Former President Donald Trump refused to wear a mask at the height of the COVID pandemic because it smudged his makeup, a former aide claims.
Trump decided to take off the mask while visiting the Honeywell factory that produces the highly sought-after product in May 2020, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, former assistant to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, in her new book, “Enough.”
He wrote that the former president chose to wear a white mask for the event, and asked the staff what they thought about it.
“I slowly shook my head,” Hutchinson wrote. “The president took off the mask and asked why I thought he shouldn’t wear it.”
In response, Hutchinson said he pointed to the strap of his own mask – prompting the president to look down at his own mask, which is when he “saw they were covered in bronzer.”
“Why didn’t anyone else tell me that?” the president reportedly replied. “I’m not wearing this thing.”
Former President Donald Trump refused to wear a mask at the height of the COVID pandemic because it smudged his makeup, a former aide claims. AFP via Getty Images
The former president claimed that at the time he “wore a mask for a period of time” but decided not to wear it after getting the OK from “the head of Honeywell.”
“The press would criticize him for not wearing a mask, not knowing that the depth of his vanity had led him to reject the mask — and then his millions of fans followed suit,” Hutchinson wrote.
In another example, Hutchinson said, Trump invited lawmakers to the White House the night before Thanksgiving 2020 — but when they were tested for COVID, some came back positive.
Hutchinson said he decided to only allow those who tested negative to attend the event, to which Trump reportedly spat, “I said everybody! Bring them all! Bring them all now!”
Trump decided to take off the mask while visiting the Honeywell factory that produces the highly sought-after product in May 2020, according to Cassidy Hutchinson. AFP via Getty Images
Doctors who overheard the exchange “urged” him to “push back,” but he was told he was “not in the business of disobeying the president’s orders,” Hutchinson said.
In the end, he wrote, Trump’s personal physician, Sean Conley, reluctantly agreed to allow all guests in — provided those who tested positive wore masks.
But “when everyone has filed into the Oval Office [Trump] instructed masked guests to remove their masks,” Hutchinson wrote.
“He assured them it was more important to him to see their beautiful faces, [and] said he was not worried about contracting the virus.”
During his presidency, Trump repeatedly refused to wear a mask.
“I just don’t want to do — somehow sit in the Oval Office, behind that beautiful Pledge Table, the great Pledge Table, I think, wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens,” he said, according to ABC News.
“The press would criticize him for not wearing a mask, not knowing that the depth of his pride had led him to reject the mask — and then his millions of fans followed suit,” wrote Hutchinson.AP
“I don’t know, somehow, I didn’t see it myself.”
The former president also expressed doubts about its effectiveness, and painted his 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, as weak for wearing it.
When he was asked at a September 2020 White House briefing why he didn’t wear a mask to set an example for his followers, Trump replied: “Well I’m tested, and I’m surprised sometimes when I see someone sit down … like with Joe.
“Joe felt very safe in the mask,” he said, referring to Biden. “I don’t know, maybe he doesn’t want to reveal his face. There is no reason for him to wear a mask.
“We were tested — I was tested. I have people tested. When people come to the Oval Office, it’s like a big deal. It doesn’t matter who they are — if they are heads of state, they will all be tested.
“So I’m in a different position,” he said. “And maybe if I wasn’t in that position, I would wear it more.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
