Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20201002

Two, took too long. One, not only should we have found out about this on wednesday night when they did because she was in contact with a lot of people and we have one commander in chief. But, two, why is he waiting on a test now . Why havent they tested him already . This is the president of the United States. He couldnt get tested any sooner than this. Mmhmm. Well, he is saying tonight i think i think this is extraordinary because we have the president of the United States who says i cannot, i just cant see sitting there at the resolute desk wearing a mask. You know, after some time, he was forced into wearing it, just a couple of times. I think weve seen him wear it two, maybe maybe three times. All of two or three three times. And then, you know, going on to have rallies in places that are spiking at the moment or have have surges in in covid cases at the moment. And then having hope hicks, who has been the in very close contact with the president on air force one, in meetings, in the west wing, so on and so forth. And now he is admitting that he has been tested and now going to possibly have to selfquarantine. He and the first lady. I just think its extraordinary because for so long he was saying its a hoax. This is gonna go away. People shouldnt have that big a concern, especially when its outside in the warm months. And now we have this pocket wssy with the president. We certainly hope that he and the first lady are okay and we hope that hope hicks is okay. And their kids. And their kids. And their son. And anyone who has been near them. So, look, its also a window into how screwed up our testing is. Mmhmm. The timeline doesnt make sense. That could just be simple political obfuscation. I cant believe they would know hope hicks is positive. Since wednesday. Its too dangerous. If they say they found out wednesday night, i thought they were all tested in the mornings. Yeah. I cant believe the turnaround is that long for the white house. Talk about a sad commentary about testing in this country. If they tested later so they got the results later, they say she quarantined on the way back wednesday night. 2003 believe that . Yeah. Or is that a convenient way of them saying, no, we always took care of it the right way . Its suspicious. Then 24 hours they tell us nothing. And now 24 hours, the president hasnt been tested . Well, listen, i think thats important. I think the big news, again, is the president may have to selfquarantine, and but thats how it should be. Thats how it should be. And if she had had a mask on. Yeah. And if he had had a mask on, chance this is more about a person at the top setting the example. If the president had said if he had made it mandatory in his meetings when hes in contact with her to wear a mask, then we may not be in this situation. Just needed to pull a biden. If he had had that mask on everywhere, nobody would be making fun of him because hes the only one who makes cracks about masks. And just back from a big rally last night. Hed be much safer. When they figured this out. Is he still going to go to the rallies. I got to run, though. Doesnt mean he doesnt have it. Yep, thats true. Go ahead, brother. I got to get to kaitlan and also jonathan reiner. Thank you very much, chris. See you soon. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. Here is our breaking news. The president of the United States awaiting the result of his covid test after his top aide, hope hicks, tests positive for the coronavirus. Lets go right to cnns White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins and our medical analyst dr. Jonathan reiner. Good evening to both of you. This is the breaking news, kaitlan. So lets play what the president just said about this on sean hannity, and then well discuss. Here it is. So, she did test positive. I just heard about this. She tested positive. Shes a hard worker. A lot of masks. She wears masks a lot, but she tested positive. And i just went out with a test. Ill see, you know, because we spent a lot of time and the first lady just went out with a test also. So whether we quarantine or whether we have it, i dont know. You know, its very hard. When youre with soldiers, when youre with airmen, youre with the marines and im with and the police officers, im with them so much. And when they come over to you, its very hard to say, stay back, stay back. You know, its a tough kind of a situation. Its a terrible thing. So i just went for a test and well see what happens. I mean, who knows. But, you know hope very well. Shes fantastic and shes done a great job. But its very, very hard when you are with people from the military or from Law Enforcement and they come over to you and they they want to hug you and they want to kiss you because we really have done a good job for them. And you get close and things happen. I was surprised to hear with hope, but shes a very warm person with them and she she knows theres a risk, but shes young, and i just i just went out for a test. They just do it. It will come back later, i guess. And the first lady also. Because we spent a lot of time with hope, and others. So well see what happens, but ill get my test back either tonight or tomorrow morning. Okay. So, kaitlan, he gets the test back tonight or tomorrow morning. You will have the news on that, im sure, as soon as it happens. So hes awaiting these results. This is a major, major development. Reporter i mean, don, it is shocking. That is the president admitting on television in an interview that he just did that he does not know if he has coronavirus and whether or not he got it from a top aide that he works very closely with. Now, for just time purposes here, we found out it was about two hours ago that it was first reported by bloomberg that hope hicks had tested positive for coronavirus. We reported it and confirmed it shortly thereafter. Weve seen the news developments since then. The president is saying that has of 10 00 p. M. , he does not know if he has coronavirus. He says he hasnt gotten the results of his test back yet, and the white house has the tests that can let you know in 15 minutes or so whether or not you are positive or negative. So its not clear why the president still doesnt have a result, but, of course, thats a major question. Because this happened yesterday, of course. We know that she was on the plane with the president to his rally in minnesota yesterday. She flew back. Cuomo is saying that she quarantined on the plane. And was seated separately from other people and that they found out yesterday. Of course, a lot of people didnt find out until today. But the question is, if the president was around someone who tested positive for coronavirus, he still went to a fundraiser at his golf club in new jersey today that was indoors, don. And, of course, the president does not wear a mask. We are very wellaware of that. And so its just shocking to hear the president say that he did go to a fundraiser today, but he does not know still as of 10 00 p. M. Whether he tested positive and got a negative result. And, of course, a negative result doesnt guarantee anything. Kaitlan, were looking at images. We saw some video. This is a getty image of them walking id imagine towards marine one. Towards or away . No one. Towards. No one wearing a mask. Theres hope hicks not wearing a mask. There is Stephen Miller, no mask. There is Jared Kushner not wearing a mask. And everyone in close contact. So, its interesting because he is saying that shes, you know, in contact with people in the military. They want to hug her and so on and so forth. That sort of behave behavior should be discouraged by the president , the administration. That goes against their own guidelines of what people should be doing at the moment. She is traveling with the president. She traveled with him as recently as yesterday. Go through this timeline with us, kaitlan. Reporter but also, the other result or the other guidance that you get from the president s only medical experts is that if you come in close contact with someone who has tested positive, you should quarantine. The president has clearly come into close contact with hope hicks because they got on that helicopter. Its a very small helicopter and they all rode together. Shouldnt Jared Kushner, shouldnt Stephen Miller, shouldnt they be quarantining at well . Reporter yeah, were still trying to report out whether or not these aides are going to quarantine, but also the president still went to an event today knowing he had been around someone who tested positive. Hes got another rally scheduled in orlando tomorrow night. Hes got more rallies scheduled in wisconsin this week. So it is raising so many questions about the president. Trying to defend the fact that hope hicks got coronavirus and, of course, its a highly contiguous disease. That is what medical experts have been saying on cnn. Theres the president caitlan, i dont mean to interrupt you. There is the president getting on to marine one, a confined space, not wearing a mask, right after the his aides got on the plane as well, and the person who has tested positive, confirmed to test positive for coronavirus, hope hicks. Getting on to well, he got on before and theyre coming in after. Yeah, and, of course, hope hicks go on, kaitlan. Don, i just got to say, shes very close to the president. One of his closest confidants, not just a top aide in the west wing. Obviously the precaution people wanted to take is not get the president of the United States infect with coronavirus, but this just raises so many questions about the president s actions here. And the nonchalant manner in which he was talking about tonight, come into contact with someone who did test positive. We were told behind the scenes after his valet tested positive, he was not nonchalant about the matter, so it just raises so many questions like whether or not the president is still going to get on the plane and go to florida tomorrow. He said in that interview he doesnt know if he and the first lady need to quarantine. And basically said theyll find out tonight or in the morning. But, listen, those rapid tests take about 15 minutes. Were going to get to the medical angle of this and get the facts on that with dr. Jonathan reiner in just a moment, but, kaitlan, i just want to stay with you for a minute here. Two things. I understand from my source that she is shes feeling the symptoms and she is quarantined at home right now, correct . Reporter yes. So she is symptomatic. This is not one of those cases where you just found out because youve been tested as we know so many people have. She actually has symptoms, were told by multiple sources. Of course you have one as well. She is at home in washington, quarantining, were told. The question is whether or not the Jared Kushners, the dan scavinos, the people right there with her getting on the plane yesterday and riding with them to minnesota, not a short plane ride and coming back, what theyre going to do to take precautions as well, because that is the guidance. And kaitlan. If you come in close, sustained contact you should quarantine. Kaitlan, this is as close you get to the president. No one is closer in the west wing with the exception of his family members than hope hicks. She works incredibly close with the president. She does not often wear a mask inside the west wing or on air force one, were told by sources. She was part of the debate prep was the president was getting ready for cleveland. She went to cleveland. She went to minnesota yesterday. Shes traveled with him a lot in the last several days so, of course, thats going to raise a whole slew of questions for the medical experts and about the president s schedule. And it just goes to show this is something we hear in the white house, they say they dont need to wear a mask and they dont need to social distance because theyre tested regularly. Testing does not give you immunity to coronavirus. So we are seeing it pointblank, just because you are tested on a daily basis does not mean youre not going to get coronavirus. So theyll somehow find out in this advanced way where you wont be able to infect other people. This is exactly what experts have been saying is the problem with the white house strategy. We are seeing it come to life here with the president saying he does not know if hes negative or if hes positive. Yeah. Listen, for those of you who are just tuning in, heres the deal. Hope hicks, who is a top aide to the president , works very closely with him in the west wing, travels with him. There you see her there in that photograph, getting boarding marine one on wednesday with the president. No masks. No one wearing i mask. On to the helicopter. Now she has tested positive. The president of the United States and the first lady, according to the president who just did an interview, both just had covid tests and are awaiting the result. As kaitlan said so aptly just a couple of minutes ago, the president of the United States has had a test, does not know if he is positive or negative for coronavirus at this moment. Hes awaiting the results and they both, the first lady and the president , and maybe those who have been in close contact with him may have to and hope hicks. May have to selfquarantine. Another question for you, kaitlan, and, doctor, were going to get to you in just moments. Plenty of time here. He this president often makes fun of joe biden for Wearing Masks, right . But he was in fairly close contact with joe biden and others the other night at the debate. What about those people that he may have put in danger . Thats the question. And that is why medical experts say to take these precautions. And also, look at what the president has been saying in his public comments. Today he just said that we are nearing the end of coronavirus. Hours later, we find out that one of his top aides and closest confidants has tested positive for coronavirus. It goes to show we are not near the end of it. We are very much still in the middle of it, as experts have said, and that is why there has been so much focus on the white house throwing caution to the wind and their scatter shot approach to dealing with covid. Because for a period, you had to wear a mask to get into the west wing, but you didnt have to wear it when you were at your desk. Theyve totally done away with that notion. For a period, most people a lot of people were getting tested. They were doing temperature checks. That has gone away and now its only the senior staff that meets with the president that is getting tested. So they have taken this approach that has been all over the place when often people who work for cabinet secretaries or top officials dont want to wear a mask because their boss isnt wearing one and, of course, the person who does that the most is donald trump. If he insisted everyone who came into the oval office had to wear a mask, things would be different, but hi doesne doesn that. He says he wears a mask, when needed. In his opinion, thats on very few occasions and mocks his political opponents for Wearing Masks, even though Health Experts have said thats what you should do. Of course this is not hope hicks fault. This is a highly contiguous disease. That is what we have been told by the medical experts for going on, what is it, eight months now . But, of course, the questions it raises is the precautions they are not taking inside the west wing to protect the leader of the free world from getting coronavirus. And that is what we have been reporting for months and months and months and the president happens been calling it fake news and saying its a hoax. Dr. Reiner, thank you for waiting patiently. Now lets get to the medical part of this. Sure. Youre the expert. I have a lot of questions for you. First of all, as you see the video there of them getting on to marine one with the president not Wearing Masks. Are they possibly exposed as well . Do they need to selfquarantine . Do they need to have tests . Yeah, absolutely. So what we know is that your you become contiguous probably 48 hours before symptom onset. So we know that ms. Hicks and by the way, let me just start by saying i wish ms. Hicks the best. I wish her a speedy recovery, as im sure everybody does. But she became symptomatic, apparently, last night. So we know she was likely contiguous as early as monday night and shes been with the president all week. Now, marine one is a very it a very small aircraft. So everyone on that aircraft has been exposed to the virus. We know that. With clarity. And i would suggest that a lot of people on air force one have been exposed to the virus. Cdc guidelines for this are pretty clear. Everyone who has had a close exposure to somebody who is a has a is a known infection should quarantine for 14 days. So the entire staff who traveled with the president this week should be quarantining for 14 days. The president of the United States should be quarantining for 14 days. Important for the continuity of government is that the president and Vice President should not be together now for 14 days. To prevent both the president and the Vice President from contracting the virus. The president s trips should be cancelled. It was irresponsible to plan a trip to wisconsin, which is the hottest of the hot zones in the United States before this. Now you cant bring a team of people who likely have been exposed to the virus to already to a hot zone. The trips all those trips should be cancelled. This is just this is Standard Practice now. It would be irresponsible for the president to do anything other than that. Testing negative today, which i hope he is negative today, doesnt mean hell be negative tomorrow or the day after. Yeah. The incubation period for this virus is anywhere between 5 and 14 days. Doctor, were going to were going to stay were going to stay with you, doctor. Kaitlan, thank you. Kaitlans going to go do some more reporting for us and then shes going to get back to us. Here we are with the breaking news about hope hicks and the president and the first lady now getting covid tests. Hope hicks is now a top aide to the president. Very close. Has now tested positive for the coronavirus. Is, according to sources, at home and also feeling the symptoms of coronavirus. According to our dr. Reiner here, the its 48 hours before you start feeling the symptoms that you are the most contiguous. My question is now, im sure the biden folks are asking if they should be thinking about whether the former Vice President joe biden had any potential exposure. That he may have been exposed. I know the podiums were far apart, but they were in the same room, air conditioning, duration, swirling around, yelling at each other for 90 minutes with, you know, the air swirling there. That is not good. So what do you make of that, dr. Reiner and. Yeah, so youre probably most contiguous the day you develop symptoms, but you are contiguous likely 48 hours up to that. Which would certainly include the debate night. Look, the trump team refused to wear masks in the hall. That you can see how outrageous that was. It was outrageous before we knew that a member of that team was already positive. I think that the risk to the Vice President , you know, in that hall, not within six feet of of ms. Hicks is likely small. Im sure his team will surveil him closely. If he did not have a close contact with her, if he was not within six feet of her then he does not need to quarantine. But the entire team with the president should be quarantining for 14 days. Thats cdc guidelines. It is its not debatable. The virus the virus has a 5 to 14day incubation period. One other thing i want to say about testing of the president is undoubtedly they know whether the ambassador i. D. Now test, the rapid test is positive or negative. If theyre not releasing the result, it may be that they are verifying either a positive or negative test with the a more sensitive, more reliable pcr test. That takes about an hour and a half to come back, which they would undoubtedly send out to walter reed and wait for the results. So the president may be waiting for it to be confirmed, either positive or negative before discussing that. You think they already have a result . No, he undoubtedly has a result. The result is a 15minute test so they already have the result. If you know, if i were testing him, i would test him both with the rapid test and then the more Gold Standard test which takes about 90 minutes to get back, and undoubtedly theyre doing that. Okay. So if he was just recently exposed, right, say the other night or, you know, in the west wing, whenever. The other night. Wednesday. Well, they know she tested positive on wednesday. But would he know by now . Would he would he test positive . Or even if he tests negative at this moment, does it does that still mean he doesnt have it . So it would depend on when he contracted it. Okay. First of all, i hope the president does not have the virus. And i said that at the top of the show. We hope all of them are okay. We said that. And this is not, you know, anyone can get it. You or i can get it. Anyone can get it. Even if we, you know, do everything right, sometimes people get it. But this is, as you know, about this administration and really about the president. Because it comes from the top. The president has downplayed the wearing of masks and social distancing and opening back up. And on so. And look at the picture there. Stephen miller just kind of smiling and hope hicks there there is Jared Kushner, dan scavino, walking on to marine one, just kind of smiling. No masks. Just walking. Right. And the president gets on no mask as well. So go on. So it depends on when the president contracted the virus. Or so if he was infected with the virus on lets say debate night, tuesday night, then he would be negative today, probably. He would still probably be negative today. This is why we, you know, the incubation period for the virus is somewhere between 5 to 14 days. I think that thats why he needs to quarantine then . Thats why he needs to quarantine. Let me ask you, what about the what about the folks on marine one . What about the pilot . What about the the military folk who greet him or who also ride with him . All of the people who are in contact with the president . They should all be out of commission. Anyone in the west wing should be out of commission . Anyone anyone who was in close contact with hope hicks, anyone who was in a room with her within six feet for more than 15 minutes should be on home quarantine for two weeks. What if they were not in contact with her but were in contact with Stephen Miller or Jared Kushner or President Trump . No, if they were in contact with a secondary contact, they just need to monitor their own symptoms. They do not need to quarantine, but if they had a firstperson contact with her, they should be quarantining for 14 days. Its its not its not debatable. Its just solid practice. This is how you keep the virus from from spreading. But, listen, i got to get a break in, but just your overall what do you what do you make of this, doctor . What is your overall it was bound to happen. It was bound to happen. Look, everywhere i go and everywhere my teammates at work go, when theyre outside, we wear masks. Everywhere. We, you know, we walk from the hospital to our offices Wearing Masks. We dont have inperson meetings anymore. We zoom everything because we know what this virus can do. And when were are, you know, in close contact with each other, we wear masks. We wear face masks, face shields in clinic now. We take this seriously. The virus doesnt care if you dont take it seriously. Its an incredibly contiguous pathogen. Everyone in close contact with hope hicks should quarantine for 14 days. Its not a punishment. Its Public Health. Mmhmm. Doctor and the continuity of this government requires it. Yeah, its their own guidelines, but do as i say, not as i do. Again, you were right to point out, as i did in the beginning, we certainly hope theyre all okay and we hope the president and the first lady test negative and everyone else. Right. But their own guidelines say that they should be Wearing Masks and distancing, and just from the video you see there and from the white house reporters, they dont do it. So, doctor, stand by. Were going to continue on with our breaking news here. More to come on the breaking news. Top trump aide hope hicks has tested positive for the coronavirus. The president of the United States and the first lady awaiting their own covid test results. [ ] if you experience bladder leaks, you shouldnt have to sacrifice discretion for protection. Try always discreet. The unique design features protective leakguards, which help prevent leaks where they happen most and an absorbent material that turns liquid into gel, for up to 100 leak free protection. The shapewear design provides a close and seamless fit, to ensure total discretion. Choose the solution that keeps you drier. Try always discreet underwear, with a money back guarantee. Brand power. Helping you buy better. 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We understand that she is feeling the symptoms from the coronavirus and is at home now, one would imagine selfquarantining. I want to get to our White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins who is getting information on this. Kaitlan, listen, were getting this new information in. What do we know about the president and the first lady and any other people, like the Vice President , who could have been exposed . And will the president quarantine . Those are still open questions, and the president floated a quarantine tonight, but the main headline, don, is that we dont know if the president has coronavirus. Because he said in an interview with sean hannity tonight where he phoned him that he has taken a test. He said he took one tonight, as did first lady melania trump, but he said they have not gotten their results back yet, and he said maybe they would get them back tonight, maybe they would get them in the morning, but the bottom line is the president doesnt know. So, of course, this is raising so many questions about what he and top aides are going to do. But lets just focus on the president s schedule because today he did go to a closeddoor fundraiser at his golf club in new jersey where he was there meeting with donors, obviously behind closed doors. The president was not wearing a mask, im told. So that was after he rode on air force one yesterday with hope hicks. As you can see from these pictures, thats leaving the oval office and going to get on marine one. Thats about a 15minute ride on marine one to get to andrews. They were on the helicopter for about 15 minutes and then they were on the plane together for a number of hours before they found out hope hicks had tested positive for coronavirus, one of his closest aides. So the question is what he is going to do once he gets that result . Its an open question whether or not the white house will actually tell us when he gets his results. Kaitlan, there is no question, though. You heard dr. Reiner, you know, even if he was exposed it depends on when he was exposed as to when he would test positive. Because he could have been exposed very recently and he may not test positive. The question is is he going to selfquarantine . Because he absolutely should. He floated it tonight but she certainly did not even come close to committing to quarantine. And we should note he did not quarantine after his valet tested positive. Thats the person who handles his food, his beverages, helps him with his clothes. He didnt test he didnt quarantine then. He didnt quarantine when a top aide to the Vice President tested positive. He didnt quarantine when his National Security adviser test positive. So if the past is precedent, he is likely not going to quarantine, based on what hes done before. Now, whether the fact that its hope hicks, someone who is so close to him changes the calculus, that still remains to be seen. Well, listen, hes clearly been exposed to it. And as i understand from sources is that hope hicks is really, really sick. And hopefully she will be okay. I think sources think that she will be okay, but she is suffering from the effects of coronavirus at this moment. And here we here we go. Kaitlan, listen, i want to get this break in. But youve been there at the white house. Youve been questioning the president. You have been questioning his aides. You have been questioning Kayleigh Mcenany about this. Basically, the white house, this administration playing russian roulette with the coronavirus. Basically daring the virus to catch him. Its been a scatter shot approach at best. They do not follow the protocols that you see in basically every other workplace in america where people are going back to work when it comes to mask and social distancing, and the one thing they rely on, don, is testing. They say, well, we get tested every day so were okay. We see with hope hicks just because you get tested doesnt make you immune from coronavirus. Even if you are tested on a daily basis, there can be a day where you do test positive and the question, of course, now is what the president s result is going to be. And, kaitlan, one really important question i think that everyone should know because we should have known, the American People should have known. If they knew by wednesday, since wednesday, the American People should be alerted because its important to know the health of the president. Any official word from the white house . Anybody saying anything . Kayleigh mcenany . The only thing nope, the only thing we got was a statement from judd deer, a press secretary, who was telling us the precautions they take, but they were not the ones to first inform us of this. This was first reported in the media by bloomberg and confirmed by other outlets that hope had tested positive. Its not clear if the white house would have told us if reporters had not first reported it, as has been the case with every other person in the west wing who tested positive. Makes you wonder if theyd report it if the president actually had coronavirus but didnt show symptoms. So, Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much. Our breaking news tonight, the president of the United States of america awaiting his covid test results after a top aide, his top aide, hope hicks, tests positive. And sources say she is experiencing symptoms and no one is closer to this president than hope hicks. She has worked with him since his time in trump tower as a real estate developer. Well be right back. Tired of clean clothes that just dont smell clean . What if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks . Now they can this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. Pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12weeks. But despite the rising pain and anguish made worse during the pandemic, Insurance Companies still refused to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Until now. Senator scott wiener went to work taking them on. Passing a law requiring the Insurance Industry to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Now more than ever, californians need Mental Health coverage. I wont let up until the stigma of Mental Health and addiction is finally over. So heres our breaking news tonight. The president of the United States awaiting his covid test results. Not sure if he is positive or negative at this moment for the coronavirus. Hesitate his top aide hope hicks has tested positive. Sources say she is experiencing symptoms. Right now no one closer to the president as far as working than hope hicks. Besides his family. So, listen, i want to get to dr. Jonathan reiner quickly. Jonathan dr. Jonathan reiner, its interesting because, you know, weve been talking about getting these results within 15 minutes. If the president was negative, wouldnt they have come out . One would think, i should say, they would have come out and told us by now. So why the delay . What do you think is going on . Either confirming either a negative or a positive result with the more definitive study, which takes about an hour and a half. But they have known since wednesday and the president lets see, so the president was on fox news at about 9 00 p. M. And he had heard about it before he went on fox news. So that is, you know, an hour and at least 30 minutes ago. So thats maybe two hours. And it takes 15 minutes. Wouldnt by now they would have some idea about something . Probably. But when they come out and either say the president is negative or the president is positive, they have to be sure about that. You know, we saw recently with i believe it was the governor of ohio who tested positive and then they rechecked it and he was negative, and there was a lot of confusion. You cant have that with the president of the United States. If you tell the public the president is negative, he has to be negative. Mmhmm. So they may not be relying on the abbot i. D. Now test. They may want, you know, the full, you know, lab pcr exam for that. And thats what im assuming theyre doing. Theyre confirming whatever test theyve run. But dont forget, the president almost certainly would have been tested last night. If if she was positive last night, they would have tested the president last night. And they would have tested him again today. So there are results which have which have been acquired. But if he was tested tonight, theyre waiting for a confi confirmatory test. I know that with certainty. Listen, doctor, explain to im not a doctor. I can explain to you why this is so important, but i think it means more when its coming from your lips, why this is so important for our viewers, for americans and the world when you hear the president of the United States of america is awaiting his covid test results and is not sure if he is positive or negative. Why is this so important . Okay. So its important, don, on multiple levels. So lets talk about the personal level for the president. Its important because hed in the highest risk group. You know, hes hes over the age of 70, hes obese, and, you know, he has the highest risk of of dying should he contract this virus. So on a personal level, thats there are important consequences for him, should he acquire this virus. But on on a national level, look, the president has been running these rallies since the beginning of the summer, both indoors and outdoors. Without social distancing and without universal masking for his attendees and, you know, ive become like a broken record coming on your show and others saying how irresponsible that is. Every day for eight months now we have been saying all that. But, sorry, go on, doctor. And, you know, you know, we were talking today about, you know, wisconsin and the plan to go into into a state which has a 22 positivity rate. A state that has had their covid mortality increase bid 50 over the past couple of weeks and do a rally with unmasked people who believe the president. They believe him that this is not such a big deal. The imagine if the president had come out eight months ago and said this is a really big deal. Mmhmm. And were going to take care of each other. Were going to mask up. Were going to stay home if we get sick. Were not going to gather in big crowds and were going to put our country back together. Wed be in an entirely different place now. Right. Even with the virus surging through the summer, he didnt do that. Look, i have no schadenfreude about this. I want the president to be negative, but i want the public to understand this virus is real. And if you go out in public you need to have a mask on. If you have a mask on, you will not get this virus. We hope the first lady and everyone around him is okay, and, of course, hope hicks as well. Dr. , thank you very much. Just as the doctor was saying about about the president s schedule. This is what the president did this week thank you, doctor. We appreciate it. Sure. Ive got this guys. So, listen, he went to the debate on tuesday. Then he went to the rally in minnesota. Were told by Kaitlan Collins he went to a fundraiser in new jersey and was told he was not wearing a mask. He was supposed to have two rallies in wisconsin this week and tomorrow supposed to have another rally in florida. Now, listen, i dont know if this is the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Friday, we just got the schedule, just came out, 10 42 from the president s schedule here. 10 10 30, the president receives his intelligence briefing in the oval office. 12 15, the president hosts a phone call on covid19 supportive vulnerable seniors. 2 30, fundraiser at Trump International hotel. Then he has a Campaign Rally in sanford, florida, and then he flies on air force one back to d. C. So the president obviously gets around. That is his business, to conduct the business of the country. And this is campaign season. So hes in contact with a lot of people, and he has been in contact with a lot of people, and potentially in contact if he follows the schedule. But there is no doubt that this president should be selfquarantining at this point. I want to bring in someone now who has been standing by very patiently, and that is former texas congressman beto orourke, who was a candidate for the democratic president ial nomination. Congressman, thank you. Im sure you understand how this goes. Weve got some breaking news, so we we have to get it on the air and weve got to do it thoroughly. But so before we talk about, you know, voting in texas, ive got to get your reaction to the president and this breaking news. He says he is still awaiting his coronavirus test after hope hicks tests positive. There is a serious risk of exposure to the president here. Give me your reaction to this breaking news story, please. Look, i hope that hope hicks is okay. I hope that the president and his traveling party are okay. Theyre not infected. I hope that he does not expose anyone else. And follows the best Public Health guidance and medical guidance. I dont think he will. If past performance is a predictor of future performance then hes not going to. And, look, lets don, lets remember, this guy is in large part responsible for the deaths of nearly 210,000 of our fellow americans. Nearly 16,000 of my fellow texans. Almost 600 of my fellow el pasoens. We are 4 of the globes population. We are 22 of the globes active cases, almost 1 4 of the deaths, and thats not by force of good or mother nature, but the miserable leadership of one man, donald trump, and every republican senator who enables him, every republican governor like greg abbot follows in his footsteps, hes led this to happen. Were concerned about him. We should be. Hes the president of the United States. Lets think about everyone who is sick now, everyone who lost a family member, all those who are struggling right now against this pandemic with no help, no strategy and no plan from the president. And i just want to point out because you know how some things are taken out of context and you were misquoted. Congressman orourke did say in part. He is not saying the president is responsible for every death in this country. He is saying in part because what you deemed his lack of leadership on this subject, correct . On the pandemic. Clearly. Absolutely. For him to know and tell bob woodward that eight months ago how deadly this virus and this pandemic is, for him to go out publicly and gather people without masks and to mock those who do wear masks and to ignore the best Public Health guidance and thereby infect our fellow americans, many of whom would end up dying from covid19, yes, he bears responsibility for many of those deaths. I need to stand you by. Im sorry, congressman. Getting some breaking news right now. I want to go to cnns Kaitlan Collins right now. As i understand, the president is going to quarantine, is that correct . Yes. This is notable because this is not something the president has done when anyone else around him tested positive. Don, he just tweeted that he is still waiting on his test results, so is the first lady. And he says in the meantime we will begin our quarantine process. After noting that hope hicks, of course, had tested positive. Don, i dont know exactly what this means, but it is telling that the president says they took a test tonight, they dont have the results still here almost at 11 00, over an hour after the president first said they were waiting on the results. And we know the white house has the 15minute tests at their disposal. Its what they use to test people every single day. Yet, the president says hes still waiting on his result and hes going to quarantine. And, of course, this comes just moments after youve just read his public schedule for tomorrow which had a fundraiser and a roundtable and a public rally, of course, in florida. And the president seems to be saying he is going to cancel that if hes going to be quarantining. But it just raises questions, don, about whether or not the president got a rapid test tonight and what the result of that was. Because typically they would be able to say right away, yes, it was positive or, yes, it was negative. As you noted, that still raises questions about whether or not he should be quarantining, but its notable that right now he says he is going to go into this quarantine process because hope hicks tested positive, something he has not done in the past when other people who still work press closely with him have also tested positive. Our Kaitlan Collins reporting the breaking news. And, kaitlan, stay with me just for a moment. Kaitlan just reported the news about the president tweeting tonight. Hope hicks has been working so hard, without even taking a small break. Has just tested positive for covid19. Terrible. The first lady and i are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process. Its certainly a turn of events here, kaitlan, when you hear from the president of the United States, when you go back and look at the Public Record of him and his handling of this virus. And the statements hes made about the virus. That its going to go away. That it is a hoax. That he doesnt want to wear masks. That people should be opening up. That were being taken away. Making fun of the former Vice President about Wearing Masks and so on and so forth. And now he is in a position where he has to selfquarantine because he does not know if he is positive or negative at this moment for the coronavirus. Reporter don, he says he doesnt know, but it really does raise questions about what he knows and if hes been tested and if hes got any results from the rapid test and has since taken the other test, which can of course take several hours. We know sometimes with the rapid test they can have false positives. They dont have a 100 accuracy rate. It really raises questions, the president i cannot stress enough has never quarantined before when the person who handles his food and beverage tested positive, when the Vice President S Communications director tested positive, but now with hope hicks testing positive something first reported by the immediate i cant recollect not announced by the white house, but confirmed by the president , he now says hes going to quarantine. It really does raise questions. And of course this is crucial to Public Knowledge knowing the president s health and whether or not hes tested positive for the coronavirus. The white house has not committed dwroet giyet to givin result. But its notable he said he and the first lady are going to quarantine. What that means for the staff . Is he going to go to this rally tomorrow . Sounds like a no, but raising questions of whats transpired. Kaitlan collins with our breaking news touchdown president and first lady will begin their quarantine process after his top aide tests positive for the coronavirus. The he and the first lady, according to him, awaiting the results of their tests. Dr. Jonathan ryaner is here as well as kaitlan. Is kaitlan going to stay with us . Hes going to continue the get new reporting. Well get back to kaitlan. Ill bring the doctor in. Doctor, lets do some contact tracing. According to kaitlan and our white house team, i think the Vice President was in contact with the president , i think in the west wing or the oval office as of two days ago. You see Jared Kushner. You see hope hicks, dan scovino, Stephen Miller all getting on the marine one after the president gets on. No one Wearing Masks. Theyre getting into a confined space. A small confined space, and then going to air force one, which is a bigger confined space. Youre saying every who has been in contact with hope hicks or in these situation should be quarantining right now . Yeah, everyone should be k n quarantined now and ill go further and say the speaker of the house should be protect in isolation now, because it doesnt violate the rules of physics now if both the president and Vice President of the United States to get sick. And if the you know, the continuity of government requiring we have a clear leader here, and its very possible that the president and Vice President can both become sick right now. So i would limit activity for the speaker of house, make sure that shes really isolated and in a relatively sterile environment. What do you make of the president saying he and the first lady will now begin their quarantine process . Its the right thing to do, and i applaud them for doing that. But let me just say that at least the initial test result for the president is back. This hasnt been set off to quest and hes going to get it back in two to three days and wait for his doctor the to call him. He has the initial test result. At some point this evening it would be irresponsible of the white house not to inform the public of the president s status tonight. Almost certainly the result, the molecular test will come back shortly if its not already back to confirm the earlier test this evening, and the public should be told whether the president is positive or negative. Should be done tonight. Are result will be available tonight. It wont take till the morning. This is not a send out. So it means something if we dont hear about the president s status tonight. Because you would hear if hes negative. Say that one more time clearer for our viewers again. They will have the president s covid testing shortly, but with a confirm story test, im sure. That result should be clearly communicate to the public tonight. I hope its negative. If its negative, the public should be told that. Public deserves to know that. If its positive, the public should know that as well. Lots of breaking news. Were getting developments on the president , the situation thats happening at the white house right now the president and first lady beginning a quarantine, the their quarantine process after his top aide hope hicks tested positive for the coronavirus. She is at home now feeling the symptoms. Were understanding she is fairly sick. But hopefully she will be okay and the president and first lady as well. But at this hour, according to the president of the United States, he does not know if hes positive or negative for the coronavirus and awaiting the results of a test. Well be right back. When we started carvana, they told us that selling cars 100 online wouldnt work. But we went to work. Building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. Creating a coast to Coast Network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. Recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. And putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. Thats why weve become the nations Fastest Growing retailer. Because our customers love it. See for yourself, at carvana. Com. In the tubbs fire. The flames, the ash, it was terrifying. Thousands of family homes are destroyed in wildfires. Families are forced to move and higher property taxes are a huge problem. Prop 19 limits taxes on wildfire victims so families can move without a tax penalty. Nineteen will help rebuild lives. Vote yes on 19. They do one of the most deven in normal times. S, our Frontline Health care workers. And when these heroes lack the resources they need, that risky job gets ten times harder. Prop fifteen makes corporations pay their fair share. To invest in our communities, in our clinics, in the essential workers who treat everyone rich, poor, and inbetween. Whether its this pandemic or the next health crisis, vote yes on prop fifteen. For all of us. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. Here is our breaking news. It is big breaking news tonight. The president of the United States says he and the first lady will selfquarantine while awaiting covid test results after his close aide hope hicks tested positive for the virus. The president of the United States at this hour not sure if he is positive or negative for