US VP Pence tests COVID negative after Trump positive

Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday morning after it was revealed President Trump tested positive for the virus.

The vice president who is the next in to take over the duties of the president should Trump become incapacitated due to illness "remains in good health,"  his spokesman said.

Several members of Trump's Cabinet were undergoing testing for COVID-19 Friday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the fourth in line for the presidency, tested negative shortly before he landed in Croatia. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also tested negative, while Attorney General William Barr was to undergo a test Friday morning.

Multiple White House staffers have previously tested positive for the virus, including Pence's press secretary Katie Miller, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and one of the president's personal valets.

The White House began instituting a daily testing regimen for the president's senior aides after earlier positive cases close to the president. Anyone in close proximity to the president or vice president is also tested every day, including reporters.

While there is currently no indication that Trump is seriously ill, the positive test raises questions about what would happen if he were to become incapacitated due to illness.

The Constitution's 25th Amendment spells out the procedures under which the president can declare himself "unable to discharge the powers and duties" of the presidency. If he were to make that call, Trump would transmit a written note to the Senate president pro tempore, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pence would serve as acting president until Trump transmitted "a written declaration to the contrary."

The vice president and a majority of either the Cabinet or another body established by law can also declare the president unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, in which case Pence would "immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President" until Trump could provide a written declaration to the contrary.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms. But it can cause severe symptoms in and be fatal for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

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