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5 congressmen -- including Trump's future chief of staff and lawmaker who shook President's hand -- to self-quarantine after CPAC

By Haley Byrd, Paul LeBlanc, Lauren Fox and Kaitlan Collins, CNN

Three more members of Congress, including President Donald Trump's future chief of staff, have announced that they would self-quarantine after coming into contact with an individual who has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference.
North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, who was named as the incoming White House chief of staff on Friday night, announced Monday evening that he has been tested for coronavirus and that test came back negative. However, he's staying in self-quarantine until Wednesday, said Ben Williamson, Meadows' chief of staff. Meadows has not yet taken his new job and was not scheduled to start this week, an official told CNN.

"Rep. Meadows was advised this weekend that he may have come in contact with the CPAC attendee who tested positive for COVID-19, now 12 days ago. Out of an abundance of caution, Meadows received testing which came back negative," Williamson said in a statement. "While he's experiencing zero symptoms, under doctors' standard precautionary recommendations, he'll remain at home until the 14 day period expires this Wednesday."
Two other Republican lawmakers announced earlier in the day that they too would be in self-quarantine out of an abundance of caution after being in contact with the individual who tested positive for coronavirus at CPAC.

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida became the third and fourth members of Congress to take the step, following the same announcements from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona on Sunday.

Collins shook Trump's hand when the President went to Georgia on Friday to visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Gaetz rode with Trump in the presidential limousine and took Air Force One back to Washington with him on Monday.
A fifth Republican member -- Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas -- was told by officials over the weekend that he had been in proximity to the individual, but he is not planning to self-quarantine, a Gohmert aide tells CNN, details the congressman himself confirmed on Twitter on Monday evening.

"After CDC physician called me Sunday evening, and we discussed all the specific circumstances of which he was aware along with my circumstances, including that I was and am asymptomatic, he said that all things considered, I was cleared to return to Washington," Gohmert said in a series of tweets.
Trump ignored questions shouted at him from a White House briefing on whether he'd been tested.

Vice President Mike Pence said he himself had not been tested and he did not know if Trump had been, but promised to get an answer to the question shortly.
"I have not been tested for the coronavirus," Pence said during a briefing on the virus with reporters, which Trump attending the beginning of...

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MLK’s Son Criticizes Mike Pence: My Father ‘Was a Bridge Builder, Not A Wall Builder’

Martin Luther King III wants the vice president to know that his father would say “love, not hate, will make America great.”

By David Barden

The son of Martin Luther King Jr. criticized Vice President Mike Pence for twisting his father’s words in an attempt to sell the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

On Sunday, Pence quoted King during an appearance on CBS’ “Face The Nation” as he praised President Donald Trump for his latest attempt at ending the ongoing partial government shutdown.

“One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, ‘Now is the time to make the real promises of democracy.’
You think of how he changed America,” Pence told host Margaret Brennan. “He inspired us to change through legislative process to become a more perfect union. That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do: Come to the table in a spirit of good faith. We’ll secure our border, we’ll reopen our government.”

King’s son denounced the vice president’s comparison as he spoke at a National Action Network MLK Breakfast Monday. CNN reports that Rev. Al Sharpton had mentioned Pence’s comments before introducing the younger King.

“Whenever I get to this period, it always is reflective. This year is probably more reflective than ever because I wonder what my father would be thinking and ask, especially since we have an administration, administrators ? and Rev. said the vice president, I forget exactly what you said Rev. ? but the vice president attempted to compare the president to Martin Luther King Jr.,” he said.

“Now, Martin Luther King Jr. was a bridge builder, not a wall builder. Martin Luther King Jr. would say love, not hate, will make America great.”

During a visit to East and West Berlin in 1964, the slain civil rights leader made it clear that was not a proponent of using walls to divide people.

“It is indeed an honor to be in this city, which stands as a symbol of the divisions of men on the face of the earth,” King Jr. said in a speech to more than 20,000 people. “For here on either side of the wall are God’s children, and no man-made barrier can obliterate that fact.”

In response to: US reputation will take ‘years to recover’ from Trump presidency, warn experts
John Haltiwanger
The Independent•July 23, 2018

President Donald Trump returned from a trip to Europe this week in which he insulted key US allies and caused a crisis at a NATO summit in Brussels, was met with nationwide protests in the UK, and sided with Russian president Vladimir Putin over the US intelligence community on the subject of election interference during a now infamous press conference in Helsinki.

Once back in the US, Trump on Tuesday walked back on his statements regarding Russian election meddling, stating he believed the conclusion from US intelligence agencies that the Kremlin interfered in the US presidential election, though he also said it could be “other people also”.

But on Wednesday, Trump claimed Russia is not planning future attacks on US elections, directly contradicting statements made by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats earlier this week.
Americans think Trump is ruining their country’s reputation

In this context, many are concerned Trump is doing immense damage to America’s global standing by pushing away allies and taking the word of foreign adversaries over US intelligence agencies.

A majority of Americans (61 per cent) feel the US is less respected across the globe with Trump in the White House, according to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, experts warn it could take “years” for the world to trust the US again as Trump continues to attack the international institutions it played a fundamental role in building following World War Two, especially the NATO alliance and the United Nations.
‘It will take a long time for the world to trust US stability again’

David Rothkopf, a foreign policy expert and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, warned against hyperbolic assessments of the impact Trump can have on America’s place in the world.

“Nothing is irrevocable,” Rothkopf told Business Insider. “Much of America’s global standing is based on factors that Trump won’t or can’t greatly diminish – from the vitality of our economy to our innovation, the strength of our armed forces to our history.”

But Rothkopf also noted that Trump does have the capacity to do “long-term damage to our alliances, our crucial international relationships and the international system that has been essential to our peace and stability since World War Two”.

These relationships could recover quickly, Rothkopf said, but “underfunded institutions” may take longer to recover. What will take longest to address is the “degree to which countries like China or groups of countries like the EU take the lead in our absence”.