We none of us will ever work in republican politics again. Steve schmidt is among a group of lifelong republicans who have mounted a rogue offensive aimed at defeating President Trump. Dont cry for me they call themselves the Lincoln Project, and theyre producing dozens of bareknuckle attack ads designed to help joe biden. The truth is i will infect you i broke my promise wont keep my distance ticking grizzly bears can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds, and stand nine feet tall on their hind legs. growling youre all right. What has happened to these ferocious predators has been put on the endangered species list in 1975. Its a story of conservation and conflict, as we saw in montana. Telling me i can do this . Stick my hand in a grizzly bears mouth . Im telling you, you can do that. Oh, yeah, how about that. ticking im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im anderson cooper. Im scott pelley. Those stories and more, tonight, on 60 minutes. ticking pelley the president on wednesday emerged from the white house hotspot to announce what he called a cure for covid19. With 23 days before the election, mr. Trump said he became aware of the cure after ordering his doctors to give him an experimental drug. His idea, he said. No one but President Trump is claiming a cure for covid19. But, labs around the world are racing to develop therapeutic drugs to reduce the severity of the disease. Were going to tell you about some of the most promising leads for treating covid19, today. The president said this past week that we shouldnt be afraid of the virus. Dr. David ho well, i think we should be fearful of what this virus could do to an infected person. Over a Million People have died. And over 200,000 americans have died. We have to give this virus its due respect. Pelley if you dont know the name david ho, your memory is too short. Dr. Ho led the team in the 1990s that created the cocktail of drugs that made h. I. V. aids survivable, even though theres still no vaccine. Dr. Ho much of the world was going to be shut down. Pelley his lab at Columbia University was still focused on h. I. V. aids, until covid19. Dr. Ho you could say its now worse than ever, with about 100,000 new cases per day worldwide. So, we we dont have it under control. Pelley hos team moved into dorms vacated by students who are studying at home, so they could work 24 7 on monoclonal antibodies a complex name for a simple idea. A Covid Patients immune system creates antibodies to attack the virus. Those antibodies can be harvested, cloned and reproduced in the billions. Dr. Ho for example, we could clone out 250some antibodies from five infected persons, and then just systematically characterize them in the laboratory to see which ones have the best properties, in terms of neutralizing or inactivating the virus. Pelley how effective have monoclonal antibodies been . Dr. Ho they are promising. There ruers have developed antibody. One is Lilly Eli Lilly and company and the other is regeneron. And the president received the regeneron product. These are very powerful antibodies. And both lilly and regeneron have reported promising preliminary results. But i must emphasize, preliminary. Trump its a cure. For me, i walked in. I didnt feel good. A short 24 hours later, i was feeling great. Pelley it was antibody therapy from regeneron pharmacuticals that mr. Trump called a cure. But the facts are these last month, regeneron and the Eli Lilly Company reported early results. In a small group of 275 patients, regeneron showed a modest reduction in virus; in 452 patients, lillys antibodies reduced hospitalization from 6 to under 2 . What will it take to have more confidence in the results for monoclonal antibodies . Dr. Ho well, these are ongoing studies. They, i think, are going to enroll thousands of thesepaents eyred the clinic in june, july. So we need to give it more time. Pelley antibody clones are grown in massive tanks. Brewing millions of doses would be a vast industrial project, and expensive. But if an antibody therapy is approved, each patient would likely need only one dose. Dr. Ho the antibodies are generally just given as an infusion of over ten, 15 minutes intravenously. Pelley is it clear that the monoclonal antibodies are safe . Dr. Ho well, these two that have been administered now to a number of people, they dont seem to have any side effects. And in general, Monoclonal Antibody therapies for cancer, inflammation and other diseases have been quite safe. Pelley now, labs, including david hos, are searching thousands of natural antibodies from patients to find lethal combinations against the virus. As a physician, if you could only have one, would you rather have a vaccine or an effective therapeutic . Dr. James pruden id rather have an effective therapeutic. Pelley foc kthis medical director of Emergency Preparedness for st. Josephs hospital in paterson, new jersey. Last spring, his hospital was overwhelmed with 456 Covid Patients at once. The first one admitted was dr. Pruden himself. Dr. Pruden i got admitted to my own hospital. Im one of the luckiest men on earth to be in a hospital where people are geared to do this to resuscitate people and keep people alive. Pelley the rate of death in the United States seven months ago was double what it is today, in part because, in the early days, so little was understood. Dr. Pruden so it was a question of doing what you could, keeping this body alive while you tried to find out what protocol was working. And they did an excellent job. I was intubated twice, and i spent 31 days in the intensive care unit. Lost about 80 pounds, could not roll over in bed on my own, could not sit up in bed on my own, and had the constant sense that i am not getting enough air. Pelley and there was a sense of being hungry for oxygen. Dr. Pruden oh, my goodness. Yes. Pelley like drowning . Dr. Pruden this was a question of, my body, no matter what i do, is not pulling in enough air, and the oxygen that theyre providing me is not giving me enough air, and i need air, i need air, i need air. Pelley dr. Pruden was so sick, briefly, word spread in the hospital that he had died. In those early days, doctors didnt understand that the virus attacks the whole body, and many become critically ill ten days after symptoms start. Dr. Kevin tracey they can go from being Pretty Healthy to needing a ventilator in minutes to hours. Pelley dr. Kevin tracey heads the feinstein institutes for medical research at new yorks largest private hospital system, northwell health. Why do those patients crash . Dr. Tracey this is still an area of debate, but there seems to be several things going on. One is, the virus grows very quickly in cells like endothelial cells, which lie in blood vessels, and this can cause a massive amount of cell death and blood clotting. Blood clotting can cause strokes and dysfunction in the brain and heart. These things, the virus and the tissue damage, can activate an immune response. Pelley the immune response in some spins out of control. The body produces far too many chemicals, called cytokines. Dr. Tracey cytokines are made by the immune system; are not, by definition, bad. Low levels of cytokines are important for wound healing and for immune protective immune responses. The problem comes when the brakes on the system fail. Pelley do we understand why that occurs . Ot understand why that occurs. Pelley overproduction of cytokines is lethal, which is why the president and others are given steroids, to pump the brakes on the immune response. Steroids are among the therapies being studied in 3,500 Clinical Trials around the world, all targeting covid19. Dr. Christina brennan in ten weeks, we enrolled 1,200 patients into Clinical Trials. We would enroll that in a year for all of our trials. Pelley dr. Christina brennan oversees northwell healths Clinical Trials, which include another drug giv to the 09 c, itvepedn waffectiv it was tried on and, again, wasnt useful. But with covid19, the results may be different. Dr. Brennan so far, it really has shown that its, you know, decreasing the hospital length of stay, but we havent seen other effects that would say that it would cure covid19. Pelley so it seems to make the patients better, makes their stay in the hospital a few days, perhaps, shorter, but hasnt been shown to eradicate the virus . Dr. Brennan correct. So, covid19 trials. Pelley dr. Brennan told us she had patients in a tenday treatment of remdesivir, but some went home in less than ten days. Encouraging, but not a magic bullet. How long will it be before a person contracts covid, they go to their doctor, they get a prescription, and they go home . Dr. Tracey i think that could happen within the next year or two. I think that day is inevitable. I think its also inevitable that we will have a vaccine. I dont know the time course of either. Its like a horse race. There will be a winner of the race, but to pick on one now is very, very difficult. Pelley and whatever drugs are lomay not work long. The virus mutates constantly. Dr. David ho told us, already, the virus has many strains. Dr. Ho i think thats just like what we learned from h. I. V. The virus will adapt and we will have to keep up with the virus. Pelley dr. Ho told us he has never seen the worlds labs dedicat themselves to a single disease as they have for covid19. But every doctor we asked, answered this question the same way. Would you rather have a mask or a vaccine . Dr. Brennan a mask tn is being tvaines illion d and youd erk. Why . Dr. Brennan with our social distancing, wearing of the mask, the datas already showing that its been effective. Its, you know, cost savings, and its effective. And it can go a long way. Pelley for a year or two, the mask will likely be the most effective tool. Theres no cure, and no way to know whether the president was helped by remdesivir or monoclonal antibodies or steroids. Trump and i went, and i wasnt feeling so hot. And within a very short period of time, they gave me regeneron. Its called regeneron. And other things, too. But i think this was the key. But they gave me regeneron. And it was like, unbelievable. I felt good immediately. Pelley we dont know why mr. Trump settled on the regeneron antibody therapy as his 2017 Financial Disclosure form, regeneron is listed as a but need in his 2020 disclosure. cheers and applause what did your colleagues here learn from treating you . Dr. Pruden one of the things ive learned, they learned, is not to give up. cheers and applause pelley dr. James pruden, director of Emergency Preparedness at st. Josephs in new jersey, was released after 33 days. He had to learn to walk again in physical therapy. Dr. Pruden it felt like love. And you never knew so many people cared. You know what i mean . That it was important to them that you come out. Thats what it felt like. Pelley dr. Pruden, and others, told us the medical community is much better prepared now in case of another surge in the fall. Dr. Pruden were a lot smarter than we were seven months ago. We are still not out of the woods. Pelley as a physician and as a patient, what do you say to your medical colleagues about this Going Forward . Dr. Pruden what i say to the medical colleagues is, learn resilience. Maintain physical strength. And your cognition. Think. Problemsolve. Its not woe is me, but okay, how can i do it better the next time . And we can do it. Theres strength in this community, theres strength in the world around us. Look at that strength and build on it. ticking stahl with the president now infected with the novel coronavirus, there isnt mun this Election Year that can be described as normal. But among the most abnormal is that a group of lifelong republicans political strategists for republican candidates for the last 30 years have banded together to mount a rogue offensive aimed at defeating the sitting president of their own party. They call themselves the Lincoln Project, named for the party of lincoln, which they allege has gone so dangerously astray under Ppresident Donald trump that theyve decided to take the strategic and admaking firepower theyve trained for years on democrats, and turn it against their own. And the president s bout with covid19 is not slowing them down. Narrator how would you rate your response to this crisis . Trump id rate it a 10. Stahl some of the most gutpunching, bareknuckled, and most widelyviewed antitrump ads of this election season. Narrator trump failed america. Stahl . Have not come from the biden campaign. Dan barkhuff im a prolife, gunowning combat veteran. Stahl theyve come from the Lincoln Project, trying to convince fellow republicans. Narrator hes a draft dodger inchief, who despises the men and women he supposedly leads. Stahl . To elect a democrat. Narrator its time for decency. Its time for joe biden. Dont cry for me stahl and this week, they pounced with a biting ad. The truth is i will infect you stahl . A parody of the hit evita, thats gone viral. I broke my promise wont keep my distance Steve Schmidt we are in a war for the soul of this country. Stahl Steve Schmidt, one of the founders of the Lincoln Project, is a longtime republican strategist who worked in the george w. Bush white house, and ran john mccains 2008 president ial campaign. How did serious republicans decide to go rogue . Schmidt we all had a conviction that there are millions of republicans who look at this debacle and reject it. And what we thought we could do is talk to those voters, in the language and the iconography that they understand, connect with them, and persuade them, many of them, to vote for the democratic nominee for the first time in their lives. Stahl have you lost friends over this . Schmidt for sure. Of course. Stahl he launched the Lincoln Project super pac in december, with seven co founders, including rick wilson, Media Consultant and ad maker for republicans like Rudy Guiliani and marco rubio; veteran republican strategist john weaver, who also worked with mccain and john kasich; george conway, conservative lawyer, and husband of Kellyanne Conway herself recently diagnosed with covid19; and reed galen, who worked on both george w. Bushs campaigns. Together, more than 200 years of Republican Party activism. Have you given up your careers . Schmidt none of us will ever work in republican politics again. We we joke that, like, some of the explorers who came to the new world, they were incentivized by the captain, when he burned the ships, that there was laughs there was no return, going back. Stahl working from their homes across the country, the Lincoln Project team likes nautical analogies. They call themselves a pirate ship, with reed galen helping chart their course. Reed galen we do not represent any candidate. We dont represent any campaign. We dont represent any political party. So it allows us a great deal of freedom. You know, we sail the seas, and when the opportunity presents itself, you know, we unfurl the jolly roger and go to town. Ready for four more years . Stahl these buccaneers have made a name for themselves with malicious attack ads, churning out new ones almost daily, most released costfree on social media. Rick wilson good, okay, ship it around to the group. Lets get an approval on it. Joey okay. Stahl rick wilson is in charge of the ads. Who are you aiming for . What kind of a voter . Wilson so, those independentleaning men, those collegeeducated republicans, the suburban republican women. We understand where these voters are, we understand who they are and how they think. And lesle, its a game of small numbers. I mean, donald trump won this election by 77,000 votes in three states. Stahl you basically have endorsed joe biden. Galen we have. We have endorsed joe biden. Yes. Stahl it feels like, im sure, to the other republicans, as as a total betrayal . Galen republicans can call us, you know, betrayers of the faith all they want. We go we sleep well at night. Stahl john weaver feels its the party thats betrayed him. John weaver i mean, look, lesley, weve gone from caring about character, rule of law, defending the constitution, a cogent National Security policy, free trade where are all those issues . Imagine if you had traveled the country for 30 years, fighting for republican principles, and you learn it was all a lie. No one cares about all the issues that we fought for. Stahl how painful is it for you to turn against the Republican Party . Do you ever sit around and talk about youre repudiating your life, in a way . Weaver yeah, of course we do. I mean i mean, were busy, but there are moments of melancholy about it. No doubt. Narrator its morning again in america. Stahl one of the most effective political ads ever was Ronald Reagans mor i amer om984. Narrator this afternoon. Stahl in may, the Lincoln Project made a veroriginal on is head adding the letter u to morning. Narrator theres mourning in america. Today, more than 60,000 americans have died from a deadly virus donald trump ignored. Stahl the day it was released, the ad got more than half a million views. Among them, the president , who unleashed a tweetstorm at 12 46 a. M. , calling the Lincoln Project losers. Reporter mr. President , do you want to make any comment about this Lincoln Project ad . Trump yeah, no, i saw it. Its a group of major losers. Theyre republican losers. And they should call it the losers project. Okay, thanks. Galen the president attacked all of us by name. Called us losers. And, we raised 2 milln in 48 hours. Stahl so hes helping you . Galen he bought us instant credibility. Stahl and gave them a rategy narrator heres what trumps own people are saying about him. Stahl . Create ads deliberately designed. Narrator hes an idiot. John