Managing Shareholder, Alan Lescht, was featured in Business Insider following President Trump’s return to the White House from his treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after testing positive for COVID-19. Business Insider quoted Alan Lescht on the Trump Administration’s liability for hosting press conferences and placing reporters required to work within and around the White House grounds at undue risk.
Alan explained that while reporters “might be able to claim the White House was negligent,” proving so would be extremely difficult due to several factors, like the complexity of contact tracing during a pandemic and proving how they actually contracted COVID-19. Also, Alan explained that White House reporters generally cannot file unsafe work environment claims against the White House since they’re considered guests; not White House employees. For reporters, it is likely that the only valid claim they have would be against the news outlets that assigned them to an unsafe work environment.
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