Lawmaker Louie Gohmert tests positive for COVID-19 ahead of his visit to Texas with Donald Trump

President Donald Trump's Republican lawmaker, Louie Gohmert has tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday.

Gohmert, who made a habit of walking around the Congress without a mask, was prepared to leave for his native Texas with Donald Trump.

House Democrats were angered by the news and urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to order the wearing of masks on the chamber floor -- with the punishment of removal for anyone disobeying.

The 66-year-old lawmaker was asymptomatic and downplayed his diagnosis.

He has worn a mask in recent weeks and has said on Wednesday that moving it around on his face because it is uncomfortable "puts some germs in the mask" and maybe this caused his infection.

Gohmert was tested in the White House as he was to accompany Trump in a visit to Texas.

"So I'm asymptomatic, I don't have any of the symptoms that are listed as part of COVID-19, but apparently I have the Wuhan virus," Gohmert said in a video using a term that angers China.

According to Gohmert, he has worn the mask more in the last week or two than in all of the past four months (when the pandemic began). He added that he wore a mask during Tuesday's hearing with Barr also. However, he was seen without it a few times during the hearing and was seen walking and talking with Barr.

"Wear a damn mask," said Democratic representative Jennifer Wexton from Virginia.

"I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're a Member of Congress who refuses to wear a mask on Capitol Hill, you're not only putting your colleagues at risk -- you're endangering the staff who works here, including many of my constituents," she said.

(Inputs from AFP)