Trump says his lawyer Giuliani, hospitalized with COVID-19, does not have fever

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has tested positive for COVID-19, is doing well in the hospital and does not have a fever, the president said on Monday at the White House.

"Rudy's doing well," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "No temperature, and he actually called me earlier this morning. Was the first call I got."

Giuliani the 76-year-old former New York City mayor tested positive for COVID-19, and is the latest in a long string of people close to the White House, including Trump himself, sickened in a pandemic that has killed more than 280,000 Americans.

Giuliani has been spearheading Trump's floundering effort to overturn his Nov. 3 election loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden through a flurry of lawsuits.

In the last week, that work took Giuliani to Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia. In a string of hearings before state lawmakers, he urged them to overturn Biden's victories in those battleground states.

Giuliani and many other attendees did not wear face masks at the indoor events, which were filled with elected officials, witnesses and journalists.

The Trump campaign said in a statement on Sunday that Giuliani "tested negative twice immediately preceding his trip to Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia."

Trump and Giuliani have repeatedly claimed, contrary to evidence, that the outcome was marred by widespread fraud.

Giuliani said on Twitter on Sunday night that he was "getting great care and feeling good," hours after Trump announced that he former mayor had tested positive for COVID-19.

Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that Giuliani was at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington on Sunday and one said he had been admitted for treatment.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Mike Stone in Washington, D.C. and Jan Wolfe in Boston; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)