of her aides, his campaign manager, chair of the GOP, two senior advisers, and former adviser Kellyanne Conway.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany revealed her positive diagnosis on Monday.

At least five other administration aides have tested positive for the disease, while nearly a dozen others – including at least two senators, among the crowd at a White House ceremony on 26 September to announce US Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett – have announced positive tests within the last week.

Mr Miller’s wife Katie Miller, who tested positive for Covid-19 in May, is communications director for vice president Mike Pence.

The vice president received a negative test result on Tuesday afternoon, according to press secretary Devin O’Malley.

Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, cleared Mr Pence for the vice presidential debate scheduled for 7 October.

He said in a statement on Tuesday that the vice president is “not a close contact of any known person” who tested positive.

It’s unclear whether Ms Miller has remained in close contact with Mr Pence and Mr Miller – CDC guidelines recommend people who have been within six feet of someone with Covid-19 for 15 minutes or more should stay home for 14 days from the point of contact.

Ms Miller tested negative for the coronavirus on Tuesday, according to reports. She has left the debate site in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Several officials who participated in the president’s debate prep – including Chris Christie, campaign manager Bill Stepien, and advisers Hope Hicks, Ms Conway and Mr Miller – have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have placed themselves in quarantine following the outbreaks, as Congress remained largely quiet after lawmakers agreed to adjourn for two weeks, amid Republican-controlled Senate plans to swiftly confirm the president’s Supreme Court nominee before Election Day.

The positive test result for Mr Miller, among the president’s chief speechwriters and an architect of his nativist America First agenda and hardline immigration platform, has followed a White House decision to decline CDC aid to investigate the scope of the outbreak.

"The White House has plans and procedures in place that incorporate current CDC guidelines and best practices for limiting Covid-19 exposure and has established a robust contact tracing programme led by the White House Medical Unit with CDC integration," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.