Rudy Giuliani speaks about the 2020 US presidential election results during a news conference in Washington. File/Reuters

Gulf Today Report

President Donald Trump says on Sunday his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting one state legislature to close for a week after Giuliani visited to try to persuade lawmakers to help reverse Trump’s election defeat.

The latest in Trump's inner circle to contract the disease that is now surging across the US as Trump’s campaign released a statement from the president’s legal team Sunday evening saying Giuliani had tested negative just before his trip to the three states.

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The 76-year-old former New York mayor is the latest in a long string of people close to the White House, including Trump himself, sickened in a pandemic that has killed more than 280,000 Americans.

US President Donald Trump listens to questions from the media. File photo

Giuliani was exhibiting some symptoms and was admitted Sunday to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Trump, who announced Giuliani's positive test in a Sunday afternoon tweet, wished him a speedy recovery.

"Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump wrote.

“@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus,” Trump said, using a term for COVID-19 that has drawn backlash.

Giuliani tweeted his thanks to “friends and followers” Sunday evening for their concern about him. “I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything,” he wrote on Twitter.

Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that Giuliani was at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, on Sunday and one said he had been admitted for treatment. The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation.