Discrimination and a lack of diversity. How they say it affects civil rights investigations and the fight to stop injustice. And honoring van halen. Guitar god Eddie Van Halen dies, leaving an historic legacy of sound and fury. What his groundbreaking technique meant to his disciples and his fans. Ah, nobody like him. But first, heres todays eye opener. Its your world in 90 seconds. This virus doesnt care what Political Party you belong to. It infects us all. It will take anyones life. Its a virus. President trumps Senior Adviser, Stephen Miller, is the latest in the white house to contract covid19. He has been selfquarantining for five days, but nevertheless, tested positive based on a prior exposure. But look, were taking all necessary precautions. After calling off talks for covid relief aid, President Trump now says that he wants to approve relief funds. The bipartisan spirit seems to have dissipated as weve gotten closer and closer to the election. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and other top military leaders under quarantine after a senior coast guard official tested positive. Hurricane delta exploded into a monster storm, threatening millions. Right towards the louisiana coastline as a category 3 storm. The st. Louis couple who waved guns at protesters face a grand jury indictment for evidence tampering and firearms violations. All that the Seattle Storm won the wnba championship. Utter and complete domination and all that matters. We lost another beloved american today. The great Eddie Van Halen. Hear an eruption for the first time . Run with the devil . Jamies cryin. Unbelievable. Somehow, in my mind, i thought that Eddie Van Halen would just live forever. Do you know what i mean . Totally. On cbs this morning. Announcer this mornings eye opener is presented by progressive, making easy to bundle insurance. That gets you every time, doesnt it. So good. And the way he would look in camera, like this is good. Right . I read that he said he just wanted to make people feel good with his music, and he did that. Yeah. He definitely did. Sure did. It was a shocker. We, of course, will be talking about him later on in the broadcast, but right now, we welcome you to cbs this morning and begin with this. At the white house, there is confusion this morning after the president said he would stop talks aimed at helping americans through this pandemic, and then appeared to reverse course. The president made no public appearances yesterday as he continues to battle the coronavirus, but on twitter, he did call for his negotiators to walk away from efforts to pass a second stimulus package. That message immediately sent stocks into a nose dive and drew sharp criticism from members of both parties. More than 26 million americans are on unemployment right now. Many are in desperate need of help. Nancy cordes is on capitol hill. Nancy, the president has since tweeted he does want some type of stimulus. What exactly is going on here . Reporter well, his flood of tweets last night, anthony, indicates that he is aware of the fallout over his decision to walk away, but the piecemeal approach hes now proposing is unlikely to win support from democrats. I can tell you from talking to aides on both sides that his announcement that he was pulling out of the talks came as a surprise to both parties. It all started tuesday afternoon, when the president abruptly tweeted, i have intructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election, when, immediately after i win, we will pass a major stimulus bill. That means that americans, at least for now, will not be getting another round of 1,200 stimulus checks. Just a few hours before the president s announcement, the Federal Reserve chair was making the case for more rescue funding now. Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses. Reporter confusingly, the president tweeted that he agreed with powell, after he had shut down the talks. His decision sent the dow plunging almost 600 points and drew fire from the airlines, the chamber of commerce, and even some republicans. Amid the backlash, the president took to twitter again in the evening, saying congress should approve 25 billion in funds for Airline Workers and 135 billion for Small Businesses, as well as those 1,200 stimulus checks. Speaker pelosi called the president s move to end the talks an act of desperation. And in a phone call with fellow democrats, she speculated that the steroids he is on for covid may be impacting his thinking. One person who did agree with the president s decision was Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell, who said that the two sides were still pretty far apart and were unlikely to reach a deal in time for the election anyway, but other republicans worry that by walking away, the president is going to get the bulk of the blame and that that could affect the entire party right before election day. Tony . Either way, millions of americans do not have time to wait. Nancy, thank you very much. The coronavirus outbreak at the white house continues to grow. The president s Senior Adviser, Stephen Miller, is the latest to test positive, and that means about a dozen people closely associated with the president , plus mr. Trump himself, are known to have gotten sick. Ben tracy is at the white house for us. Ben, good morning to you. Whats the mood there . Reporter well, tony, good morning. This is a white house in crisis this morning with a lot of people wondering, whos next . Its also a white house that is nearly empty because a lot of the president s staff is either in quarantine or theyre working from home to avoid getting sick. Stephen miller, one of the president s most loyal and controversial aides, is the latest Administration Official to be infected with the virus. He was seen walking to marine one last week with top aide hope hicks, who tested positive the next day. Miller tells cbs news he tested positive tuesday after five Straight Days of testing negative, during which he says he worked at home. Covid also now has virtually all of the nations mostsenior military officials in quarantine, including joint chiefs chairman general mark milley and vice chairman general john hyten. Who coordinates the militarys Covid Response. They were exposed to admiral commandant admiral charles ray. Its unclear where he contracted the virus, but he tested positive monday, eight days after this visit to the white house for an event for military families where few people wore masks. The pentagon insists there is no change to the operational readiness or Mission Capability of the u. S. Armed forces. We all remain cautiously optimistic and on guard. Reporter and there are still questions about the president s health. His physician, dr. Sean conley, still will not say whether the president has lung damage or if he is still taking the powerful steroid dexamethasone. On tuesday, conley released a brief, foursentence update, saying President Trump continues to do extremely well and reports no symptoms. The president continues to downplay the virus, again comparing it to the flu in a tweet tuesday, saying, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with covid. But in just seven months, covid has killed more than 210,000 in the u. S. Thats more than have died for flu in the past five years combined. Twitter flagged the president s tweet for misleading information. Facebook took it down. You dont get a pandemic that kills a million people, and it isnt even over yet, with influenza. So, it is not correct to say its the same as flu. Reporter President Trump and the first lady are both recovering in the white house residence, and theyve reduced the staff there, so there are fewer people coming in contact with them. Those who do have to have contact with the first family, they have to wear full ppe. Gayle . Ben, thank you very much. Were now joined by dr. Ashish jha, the dean of Brown University school of public health. Good to see you, dr. Jha. We just heard ben tracy say that the white house, people working at the white house are waiting to see whos next. It must be very unsettling to work under those conditions. Do you think because there have been so many outbreaks at the white house that maybe they became overconfident in their testing, or is there something wrong with the testing . They use that Rapid Testing there. Good morning, gayle. Thank you so much for having me on. The bottom line is that i think they misunderstood the role of that test. The test is fine. Theres nothing wrong with it. But its not anywhere near perfect, and they decided that somehow that was enough. They didnt need to do masking. They didnt need to do social distancing. That if they tested negative, everybody could go about their business. We knew that wasnt true and weve been warning that this was likely to happen, and sorry to see that it has. You know, the president has compared covid19 to the flu, so which all the experts say is just totally incorrect. So much so that facebook took down a tweet where he was saying that. When you heard that, what did you think . And can you just give us set the record straight on why there is such a difference between the two, for people that may still be confused . Yeah. So, it was frustrating because weve been saying this for people have been saying this for so many months. The bottom line is that covid is about five to ten times more deadly than the flu, for almost every age group. And we dont even know the longterm effects of covid. It may end up being quite substantial. So, at this moment, comparing the two i think is irresponsible, and Everybody Knows that covid is much more deadly, and i was hoping that the president would have changed his tune after going through what hes gone through, but that tweet was really upsetting for a lot of us to see. Yeah, the president s doctor just released a couple of words yesterday. He said that he reported no symptoms, said his vital signs remain stable. Yet, were still being told hes not out of the woods yet. What do you need to see, or what do doctors need to see to say that he is out of the woods . What should we be looking for . Well, you know, what we know about this disease is that some people will feel just fine for a while, and then day seven to ten will all of a sudden take a turn for the worse. So, were still in that time period for the president. Obviously, we hope that hes not one of those people. We hope he recovers easily. But were going to have to watch through the end of this week and maybe even into the weekend before were going to sigh a sense of relief that the president is through this. Five days out, dr. Jha, we still dont know when he got his last negative test. I think that seems to be very important for people who might have come in contact with the president. What do you think would be the reasoning for not releasing that information . You know, gayle, i am baffled by this. I dont understand why the white house is being evasive on this. Hes the president. Lots of people have been around him. Right. He should and they should just release the information. It will make it much, much easier for people to know if they were potentially infected, when he turned positive. The fact that theyre being evasive on this really is baffling to me. Dr. Ashish jha, thank you for taking time for us this morning. We appreciate it. Thank you. The pandemic is dominating preparations for tonights Vice President ial debate in salt lake city. In fact, youre looking at the debate hall at the university of utah in salt lake city. Organizers had to address safety concerns after the latest news about more white house officials testing positive for the virus. Nicole killion is at the site of tonights debate in salt lake city. Nicole, good morning to you. Whats the situation there now . Reporter well, tony, Vice President mike pence and senator Kamala Harris have indicated they are looking forward to tonight, but there has already been plenty of debate. Up until last night, both campaigns were going back and forth over everything, from the seating arrangements on stage to those plexiglass barriers. Late tuesday, crews at the university of utah installed plexiglass shields to separate the Vice President ial candidates who will be seated at least 12 feet apart. The team for Vice President mike pence, the head of the Coronavirus Task force, initially opposed the extra precaution, which was requested by the Biden Harris Campaign. Communications director tim murtagh. Do you think thats warranted . Well, i dont know. Im not sure that the science is settled on that, that a plexiglass divider has any impact whatsoever. Reporter a spokesperson for senator Kamala Harris said, if the trump administrations war on masks has now become a war on safety shields, that tells you everything you need to know about why their Covid Response is a failure. Pences Office Released memos from his physician and the head of the centers for disease control, saying that it is safe for the Vice President to participate in the debate because he has not been in close contact with the president and has repeatedly tested negative. Meanwhile, the president says he intends to debate former Vice President joe biden next thursday night in miami, but biden says they should follow strict guidelines. If he still has covid, we shouldnt have a debate. Reporter earlier in the day, biden echoing president abraham lincoln, called for unity in a speech delivered at gettysburg. This pandemic is not a red state or a blue state issue. This virus doesnt care whether you live, or where you live, what Political Party you belong to. It infects us all. Reporter he also addressed the divide over policing in america. I believe in law and order. Ive never supported defunding the police, but i also believe injustice is real. Reporter and biden acknowledged the pain many black americans feel. I think about what it takes for a black person to love america. That is a deep love for this country that has for far too long never been recognized. Reporter unlike the previous president ial debate, this one is expected to touch on more topics. It will be divided into nine segments, and the Debate Commission says it will escort guests out who do not wear a mask, something that was not fully enforced last time. Gayle . Lessons learned from last time. Thank you very much, nicole. Many families that lost loved ones to covid19 say they are just frustrated that the president is still downplaying the threat after his hospital stay. Amanda kloots, for instance, wife of broadway star nick cordero, who died from the coronavirus, recorded an emotional response after the president s statement on monday night. Dont let it dominate you. Dont be afraid of it. Let it dominate your life . No ones letting it. Nick didnt let it. It wasnt a choice. Have some empathy to the people who are suffering and grieving. More than 3,100 americans have died of covid since mr. Trump revealed his positive test five days ago. Our lead National CorrespondentDavid Begnaud spoke to others who say they, too, are hurt by the president s comments. I just felt really disrespected and unheard. Reporter this is karen goucher, a Long Distance runner. Her grandfather, calvin heyworth, died yesterday from complications from the coronavirus. When we spoke to her earlier in the day, she told us she could not believe what the president was saying about covid19. Im glad that he was treated and is being treated and beat covid, but for hundreds of thousands of people in this country, thats not the case, and the pain is very, very real. The tone from the top matters. Karen aguirre told us it was the president s behavior that upset her. She lost her cousin, 65yearold sandy melgar, and sandys 66yearold husband rene to the virus last month. They died three days apart. When i saw him get in the car with the secret Service Agents and drive around and wave to everybody. And i thought, the people in the car have families. The people who tend to him, they have families. And now theyre exposed to a virus theyre going to take home with them. Reporter as the president continues to downplay the virus, goucher is asking President Trump for more compassion. I really was thinking today, watching my grandfather struggle with every breath of his being, his life is worthy. He is a world war ii veteran. He deserves to die with dignity and with respect and with his family surrounding him. And if we had all worn our masks, and if we had all social distanced, we would be able to hug him and tell him what we feel and hold his hand, and its devastating to lose him. Reporter kara was especially close to her grandfather. He helped to raise her and her sisters after karas dad died, killed by a drunk driver when kara was just 4 years old. Both of the women you just heard from, both of them, went out of their way to say, we are glad the president is recovering and we want him to do well, but gayle, kara in particular, said, david, for those of us who are suffering, some empathy goes a long way. Boy, david. Thank you very much. Its so important to hear those voices, anthony. It reminds me of the pieces you do so beautifully about the lives that have been lost and a reminder that these are real people behind these numbers. Yeah. And that it affects the old, 9 young. Every income bracket, every race, creed, color, you know. Gayle, its just its almost what, 210,000 210,000. I thoug