President Donald J. Trump tested positive for coronavirus three days before his first debate with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, two former administration officials said Wednesday.

两名前政府官员周三表示，在2020年与拜登进行首场辩论的三天前，特朗普总统的新冠病毒检测呈阳性。

The White House did not announce the positive test at the time, and the president received a negative result shortly afterward and carried on with a campaign rally and the debate, the officials said. The account was first reported by The Guardian, which cited a forthcoming book by Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

The two former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, confirmed the timeline on Mr. Trump’s test results contained in “The Chief’s Chief,” by Mr. Meadows, Mr. Trump’s fourth and final White House chief of staff.

这两名前官员因未获授权公开讨论此事而不愿透露姓名，他们证实了特朗普第四任也是最后一任白宫幕僚长梅多斯所写的《首领的首领》(The Chief’s Chief)一书中关于特朗普检测结果的时间线。

The revelation came more than a year after widespread speculation that Mr. Trump was sick when he first shared a stage with Mr. Biden for their first presidential debate on Sept. 29, months into the pandemic.

The White House declined repeatedly at the time to give a precise chronology of when precisely Mr. Trump first received a positive coronavirus test result. The administration first told the public in the early hours of Oct. 2 that Mr. Trump had tested positive. Mr. Trump was hospitalized later that same day.

Mr. Trump’s positive result was revealed only after a top adviser, Hope Hicks, was reported to be sick with Covid-19. At the time, Mr. Trump intimated in an interview with Fox News that Ms. Hicks might have given him the virus.

特朗普的阳性结果是在高级顾问霍普·希克斯被报道感染新冠病毒后才公布的。当时，特朗普在接受福克斯新闻采访时暗示，希克斯可能把病毒传染给了他。

But Mr. Meadows wrote in his book that three days earlier, on Sept. 26, Mr. Trump received a positive test shortly before departing the White House for Air Force One to travel to Pennsylvania for a rally. The White House doctor, Sean Conley, called to deliver the news. “Mr. President,” Mr. Meadows writes that he told Mr. Trump, “I’ve got some bad news. You’ve tested positive for Covid-19.”

但梅多斯在他的书中写道，三天前，也就是9月26日，特朗普在离开白宫乘坐空军一号前往宾夕法尼亚州参加集会前不久收到了结果为阳性的检测报告。白宫医生肖恩·康利打电话来通知他。“总统先生，”梅多斯在书中提到康利对特朗普说，“我有一些坏消息。你的新冠检测结果是阳性的。”

Mr. Trump’s response rhymed with “‘Oh spit, you’ve gotta be trucking lidding me,’” Mr. Meadows wrote. The day of the positive result was the day that Mr. Trump held a large Rose Garden event announcing his nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.

特朗普的回答发音接近“啊，靠，你特么逗我呢”，梅多斯写道。当天，特朗普在白宫玫瑰园举行了大型活动，宣布提名艾米·科尼·巴雷特为大法官。

According to The Guardian, Mr. Meadows wrote that the positive test was taken with an older testing kit, and that the new one was the “Binax system, and that we were hoping the first test was a false positive.” Mr. Trump took the second result as “full permission to press on as if nothing had happened,” Mr. Meadows wrote, according to The Guardian. Mr. Meadows asserted in the book that he “instructed everyone in his immediate circle to treat him as if he was positive” during that trip.

据《卫报》报道，梅多斯写道，结果为阳性的那次检测是使用一种较旧的工具进行的，而新的检测工具是“Binax系统，我们希望第一次检测是假阳性”。据《卫报》报道，梅多斯写道，特朗普觉得第二次的结果让他“完全可以继续前进，就像什么都没发生过一样”。梅多斯在书中坚称，在那次旅行中，自己“指示他（特朗普）身边的每个人都要把他当成检测结果为阳性的人”。

The two former officials who confirmed the positive test did not recall Mr. Meadows giving such a directive. And a few hours after the positive test was received, Mr. Trump walked to the back of Air Force One and chatted with reporters, not wearing a mask. One of the reporters, who works for The New York Times, later tested positive for the virus.

确认检测结果为阳性的两名前官员不记得梅多斯曾下达过这样的指令。在收到阳性检测结果的几个小时后，特朗普没戴口罩就走到空军一号后部和记者们交谈。其中一名为《纽约时报》工作的记者后来的病毒检测结果为阳性。

The day after the positive result, Mr. Trump attended an event for military families.

在收到阳性结果的第二天，特朗普出席了一个为军人家庭举办的活动。

Mr. Meadows wrote in his book that Mr. Trump appeared physically off around the time of that test, although by the time of the first debate against Mr. Biden, he seemed a little better.

梅多斯在书中写道，在那次检测前后，特朗普似乎身体有些不适，不过在和拜登做第一场辩论时似乎又好了一点。

“His face, for the most part at least, had regained its usual light bronze hue, and the gravel in his voice was gone,” Mr. Meadows wrote, according to The Guardian. “But the dark circles under his eyes had deepened. As we walked into the venue around five o’clock in the evening, I could tell that he was moving more slowly than usual. He walked like he was carrying a little extra weight on his back.”

“至少在大多数情况下，他的脸恢复了通常的浅铜色，声音里的沙哑也消失了，”据《卫报》报道，梅多斯写道。“但是他的黑眼圈加深了。我们傍晚5点左右走进会场时，我能感觉到他走得比平时慢。他走起路来背比平时要压得低一些。”

In a statement released by his office, Mr. Trump replied, “The story of me having Covid prior to, or during, the first debate is Fake News. In fact, a test revealed that I did not have Covid prior to the debate.”

特朗普通过其办公室发布的一份声明中回应说：“关于我在第一场辩论之前或辩论期间感染新冠病毒的报道是假新闻。事实上，一项检测显示，在辩论之前，我并没有感染新冠病毒。”

Mr. Trump did not address when he had received a positive test. Mr. Trump was not independently tested right before the first debate.

特朗普没有谈及他何时收到了结果为阳性的检测报告。特朗普在第一次辩论之前并没有接受独立检测。