President Donald Trump on Monday called masks “patriotic” and said on Twitter “there is nobody more Patriotic than me.”
But hours later, he was seen without his patriotism.
Footage from a fundraiser at the Trump International Hotel in Washington shows multiple people in attendance, including the president, without a mask.
Health experts have been calling on people to wear face coverings when in public to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus infection, but Trump has only rarely been seen in one, and has resisted calls for a national mandate.
Trump raised $5 million at the event, according to CBS.
During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claim that the pathogen will simply “disappear” one day.
Meanwhile, his administration’s top public health officials were sounding the alarm about the virus, which they warned would likely have devastating impacts on American lives for months to come.
The US is currently leading the world in known coronavirus infections and deaths, with over 3.8 million cases and 140,000 deaths recorded nationwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.