CPAC scrambles to contain coronavirus fallout

High-profile attendees who did not interact with the infected attendee received assurances from organizers that they were not directly exposed, according to a person privy to those communications, while rank-and-file attendees have had to settle for vague emails from organizers.

Walters denied that organizers are providing preferential communication to elected officials.

„We find ourselves in this position in the middle of having to play this role in the middle of a public health situation. We’re going to be as transparent as is possible,” he said. “And that’s a reflection of our values and how we deal with the public and with the media.“

“At a time like this, communication needs to be fast, up to the minute and precise,” said conservative media personality Raheem Kassam, who has voiced his concerns publicly on Twitter, saying he has fallen ill since attending the conference and struggled to get access to coronavirus testing. Kassam, who spoke from the CPAC main stage in 2017, has said on Twitter that the infected person had access to a green room, backstage where speakers waited for their public appearances.

That was not accurate, according to Walters. „The person had an elevated ticket, but that does not allow him to go into the green room,“ he said. A $5,750 gold ticket package provides attendees “Private access to the Gold Lounge,” which is next to the speaker’s green room, according to CPAC’s website.

The ticket provides access to a number of private events, including “priority seating” at the Ronald Reagan dinner, a Wednesday night event that often features high-profile participants. Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, among others, spoke at this year’s Reagan dinner, which took place in the main ballroom. Walters said the man did not attend the Wednesday night dinner.

Gosar’s chief of staff, Tom Van Flein, said the man met Gosar and his entourage on Thursday afternoon as they exited the green room area and walked with them down a hallway, engaging in a 15- to 20-minute conversation. The other three lawmakers who have been publicly identified as having contact with the infected man also spoke at CPAC on Thursday. Other Thursday speakers included Sen. Mike Lee and Vice President Mike Pence. Walters said Pence did not have contact with the infected man. CPAC organizers contacted Lee and told him he did not have contact with the infected man, according to the Utah senator’s communications director, Conn Carroll.

„CPAC is handling it exactly the wrong way,” said conservative social media agitator Mike Cernovich, who did not attend the conference itself but hosted a “Night for Freedom” party during the event.

Cernovich said the person who was infected did not come to his party, but that members of the group the man attended the conference with did.

“There’s one tier of people with information and another tier without,” said Jack Posobiec, a correspondent for the conservative One America News Network who said he briefly attended the site of this year’s conference. Posobiec, who has been retweeted by the president in the past despite a penchant for promoting conspiracy theories, said questions and concerns about exposure at the conference were gripping pro-Trump grassroots circles. “Of course my phone’s been blowing up,” he said. OANN has been a sponsor of CPAC in past years.

Kimberly Klacik, a Republican activist running for the House from Maryland, also complained about a lack of information for less prominent conference attendees. „So, at @CPAC I had a table, met hundreds, shook hands with hundreds. My daughter has been sick for a week. I have to cancel today’s events because of it,“ she tweeted on Tuesday. „Gaetz & other VIPs get to know who the individual is, however little people like me can’t know?“

Multiple people remarked on an email sent to conference attendees on Saturday informing them that an unnamed attendee had tested positive at a New Jersey hospital after being exposed to the virus before CPAC. “This attendee had no interaction with the president or the vice president and never attended the events in the main hall,” read the email, which urged anyone with questions to contact the Maryland Department of Health. A follow-up email on Sunday assured attendees that no one else has yet tested positive in connection with CPAC.

„What annoys me is CPAC spends the whole fucking email reassuring me that Trump is fine and not anything about the person in question or whether we, who attended are fine,” said a former Trump administration official who attended CPAC. “Have something in there about contacting CDC if you have symptoms or something. I don’t care about Trump’s health.“

Van Flein said Gosar was informed of his exposure to the infected man by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in a phone call. McCarthy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Van Flein said on Monday afternoon that Gosar and his aides who were present for interactions with the man had not developed symptoms.

On Monday, Collins and Gaetz said they had been informed Monday that they had had contact with the infected man and were undergoing self-quarantines.

Reporters for POLITICO who covered the event have self-quarantined, as have those from a handful of other outlets, according to a report in Washingtonian magazine.

ACU President Matt Schlapp, along with his wife, Mercedes, a former White House communications aide now working for Trump’s reelection campaign, are both under self-quarantine, according to a Republican familiar with the situation. Walters said ACU officials were working from home on Monday “out of an abundance of caution.” Neither immediately responded to requests for comment.

A former ACU staffer with direct knowledge of the group’s multiyear contract with the event’s host venue, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland, said it includes a “force majeure” clause that allows the group to postpone the event in the event of an epidemic, although the former staffer noted that such venues are often booked in advance, making rescheduling difficult in practice.

ACU Executive Director Dan Schneider referred a request for comment to Walters, who said he was unfamiliar with any such clause.

The former ACU staffer said that tiered access to the event has been a contentious issue at CPAC in years past. Sponsors are often eager to get access to the group’s high-profile speakers, some organizers see charging for access as a potential revenue stream, and board members have enjoyed the privileges of that access. But other organizers have sought to limit access, partly for security reasons, the person said.

Walter said overwhelming demand for the conference this year led organizers to create additional tiered levels of access.

Top White House leaders brought up the virus during their appearances at the conference to tout their response and spin coverage of the outbreak.

On Feb. 28, then-acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney downplayed the threat of coronavirus during an appearance at CPAC, and accused Democrats and the media of hyping the threat. “The reason you’re seeing so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president,” he said.

In his own appearance at the conference a day later, Trump made similar comments about Democrats, but defended his handling of the crisis, saying his administration “has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to control our borders and protect Americans from the coronavirus.”

Daniel Lippman and Tina Nguyen contributed to this report.

Source: politico.com
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