All that and more on tonight pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by complicated, a lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. That is fidelity wealth management. Consumer cellular. Johnson johnson. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Sf railway. Flthe william and ora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better the chand zuckerberg initiative, working to build a moreealthy, just, and inclusive future for everyone. And with the ongoing support of these a individua institutions. Rothisam was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy he is heading home. This evening, President Trump plans to leave a military hspital, whe has spent just under three days being treated for covid19. He says he will continue his treatment and recovery at the white house. Our white house correspdent recounts the Days Development so far. Yamiche the president is being discharged from waltereed, but serious questions remain about the state of his health. Today, his physician spoke about his progress. It has been more than 72 hours since his last fever. Oxygen levels, including saturations and breathing, are all normal. Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and i agree that all every evaluations and most importantly his clinical status support the president s safe return home. Yamiche before lving, he tweeted that he was feeling better than he did 20 years ago afraid of covid or let itt to be dominate their life. Sunday evening while still contagious, he briefly left the hospital, he made a surprise driveby visit to wave at desupporters outsihe hospital. He wore a face mask as he rode in a sealed president ial suv. White house Officials Say his medical team approved the trip, but it p for exposure his secret Service Agents who wereed mal gowns and face masks. An attending physician an attending physician at walter reed blasted the move. There is no medical benefit. Itiolates cdc guidelines. They absolutely must quarantine. The cdc guidelines are clear thatf you spend that period of time within six feet of a person itre requi a mandatory 14 day quarantine. There are no caveats for masks. This is inside chemical weapon proof vehicle. Yamiche shortlyriefore the su driveby, President Trump posted a p videoising his nurses and doctors. He said he has a deeper s. Understanding of the vi i learned a lot about covid, i learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. Geis is not the lets read the book school and it and i understand it. Yamiche the white house also relieved photos working at the not wearing a mask. Te all this is a credibility crisis the ite house has deepened. Who should the public believe when it comes to the president s condition and treatment . On saturday, his physicianio evaded questns about treatment and baited this rose picture. This morning, the president is doing this really well. The team and i are extremely happy with progress. Yamiche but soon after, the chief of staff contradicted him, saying the president s early vital signs were very concerning and he was not yet on a clear path to full recovery. What is still unclear is precisely when the president was affected and h many people were exposed as a result. Day, the white house pre secretary along with at least positive. R deputies al tested she tweeted, after testing negative consistently, including every day since thursday, i tested posive for covid19 monday morning while experiencing nohe symptoms has regularly briefed reporters including as recently as yesterday. Three journalists who work at the white house have also been infected. So far, more than 10 of the president sil f and Close Associates have tested positive for the virus, including first lady melan trump, the press secretary, white house advisor hope hicks, Campaign Manager bill stepien, former counselnt tohe presiellyanne conway, president ial aide nicholas luna, the rncchairwomaw and three republican senors. , [applaus most of those who gothe virus where either at the white house rose garden ceremony held more than a week ago where the president announced his Supreme Court nominee or involvein his debate preparation. Two infected senators are members of the Judiciary Committee considering the idprents spring court nominee. The first lady tweeted she was feeling gd and will continue to rest at home. Vice president pend who tes negative again today went to salt lake city, utah, at of endnesdays debate with his democratic oppont california senator kamala harris. Democratic challenger joe biden said today he is still open to taking part in the next president ial debate scheduled for october 15. If the Scientists Say it is safe, then i think that is fine. I will do whatever the experts say is the appropriate thing to do. Yamiche after continuing to test negativeus for the virthe former Vice President campaigned this afternoon in florida. As for the Vice President ial faceoff, the debate commsion has agreed to position the candidates 12 feet apart. This comes after the Biden Campaign voiced concerns about the safety oyothe original. Judy and now, the president is on his way back to the white house. This evening he left Walter Reed National medical military center wher he had snt just under ree days being treated for covid19. Nehe was flown on ma one. He is saying he will contue ros treatment and recovery pennsylvania avenue. Yamiche joins me now. We are learning the president has his helicopter has arrived at the white house. Tell us,hat have you heard from t people arou the president . What are they saying about how heill continue his treatment and recovery . Yamiche we just saw an extraordinarfscene o the president leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and really wanting to show strength. He arrived at the white house, walked up the stairs with a mask , en removed that mask and waved to the marin one helicopter that had just transpord him from the hospital. Fthis is no doubt a show strength. The president wants to appear confident. But hi doctors continue to say lets read a tweet the president sent before he left the hospital. We wilbe back on the campaign trail soon, the fake news only shows the fake polls. That is the president saying he wants to get back on the game. A reporter asking him how money people in his staff are sick and rua super spreader . The president took no answers. The president s doctors say he will continue his treatment at the white house d be monitored 24 hours a day. Theyal say walter reed med staff will be helping monitor the president , but there are a lot of unanswered rest it comes to the President Health and how this procrdds moving for judy what about that . I know from listening to the reporting today, what are you another reporters who spent so much time coverinthe esident, what questions do you still have . What is known about Contact Tracing, trying to find people in contact with the president . Yamiche there are a lot of unanswerstions, a long list of them. Partly because the president s doctor has said himself that he was not fully transparent and at times wanted toeem eat instead of giving out facts. Some of the questions are when was the last time the president tested negative for the coronavirus. Was he tested before the tuesday debate with ate biden . O scans show of the president s lungs . Is there some set of pneumonia the president is still feeling . Where is he going to be working at the white house . Ere are people wondering, is he going to be in the oval office . Are other people going to be exposed . Answers that we are not getting. Judy and finally, yamiche, the president , among other things the president tweeted today, dont be afraid of covid up your how does that sare with the Public Health guidelines around this very Infectious Disease . Yamiche well, we can see that the president istarting to hint that he will use his coronavirus dgnosis as well as his hopeful recovery to really his own political benefit. He is focused on the fact that he is down in the polls nationally and that joe biden has opened up a lead in critical battleground states. The president is saying people should not be worried about the virus, that is something the president has been doing a long time. He has admitted to downplaying it. There are Health Officials who py that is dangerous and he should be telliple to stay vigilant. There arewo lot of people ied the president is not being right when you say, dont let this dominate your life . Judy from talking to your sources in and around the white house, how are they saying this decision was made for the president to come back after not even three days . Yamiche well, the president really has been pushing his doctor white house. Out of the from what my sources are telling people saying, i need to get out of here, i dont want to be here anymore. He was cognizant of the fact that the campaign might be looked at as weak because he might be sitting in a hospital bed. The president wanted to make sure he was out. We heard from the white house doctor he wanted to reassure the president , he wanted to put out information that would put the present at ease. That is why we have these critical unanswered question, how can the president eafely back at the white house when he is on at least three different drugs fighting theoronavirus . He is also 74, he is at risk, he is overweight. A lot of people are worried this decision was not made based m on hisical status, but made based on what he wanted. It is a big issue and an issue im going to continue to press on and what we will continue report on. Ju yamiche, thank you very much. The r president may burning to the white house tonight, but the number of confirmed coronavirus cases among white house staffers tick higher today, raising questions about theth precautions iwhite house and how well they were followed. John yg gets an insider perspective from olivia troye, a former advisor to Vice President pence who previously worked on the White House Coronavirus task force. She lt the administration in august and has since been workingn with republioups who oppose the president s reelection. s start off with t question, what precautions were white house in terms of Wearing Masks, in terms of testingtaff , in terms of working in the west wing and the Eisenhower Executive Office buiing . Certainly, we had a idelines posted. We had masks available, especially upon entrance of the west wing. Fore immediate staff, we w conducting testing. For me who saw the Vice President on a daily basis or senior staff interacting with the president and the Vice President , but the truth is the issue was that even thoh these masks were available, nobody was really following the protocols internally. The west w ag isery small space. People often sit in very close proximity to each other and people were not following these we werent Wearing Masks all the time and we were quite frankly very exposed to each other. John even though you were on the ce president s lead staffer own the Coronavirus Task force, you say you would not wear aask . Why is that . Is that because it was frowned upon . Did you feel pressure not to wear a mask . The answer is two i wore a mask i triedo. I would wear it around the west wing or the hallways, but t truth is it was awkward because he would walk into a meeting and you would get these looks from some of the senior staff in the white house at times, i was complicit. You take your mask off. Granted, i was in fortunate situation where i am tested. You can see that there is no such thing as a real rapid test when some of the times that we were tested. We certainly had false negative lse positives, but that wasnt a guarante not everyone in the buildin is not everyone on the staff is tested. Peop come in and out of these buildings all the time, so the potential for expose. E is still th john there are a lot of experts on this task force. What was their reaction when they came into the west wing for Task Force Meetings and saw all the staff not Wearing Masks, sort of crammed into this you say it is a very crowded west wing its a very crowded workspace . It was frurating. Ey were very frustrated with the situation. I would have these conversations where i would see dr. Fauci, dr. Redfield, dr. Birx, she has an office in the west wing. She did at t time i was there and she wore her mask all the time. Unless she was about to speak during a meeting, she did follow the proper protocols. You know, everybody knew that it was just a matter of timeme befe ing like the outbreak you are seeing happen this weekend and over the past few daysould happen because this virus does not discriminate. It can impact anyone and everyone, including all of us in the white house. John the president two tings on social media president yesterday in his video said, i get it, i get it and understand it. Then today, he said better than he has in 20 years and that people should not be afraid of covid. Afterll the meetings, all the Task Force Meetings, all the briefings you helped coordinate that the president sat through, what is yourou reaction when first heard him yesterday say, i get it . My reaction was i wish he would have gotten it ba in january when we did the initial briefing and we told you how bao this was goinge. The problem is perhaps you got it, but that is not what you were tel when i saw him say i get it, i was also saddened because i cannot believe it took him rsonally experiencing covid to of the situation that a lot of americans and people who haveed lost lnes or who are currently still suffering with covid today have experienced. John bute also today said he feels better than he has in 20 years and that people should not be afraid of covid. Also, he has never mentioned the people you jusiod, the people who have lost loved ones in the United States. I was concerned when i saw the president fall ill, you never want to see the commanderinchief be sick or have anything happen to him. He is the leader of o country. However, i was concerned that knowing whatbo i knew how this white house works and the political dynamics andhe messaging that comes out of it, i was concerned he would use this as an opportunity to continue his messaging of playing down the pandemic and aying down the virus, which is just factually incorrect, so ive seen that develop right before my very eyes. He is saying, ive had it, no big deal. Dont let it affect your personal life. John olivia troye, former top staffe of the Coronavirus Task you very much. Se, thank thank you for having me. Judy w n explore some of the questions being asked aboutp president ts condition and treatment with two physicians. One is an emergency position and professor of health picy at the George Washington university. She is a former Health Commissioner for the city of baltimore. And dr. William lang, a former Deputy White House physician, and director of the white house medical unit under president s bill clinton and george w. Bush. We welcome both of you to the newshour. Based on what you heard today from the president s doctors at walter reed, everything they are saying about him and the fact that they say he is not still out of the woods, that they will be continue to monitor him what is your understanding of his condition . I believe that his condition is very serious. This is bas on all the little pieces of information that were given and all the things that we are not being told, but it had at least two episodes where his oxygen saturation dropped. One ofev them wase enough to prompt the transport to the hospital. He has also had various lung imaging, that we donknow what it shows. It sounds like he probably has pneumonia. And he is on at let three medications, one of them is not given except if patients are severely or critically ill. Inec fact, it is ically not given to patients who have nonsevere illness. Allf this makes me wonder. By the white houses own timeline, if he first had symptoms on thursday, this is day five of his illness. The times we are most concerned about covid19 our days seven through 10. Why is he being discharged home right now wn the period that we arehe most concerned about is yet to come . Judy hat is exactly my question to you, how does everything he said to you square withhe decision to have him leave the hospital tonight to go back to the white use . It doesnt. Think that is why we need so many more answers from the they have been insistent on ally in a way that is hugelynd misleading. This is not what they should be doing. I think about it as a doctor telling a patients familyt members abat patients condition and prognosis. What you can say or you should not say to my family member. That doctor, we would respect that request, but what we would not do is mislead the patiens family. We would not say that the patient has a mild illness, when he has a severe illne we would never lie to family members. I believe that is what is happening here and it is unethical. Judy dr. Lang, you know the white house set up. How wellequipped is the white house to hane a patient who is contagious and especially the president of the uted states, who is infected with covid19, and all the treatednt he might as you can imagine, the white use as far as being a place he can be monitored during the critical days as was just said, days seven through 10 can be critical days for ant patho is in the at risk groups, but monitoring today is pretty small. You can bring the small equipment into the white house. He has a tea the team is at the white house. H