Yeah theres no theres no question about it ive been covering u. S. Politics for 22 years ive never had to cover anything like this and you know but you know the world hasnt dealt with a pandemic at this scale in those 22 years either so were really in New Territory in terms of trying to figure out what happens next im scratching my head im not exactly sure because the official white house guidance that came out just before the president indicated that his assistant had tested positive still had the president traveling to florida still had him holding rallies there was really no sort of adjustment for the possibility the president would be quarantining for 14 days as he had indicated he would be and this is even before we knew that he had tested positive so the white house needs to update all of that now in terms of how the president contracted that we cope with done team we assume it is from hope picked the question becomes. How did she get it and the president discussed this when he called in a few hours ago to the Fox News Program hannity as its known the president said that he believes that she may have got it 5 interacting with the porter at a rally earlier in the week he referred to his assistance as a very warden person and you know when people come up to her that she simply embraces them is very warm and friendly and as a result it may have been through that sort of interaction but she is one of the closest aides the president spending an enormous amount of time with him and with the 1st lady shes one of the few people the president actually trusts outside of his children so the fact that she had tested positive 0 it was almost impossible to think the president wouldnt also and of course with the president s tweet we now have the confirmation of that but in terms of. How this campaign will continue is one of the president as well he may be able to do what joe biden has done and hold speeches and rallies from inside the white house but thats as long as hes still Strong Enough and able enough and again its open to speculation how close with 1000 will affect him and whether or not he will be able to not Just Campaign but also carry out his president ial duties its also very interesting that this has happened now so close to the election but you did mention that we are talking about the people who the president came into contact with now in america is the right track and trace system like many other countries have what is the process of getting in touch with people that may have come in to come into contact with the president. Well its not like some other countries that have out. You know have sort of a detailed way of tracking tracing the United States as it is with so many other issues really comes down to local jurisdictions in terms of how this is done so it varies dramatically so when youre talking about a country of 330000000. 00 people plus its not an easy task we also know when it comes to covered 19 but a lot of americans again have a mistrust of government and havent been the most helpful in working with these Public Health officials and really just the general workers in trying to provide that information that at times americans have been hostile refusing to provide the information so in terms of trying to. Track down who was at a rally and how many people were being affected its going to be an arduous task when that likely isnt going to be that successful so this is sort of one of just many of the problems not only that the United States faces because of population and size and geography but also because of sort of an American Culture and sort of this. Feeling of independence and distrust of government and particularly now for the close of the election the. Divisions that exist so its. There are so many people that dont like donald trump that there may even be those who would see this is a chance to get even with him by not being truthful providing this information so in terms of trying to track and trace its going to be a challenge the only way that they may be able to do this to some success the truth would be to track people cell phones which the United States is no different than any other country in that regard 4 people have literally glued to their ear in their pocket 247 so this may be one of the things that will be utilized but again in terms of that that would take the cooperation of Cell Phone Companies and mobile phone companies in order to do that successfully and in this case given the the nature of the of who has been affected the president of the United States it seems likely that there may be sort of an added at the to do that you know present or trying to emulate his you know the most of hubris hes the most are of really turning things around his advantage do you think were going to see a flurry of tweets now hes going to be and logs out and the white house. Trying to turn this with advantage is there any political going to this. Theres no question that there may be some sympathy particularly from his base of supporters which have been unwavering in their support you know from the moment he came down the escalator and launched his campaign. But. Its really hard to say how this is going to play out 5. I mean it is incredibly hard to tell you have any hard its very difficult because weve never been in this situation before so if you margin that weve never been in the situation before what do you think is going on at the white house i mean it must be. Absolutely theres no question and again i and looted to this earlier that it was there were few who have covered u. S. Politics for any length who were. Able to trust the president s tweet when he said that he was awaiting his test results how i read that as a washington reporter for 20 plus years is that this was a white house in crisis trying to buy time again when youre president of the United States you have to wait for test results when youre d you know high profile person with access to good medical you dont typically have to wait for test results you get access to test results so it wasnt believable so its the 1st example as you talk about with this president where he does try to speak positively he has said and admitted repeatedly that he sees him 9 as americas cheerleader to the point that he has been accused repeatedly of d being false hope of lying particularly when it comes to the economy when it comes to a vaccine one that he has promised could be released before election day or even that the jobs will come back when we know that many of the jobs thats been permanent this is how the president speaks and in part i think there is a piece of him that believes a lot of what hes saying and thats why he says it so the president again we weve seen this when people are. 6 faced with very dark news medical news they project optimism but we all know that the body often has a mind of its own in terms of how things are going to play out for the president again can be very optimistically which is characteristic and his you know nature of his personality but we will just have to wait and see whether or not he is able to overcome this if youre just joining us let me remind you that the u. S. President donald trump has tested positive for covered 19 trump revealed the news in just the last few moments in the tweets now this is the sweet flow tested positive for covered 90 we will begin a quarantine and Recovery Process immediately we will. Get through this together now it comes as one of his close advisers a tested positive hope picks traveled with trump to the president ial debate on choose a Campaign Rally on wednesday now we also have a statement from the president s position is going to read you a couple lines from it the White House Medical Team and i will maintain vigilant watch and appreciate the support provided by some of our countrys greatest medical professionals and institutions rest assured i expect the president to continue carrying out his judys without disruption while recovering ill keep you updated on any further developments White House Correspondent kimberly. Is on the line from washington d. C. Kimberly weve been speaking in the last 10 minutes or so what it must be like in the white house now this is an unprecedented situation just give us a read on what you think might happen in the coming hours the coming days. Well i think the 1st thing that as a reporter im going to be doing is watching for the updated guidance this is something that is sent out to reporters in advance and gives us an idea of what the president s schedule is going to be and im quickly as were talking here scanning my email 1 checking to see if that has been updated but so far i have im not seeing any sort of updated information now i am starting to to read and quickly scanning this it appears the white house 9 has now canceled all events for the president s schedule as of friday so it appears that that updated guidance so here it is im pulling it up right now as im talking to you. Yes the schedule has been cleared the only thing on the president s schedule now is a phone call with. That hes hosting from the white house on covert 19 ironically to support vulnerable seniors of course the president would be perhaps in that category as well so he is going to be hosting this call this was just one of many events on his schedule now all of that has been cleared and canceled as of the president can recover now in terms of how this white house 9 is handling this i suspect that they are all working overtime trying to figure out how to deal with things moving forward because again the president had rallies planned he had fundraisers planned the system of american politics is a norm asli expensive and these candidates are working hard to fundraise constantly you know that is a whole controversy in and of itself 9 but the fact is the president will have to do so much as is virtually could benefit him and he could garner some of the sympathy and support 9 its really very hard to say but right now this. The white house trying to deal with the reality in real time and so at least they are now updating reporters but what is very clear is that how we expected this to play out is now about to radically change we mentioned 2 very key words there reality and real time this is a president whos been quite bullish when it comes to the coronavirus hes been dismissive of some points hes reluctantly accepted its unlikely and certainly like remember reading about any war gaming of a situation like this we dont even know whether the white house will have been locked down completely and stalled told to go home because of the 1st lady and the president quarantining home is that any forward planning that might have gone into this do you think. You you would like to think that there is but if there is it hasnt been shared d with the White House Press pool we have never been told if the president test positive this is whats going to happen it seemed almost as if there was this is some sion on many part given the fact that there is so much testing that takes place of those who come close to the president that. d in fact this is a scenario that couldnt happen but clearly those protocols have broken down because there wasnt enough protection in place to ensure that the people near the president also adhere to strict safety guidelines and so the president has become vulnerable now in terms of how the white house is handling this we know that the White House Press secretary kaley mcenaney has sent out her own tweet that says the strength of the entire country is with the president at real donald trump and flotus that would be 1st lady of the United States the short version there america stands united our country stands strong your president will continue to put the people 1st so its clear the tactic from this very Early Morning 1 20 am tweet from the White House Press secretary is trying to put on a brave face and a positive spin theyre able to do that at the moment the president i heard with my own ears was still functioning and talking as he called into fox news to give an interview something that he has done throughout his presidency whether or not he will be able to continue it is still unclear so it is something the white house is going to have to react to but at the same time those contingency plans should he not be able to are already starting to be put in place one can only speculate but knowing how the United States works how the American People will expect have this expectation that these plans. The put in place and this could involve consultation with Congress Given the fact that they are coequal branches of government there will be a need to perhaps involve the top democratic and Republican Leaders in the house side that would be nancy pelosi and Kevin Mccarthy the republican and the senate side it would be check schumer the top democrat in the u. S. Senate and also Mitch Mcconnell the republican leader of the senate so all of these Major Players will be involved as will the president s cabinet. Will be expected to step up in some sort of way to be ready should the president fall gravely ill and. You know there are is already a plan in place should the president something happen to him or even if he was faced with death but again this is in the very early stages all we know right now is that the president according to his doctor d is ok he is simply tested positive 9 but again doctors have openly admitted including Dr Anthony Fauci the president s. Top Infectious Disease specialist on the coat of arms taskforce that theres still a lot we dont know about coated night teams and that makes the president vulnerable if youre just joining us at 546. 00 g. M. T. That is a 1 46 am in washington d. C. Where the u. S. President donald trump has tested positive for kobe to 19 revealed the news in the last 15 minutes and this tweet flotus tested positive recovered 19 we will begin our corn team process. Covering process immediately we will get through this together now it comes off to one of his close advisors tested polls that picks troubled with a trump to the president ial debate on choose and a Campaign Rally on wednesday. Now the United States of 1st lady maloney trump has also tweeted to say that she and President Trump a quarantine in our home she says theyre both feeling good and that all her upcoming engagements have been postponed along the trump also encourage everyone to stay safe so its been on the line with us for last 1520 minutes or so just heard from milan you there and you are referring to that as well about the idea that immediately almost immediately all of these events have been councils of it seems to be the 1st response when it comes to this now youll also be talking about Contingency Planning who might take over what responsibilities the people might take now clearly that might have been decided in advance really. Yeah i mean and there is a president ial succession if the president is unable to carry out his duties we know that the Vice President would step up there is also in terms of congress 5 palosi is also not far down the line its already established as established the u. S. Constitution but were certainly not there yet and there is this question i guess though how many people have been close to the president in that succession that are now at risk for example the Vice President you know who is the not only the running mate on the republican ticket but also in close consultation with the president s whether or not mike pence has also been exposed and will be testing positive theres been no mention of that so far from the white house that could be part 5 of this crisis control that is going on right now. Theres no question that the American Public isnt going to feel as if its getting the whole story that was the initial reaction from so many in terms of the president s initial revelation that hope pick his trusted adviser had tested positive again the d didnt sort of revealing that his message could be completely trusted by the timeline the fact that he said he was waiting his cast result simply wasnt believable and what do you think youre the kind that was another time i had a guest on a Steve Clemons who suggested that was something amiss with the statement what do you think he said well im waiting for my test results do you think the white house was formulating a response knowing that he tested. Yes absolutely theres no question about i hate to be cynical but again. The president was boasting in the rose garden this week about how quickly tests now were being dispatched across the United States admirals youre 5 1 of the top advisors in the corner virus task force literally did a rapid test in front of the media during the press conference and they touted how quickly results could come back within days we have a president think hes awaiting his test results it wasnt credible it wasnt believable it was the 1st signal that there was something wrong and that it was in fact a white house that was trying to figure out how to deal with this theres a lot of strategy that goes on if this were just you know say 2 years ago where the president you know was still in the midst of his term you would expect that but even more so there is crisis control going on given the fact this is a president trying to win reelection and in terms of that effort the president is already behind in the polls the latest poll showing hes behind d courting to some by at least a percentage points. Hard to see how the president s going to win reelection with this challenge has been a very right now in terms of having a very rough political week full the president with the whole denouncing White Supremacy there was progress as groups in the debate falling behind in the polls this this white house is under a lot of precious or any announcement as you say would have been considered very carefully but now its its simply about emergency control isnt it is about taking control of the message. But but not being able to take control of the message given the predictability of cope with 19. d crisis control and then there are some things that you cant control and this would be one of those situations so certainly the white house is scrambling but. Its hard to predict how theyre going to be able to deal with this even as they try again this has been a very difficult week for the president and he is a fighter theres no question this is a man who fights even in the face of adversity he he goes down winging as we would expect the president would continue to do that to take that approach but in terms of how this moves forward its very hard 5 to predict and plan for and there isnt a lot of time to plan or prepare given the fact that the november 3rd election is so imminent it really is when i say from a political and strategic standpoint this is a cataclysmic event. For his campaign its really hard to see how he is going to be able to bounce back but you know the American People often surprise me this could have a. An unintended impact and that be that it could help him its very very hard to see how the public will relax will react when im its almost 2 am here on the east coast of the United States which means its perching 11 pm the west coast of the United States americans are going to bed many wont even know about this until they wake up in the morning by then 8 the white house some time but again even if there is time in terms of the sort of immediate statements that are going to come out there is a lot of time when it comes to dealing with this in advance of the u. S. Election complete fuel joe biden and now a new low Joe Biden Campaign director and youre reading this news youre watching your television what do you thinking about the Election Campaign as it stands the moment you know im not saying that to take away from what happens at present donald trump but we all in election mode in the u. S. And im wondering if you have any insight. Theres no question that this is just as tricky for the Biden Campaign as it is for the white house and the Republican Campaign but in a different way because how joe biden reacts to this is going to also be watched very closely if he looks as if he is the zing on upon this kicking a man when hes down even as the u. S. President is known to have done that in the past. Joe biden is going to be held to a higher standard as a president ial candidate now hes very very well trained because of his 47 years in Public Office of handling these types of situations but theres no question that his response to this is going to be under a microscope in many ways this makes his job much easier he has d already taken a very. Untraditional approach to campaigning he has been at home much of his time in wilmington delaware d just north of washington d. C. By few hours drive and has held many Virtual Events and many ways this takes the pressure 8 off him to get out there on the 8 stretch because we know he is 78 even older than donald trump is so this the fact that he is ahead in the polls he really now just has to kind of sit back and wait so in terms of campaigning this is going to be much harder for donald trump but at the same time i mean d because theyre going to be watching very carefully im watching my email for example to see if a statement has come out from the Biden Campaign reacting to the news here which is good for you tone hard to check your email for any further news coming out i want to bring everybody else today with the breaking news president dont know trump has tested positive for corona virus now the Top White House doctor has released a memo speaking about the president and the 1st lady and he says. They are both well at this time and they plan to remain at home within the white house during convalescence he goes on to say rest assured i expect the president to continue carrying out his judis without disruption while recovering now in about kimberly. White house correspondent kimberly all events have been postponed by the 1st lady and full the president s ball one fungal so the government hasnt been disrupted as of today as of right now but we were talking about contingency about what happens next just bring us up to date with way you think well what you think might happen in the coming hours. Well were going to have to continue to watch for the public statements the latest one that were getting is from the chief of staff thats in the gresham for the 1st lady malani a problem she has released a very short public tweets nothing will stop the president of the United States and florida 1st lady of the United States from fighting for the American People our country is strong and we will get through this together. Its clear this white house is putting on a positive spin but again in terms of how this will play out all we really know at the moment is that the president and the 1st leave test positive that they have canceled their Public Events for the moment so that they can quarantine but in terms d of how the Campaign Continues that is open to speculation that clearly the campaign probably doesnt know is trying to figure that out and in terms of the business of government that will continue i defected for the moment but of course all of that changes if the president becomes gravely ill or incapacitated in a way that he can no longer carry out his duties so. You know were watching a lot of this were also watching as we wake up in the morning what impact this could potentially have on Financial Markets the sort of uncertainty that could because there are there are sort of these secondary and tertiary effects that are going to start happening with this news americans have honestly like the rest of the world 292020 havent exactly been good news years and it seems like that the bad news just keeps on coming this is going to be another example of that where americans are going to be you know sort of transfer hands going of course what else could go wrong now we have a president whos tested positive who could potentially be very ill in a matter of days or weeks you know this is this is going to have an impact but again there are institutions in place in the United States that provide for continuity of government and americans d for the most part still believe that those institutions will carry d do their work but at the same time it just adds a level a new level of unease and uncertainty that americans were already facing not just with cope with 19 but the social unrest that has been occurring cross the United States the conflict the violence and this is just going to add to the ease so many. The feeling leading up to the u. S. Election Many Americans were already feeling a lot of trepidation and concern we know that the voting has already started for example i just received my own mail in ballots in the mail today the process of voting has begun but in terms of how americans feel about this is only going to add to the certainty kimberly its interesting you said you know everybody is waiting to see what this is the markets are reacting yes markets are already reacting to this its going to have a financial implication when the u. S. Wakes up in those markets as well right. Absolutely you know the dow jones the nasdaq the s. And p. We already know that the futures are reacting to this news that they are potentially dropping im just scanning quickly. Extended drop to over 2 percent after the news about President Trump testing positive for coke with 19 so there you have it its already in terms of the futures in the United States reacting and so when those markets open its very likely theres going to be more bad news so americans are going to wake up to more bad news not just as the president has tested positive but also that it is potentially going to have a Ripple Effect on the u. S. Economy which is already decimated from the pandemic in the shutdown and trying to come back. Its just a long haul 6 jim say that to him in washington d. C. And inside the white house u. S. President donald trump is in quarantine along with the 1st lady melania to both of them tested positive for colored 19 revealed the news just over an hour ago and its wait. This is the tweet flotus that i tested positive for coven once again we will begin our corn scene and Recovery Process immediately we will get through this together. It comes off to one of his close advisers was tested positive hope picks traveled with trump to the president ial debate on tuesday and a Campaign Rally on wednesday