The first lady and i are waiting four o for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process. Indeed, hope hicks has tested positive for coronavirus. Few aides are closer to the president. She was with him yesterday for his rally in duluth, minnesota, was unmasked at least when photos were taken of her. She flew out and back with him on air force one. Tonight trump talked about hope hicks during an interview with sean hannity on fox. 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. You know, because we spend 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, when youre with the marines, and the police offices, im with them so much. And when they come over to you, its very hard to say, stay back. A lot to decipher there and a lot of questions arising from the president s comments. Hes been bragging about the instant tests they have at the white house, so lets figure he was tested two hours ago, even one hour ago. One would presume those results are in. Are they having secondary testing under way . Hope hicks, for her part, has been traveling with the president throughout the campaign, again, in very close proximity and for several hours every day. Shes been a trump aide dating back to the 2016 campaign. Youll recall she did leave the white house to work for the Fox Corporation in l. A. Before coming back to service in the west wing. Meanwhile, trump has been under attack for two days for refusing to condemn White Supremacy in the political portion of our lives. Tonight during an interview, that same interview with sean hannity on fox, he went with a change in language. Ive said it many times, and loet me be clear again, i condemn the kkk. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the proud boys. I dont know much about the proud boys, almost nothing, but i condemn that. But he should condemn also antifa. Antifa is a horrible group of people. Its a different standard. Its total hypocrisy. Its a disgrace. But i think the people are wise to it, sean. I really do. The people are wise to it. Every time you do something, and Chris Wallace asked me almost the same question last time. And, you know, its a shame. Its a shame that they can get away with it. Today the white house was pressed, indeed, to detail trumps views on White Supremacy and Militia Groups operating within our country. What we heard earlier this same day was far less than definitive. As the person who speaks for the president , does the president denounce White Supremacism and groups that espouse it in all their forms . This has been answered yesterday by the president himself, the day before by the president himself. On the debate stage, the president was asked this. He said sure three times. Yesterday he was point blank asked, do you denounce White Supremacy, and he said, ive always denounced any form of that. Just to clear it up this morning, can you, naming it, make a deck lairtive statement that the president denounces it. I just did. The president has denounceds this repeatedly the president was asked this. Youre contriving a story line and a narrative. Im just asking you to put this to rest. I just did. You may recall that at the debate, trump was asked to denounce the proud boys Militia Group by name. Yesterday he said he didnt know who they were. The White House Defense and the president s words brought this reaction from john roberts of fox news, who you just saw there in that exchange with kayleigh mcenany. If the president didnt know who proud boys were and joe biden just threw out the name, if he didnt know who they were, why did he denounce them . Why didnt he say, well, i dont know who they are . Can you give me a little bit more information about them and make a decision about it. So this all remains very puzzling. And for all of you on twitter who are hammering me for answering that for asking that question, i dont care because its a question that needs to be asked, and clearly the president s republican colleagues a mile away from here are looking for an answer for it too. So stop deflecting, stop blaming the media. Im tired of it. And tonight trump, who misses very little on television and even less on fox news, had this to stay about john roberts. Kayleigh is this incredible person, and she was abused by john roberts. Amid all of this, nbc news has obtained department of Homeland Security internal talking points directing federal Law Enforcement officials to make public sympathetic comments about the young man named kyle rittenhouse. Hes the 17yearold who was charged with fatally shooting two protesters in kenosha, wisconsin, in august, with an ar15. Rittenhouse supported trump and police on his social media pages before he traveled from his home in illinois across the state line to wisconsin. Those Homeland Security documents suggested officials, quote, note that he took his rifle to the scene of the rioting to help defend Small Business owners. Back in august, trump was asked if he condemned the actions by rittenhouse. He was trying to get away from them, i guess, it looks like. And he fell. And then they very violently attacked him. I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been he probably would have been killed. Americans in several states are already voting. Here we are 33 days out even as the president escalates his unfounded attacks on mailin voting and the integrity of our election. One former fbi agent who has called trump a National Security threat says trumps words are weakening our democracy. When the president gets up there and says that he sees all these instances of fraud, which dont exist in reality, there is no data, there is no evidence to support his assertions, what he is doing is, one, undermining the faith of americans in their electoral process. Trump is also now lashing out at the possibility that the rules for his next debate with biden could change. Quote, why would i allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third debates when i easily won last time . Heres what trump said on this topic just a short time ago. Were dealing with very tricky people here, but i think you remember that very well. They modulated my mic, and they say i won all of the debates. So i was in 16, 17 debates. They say i won all of the debates. I like this for matd. He was the one that interrupted me. Along with the Vice President ial debate, remember there are two remaining president ial debates. Theres the calendar. We mention trump aide hope hicks testing positive for covid19. That makes her one of the more than 7. 3 million americans known to be infected. Her boss has been talking up the possibility of a vaccine perhaps even before election day. Tonight Jonathan Lemire of the associated press, who is indeed standing by to join us, reports that the ceo of pfizer, one of the Bigger Companies working on a vaccine, is now pushing back on the president s timeline and vowing not to bend to political pressure. But coronavirus in some form or fashion remains our lead story tonight, and with that as the backdrop, lets bring in our leadoff discussion on this thursday evening. Nancy cook, White House Reporter for politico. The aforementioned Jonathan Lemire, White House Reporter with the associated press. And dr. Vin gupta, an e. R. Doc specializing in these kinds of illnesses, also is an affiliate assistant professor with the university of Washington Department of Health Metrics sciences. We have a lot to get to. Jonathan, i know you and nancy have been working the phones. When did the white house find out about hope hicks . And im asking specifically because she was on yesterdays trip, and you know the confines of the helicopter, the aircraft, and the tight group of people around the president on the road in Holding Rooms and the like. Brian, the white house realized last night, wednesday night got the diagnosis of hope hicks, who is indeed one of the president s very closest advisers. So theyve known from last night that she had tested positive for the coronavirus. And indeed lets walk through the chronology of the week. Tuesday night she accompanied the president to the first general Election Debate in cleveland. Yesterday she was in minnesota. She traveled with him for a couple stops in minnesota, including a rally, traveled with him on not just air force one but on marine one. It is protocol for staff to wear masks in the president ial helicopter, but it is extraordinarily close quarters. Hope, were told, Via White House aides, is one of the white house staffers who does wear masks from time to time. A lot never do. But her mask usage is not 100 . No one is. Its not clear when exactly she might have worn the mask on air force one the last couple of days. Its sort of extraordinary here. President s tweet a few moments ago suggested he and the first lady were in a quarantine process. Ill defer to the doctor as to exactly what that means. But typically cdc guidelines suggest quarantine could be up to 14 days, which would more or less be half of the time left before election day. Now, we believe were calling the white house and calling trump advisers as to exactly what he means. It could be that he is simply meaning waiting for the results of another test. But that in itself raises questions. They have rapid tests at the white house. Anyone who is going to come into contact with the president , and that includes members of the press pool, do get these avid rapid tests where results are usually known in about a half an hour. And that presumes the president would have had already. So it stands to reason he has had another test and theyre perhaps waiting for that result. One of the more accurate tests that takes longer, town a few hours, before they know what it is. At least for now, brian, as a final point, the white house schedule is still full tomorrow. The president is set to go to a fundraiser here in washington and then travel to a rally tomorrow night in florida. Ill be part of the press pool going on that trip. Those events are still on as of now, and it should be noted the white house knew of hope hicks diagnosis, wednesday night. Today, thursday, there is no sign of hope. But the president , who had been exposed to hope hicks, still traveled to a fundraiser in bedminster, new jersey. Okay, doctor. Youre on deck, and you know the questions already. What does it mean to you that he mentioned quarantine in this tweet tonight . And heres a subject you and i have talked about on this broadcast. The president in positively poe peelian terms has shilled for the abbott quick turnaround test. He has displayed the product and pushed it from the rose garden of the white house. We know it to be in use at the white house. Does this to you, this twohour delay, mean perhaps that the results on one test have come in and we are awaiting the more accurate results of another . Good evening, brian. Theres a lot to get through. Before i get there, i just want to say first of all, i hope hope hicks is doing okay. At the end of the day, shes covidpositive, and this virus, regardless of your age, can have devastating impacts, so i hope shes okay. To your question, this is where timing of exposure is vital. Vital information not just for the president s health, for the first lady and her circle, but frankly for the people of wisconsin because hes going to have a rally there regardless. I know he moved, but hes still going to have a rally. What theyre doing right now will be an example for Holiday Travel in just a few weeks. Here is the thing. Quarantining is actually the right move. He should cancel the wisconsin rally, and heres why quarantine matters. It depends on when he got exposed. Did he get exposed he definitely got exposed within the last 24 hours on air force one. We know that theres recirculated air in a plane, but its not perfect. Were they Wearing Masks . Im assuming their public behavior is probably indicative of their private behavior on an airplane cabin. Im assuming they were not masking. So the chance that he got exposed is relatively high. Heres the problem with the avid i. D. Now test or any test. The time between exposure and the testing positive depends on something called the incubation period. It can take 24 to 48 to 72 hours between exposure and when the test turns positive. So not only should he get a test today, he should get the best type of test. The avid i. D. Now is not a good test. Its false negative rate is anywhere from 30 to 50 . Its not a good test. What they should do is they should do the highest quality labbased test on the president , make sure that he is definitely negative today and then also in 72 hours, cancel the wisconsin rally. And, dr. Gupta, oh, by the way, im reminded Jonathan Lemire reminded us the president was feet away from joe biden, unmasked but distanced, spewing exhalations, both of them, for 90 minutes a couple of nights ago. Well, and brian, you nailed it there. Speaking without a mask can cause droplets, airborne particles to leave your mouth. Yelling like the president was yelling a lot can basically shower the entire audience, not just the Vice President , with droplets of covid19. So everybody should be tested. All his close contacts on air force one should be tested now. They should be tested again in 72 hours because of that incubation period. The wisconsin rally and all events should be canceled. This is not a political matter. This is a matter of urgent public health. He should not go to wisconsin, in any city in wisconsin, and have a rally when he could potentially be the vector of disease and unwittingly expose people. So thats really important. Okay, nancy. We recognize that during this conversation, this could all be moot. The president s public schedule for tomorrow came out about 15 minutes before our air time. It could all have changed. Travel schedule may have changed. What do you take from his mention of the q word, quarantine . I think someone told him probably that he had to say that. I mean hes been very blase about the coronavirus since the beginning and has repeatedly said, oh, its going to be over soon. Hope hicks is his closest aide to test positive, but there have been other people around the president who have also tested positive, including one of his personal military valets and the Vice President s top spokesperson, katie miller. So this is not the first time that President Trump has come in close contact with someone who has contacted covid19. I think hicks is just the latest example. But the president has never taken it that seriously. Hes never modeled the cdc recommended behavior to mask, to social distance. And i was on the trip yesterday with him to minnesota. He was traveling with hope hicks but also all of his top aides, and none of them, as i saw them get off the plane and on the plane, none of them were Wearing Masks. And really it was his whole inner circle that was with him, including the chief of staff, jared kushner, dan scavino, stephen miller, really his closest aides. So i will be really curious in the coming days to see if there is more widespread exposure among that inner circle and then what this potentially means, as jonathan said earlier, for the campaign. Theyre really under so much pressure now. The president has been consistently behind in the polls, and ill be curious to see if he has to cancel any political events or take time out of the campaign trail during the last 30something days to deal with this. Jonathan lemire, based on reporting and observation, would you agree with me that the employees like the valet and the aide to the Vice President were several degrees of magnitude less exposure than this one . It was joked about on television as recently as tonight that there are trump family members who wish they had the daily kind of face time, sustained exposure, and access to the president that hope hicks enjoys. There are few i can think of who are at that level. Hope hicks is one of the president s closest aides, and without question this is now the closest he has come to the coronavirus. Hope hicks was one of the original campaign staffers. She was there from the early days of 2015. Originally she had worked for ivanka trump, done some p. R. Work for her for her business and eventually moved over to Donald Trumps then fledgling president ial campaign and earned his trust. She rewarded him with loyalty, and she was there as press secretary for that campaign, one who didnt interact with reporters on the record all that much, but was a constant traveling companion and one of the president s closest allies. And in fact when she eventually departed the white house a year or so ago, you know, he really took it hard and had told aides that he really missed her. She then returned, moving into the senior role, and has been more of a behind the scenes presence, but she is still there certainly for all the biggest moments. I think whats happened certainly tonight, brian, it goes to show no matter how hard the president tries to wish this virus away, that it will disappear, that were rounding the corner, that he cant outrun it. This virus has shadowed his entire year. Its shadowed his presidency. Its put tens of millions out of work. It has changed the rhythms of day to day life, and it has become the defining issue of this campaign. As much as the president wants this to be a choice election between himself and joe biden, we saw him effort that on tuesday night with his loud interruptions and badgering of the former Vice President , it hasnt been. This election to this point has been this cam