President Donald Trump's former physician Ronny Jackson Friday said he believes everything possible has been done to keep the president safe at the White House and testing there has been "aggressive."
"That's part of the reason that this gets picked up so quickly, and I suspect that this got picked up very quickly in the course of this illness for the president, Jackson said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
Trump announced early Friday morning that he and first lady Melania Trump had both tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier in the day, the White House announced that Hope Hicks, a close senior aide, had also tested positive.
Both Trumps are suffering from mild coronavirus symptoms, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said.
Jackson said it's important to remember that aside from having COVID, Trump is in "great physical health."
"He doesn't have the comorbidities that several of your guests have mentioned that," said Jackson. "I think he's going to continue to move forward. Most of the people his age, even in his category, the vast majority of them, you know, they recover from this very quickly. Most of them don't even know they have it."
Jackson also said that the president's diagnosis came because of his practice of "leading by example."
"Part of leading by example is he's had to get out and he's had to interact with folks," Jackson said. "He's had to continue being president, and he hasn't been boxed up or, you know, cooped up in the White House and campaigning from, you know, from within White House. And I think that's been necessary."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.