Were wearing masks. Many others were not and were crammed together. Heres what they heard so far about his amazing recovery. The nice part, i went through it. Now they say im immune. I feel so powerful. Ill walk into that audience. Ill walk in there. Ill kiss everyone in that audience. Ill kiss the guys and the beautiful women, everybody. Ill give you a big fat kiss. No, but there is something nice. I dont have to be locked up in my basement. You have to get out. Its risky but you have to get out. But it does give you a good feeling when you can beat something and they say youre immune. I dont know for how long. Some people say for life. Some people say for four months. That was trumps treatis on the deadly rise across our country. Over 35 states are now reporting rising infections. In fact this weekend, missouri, montana, north dakota, oklahoma, west virginia, all reported new single day high records. And in a case of perfect timing, just as the president was traveling to florida tonight, the white house physician released a letter saying regarding the president s most recent covid19 tests, i can share with you that he has tested negative on consecutive days. He went on to say, testing data informed our medical teams assessment that the president is not infectious to others. As youll hear from one of our guests, doctors have a lot of questions about that statement and they are right to have a lot of questions about that statement. While trump is acting like he is no danger to those around him, one member of his Task Force Warns the president is posing a serious danger to Public Health. Put aside all the implications and look at it purely in the context of Public Health. We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that. The data speak for themselves. It happens. Now it is even more so a worse time to do that. The respected computer model we always quote from the folks at the university of washington is now projecting nearly 395,000 coronavirus deaths in this country by february. The study also says, and this is important, 80,000 of those lives could be saved if more people wore masks. During a Campaign Stop in cincinnati tonight, biden continued to hammer trump for his pandemic response. He knew it was extremely dangerous, an extremely communicable disease, airborne. But he didnt tell anybody. He told bob woodward, he didnt want to panic the american public. Americans dont panic trump panicked. Trump is the one who panicked. His reckless personal conduct. Meanwhile, some of trumps staff and allies seem determined to follow the president s lead when it comes the health precautions. Today his chief of staff mark meadows who has been at trumps side as he recovered from coronavirus had this exchange with report orders capitol hill. Let me pull this away. Yep. Pull away. And then that way i can take this off to talk. Im more than ten feet away. Im not going to talk into a mask. Remember, please, that man works for you. Meadows was headed into the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Hearing for Supreme Court nominee federal judge Amy Coney Barrett. Senator mike lee who attended the white house super spreader event and tested positive 11 days ago took off his mask to speak. This was day one of the Senate Hearing for judge barrett. The move was contentious. Party differences as expected, on full display. The future of the Affordable Care act hang in the balance. A few more days, well know what the American People have to say. I do remain concerned about some of the earlier attacks on your faith. Let me be clear, judge, as you know. There is no religious test to serve on the Supreme Court. Why . Because the constitution says so. I think this hearing is a sham. I think it shows real messed up priorities from the publ priority. This isnt Donald Trumps country. It is yours. This shouldnt be the Donald Trumps judge. It should be yours. We all watched the hearings for justice cavanagh. It was a freak show. It looked like the cantina bar scene out of star wars. It is unfair for my colleagues to suggest some overtly, some more indirectly, that if youre put on the United StatesSupreme Court, you will be on a mission from god to deny Health Care Coverage for preexisting conditions. By replacing Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg with someone who will undo her legacy, President Trump is attempting to roll back americans rights for decades to come. After all that, after the opening statements, judge barrett explained how she would probably cases if she were confirmed. I also clerked for justice scalia. It was the content of his reasoning that shaped me. His judicial philosophy was trait forward. A judge must apply the law as it is written, not as she wishes it were. Courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life. The public should not expect courts to do so and courts should not try. Senators began actually questioning judge barrett tomorrow. Expect to hear about smoos will reverberate throughout the remaining 22 days of this election and beyond. The u. S. Election project is now estimating over 9. 8 Million People have already voted. Early balloting now underway in 43 of our 50 states. Early voting started today in georgia where voters had to contend with technical issues, to use the euphemism locally, and criminally long lines to speak english, especially in the atlanta area. Well get a report from georgia just ahead in this broadcast. This vote here spoke to our nbc station in atlanta explains why so many voters were willing to endure the wait to cast a ballot. I think people are really ready to vote. And it doesnt matter how long it takes. We will stay alive to vote. So i think thats the most important part. Were voting like our life depends on it. Thats what it takes. Thats what it takes. Here with our leadoff discussion as we start the new workweek. Robert costa, political report he, with the washington post, moderator of Washington Week pbs, sam stein. And the doctor is with us, Infectious Disease physician. Medical director of the special pathogens unit. She worked the w. Horks when we were a mental nation. She is among our medical contributors for good reason. I would like the begin with you. Talk about the peril, the risk versus reward of the president who was in the hospital a week ago, going back out on the road for these rallies, entering air force one without a mask. No intention of depoliticizing mask wearing in the middle of an out of control pandemic. You just laid it out there. The question is the motivation. Why is he doing that . Based on my conversations with officials and trumps political advisers, he has seen polling that sees him down. You look at those images out of georgia. A deep red state as early voting begins. And republicans across the board, senator cornyn in texas, senator graham expressing alarm about democrats fundraising in his state, South Carolina, to the president being in florida and urging his core voters in that city, and throughout the whole state. He talked about the pan handle. This is the Republican Party and a president who are very concerned they may not just use the white house. They could lose the senate majority. Doctor, credibility is a tricky thing. It is just about everything in your line of work. You didnt have to be a Board Certified physician to see the tell virkss position and have questions about, was the doctor coopted by the patient, the timing was a tad suspicious when the pretty was en route following his hospitalization, and we were told, oh, yeah, he tested negative. First, do you believe the results . When i looked temperature letter, it said the president is still pcr positive. If he were negative, what we would see someone shedding a virus, they would have said he has had two negative pcr tests what we see from people were severely ill. Unless theyre indoors for 20 days. The way the letter is crafted, so what it says is, clearly its positive. What were doing, the White House Medical Team is looking at the amount of virus. Theyre saying it is very low but not how low it is. And theyre using more advanced technology. Theyre used in research so we dont know how they correlate with someones infectedness. It is the test that they quote. The fda says the test should not be used in those for more than seven days out of their illness. That test generally needs to be validated with a pcr test. It could be negative because it is not as sensitive. It is more of a political letter that creates a veneer. This is why it is okay for him to host these future super spreader events. Where other folks may be gathering. There may be others who continue to transmit this case. Hospitalizations from covid19. This is an ad that came out over the weekend. Well discuss it on the other side. Well discuss it on the other side this is sort of crescendo to a long running attention buildup that has happened between, not just fauci but basically the scientific experts on the Coronavirus Task force and the administration and the white house. My colleague got dr. Fauci on the phone this afternoon to talk to him about that appearance he made. He left tim pregs that he might actually leave the administration if they kept at it. He told her actually not. Hes in it for the long haul. This is a once in a century disease that is a culmination of the work he does and he wont go to the side line. He did say that they were in effect harassing me. Which is a remarkable statement to be made by the lead Infectious Disease expert of the country. Basically saying for them to stop politicizing him. This does get to the tensions that exist. People are if he hfed up with i. It is not exactly the most effective way to manage a pandemic from a political standpoint or a Public Health standpoint. Hey, doctor, one more question about the president. He is claiming he is immune. Who do you reckon told him that . What is the Public Health danger of him going around the country saying hes immune . The first thing is we dont know how long immunity lasts. Just today there was a 25yearold who got the disease once in nevada and then got sick again, enough to get hospitalized. And an unofficial report in the netherlands, who got reinfected, he was sick enough that he died. They were immuno compromised. But still, we dont know. For him to claim that, he cant claim. That antibody tests which is what is used, we dont know if it will say one way or the other if hes immune. And then we certainly cant say that with the president. He ended up getting antibodies from outside. So when they tested him, of course it was going to be positive and the levels would be high. Those are circulating antibodies from the regeneron product that he got. The harm is once again, it is undermining and down playing this virus. As we walk into the fall and potentially see our worst nightmares of this pandemic play out. I dont know a single hospital that is not reusing n95s still. Were not ready for what the president is trying to bring upon this country and im scared about that. Wow, are there publ whos look at this as the iwo jima . Their last chance to make big change knowing that not all of them will be back, and when they do, they may be in the minority . They want to focus on the judge barrett hearings. The president and chief of staff, mark meadows, theyre trying to angle to revive these stimulus negotiations to get a jolt to the economy, the Reelection Campaign but not a big appetite for that. Theyre already nervous about their own prospects to add money, a big deal on top of a judicial nomination. They think too much could depress the conservative vote in their own states. Its tricky for the purepublica. They say theyll be on alert for any kind of mention of judge barretts Roman Catholic faith. The abstained from the entire faith argument and focused instead on health care. This is an argument the democrats used in 2018. Pay attention to the Affordable Care act. Pay attention to preexisting conditions and they won power in washington. They curbed President Trumps own power starting in 2019. Now theyre sticking tom health care play book again in not taking republicans political bait trying to have an extended dialogue about catholicism. Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Some folks were surprise that had they were all following the same him nal and they believe, do they, that this, that obamacare is the way to go up against this potential justice . Yeah. A few weeks back, some democrats held a Conference Call right after the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. The debate was, do you throw everything at the wall . Do you just make this, frame it as a sham nomination process . Maybe boycott the hearings . Or do you sort of focus on the impact that it could potentially have on the Affordable Care act, which is a case coming before the Supreme Court a week after election that could invalidate the entire law. It is clear which side won out. For the reasons that bob was talking about, this is a play book that they use effectively in 2018. The polling on obamacare is immensely popular to the point whenner you see publ lawmakers including Mitch Mcconnell tonight dismissing the idea that. Even though it has been brought by multiple state ags, even though department of justice is a party to the litigation which would end obamacare as we know it. The stance of the majority leader is theres no way. That tells you the efficacy of the argument and to go so unilaterally on this. Indeed it does. A big thanks to our big three on a monday night. As always, thank you for starting us off. Coming up, 11 hours in line to vote in the state of georgia. This first day of inperson early voting does nothing to threaten georgias well deserved reputation for Voter Suppression. Well get a live update in just a moment. Later the president who may or may not be covid negative, holding rallies on the road. Bringing together a ton of unmasked people and were learning nothing in a pandemic. James carville, a. B. Stoddard waiting in the wings to join us in a bit. To join us in a bit too many are hurting. But despite the rising pain and anguish made worse during the pandemic, Insurance Companies still refused to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Until now. Senator scott wiener went to work taking them on. Passing a law requiring the Insurance Industry to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Now more than ever, californians need Mental Health coverage. I wont let up until the stigma of Mental Health and addiction is finally over. We made it. Its been an honor to share this almost 11hour period and we did it. Vote, vote did you catch that . 11 hours to vote in the United States of america. Lets use plain english and call it what it is. Voter suppression. Rather than doing Everything Possible to make voting as easy as possible, the state has allowed impediments in the way. Thats Voter Suppression. Georgia has a rich history of Voter Suppression. There are similar stories from across georgia on this first day of inperson early voting. Similar horror stories, similar long lines. For more were happy to welcome to the broadcast, hope ford from our sister station and im actually looking forward to hearing from you. Continuing polling place behind you just closed. Youve been there all afternoon and evening. What on earth do Public Officials say about 11 hour long lines to vote in georgia . Really, the georgia secretary of States Office is chalking everything up to historic interest in the election. And theyre kind of leaving it temperature. As voter enthusiasm is the reason for the long lines. The office has not addressed the individual claims nor the issues that happened at some of the precincts. Instead, theyre really saying people are really excited to come out and vote today. And what im trying to get my arms around this today. In voter enthusiasm you would think would translate to the secretary of state as a warning to redouble their efforts and do Everything Possible on the part of government to make voting accessible and fast are. They still blaming like computer glitches, which is kind of the catchall for voting delays . Reporter they investment address that had at all. Theyre not touching voting issues that are surrounding any of the issues that are happening. Their just saying over and over that it is voter excitement and enthusiasm and the. A people who voted today. They varied from poll location to poll location depending on where you were. The issues varied. So theyre really not saying anything. As far as any solution for the future, theyre just putting it back on the voters and saying, well, you have three more weeks to vote. You can do the absentee vote or you can vote at the election so theyre really staying clear of addressing any of those issues. Hope ford, thank you very much. I know after closing time you hung out to talk to us and