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 CorrespondentKaitlan 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