A staff member to former President Barack Obama deleted a tweet on Friday, suggesting that she hopes President Donald Trump dies after he announced that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Zara Rahim, who worked in the Office of Digital Strategy for Obama, as well as serving as the national spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, deleted her tweet shortly after being published, but it was seen by a number of people across social media, who shared screenshots of it.
"It's been against my moral identity to tweet this for the past four years, but, I hope he dies," Rahim wrote in the since-deleted tweet.
Rahim's tweet came shortly after Trump announced that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
"Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine together and recovery process immediately," Trump wrote in a tweet published on Thursday night. "We will get through this TOGETHER."
Newsweek reached out to the White House and Rahim for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
According to Yahoo News, Rahim posted another tweet with a selfie of herself featuring a caption that read, "This f****** rules." She has since made her Twitter account private, so any remaining tweets cannot be viewed by the general public.
It was not immediately clear how Trump contracted the novel virus, but the president's announcement came shortly after Bloomberg reported that one of his advisers, Hope Hicks, tested posted for COVID-19, after flying with the president on Air Force One to the first presidential debate on Tuesday.
Despite the positive test from Trump and the first lady, the White House confirmed on Friday that two of his children, Ivanka and Barron Trump, as well as Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner, all tested negative for the novel virus.
Vice President Mike Pence and the second lady, Karen Pence, also tested negative.
Trump's positive COVID-19 test makes him one of the more than 7.2 million Americans that have been infected with the virus. There have also been at least 207,818 deaths caused by the novel virus in the U.S.
A memo released by the White House physician Sean Conley stated that both Trump and the first lady were "both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence."
This story has been updated with additional information and background.
