NJ governor says Trump’s Bedminster event under state investigation

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said Monday that President Trump’s fundraising event in Bedminster last week, which came after top aide Hope Hicks had tested positive for COVID-19, is under state investigation.

The New Jersey governor tweeted that the state is investigating reports that the event at the Trump National Golf Club on Thursday “may not have compiled” with state coronavirus rules. The event was held hours before Trump announced that he and the first lady had tested positive for COVID-19. 

The President & his staff acted recklessly in coming to New Jersey knowing that they had been exposed to someone with a confirmed positive test.

We hope that no confirmed cases come out of the event in Bedminster.

This is a matter of humanity, but also of leadership by example.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) October 5, 2020

“Any failures to comply with our emergency orders will be referred to @NewJerseyOAG for a follow-up,” Murphy said.

We continue to investigate reports that suggest the Bedminster event may not have complied with our current rules, which may have put others at risk.

Any failures to comply with our emergency orders will be referred to @NewJerseyOAG for a follow-up.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) October 5, 2020

Murphy confirmed on “CBS This Morning” that the state attorney general’s office was looking into the Bedminster event, which was “apparently” partly held indoors. 

“This entire event and everything associated with it is troubling, and it is being followed up on best we can and as aggressively as we can here in New Jersey,” the governor said in the interview. 

The New Jersey Department of Health and the Somerset County Department of Health released a joint statement on Sunday saying the White House and the golf club’s management provided officials with a list of at least 206 attendees at the Bedminster event.

In a series of tweets, Murphy said the state is conducting contact tracing for those 206 individuals and the 19 staff members who worked the Bedminster fundraiser. Out-of-state attendees were contacted with the assistance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The governor repeated his calls for attendees to get tested, saying they should get tested at least five to seven days after the event and self-quarantine for 14 days no matter the test results. 

Murphy said during his interview that “to the best of my knowledge” there’s been no confirmed cases to come out of the event yet but warned it could be a “number of days” before one does.

In both his tweets and his interview, Murphy wished Trump, first lady Melania Trump and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) healthy recoveries. But the governor also slammed the administration for its New Jersey visit.

“As they say, the virus doesn’t care who you are, New Jersey doesn’t care who you are — a group of folks from out of state coming in knowingly having been exposed to someone who is COVID positive is really, really frustrating,” he told “CBS This Morning.”

Contact tracing is underway for more than 200 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a New Jersey fundraiser for President Trump last week.

New Jersey’s @GovMurphy responds to the decision to hold the Bedminster event and how his state is handling the visit. pic.twitter.com/TEc7cbaK2d

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 5, 2020

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the president ordered at least one aide to keep their positive test results a secret on Thursday. People familiar with the president’s health also told the newspaper President Trump received a positive result through a rapid COVID-19 test before he called into Fox News for an interview with Sean Hannity Thursday evening. 

The president was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, hours after announcing his diagnosis. He announced Monday afternoon that he will be discharged later in the evening.