After being in close proximity to the vice commandant of the coast guard who also tested positive. He and defense secretary mark esper were both at the white house for an event last weekend. As the administration navigates this crisis, Vice President mike pence is preparing to debate senator Kamala Harris tomorrow night, now agreeing to plexiglass barriers after pence aides repeatedly mocked the harris team for wanting an additional level of safety. Joining me now, nbc White House Correspondent and weekend today cohost peter alexander. Nbcs mike memoli in Salt Lake City ahead of the Vice President ial debate. Robert gibbs, former press secretary to president obama, and dr. Vin gupta, pulmonologist and Global Health policy expert at the university of washington medical center. Peter alexander, you heard from chief of staff mark meadows this morning. What is the latest on the president s condition . Because we havent heard from the doctors in two days except for a brief statement. And the schedule, because there was some suggestion from meadows that he might even be wanting to go into the oval office, conceivably. That raises a lot of questions. You have to walk from the residence through all those corridors, to the elevator, presumably, his elevator, down through the other corridors in the white house, to the oval office, while theyre trying to control the spread. Yeah, not exactly isolation like you would imagine and like theyve said they would be enforcing for this parking lot. Exactly. In terms of his covid diagnosis right now, his infection. To give you a sense of the white house very quickly, andrea, this is a place thats in crisis and largely empty right now. Having been in there very briefly in the west wing, its effectively a ghost town with a limited staff working right now, given so many people have either become infected or been quarantined as a result. As it relates to mark meadows here, a short time ago when we had a chance to speak to meadows outside the north lawn position where we are finishing up another interview, we were about 20 feet away, remember, he was exposed to the president multiple times at walter reed and again in his meetings here at the white house, spoke a little bit about the president s condition, saying he continues to do extremely well and insisted that hes working hard. Take a listen. His schedule right now is fluid. Were looking at his prognosis from a health standpoint. He wanted to go to the oval yesterday. If he decides to go to the oval, weve got safety protocols there that are, uh, not only from a ppe standpoint but from a ventilation standpoint in the oval where we can actually work to that end as well. If you listen closely to that sound bite, it sounded like meadows was saying there was a possibility the president may go to the oval office if not today then sometime soon. I pressed him on why there has not been any mandate on social distancing or wearing of masks at the white house given this outbreak ricochetting throughout building here and among the president s aides and allies. He said they do socially distance as best is practical. He said when they cant do that, they wear masks. But if you put up this picture from 11 days ago, andrea, this is the rose garden event where they celebrated the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett as the president s pick to replace ruth bader ginsburg. You can see very few masks, certainly no social distancing. More than 120 people were in the rose garden at the time. We know many of knows who have become infected were among those present there. So it really raises some new questions about whether they did anything. We still dont know from meadows whether the president was tested every day. The white house hasnt said when his last negative test happened as well. Were still trying to get to those answers and hopefully getting a chance to talk to his doctor at some point today, but no indication that that will happen either. And from the video we just looked at, we can say senator mike lee, who tested positive, is a hugger. Hes hugging everyone in sight. I mean, even if they werent Wearing Masks, its so unusual to see people hugging in this day and age. Nobody around us hugs for, you know, seven months now. And andrea, to interrupt very briefly, you make an important point. Beyond the interactions you see right there, meadows said at this point theyve finished their Contact Tracing, were told by white house officials, theyve not identified that rose garden event as the source of these infections. They said they have indications it may have happened elsewhere. One possible place it could have happened would have been the debate prepping for President Trump last week. Chris christie, hope hicks, kellyanne conway, stephen miller, the president himself, and others were there, many of them testing positive. Really good point there. Dr. Vin gupta, its almost a textbook of what not to do in looking these white house pictures, and what people cant see is just how close these corridors are, how small the spaces are, except for the oval office, but where you can obviously open doors out to the rose garden and the president could walk through the colonnade and through the rose garden, he doesnt have to go inside the white house to actually get to the oval office. But other than the president of the United States himself, there are so many people working in really tiny spaces. Good morning, andrea. Youre right, and i think whats most alarming is that the d. C. Department of health has not been given the information that they need regarding the number of positive staffers, the number of individuals at that event, who might have actually been exposed so they can contact trace. Theyve reached out several times, the white house, per reporting, has not actually given them that information. Thats unusual, because at the very least you would think that that information would be provided for their for the safety of the staffers and then their loved ones. Because as you know, this can exponentially get out of hand quickly, so that is concerning. I think that any movement this is how if the president was in a hospital, and the president in most cases if the president was any other person, he would still be in a t hospital. We would not be giving medications like dexamethasone that youre prescribed for ten days if you have severe covid19. Ive cared for many of these patients, we dont discharge patients who have significant medical profiles. Lets say hes in the white house medical unit. He should have remained there in whatever type of isolation they have for his benefit. He shouldnt be moving around needlessly. He looked like he was gasping for breath on that modified stress test up the white house stairs a few days ago. Thats number one. For his benefit, he should be resting, and number two, for the benefit of others. Him Walking Around with or without a mask is needless exposure and it doesnt happen for anybody else with covid19 in any type of medical facility that has covid19 pneumonia and is getting treatment for it. To your point for Contact Tracing, they refused to use the cdc, who are the experts on all this. Using the white house, presumably their own list of guests. But theyre not professional contact tracers, nor did they do it right away so youve already lost all of those days. I want to ask you about suggestions that the president could be reacting to the steroids. When he said in that video i havent felt this great in 20 years, he seemed unnaturally sort of up. What about steroids and the fact that he could be having a physical reaction . Because thats certainly something tsuggested regarding t erratic behavior on the stimulus bill, you know, no, then yes, then maybe. With huge market implications and implications for millions of americans. So certainly, dexamethasone, were using this term to frequently, i think we take for granted, its a new term for Many American people. It is a very powerful steroid. Sometimes people get something called prednisone if they have as tea owe arthritic pains, joint pains, doctors will sometimes prescribe that. Dexamethasone is multiple times more powerful than that and the president is getting probably six milligrams every day. Thats enough, for somebody not used to it, to experience euphoria, in some cases delirium in a hospital setting. Certainly insomnia. I bet hes not getting ai gre t night of sleep. Covid19 wreaks havoc by overactivating the immune system and damaging the lungs. So hes at risk from a secondary infection from, say, a bacteria. So him going around willynilly without a mask and appropriate protections is dangerous for his own health. Definitely mental status changes can be expected, andrea. Robert gibbs, you worked in the white house. Can you imagine the press secretary, all these other close aides, hope hicks, now the pentagon implicated as well, it is home alone there, because people are afraid to come to work, and they should be working from home now, those who have not become infected. Andrea, look, weve all had to do this, since march. You know, weve been lucky, many of us have been lucky. Were not front line workers, but were able to go into our homes. Were able were able to conduct business. Theres absolutely no reason that most of the white house staff could do that. Should a few people be there . Yes. Should they be socially distanced . Yes. Should they be Wearing Masks . Yes, were six months late on that. But people exposed directly to the president and hope hicks ought to be quarantined. The exact model of behavior that weve been asking the American People to do for six or seven months, they turn on the tv now and they see that the building most identified with our democracy is paying no attention to those rules. And the building with the most Resources Available to it of any building maybe in the world has no interest in doing Contact Tracing. Lets be clear. Theyre not doing Contact Tracing because they dont have the wherewithal to do it. Theyre not doing Contact Tracing because quite frankly they dont want to know the answer. They dont want to tell you, andrea. They dont want to tell peter who else has this disease. Theyre being willfully ignorant on these facts. And i think its obvious. The doctor comes out and answers no questions. If peter has a chance to ask the doctor questions today, i can bet you everything that i have that hes not going to get an answer. And such is what is happening now with where we are in covid19 in 2020. And that brings us to the debates, because the president now says hes going to go to the debate next week. But we still dont know what his viral load is. Mike memoli, joe biden said yesterday that he will go to the debate but only if he knows the president is not infectious. How are they going to get that information from the white house . And what do you expect from tonights debate . Yeah, andrea, the last 24 hours as it relates to the Vice President ial debate, theres been this discussion of course about those plexiglass barriers. A request that came from the harris team in part for two reasons, really. One, because frankly the lack of trust in the debate commission, the fact that they werent enforcing their own rules in clevela cleveland, whether or not the president did report or positive or negative test, his staffers and family not Wearing Masks, and was the president tested before he left cleveland. There are white house advisers and people close to pence himself who tested positive. They want that extra degree of assurance. And then the question of what this means for miami next week. You heard the former Vice President yesterday say, while he hopes to have the opportunity to debate President Trump next week, that he wants to hear and wants to make sure that hes not contagious still. The mayor of miami, a republican, by the way, also saying that he should not be traveling to miami if hes still potentially contagious. Now, the stakes for tonight are that much higher in part because, frankly, the country is that much more keenly aware of the role of the Vice President to step in potentially to be president if the worst were to happen. Now, the harris team, raising expectations in the last hour, saying that Vice President mike pence will have to answer for the president and his handling of the coronavirus. And by the way, pence does himself, because he has been of course the head of that task force. They also point out that when we think back to cleveland and that chaotic scene, that mike pence, a much more polished debater, may not be interrupting senator harris in the same way that President Trump was interrupting joe biden, but as a Senior Adviser on the Biden Campaign put it, that doesnt mean hell be telling the truth, andrea. He is certainly more polite, much more polite, and hes an experienced politician, unlike the president. Peter alexander, i want to talk about something that was so moving to me, and that is general mike hayden. Hes been suffering for two years, fighting a really debilitating stroke, but regain his speech. He suffers from an aphasia, a speech difficulty, trying to relearn how to walk. Great military man, was the head of the cia, the head of the nsa in the george w. Bush years. He came out in support of joe biden. Take a look at this. If trump gets another term, i think many alliances will be gone. And america will be alone. And thats a real, real problem. I absolutely disagree with some of bidens policies. But thats not important. Whats important is the United States. And im supporting joe biden. Peter alexander, they should be taking this seriously. This is a very impactful endorsement for the military community in a lot of red states. Andrea, hes not alone, he joins a chorus of members of that military community who have expressed their not just reservations but frustration and deep distrust of President Trump and how hes governing at president. Michael hayden, the fourstar air force general, stanley mcchrystal, endorsing joe biden a couple of days ago. Mike hayden spoke to the sort of loss of alliances, our role in the world as a leader. He said if President Trump wins a second term, he said all of our friends would be gone, andrea. Peter alexander, mike memoli, robert gibbs, dr. Vin gupta, thank you all so very much for starting us off today. About face. President trump reversing course on covid relief only hours after breaking off talks. Now he says, maybe a small standalone bill. Millions of american livelihoods are hanging in the balance. What the economy, companies, and employees need to know now. Plus later, flip or flop. Can democrats get enough votes in races across the country to take back the senate . Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay with us. This is msnbc. Tech every customer has their own safelite story. This couple was on a camping trip. When their windshield got a chip. They drove to safelite for a sameday repair. And with their insurance, it was no cost to them. Woman really . Tech thats service you can trust. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Beautiful. But when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now i practice a different philosophy. Quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. Hey more mercy. Save over 30 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. The easy way to a happier business. More dangerous and corrupt president than trump. Hes harming our basic values, giving rise to hate, and hes selling out america to big corporations. Im working to protect immigrants, women, communities of color, and lgbtq people. And im making corporations like pg e and Insurance Companies play by our rules. We need experienced leadership to wipe away trumps stain on america for good. President trump doing another aboutface on the coronavirus stimulus package after markets plunged when he tweeted he was breaking off all talks. Then he wrote, i have instructed my investments to stop negotiating until after the election when immediately after i win, we will pass a major stimulus bill. The markets then crashed so he zigzagged back, signaling he might accept a smaller standalone bill. On a Democratic Caucus call tuesday afternoon, Speaker Pelosi was quoted as saying, believe me, there are people who thought, who think, that steroids have an impact on his thinking. Pelosi speaking out this morning on the view. Its hard to see any clear, sane path in anything that hes doing. The fact is that he saw the political downside of his state of walking away. All he has ever wanted in the negotiation was to send out a check with his name printed on it. Is it time to pick up the phone . Do you want to go over to the white house . Whats the best way to work this out now . I wouldnt go anywhere near the white house. Its one of the most dangerous places in the country. Joining me now is jason fuhrman, former chairman of the council of economic advisers in the obama administration. Jason, youve been part of these talks and youve seen the way its supposed to work. Theres really no communication, because how does pelosi or anyone negotiate with mnuchin or meadows, even, when they dont know what the president is going to tweet . Yeah, when i was in government, i thought it was dysfunctional because we would come to an agreement at 11 59 p. M. , the day before it needed to happen. That is looking, you know, absolutely stellar. I think the fact the president has been so erratic, didnt put out a plan until the end of july, kept changing his plan, did an illegal executive action, negotiate, dont negotiate, its so hard dealing with. And the fed chair has been really explicit about this, jerome powell, speaking before the president tweeted about ending the talks. Lets listen to what jay powell had to say. A long period of