Trump says he doesn’t think Herman Cain caught COVID-19 at Tulsa rally

President Trump said Friday he doesn’t think that Herman Cain, who died this week after being hospitalized with the coronavirus, caught the virus when he attended the president’s Tulsa, Okla., rally last month.

“No, I don’t think he did,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a trip to Florida when asked if he was worried Cain contracted COVID-19 in Tulsa.

Cain, a GOP presidential candidate in 2012, died Thursday at the age of 74 after having been hospitalized in Atlanta on July 1 with the coronavirus. It is unclear where Cain contracted the disease.

Cain, who co-chaired the Black Voices for Trump coalition, traveled to attend Trump’s June 20 campaign rally in Tulsa, where he was photographed not wearing a mask indoors. The president was widely criticized for staging the indoor rally and not requiring participants to wear masks. At the time, the city was experiencing a rise in cases, and the local health director urged Trump to reschedule the gathering.

On Friday, Trump praised Cain as “a great man.”

“He did a fantastic job. He was respected by everybody, he was loved by everybody. And we will miss Herman Cain,” Trump said.

Cain is among the more than 150,000 people in the U.S. who have died as a result of complications from the coronavirus.

Trump offered condolences to Cain’s family shortly after news of his death on Thursday.