Steakhouse staffers quarantining after catering Trump fundraiser

Thirteen employees of a Minneapolis steakhouse are quarantining after the restaurant catered a fundraiser that President Trump attended during a campaign visit to Minnesota last week. 

Murray’s Restaurant, located in downtown Minneapolis, catered the fundraiser at the home of Cambria CEO Marty Davis. Approximately 40 donors paid $200,000 per couple or $100,000 per person to attend the event last Wednesday and meet the president, The Associated Press reported.

Trump announced last Friday morning that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19. The president was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center later in the day, although he returned to the White House on Monday.

The restaurant said in a statement that “at no point did any staff come in close proximity to the president,” during the fundraiser. 

“Upon learning of the president’s positive COVID-19 test, we immediately enacted a 14-day quarantine for all staff who worked the party. Additionally, each staff member who worked the party will be tested for COVID-19,” the restaurant said, according to the AP. 

A spokesperson for the restaurant told the news service that it is still operating normally. 

One of the event attendees, philanthropist Helene Houle, told the AP that none of the guests got closer than six feet to the president, adding that attendees were tested for COVID-19 in their cars before the event.

Houle added that dinner was not served until the president left for a rally in Duluth, Minn.

A slate of Republican lawmakers and top aides to the president tested positive for the virus last week, including White House adviser Hope Hicks, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), among others.

Three Minnesota lawmakers who flew with the president on Air Force One to his rally in Duluth and back to Washington, D.C., said Friday that they tested negative for the virus. 

The Hill has reached out to Murray’s Restaurant for comment.