INNER CIRCLE

Top White House Economist Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Tomas Philipson appeared alongside President Trump at a June 5 Rose Garden event.

A White House economist has tested positive for COVID-19, The Wall Street Journal reports. Tomas Philipson, who was the acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers until this week, had a “very mild case of one day of fever” earlier this month, he told the Journal. It’s unclear when he tested positive, as he appeared alongside President Donald Trump at a Rose Garden event on June 5. He’s since recovered, he said, and plans to return to his professorship at the University of Chicago. Two sources cited by the Journal said he was forced out of his position. Philipson is the latest among a growing number of people near the president and his Cabinet who have contracted the virus. Eight of Trump’s campaign staffers tested positive after his campaign rally in Tulsa last week. Trump’s own campaign manager, Brad Parscale, is working from home to avoid potentially exposing the commander-in-chief. In a press briefing Friday, Vice President Mike Pence defended the rallies by saying citizens’ rights to peaceably assemble are not suspended during a pandemic.