Secret Service was hit with COVID-19 outbreak at its Maryland training base in August where 11 tested positive after graduation ceremonies where social distancing rules were flouted

The Secret Service was hit with a COVID-19 outbreak at its Maryland training base back in August with at least 11 workers testing positive for the virus after attending graduation ceremonies where social distancing rules were flouted.

Anonymous officials close to the matter revealed the virus spread through the base in rural Maryland even after it had been shuttered for several months to limit the risk of an outbreak, according to independent watchdog group the Project on Government Oversight and first reported by The New York Times. 

The revelation comes as Donald Trump appeared to point the blame for Hope Hicks's COVID-19 diagnosis on the military and law enforcement personnel Thursday, hours before he also tested positive for the virus.  

The Secret Service was hit with a COVID-19 outbreak at its Maryland training base back in August with at least 11 workers testing positive for the virus after attending graduation ceremonies where social distancing rules were flouted

The virus is thought to have spread among Secret Service workers at the base in August during training exercises and at a graduation ceremony at a nearby hotel where social distancing was not practiced, the sources said.

The agency told the Times it 'has taken significant precautions at its training center to protect the health and welfare of its trainees and training staff.'  

The outbreak among Secret Service agents in August is just the latest in a string of cases rocking the agency in recent months.   

In July, several agents contract the virus causing Vice President Mike Pence to change his plans to travel to Arizona. 

This came after at least two other Secret Service members tested positive for coronavirus after working at Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June. 

Rick Nelson, a former National Security Council official, said the nature of the job puts agents at increased risk because they are required to work closely with the people they protect including traveling nationwide on their clients' whims.

'They have a relatively small work force that doesn't allow them to absorb and respond to the fluctuation,' Nelson told the Times.  

'They're at higher risk than the general public because they can't do their job if they're social distancing.'

Anonymous officials close to the matter revealed the virus spread through the base in rural Maryland, according to independent watchdog group the Project on Government Oversight and first reported by The New York Times. Pictured Trump at the base in 2017

The virus is thought to have spread among Secret Service workers at the base in August during training exercises and at a graduation ceremony at a nearby hotel where social distancing was not practiced. Trump and Melania at the base in 2017

The Secret Service training facility was shuttered from March through to June as the pandemic ravaged America.

It reopened with safety protocols in place including holding classes outdoors and temperature checking people at the facility.  

'Any US Secret Service employee who may have tested positive would have been immediately isolated and returned home and out of the working environment. Considerations would also be taken to ensure the least amount of contact with the public,' Julia McMurray, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, told the Times. 

'Throughout the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service has taken significant precautions at its training center to protect the health and welfare of its trainees and training staff.'    

The outbreak at the agency responsible for providing personal protection to Trump comes several weeks before the president and First Lady Melania Trump were infected with the virus.  

There is no indication the outbreak is connected in any way to the outbreak among the White House inner circle.

There is also no indication any of the agency workers infected came into contact with any agents and officers who work closely with the president. 

The revelation comes as Donald Trump appeared to point the blame for Hope Hicks's COVID-19 diagnosis on the military and law enforcement personnel Thursday, hours before he also tested positive for the virus in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity

However, Trump appeared to blame military and law enforcement for Hicks contracting the virus in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.  

The president spoke to Hannity Thursday soon after the White House confirmed Hicks, his close adviser, had tested positive for COVID-19.

'It is very, very hard when you are with people from the military, or from law enforcement, and they come over to you, and they want to hug you, and they want to kiss you because we really have done a good job for them,' Trump said offering an explanation for her exposure to the virus.

'You get close, and things happen.'  

Just hours later he and Melania also tested positive Thursday night. 

His comments came amid a fraught few weeks in his relationship with the military. 

Last month, he was forced to deny a bombshell report from The Atlantic and credited to four separate military sources that he had made offensive remarks about the US war dead and military veterans, calling them 'suckers' and 'losers'. 

The report said he cancelled a visit to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in November 2018 because he was worried his hair would be ruined by the rain.

Then in a conversation with senior staff before the planned visit, Trump reportedly asked aides: 'Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.'

During the same trip, the president allegedly called the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives in the Battle of Belleau Wood in France 'suckers' for getting killed. 

Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House after returning from an event in Bedminster, New Jersey, Thursday evening

Hours later he confirmed he and Melania had tested positive for coronavirus

The president and senior members of his administration have strongly denied all the allegations.  

Trump announced in the early hours of Friday that he and Melania had tested positive for coronavirus.

His doctor announced Friday he has been treated with a 'cocktail' of antibodies produced by Regeneron and that he is 'fatigued' but otherwise in good spirits.

Trump tested positive hours after he returned from a campaign fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club where he is believed to have come into contact with at least 100 people. 

It raised $5million for his campaign, which has now canceled all future events in light of the president's diagnosis.

With a busy presidential schedule, Trump and Hicks have come into contact with a number of other high-profile officials and members of the public in the last week. On Saturday he held an event to announce his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this month

Questions are now being asked over why Trump plowed ahead with plans to attend the fundraiser after the White House confirmed Trump knew Hicks had tested positive before he flew to the event and after he spent much of the last week with her.  

With a busy presidential schedule, Trump and Hicks have come into contact with a number of other high-profile officials and members of the public in the last week.  

In that time, Trump has traveled across seven states including New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Minneapolis, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Georgia, as well as the DC. 

He has taken part in three campaign rallies, has taken four round-trips on Air Force One and at least two flights on Marine One. 

He also took part in the presidential debate against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, which he traveled to with at least 20 people.

He also held a number of press conferences - including to formally nominate his Supreme Court pick - and attended several fundraisers, including one just hours before his positive diagnosis was revealed.  

Multiple attendees at Saturday's Supreme Court nomination ceremony at the White House have now tested positive for the virus including Trump, Melania, Hicks, Utah Senator Mike Lee and Rev. John Jenkins, President of University of Notre Dame, sparking concerns this could have been a virus hotbed.