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A Bridgehampton Party, a President's Son, a Positive Covid Test

Sat, 07/04/2020 - 01:00
Doug Kuntz

Last weekend, Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, attended a cocktail party at a house on Sandpiper Lane in Bridgehampton owned by the well-known South Fork developer Joe Farrell. Yesterday, according to news broken by The New York Times late Friday night, Ms. Guilfoyle learned she had tested positive for Covid-19 while in South Dakota for President Donald Trump’s appearance at Fourth of July festivities at Mount Rushmore. 

Witnesses quoted in a story that appeared in the New York Post on Monday said that Ms. Guilfoyle and the president’s oldest son were among a crowd of “about 100 partiers” who attended Mr. Farrell’s private, Saturday-evening gathering in Bridgehampton. That guest count has not been corroborated. A source told the Post's Page Six that the couple stayed at the party for about an hour. 

In a short video published as an accompaniment to the article, revelers are seen enjoying a catered rooftop event at sunset, most in the video not wearing masks, and evidently not practicing social distancing. At the time — as now — New York State was in Phase 3 of reopening; gatherings of up to 25 people are permitted, so long as masks are worn when distances of six feet cannot be maintained.

In early August 2019, President Trump attended a fund-raiser hosted by Mr. Farrell at his Bridgehampton house, the Sandcastle. (The Sandcastle is said to have recently become the most-expensive summer rental in South Fork history, when Mr. Farrell rented it to a tenant from March until Labor Day for a reported sum of nearly $2 million.) Ms. Guilfoyle and the younger Mr. Trump own a house not far away in Bridgehampton.

Ms. Guilfoyle, an attorney who rose to prominence as the co-host of “The Five” on Fox News, currently works as the national chairwoman of the Trump Victory Finance Committee 2020. 

"After testing positive, Kimberly was immediately isolated to limit any exposure," Sergio Gor, chief of staff for the Trump Victory Finance Committee, said in a statement quoted in The New York Times. "She's doing well, and will be retested to ensure the diagnosis is correct since she's asymptomatic but as a precaution will cancel all upcoming events. Donald Trump Jr was tested negative, but as a precaution is also self-isolating and is canceling all public events."

Ms. Guilfoyle gave a public address before President Trump’s campaign event in Phoenix on June 23, one day before New York State-issued a travel advisory requiring visitors from Arizona and several other hot-spot states to quarantine for 14 days after arriving here. She and the president's son attended the Bridgehampton party on June 27.

According to Harvard Health Publishing and Johns Hopkins University, the incubation period for Covid-19 — that is, the time between contracting the virus and developing symptoms  or getting a positive result on a diagnostic test — is three to fourteen days. Researchers believe someone with Covid-19 becomes contagious two or three days before the onset of symptoms; however, those without symptoms can also transmit the disease.

According to multiple reports, Ms. Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. flew out West to attend multi-day campaign events beginning on Tuesday: the Rapid City Roundup Retreat in South Dakota and the Mountain West Ranch Retreat in Gallatin, Mont.
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Correction: An earlier version of this article had the incorrect date for the cocktail party at which Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. were spotted. It was not on June 25 and was not a Saunders event. 

 

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