Hope hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for covid19, the president wrote in that tweet tonight. In the tweet we had up on the screen, he went on to say, the first lady and i are waiting for our test results. Waiting for our test results, more on that in a moment. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process. Thats all we have been left with. Remember, this president in the white house has, including traveling with him, the white house physicians office. They are usually activeduty military, and they are physicians, more than one, to service the president , Vice President , members of the first family, even senior staff, and especially when the white house is on the road. We are hoping for a fuller statement from the White House Medical Office on the test results tonight. We have reason to believe the president and first lady were initially tested hours ago now, perhaps in the 9 00 p. M. Hour eastern time. We have reason to believe that the first goround on white house testing is the abbott instant test, which, full disclosure, the president has shilled and promoted on the white house lawn, including having an example of the product itself on a pedestal in ways that would make supermarketer ron poe peel stand back in admiration. Maggie haberman from the New York Times adds this on social media. Saying im going to quarantine changes the cable news chyrons, the headlines we use at the bottom of the screen. But if he, trump, tests negative and they announce that in short order, he likely isnt quarantining. Well, the president has put those words out there in the intervening 39 minutes since that was posted. We quoted shannon pettypiece, our own correspondent at the white house for nbc news digital, and apparently her ears were ringing at home when she heard that. Shannon, you and i both heard the same thing. When the president was asked about hope hicks having the coronavirus and cnn, by the way, is reporting she is symptomatic the president deflected a bit and talked about the people who come up and see you when youre on the road. You and i were both struck by the fact that he mentioned members of the military who want to, in his words, kiss you and hug you, and he couldnt help but remind sean hannity, because weve done such a good job. So talk about that and any other reporting youve been able to receive tonight. Well, and we dont know, at least based on our reporting at this point, how hope hicks got infected, if it was at all related to a Service Member, we dont know if there was a Service Member working closely with the white house where they believe she contracted this. We just dont know at this point. So thats why it was odd that the president would go to referring to the military, and his quote was he said, it is very, very hard when you are with people from the military, and this is in the context of talking, you know, right about this, you know, infection with hope hicks. He said, you know, they come over to you. They want to hug you and kiss you because we really have done a great job. You get close, and things happen. So take from that what you will, but a surprising layer to all of this. We have learned a little bit, but we dont know how they believe hope was infected. We have gotten a little bit of the timeline. My colleague Hallie Jackson reporting tonight that we believe or at least our reporting indicates that she was showing signs of symptoms last night while traveling with the president for a rally in minnesota and that this morning, she received positive results. Now, if that timelines correct, it is notable that the president today traveled to bedminster, where he held a fundraiser. We also know, as far as timeline, a little bit about what hopes contact has been with the president , and it is extensive. Our reporting indicates that she was very heavily involved in the debate prep that the president did. She traveled with him to cleveland, including on marine one, a very confined space, to that debate, was traveling again with him in minnesota. So the president , and as his quarantine indicates, has been in what the cdc defines as close contact with someone, within six feet of someone for more than 15 minutes. Thats what the cdc considers a close contact, and if you are a close contact, you are someone who needs to get tested and needs to quarantine until you have received an allclear from the testing. As far as people close to the president , they dont get much closer than hope hicks. You know, i remember talking about when the president s valley got infected and how that was someone incredibly close to the president all those months ago, who prepared his meals, who saw him multiple times a day. I would say hope hicks might be even closer when it comes to the amount of time, hours a day that, you know, our reporting indicates she has spent with the president throughout her time at the white house, not to mention in the past few days. So that would give you some sense of why the president is taking this so seriously and acknowledging for the first time that he may actually have covid19. In past situations where we have seen people in the white house infected, the president has never gone as far as to suggest he needs to quarantine, he may have covid19. So that is certainly a change from anything we have seen in the past, you know, although there have been a number of people in the president s inner circle who have gotten sick. Shannon, if you learn anything, wave your arms wildly, and we will come to you. And, shannon, as is his custom, reminds us to repeat the headline at this hour. And that is we are unaccustomed to saying this. The president of the United States is entering quarantine along with his wife in some form or fashion. Details tba for what is believed to be an exposure to coronavirus. This raises more questions for dr. Vin gupta, who remains with us and part of our coverage. Doctor, at the risk of going over some already asked and answered questions, can the president test negative for something he indeed has been exposed to and later test positive . Is there a gestation or german nation period noting that we are still learning so much every day about what is still an out of control pandemic in our country. Brian, the answer to that is absolutely. This is why this is such a complicated virus for us to control, because its so mysterious when it exposes one individual versus another individual. The response can be dramatically different. Heres what we know. We know that that time between exposure and when you might have a positive test the president seems like he had a pretty significant exposure. What the key piece here is that if hope hicks was symptomatic, that is deeply concerning, especially in an enclosed space for a long period of time. Thats a very highrisk exposure. Thats very different and should be treated as such. But the incubation period, meaning time from exposure to when you might get a positive test, varies from 48 hours all the way out to 14 days. Thats why the cdc if were being religious about cdc guidelines, lets be clear. The cdc actually says on their website, even in the setting of a close contact, highrisk exposure im paraphrasing even if you have a negative test, if the exposure was highrisk enough, because tests are not perfect, you should you should quarantine for 10 to up to 14 days. Some workplaces are actually instituting that policy. Theyre not trusting a negative test. Im hoping that the test that was employed was not the abbott i. D. Now test. I have nothing against abbott at all. But the test itself has had quality issues. False negative rates unacceptably high. So the president , i hope, is getting a labbased test, that nasal test where you stick a swab in your nose and it gets sent to a hospital for a pcr. Thats what we want for the president s safety. Its for the president s safety. Let me quickly say a few other comments, brian. We know this is a highrisk case for an exposure because we have studies, for example, out of china. Theres a really compelling, frankly alarming study published a few weeks ago in one of our best medical journals t. Shows that one person was positive in a bus that was recirculating airconditioned air, infected 40 of the passengers. Not that different from an airplane cabin. So an enclosed space, even if its better ventilated, a plane is better ventilated than a bus, is high risk for everybody thats in close contact. So not only the president and the first lady and whomever else might be on the flight, but everybody on that plane should be quarantining. Not just those two individuals. Everybody. One test should not be the pretext to say lets go to wisconsin or lets continue the schedule apace. No. We need a legitimate quarantine for the sake of the president and for the sake of those who he may expose unwittingly. So the whole schedule should be revisited, not just the next few days. Dr. Gupta, i sometimes forget we are not your job, and ive been reminded that your job, i. E. Patients in the e. R. , await, and we are losing our ability to talk to you. With our thanks for explaining rolling, breaking news that were all dealing with, thank you as always, doc. Jonathan lemire of the Associated Press remains with us. Jonathan, someone you and i both know, the afore quoted Maggie Haberman is back on the board as im looking at social media. And i quote from a few minutes ago, most aides who would normally travel with the president did not go with him to bedminster today. Again, closeddoor fundraiser, mostly because of hicks positive test earlier today. She had symptoms last night as weve reported around the time of the rally, quarantined on the plane home. Confirmed positive today. So, again, jonathan, were all absent more information from the White House Medical Office, were all doing kind of amateur Contact Tracing because this is a more important exposure than most. Thats certainly true, brian. And, yes, the timeline maggie just laid out there is one that we have as well, my colleagues and i at the a. P. It was noted today that kayleigh mcenany, the press secretary, did not join the president on his trip to bedminster, new jersey, for this fundraiser, and was replaced by one of the Department Press secretaries for that journey to new jersey. She did, however, still conduct her briefing in the White House Briefing room, which she came in fairly close contact to reporters. This would have been after she had been exposed to hope hicks in the previous day or so. And it raises questions also about how the white house notified this. The idea of Contact Tracing, well, hope hicks was on air force one and certainly had contact with a number of senior white house staffers, who many of them had contact just with one group, for instance, the White House Press pool that was on the plane with them on tuesday for the debate in cleveland and yesterday for the trip to minnesota. And theres been no Contact Tracing done that we know of for any of those reporter whos were on the plane. That included nancy cook, who was on earlier today, who was part of the trip to minnesota yesterday. So there has always been questions about how effective the white house Contact Tracing program has been, how robust it is and how frankly seriously they take it. And now theres great question as to what happens next for the president. This certainly there could be a tweet coming from his account at any minute. It could be in the dead of night where he says one way or the other the result of that test. And to reiterate, we think hes had the rapid test already and has now had a second one, a more substantial test thats more accurate but takes a little longer to process. Its possible we wont find out until the morning, and then what happens . He does have a full schedule tomorrow. Hes going to be in washington with events in the white house for the first half of the day and then a fundraiser at his hotel. Then hes supposed to get on air force one, and i will be part of that trip as part of the press pool tomorrow for a rally just outside orlando. That, as of now, is still on the books, followed by a couple of rallies in wisconsin on saturday and then further trips sunday and into next week. Will those happen . We dont know. A lot depends on the actual definition of would be. Im tempted to say, jonathan, enjoy the flight on air force one. I hope your affairs are in order, but that would shabe kidding. On the serious side, it is possible, as i keep saying, that the president s public schedule is running behind the news. The news thus far has been generated on his phone. As it usually is, brian. Yes. Certainly theres no question that that schedule may totally change. It is it heads out every night usually after what lid has been killed. Lid is a word that has picked up a lot of traction this week in context of the joe biden campaign. But basically what it means is to show that the candidate or in this case the president will not have any more public events, that reporters wont lay eyes on him or her, and that lid was called earlier this evening after the return from bedminster. The schedule came out shortly thereafter as it normally does. It could be completely revisited. President ial schedules, theres always a degree of fluidity. They can change at a moments note. Entire days can be scrapped or revised at any time. So it is possible that perhaps out of an abundance of caution, they will pull down tomorrows events or this weekends as well. Its also very possible that they wont. If another test comes back and the president is negative, its not impossible, considering how this white house its attitude towards the coronavirus has been, it wouldnt be shocking at all if they forged forward. Lets remember they have tried to change the subject every chance they can. They know that the argument is one that theyre losing if theyre having an argument that the president has handled this pandemic effectively. Public polling suggests that. Theyve been trying to make this campaign about anything else. We saw the president try so desperately tuesday night to do that at his debate with joe biden. And we have seen him time and again, critics say, act cavalierly towards and certainly unrealistically about the progress america has made, whether it be about testing or therapeutics or the vaccine, offering accelerated timetables and suggesting yet again he did so today that were in the home stretch with the coronavirus, that were rounding the corner even though there are many days still where 1,000 americans lose their lives each and every day to this virus. So as he tries to sort of paint as optimistic a picture as possible about how this country has handled the pandemic, its certainly hard to project a sense of normalcy, which he has done with a return to rallies, with a packed lawn for his speech at the Republican National convention. He may not want to seem like he is deterred by this virus, health risks aside, and may indeed keep up his Campaign Schedule in the days ahead. Yeah, jonathan, indeed to your point, the president a covid denier publicly early on. Its going to go to zper. It will disappear. We now know thanks to bob woodward he knew exactly the risks and the scope of this way before he was willing to discuss it with the public. For those just joining us, president s entering quarantine, or as we call it, early friday, october 2nd, 2020. Were going to take a break. Our live coverage as we await some modicum of medical information out of the white house physicians office, continues after this. Little theos nose had cause for alarm. His ordinary tissues were causing it harm. They left his nose raw, with each wiping motion. So dad extinguished the problem, with puffs plus lotion. Puffs have more lotion to soothe through the blows. And more pillowy softness, to cushion your nose. Dont get burned by ordinary tissues. A nose in need deserves puffs indeed. Knowinits hard. Re is hard. Eliminate who you are not first, and youre going to find yourself where you need to be. The race is never over. The journey has no port. The adventure never ends, because we are always on the way. Were back 21 minutes after the hour here on the east coast. Its 12 21, october 2nd, early on in this new friday of the fall season. Our lead story remains the same. Veteran Trump White House aide hope hicks has tested positive for coronavirus. Reports indicate she is at least mildly symptomatic, and lets not let it get lost in this coverage. We obviously wish her nothing but the very best as weve been showing this nonstop video of her and all those she was with and dealt with as of yesterday, including but not limited to the president s soninlaw and senior white house aide. All we know is the president of the United States, as a result of what may be his closest aide testing positive, has entered what he is calling the quarantine process. Love to be able to fill you in on exactly what that means, but we cant because weve received no further medical information. We must hope that they are formulating a statement from the white house to further clarify. We simply dont know the test results of the test. The president said on Live Television tonight he was having done. Joining us to talk about all aspects of this are three veteran guests of ours. Clint watts, former fbi special agent, a distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy research institute. He is among our National Security analysts. Dr. Irwin redlener, pediatrics physician, Senior Research scholar at columbia university, also happens to be the founding director of columbias National Center for disaster preparedness. And peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times. Thank you all for staying up with us. Thank you for being patient with us, and were glad to have you all onboard. Doctor, id like to begin with you because ive been thinking about you given the many days and nights you and i have been on Live Television talking about this illness. My usual tip of the hat to the author cor mac mccarthy. If this isnt a mess, it will do till the mess g