AUSTIN (KXAN) — The daughter of U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, says her father has COVID-19 because he “ignored medical expertise.”
“This has been a heartbreaking battle because I love my dad and don’t want him to die,” said Gohmert’s daughter, Caroline, a recording artist also known as BELLSAINT.
The 66-year-old politician was diagnosed ahead of a planned trip with President Donald Trump to the Permian Basin in Texas. The diagnosis forced him to cancel the trip.
In an interview with KETK on Wednesday, Gohmert said he had no symptoms. On Friday, he tweeted that he was taking hydroxychloroquine, the controversial drug touted by Trump as a treatment for COVID-19.
Prior to his diagnosis, Gohmert had been adamant about not wearing a mask around Capitol Hill.
In a statement posted on Twitter, his daughter said “wearing a mask is a non-partisan issue.”
“The advice of medical experts shouldn’t be politicized,” she wrote. “My father ignored medical expertise and now he has COVID.”
She described his battle as “heartbreaking” and urged people to listen to medical experts.
“It’s not worth following a president who has no remorse for leading his followers to an early grave,” she added.
Gohmert is not the only Texas politician to have tested positive for the virus.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican, told the Texas Tribune he was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.
“I truly thought last Friday was gonna be my last,” he told the Tribune in a text message.
He said he is recovering after receiving treatment in a hospital.
