Bill Stepien

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien sent an email to staff on Friday after President Trump’s positive COVID test, urging them to self-quarantine if they had been exposed to someone with the virus. The President and First Lady Melania Trump apparently became exposed to the virus through adviser Hope Hicks. It is believed Hicks tested positive on Wednesday night, after traveling with the President to Duluth, Minnesota for a rally. ‘In consultation with the White House Medical Unit and our own medical consultants, any campaign staff member who has had exposure to someone testing positive should immediately begin self-quarantine,’ Stepien wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Spectator.

Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is demoting his current campaign manager Brad Parscale to the role of senior adviser and will be putting Bill Stepien in charge of the campaign. The shakeup comes less than four months before Election Day and follows a series of polls showing former vice president Joe Biden with a formidable lead over Trump. The move is not altogether shocking — rumors swirled around DC weeks ago that Trump was growing increasingly unhappy with Parscale's ability to run the campaign amid the coronavirus shutdown and the nationwide riots. The failed rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma only soured the President's view of Parscale further.