In her upcoming memoir, "Enough," former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson details what it was like to work in close proximity to the former president during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recounting a visit to the Honeywell mask-making factory in Phoenix, Arizona, in May 2020 — after which Trump was criticized for, ironically, not wearing one — Hutchinson claims that his excuse that he "did not wear it after consulting the company chief executive," was not entirely accurate.
According to The Guardian's coverage, Hutchinson writes that Trump "decided on a white mask," then asked staffers for their thoughts on the matter.
"I slowly shook my head," she writes. "The president pulled the mask off and asked why I thought he should not wear it.
"I pointed at the straps of the N95 I was holding. When he looked at the straps of his mask, he saw they were covered in bronzer."
"Why did no one else tell me that," he snapped. "I'm not wearing this thing."
"The press would criticize him for not wearing a mask," Hutchinson furthers, "not knowing that the depth of his vanity had caused him to reject masks – and then millions of his fans followed suit."