Trump responds to report that he tested positive for COVID before debate, says 'Biden goes around coughing on people all over the place'

• Former President Donald Trump responded to recent revelations about his 2020 COVID diagnosis.
• Trump insisted he was not contagious with the virus at the first presidential debate.
• "Biden goes around coughing on people all over the place," Trump added.

In a statement Monday morning, former President Donald Trump denied revelations from his own former chief of staff's book on the updated timeline of his COVID-19 infection from October 2020.

"The Fake News continues to push the false narrative that I had Covid prior to the first debate," Trump said, in response to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' account of the then-president first testing positive for the virus on Sept. 26.

"Biden goes around coughing on people all over the place, and yet the Corrupt News doesn't even cover it," Trump said later in the statement.

Last week, after catching what the White House described as a cold, Biden delivered remarks on Friday with a noticeable change in his voice, coughing at several points while reporters wearing masks were off to the side of the podium. The White House also said Biden tested negative for COVID-19 three times after first showing cold-like symptoms.

Given the Meadows disclosure, Trump may have exposed Gold Star families to the virus at an event he would later blame for where he thought he contracted the virus.

Meadows has since described reporting on excerpts from his own book as "fake news." Trump's denial and Meadows' subsequent attempt at clarification does not disprove Meadows' recounting of the former president's initial positive test.