Coronavirus. The president walking himself out of the white house on to marine one for the short flight over to walter reed in bethesda, maryland and the move to walter reed is a precautionary measure and they expect the president to stay there for the nix fext few days working out of the offices in the facility they said the president had mild symptoms but larry kudlow described at 3 00 this afternoon the symptoms as moderate the white house has not said whether that is accelerating president recorded a video message and posted it on twitter. I want to thank everybody for the tremendous support im going to Walter Reed Hospital i think im doing very well. But were going to make sure that things work out the first lady is doing very well so thank you very much i appreciate it. I will never forget this thank you. A short time ago the president before boarding marine one. This afternoon the president s physician reported that he was fatigued but in good spirits and received a regeneron antibody cocktail but not yet through clinical trials. The white house reports that the president has not transferred power to the Vice President mike pence and that he is still in charge Cnbc Eamon Javers begins our coverage this hour live outside of walter reed. What we dont know is what is going to happen for the rest of the evening. After we saw the dramatic marine one arrival here at walter reed in bethesda, maryland. Were told this is precautionary out of abundance of caution and we do d see the president walk to the helicopter under his own power which was an encouraging sign over the past hour weve talked about the reporters who cover the president and the Health Concerns they have but we should remember that there are a lot of people around the president who are all experiencing this virus threat in different ways. Julia ainsley of nbc news posted a statement from the secret service asking them how many of their agents have suffered from the covid virus. The secret service is saying for privacy and Operational Security reasons, the secret service is not releasing how many employees have tested positive for covid, nor how many employees were or currently are quarentining and that is a reminder of the sacrifices that the secret service are making right now and are always prepared to make for every president of the United States they do it quietly they take enormous risk and prepared in some cases if necessary to protect the president of the United States now we know that the secret service is not confirming any details of how many own agents are suffering giving the security concerns about releasing any numbers around that, shep back over to you. Thanks to dr. Scott gottlieb, cnbc contributor and full disclosure and pfizer and how do you say it . Illumina board member. Eamon was mentioned people in the orbit in the last week and many have been tested and our understanding if not most if not all have tested negative that said, what should anyone who has been around the president over the past week do now . Well, as we said, this is Second Generation spread so the president , the first lady, hope hicks represent what we infer as Second Generation spread from some index case that in contact with those individuals late last week, perhaps saturday now we have the risk of seeing Third Generation spread. People who became infected from being around the president , being around hope hicks, being around the first ladies. So those individuals should be quarentining right now and if they have to work, they should be taking significant precautions that they dont risk spreading the virus. The fact that they tested negative right now doesnt mean that theyre not going to later test positive. The incubation period is four to six days so those around the president on monday, tuesday, or wednesday could still become positive at some point sunday or monday of next week. And so you need to contain and monitor those individuals closely and they should be quarantining. Doctor gottlieb, thank you so much good to see you. A little bit of the details of what weve learned on the time line over the past 24 hours or so actually less than that. The past 12 hours. It all began last night at about 8 30 eastern time when we learned that hope hicks, the adviser to the president , Senior Adviser to the president had tested positive from covid19. This did not come through official channels. It cox through the work of reporters and it was not a white house release. Then around 10 20 last evening President Trump confirmed that hope hicks had tested positive for the coronavirus. And he did so while making an appearance on another network. He said that she was young and strong and that she would be fine and we have no reporting on hope hickss condition here at cnbc this morning, 12 54 a. M. , so in the wee hours of the morning on east coast, President Trump tweeted and i quote, tonight the first lady of the United States and i tested positive for covid19 we will begin our quarantine and Recovery Process together. We will get through this together then by five minutes until noon today, the first lady said shes experiencing mild symptoms after she and President Trump tested positive the white house chief of staff mark meadows said that President Trump was also experiencing mild symptoms but that he continued to work from the white house so understanding if you had a number of phone calls with different republicans who were close to him senator Lindsey Graham for one and others including Mitch Mcconnell. By 15 past noon here on the east coast today, the utah senator mike lee sent out word that he too had tested positive for covid19 after experiencing and i quote now, symptoms consistent with long time allergies this is the now infamous video from the white house event the other day. On saturday of last week, the president s nominee for the Supreme Court judge Amy Coney Barrett, this video of mike lee Amy Coney Barrett, forgive me, mike lee hugging and greeting people at the white house. No mask, no social distancing and lots of talking in close quarters and now mike lee on the righthand side of the screen is positive for covid19. So you wonder how much the spread there could have been just at their event and the answer is there could have been quite a lot indeed by 12 30, half past noon we got word from joe biden that he had tested negative for the coronavirus. His primary care doctor confirmed that for us. And there is joe biden at events that happened today. Wearing a mask as always as he boards the campaign plane. By ten after 1 00, the Pennsylvania Department of health were encouraging people at the rally at harrisburg on saturday, and the department of health and the state of pennsylvania was urging every Single Person who went to that rally to get tested if they are feeling sick and then 15 minutes later the university of notre dames president confirmed that he, too, had tested positive he had been to the same event where mike lee was, where the president of the university of notre dame was, where the president of the United States was, where the first lady of the United States was. All of them now positive for coronavirus. By half past 1 00 this afternoon, the Minnesota Health officials were urging people who attended trumps event there consider getting tested for covid as well. And then at 3 30 this afternoon, larry kudlow appeared on Fox News Channel and told bill hemmer that the president had a moderate case of coronavirus a very moderate case, with some low level symptoms by that time nbc news was reporting that the president had mild symptoms but a low grade temperature. By 4 00 this afternoon we learned that the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and her husband had had coronavirus earlier in the year. It was back during the summertime it wasnt widely publicized and it was according to two Administration Officials so she was at her own event on saturday but she and her husband had had the virus back in the summer and he and she have now tested negative to this time around by 4 40 this afternoon the president s doctor said that the president is being treated with an experimental drug aimed at supplying antibody to help him fight off the coronavirus infection. The white house doctor said the president is fatigued but in good spirits ten minutes later joe biden and President Trump said that President Trump had tested positive and he said it was a bracing reminder of the seriousness of the virus and he also said hed received two tests and both of them came back negative and it wasnt long after that we watched the president walk to the marine one and then go to Walter Reed Medical Center where he is now, im told, being monitored by doctors where he is scheduled to work for the next two next few days lets go to Cnbc Elon Moy live with us this evening tell us what youve learned. Well, ashepherd smith, we hav learned that the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee Lindsey Graham is tweeting that he is negative for covid19 after having been tested out of an abundance of caution. He also tweeted that he had spoken to senator mike lee of utah who was positive for the virus and that mike lee is in good spirits and on the mend also importantly he said that senator lee is going to be back at work at the Senate Judiciary committee fully engaged by october 12th now that is the week that the confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett are scheduled to begin and there has been a lot of question about how the events of today could possibly impact the time line of her confirmation. Democrats have been pushing for the committee to delay those hearings they say they want more time for testing, tracing and monitoring and they dont want to have this done in a virtual setting, that someone who is going to be confirmed for life ought to be having their hearing held in person and in public however, weve heard from the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell who has been very adamant that the timeline for Amy Coney Barrett nomination will proceed as expected he said the senate has had experience operating in an environment where covid19 is around, where it could possibly spread and they have systems in place to take care of it but now we know that Senate Judiciary chairman Lindsey Graham is negative for the virus and expecting the hearings to begin on october 12th. Hell on moy, live tonight. Thank you. The pentagon reports there has been no change to the department of defense alert levels lets turn to sue gordon sue, you know what it is like inside of the white house when there is an emergency. Give us an idea. What are the protocols i would say your previous contributor captured it well one, it is small two, it will be purposeful but urgent and everyone running around doing their job to plaque sure that theyre aligned to make sure their responsibility could run smoothly bad actors often look to exploit moments of perceived weaknesses im certain that the pentagon is preparing for every sort of potential eventuality. What might our adversaries in russia, iran and north korea be thinking and is there a possibility of more aggression as a result of this. Theyre surely going to be interested theyre going to be watching leadership following is one of the things that you do certainly the leader of the United States and the free world. This is an interesting moment. Theyre launching their collection systems to try to get independent confirmation of information. Right. Theyre going to believe that there is something more that is being shared, close systems tend not to believe open systems. So theyre Diplomatic Missions and their intelligence sfgervice will try to get information about the president that is not publicly available i expect mischief right now . No but they are going to prepare and see what is going on. Of course we have received notice from some of those adversaries, kim jongun in north korea sent out a statement wishing the president well earlier going in moscow, we got from Vladimir Putin as well. Not two sources that you trust too terribly much. But any time there is uncertainty and indiscussiecisin the most powerful office in the world there is reason for the most powerful military to be paying good attention. Right youre going to expect that our institutions, the department of state, theyre diplomats are reaching out to their counterparts or allies, the department of defense same thing. You know, what is important about this and what is awesome about it is this is one of the things that makes the United States special it is kind of this orderly transfer of power, the constitution actually defines what you do in moments like this and the power is in the office, not in the human and so we are our system is pretty well designed for the notion of dealing with this sort of moment. Right now it is not in play. But if it became so, the 25th amendment is something that will tell us what to do so this is one of the elements of strength of our system, which is why when our candidates talk about an election that might be illegitimate or were not sure that it is transfer, those moments kind of undermine us, but now youre seeing the strength of the system. Sue gordon, thank you so much that is a live look at Walter Reed Medical Center. The last communication weve got fren doctors was from no, that is from white house doctors, we have one communication from a white house doctor that came out late this afternoon and it is this letter that came out from kayleigh saying that the first lady is doing well and the president is fatigued but in good spirits that is the whole letter right there. Once he got to walter reed, we had wondered if we might get some sort of medical update, if a medical professional might say come to a microphone or send out a text or some way that the president is doing well. Something about the president s condition. Something about what is happening there. When obviously the whole world is watching and curious and hopeful that the president is well and on the road to recovery weve received no further communications from doctors. There is a lid at the white house so we dont have any reason to believe that well have further communications on the president tonight. Ive read you earlier the the tweet from eric trump, his son saying that hes praying for his father and he knows how strong he is, that hell be able to conquer this well wait see if we hear anything from the doctors as night goes on. If we could rerack this particular notice up there now, i could read that. Leigh ann caldwell, i want to get to her about the communications between the white house and congress when there are periods of uncertainty in the white house, as were obviously seeing right now, there is traditionally and as a matter of course a lot of communication between those two entities especially whether people on capitol hill have had so much contact with the president leigh ann, what is the concern in congress and how much has to do with testing. Reporter well talking about communication first, yes, traditionally there is back channel communications, there is former communications between the white house and congress but that doesnt really seem to be happening this time we learned in the past hour or so that House Speaker nancy pelosi who is third in line to the presidency was not notified that the president was going to be making this trip to walter reed so there is not a lot of formal talk we do know that the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, he said at an event in kentucky that he did speak to the president on the phone this morning and wished himself and talked about the speedy confirmation of his new Supreme Court Justice Nominee Amy Coney Barrett. So there is that is causing a lot of concern the lack of cooperation and communication with the white house. And then on the testing front, shep, there is a lot of concern up here as well. There is still no Rapid Testing for members of congress or staff like they have at the white house. And there is no widespread mask testing either so it is not like a lawmaker could walk up and not display any systems and get a test just because they want to staff cant do that either so there has been a lot of consternation from rank and file members who are pushing for a long time to get this mask Rapid Testing system in place. There has been a lot of resistance, not only from the speaker of the house, but also the majority leader in the senate, Mitch Mcconnell. So this is renewing those calls and then we also have the democratic leader chuck schumer. Hes calling on a strict and big Contact Tracing system to because there was a lot of white house officials were walking the halls of congress this week, spending a lot of time here, introducing this new Supreme Court nominee to senators and most of these people did not wear masks and so the democratic leader is saying there needs to be a system where they figure out where everyone is, who they were talking to and who was potentially exposed. Leigh ann, you just reported there has been a resistance to Rapid Testing by the leader Mitch Mcconnell . A resistance why. Reporter not only from mcconnell but from pelosi as well they tend to have a little bit different reasoning behind it. Speaker pelosi said it is not fair the fact that the American Public does not does not have access to this Rapid Testing, that members of congress shouldnt either and remember, though, members of congress are flying in from all across the country, convening here she did put in place a mandatory mask mandate for members of the house when they walk on the senate floor now on the senate side, mcconnell has taken a different approach there is no mandatory mask mandate and he also has not given into the idea of this rapid mass testing and there is no indication there is going to be any changes to that any time soon despite pressure from members worried about their health and think that it is very prudent, especially like i said with all of the people traveling across the country, to have access to this, shep. Leigh ann caldwell, thank you so much. So in the midst of this crisis, we have the coronavirus crisis, and all that it entails. Enormous spikes in the midwest concerns about personal protective equipment cases that are escalating and rapidly in certain parts of the country and the doctors telling us that we should expect a fall surge in coronavirus a second wave as theyve been calling it there is evidence that the second wave may be striking in europe now, specifically in the north of england and across spain and france and other areas across the continent and there are concerns and the doctors are warning us that that spike is coming here as well in the midst of all of this, were 32 days to the president ial election. And there is a Campaign Going on that has been a brutal one but because of all of this, and all of those striking and historic developments today, the Biden Campaign has made some significant changes. Nbcs mike memoli is live with details on that. Mike reporter shep, it was just three nights ago that joe biden stood exactly 128 away from President Trump on that debate stage in cleveland a bitter chaotic debate in which the handling of the pandemic was a chief source of conflict itself the president very clearly mocking the former Vice President for what he has made a virtue of his campaign which is his wearing of mask, his practicing of social distancing. It was just a few hours ago that we heard from former Vice President joe biden just behind me at a union hall here in michigan saying that this news from the president about his diagnosis is a bracing reminder that we have to take this seriously. He said that, yes, we do need to continue to to pursue a National Mask mandate. He said that if every american wore a mask for the next 100 days it could save 100,000 lives. Now weve also just gotten new reaction for the first time from former president obama who was participating in a Campaign Fundraiser tonight with senator Kamala Harris, a virtual fundraiser the two and i want to read a part of the president s comments he said even in the midst of big political battles with issues that have a lot at stake, were all americans, were all human beings and we want to make sure everyone is healthy. The first comments tonight from former president obama now the Biden Campaign has raised significant sums of money since tuesdays debate more than 30 million in less than 24 hours. Theyve put that obviously to go use on the airwaves but the Biden Campaign announcing theyre pulling down all of their negative advertising most of their advertising i will say as somebody who travels a lot to Battle Ground states and watching Battle Ground airwaves, it is positive but they are pulling down any negative ads that have been on the airwaves. A lot of interest in the future of debates. And has the biden camp said anything about any changes for debate plans, postponements, changes of any kind . Reporter it was just a couple of days ago were talking about changes to the debate format about how to manage those interruptions. Now the biden team is certainly upset not just with the white house with the trump team because they didnt get any formal notification of the exposure of the president and other trump aides as they were sitting in the audience alongside Biden Campaign officials. But they also want to the Debate Commission to answer very important questions about why they were not enforcing the rules they set in terms of the audience Wearing Masks which they said would be mandatory obviously that wasnt the case on tuesday night we do know that the Vice President ial debate scheduled for next wednesday in Salt Lake City between pence and Kamala Harris appears to be on track. But the Biden Campaign with serious questions beyond the obvious about whether the president is healthy enough to participate in person in the next debate in miami, florida, shep. Mike mem olie, thank you very much live from michigan tonight. Mike, thanks very much. Lets go back to the time line for just a minute remember, we learned that hope hicks had tested positive for the virus on late in the evening, like the 8 00 or 9 00 hour last evening. But we know now that was thursday that she had actually gotten the word of her confirmed positive test on wednesday and a select group of people within the white house and in the inner circle there knew of this and there is reporting that nbc news cannot confirm that the white house didnt want to make that public. We know that they didnt make it public we could report that fact. The white house did not make this public. It came through the reporting of a journalist but after that, the president traveled to his golf club in bedminster now here is the tick tock. Here are the facts as i know them the president flew to bedminster not wearing a mask and went to a fundraiser, did not wear a mask, returned and did not wear a mask all after learning that hope hicks had tested positive for the virus. In addition, the president had been around hope hicks during all of that time the cdc guidelines would say that if you are around someone who has tested positive, that you should the guidelines are clear that you should isolate for a period of days before you receive multiple coronavirus tests that are negative. Instead, it is our reporting that the president went to bedminster, attended the fundraiser, greeted those who were participating in the fundraiser, and did here is some pictures from washington yesterday and was not waearing a mask along the way there is an attempt to get a list of people who were at the bedminster event because the most important thing for the scientists right now, if someone has been in a crowded place without protection and without social distancing, who tested positive or around someone who tested positive, Contact Tracing is the most important thing to do so that it doesnt ripple like a rocket that you throw in the water and creates these ripples. You have to stop that by Contact Tracing and anyone who had contact is isolated and waiting to see, that six to eight, to ten days whether you get symptoms and whether you test positive you have to have a list of all of the attendees, right. Theyre having a very hard time getting that list according to reporting tonight. Frank holland is live in bedminster frank, what are you learning there about what happened at that event and anything else that youve been able to uncover . Reporter well, good evening. Were about a mile away from the Trump National golf course where the president met with dozens of donors and supporters just last night as you mentioned were hearing about the people who attended and from some of the people who attended. Brian swartz has a source that said a number of the attendees, theyve been calling the gop and the Trump Campaign panicked about potential exposure to covid19 ive spoken to two attendees myself one of them, a medical doctor, by the name of dr. Rich roberts and he attended a private meeting with the president and in that private meeting did he not wear a mask and important to note he did say he was socially distant from the president the entire time and all attendees did take covid19 tests prior to meeting the president. This gentleman, a plmedical doctor, here is what he has to say. I was about ten feet right in front of the president the president never used a tissue once. He never coughed once. He never sneezed he never had to clear his throat so he looked fully energetic and healthy. Reporter now back to that meeting. Dr. Roberts said at one point hes about six away from the president , and you heard him say that wild taking a picture he was socially distant but didnt have a mask on. On another occasion they were sitting down and the doctor said he and 15 other donors were sitting down at a rekctangular table and again no one wearing a Face Covering or mask in that situation. We spoke to another donor, by the name of john setty, he attended an outside gathering with a few dozen donors and was 75 to 100 feet away from the president and all of the people outside were wearing Face Coverings but the president was not wearing a Face Covering at that time. Ive spoken to both gentlemen through the day and they have not been contacted by the state of new jersey in regard to Contact Tracing. Both of them said they will not take a covid19 and do not feel theyre health in is jeopardy. Dr. Roberts was quarentined for six months before meeting the president and he has preexisting Health Conditions and that is why he is making that decision. Live in bedminster, new jersey it is 7 30 on east coast bottom of the hour, time for the top of the news from cnbc and here is the very latest of covid in the white house President Trump now at Walter Reed Medical Center after revealing early this morning that he tested positive for coronavirus. President trump recorded a video message that released on twitter saying hes doing very well. This is some video from that the president was able to walk on to marine one from inside of the white house to marine one which then flew him to Walter Reed Medical Center where shortly after he walked out and into the hospital without any help his physician at the white house said that the president was fatigued but in good spirits before he went to the hospital, a Senior Administration official tells nbc news that they expect the president to stay at walter reed for the next few days the white house tells us that the president has received a regeneron antibody cocktail that resear researchers have been developing to treat covid19. And president obama hoped President Trump gets the care he needs and on a speedy path to recovery i have a write through of the message and ill read that for you now. President obama said today, when he was at grassroots fundraiser over zoom, that he was participating in, he said although were in the midst of a big political fight and we take that very seriously, we also want to extend our best wishes to the president of the United States and the first lady. Former president obama said michelle and i are hopeful that they and others who have been affected by covid19 around the country are getting the care they that need and theyre on a path to speedy recovery. And it is important, said the former president , i think for all of us to remember that even in the midst of big political battles with issues that have a lot of stake, that were all americans, and were all human beings and we want to make sure that everybody is safe and healthy. The former president went on to say that he and Michelle Obama want to make sure that they acknowledge the president and the first lady in this difficult time a difficult time for all of the nation it has been a very long time since a president of the United States has contracted a disease which is lifethreatening for some people. 7. 2 million americans have contracted the virus more than 206,000 americans have died of this virus the cdc recommends that everyone wear masks and socially distance in the meantime, there are viruses under development by a number of Different Companies inside of the United States and around the world but there are no viruses ready for there are no vaccines ready for the public and there is certainly no time frame on distribution of any vaccine should one become available. Lets go back to eamon javers on a night like this, something encouraging, some sort of notice from doctors there might give us all a comfortable night. But so far nothing reporter yeah, that is right, shep. No indication that well hear anything at all from white house staff who we have not received any updates from them. Sometimes when there is an event like this, youll see some White House Press officers strolling around outside or among the cameras talking to reporters who are here were not seeing anything like that no communications whatsoever from the white house as to the president s condition or what happened after the dramatic scenes where we saw mean one swoop in from the sky to the landing zone here at walter reed and discharge the president of the United States who walked into the hospital under his own power. So were left to scrutinize the vid released over twitter. The president wearing a suit and tie, standing straight and tall. But speaking with a raspy voice. The president saying hes doing well and the first lady is doing well and thanking supporters for all of the outcry of support that hes been receiving throughout the day today so were waiting for more information from the white house, shep, but nothing inbound in terms of late information and no indication there is going to be any kind of press conference or statement from medical officials here at walter reed. Thanks. Well go back to eli stokeles, ive been very curious and reading reporting about the president s concerns throughout the day from the time when he tested positive and then through the period where he began to show symptoms. What could you tell us about what is happening inside of the white house and has been for the last 12 hours or so . Thanks forhaving me and congrats on new show thank you. It is hard to really know exactly what is happening up in the president on the residence i did speak to someone who is close to the president this afternoon who acknowledged that, you know, the president said on the video, he thinks hes fine the white house has been saying it is business as usual, trotting out a number of senior officials and a person i talked to acknowledged they wouldnt say the situation is dire but said, look, the president is experiencing some symptoms, the fever most notably some chills that go along with that a cough and a little congestion. And that the symptoms from last night to this morning and into the day have worsened enough that the doctors decided that it was in the president s best interest to move to walter reed and to take that precaution. It is pretty clear from the president as he mentioned in the video, the first lady is doing fine and shes not accompanying him to walter reed he is going. His symptom as pes appear to be acute based on that obvious discrepancy and the reporting ive been able to sus out from the people in the white house. It is a chaotic day. The staff takes their cues from the president , it is a pretty reactive place and events get thrown together quickly whether the president decides he wanted to do something and today he was pretty silent. He was up in the residence the entire day we didnt see a tweet from him until the video that he posted shortly after lifting off the south lawn and nfrd the west wing, there is a lot of jangled nerves about the future of the administration and where things are headed and how this impacts the campaign but most immediately about the president s health and staffers own health as theyre getting tests today and struggling to go back and figure out when did this happen and who was i around the contacted tracing is a challenge because there have been a lot of events and air force one flights and not a lot of mark wearing until today. Were speaking with eli stokeles from the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Do you have any insight on how the decision was made not to come out with the nice that hope hicks had tested positive for the virus last evening it came from a reporter, not from a release do you know the back story on that reporter well, jen jacobs is a good reporter. Oh, yeah. Reporter and she was able to break that news. And i think there are different differing stories in terms of when people in there knew about it. Mark meadows today said we didnt find out until the afternoon might when the president was departing and heading up to new jersey for the fundraiser. Just a second you said they didnt find out until the president was heading to new jersey. So they knew when the president was leaving for bedminster, new jersey, right . Reporter right that is the more conservative. If that is the most conservative that is the president s closest ally saying this so his closest ali is saying we didnt know until the president would go to new jersey so lets get context here. Hope hicks tests positive for coronavirus. The president is around hope hicks, correct me if im wrong, more often than most anyone inside the entire building, is that right. Reporter that is right shes involved in the debate prep with Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani and often in the white house and accompanying the president on travel. Shes one of the closest aides, that is definitely true. So she tested positive and he got on a plane and didnt wear a mask and wend to a fundraiser, didnt wear a mask or socially distance and got back on the plane and went back to the white house and by this point they still have taken no precautions while admitting that they knew she was positive and didnt tell anyone that she was positive so no one who was at the eechbts in bedminster knew that the president had been exposed to someone with covid19 while they were not socially distancing or Wearing Masks. The story line, when you look at it as a journalist, does not look like one that will live well in the history books. Reporter no, you summarized it well. And i would agree with that assessment and obviously, again, everybody in this white house takes their cues from the president , the communication shop included. I dont know there was a plan in the work to divulge the fact that hope hicks had tested positive weve seen other positive cases in the west wing, whether it is secret service or whether it was the Communications Director to the Vice President mike pence roughly a month ago. Those cases were downplayed. They said oh, the people are fine, dont worry about it and it was sort of shrugged off. Based on president dent it is hard based on precedent that they were saying this is hope hicks because the president is in tent on sticking to his campaign regimen of rallies hes supposed to be in orlando tonight at a rally and that is taken off the schedule last night, a few minutes after the president s tweet announcing his own diagnosis. But that came obviously after the news reports about the hope hicks positive test result whether the president had just as you said he said to sean hannity last night that he was waiting for his test results in the 9 00 hour, i suppose we could take them at their word that he didnt know about it then and decided to put the results out around 1 00 a. M. Last night but you know, as far as the white house being forthcoming, transparent, putting themselves out, that is not the case thus far and it is one of the reasons why there has been a lot of speculation about the president s Actual Health because today given the alarm after the president s his diagnosis known, there have not been a lot of people willing to go before reporters and answer questions, specifically about the president s health the white house physician has put out a couple of written statements but has not subjected himself to questions from the press corp at this point. When you put all of this together, a series of facts lets us know were in the midst of potentially an enormous event. We know that the president of the university of notre dame and mike lee from utah, republican senator from utah, were at that event at the white house on saturday, the president was there, the first lady was there and now theyre all positive for coronavirus. They all went out and did their own things mike lee doesnt wear a mask, the president doesnt wear a mask they all went and did their own things and hope hicks confirmed and after that is confirmed there is another event that happened in bedminster the ripples, you know how coronavirus spreads, the ripples from one spreader, across and across those people take it home. Theyre children or parents go out and it is spreading again. We maybe be looking now at a series of rippling superspreader events all surrounding the president and the president s Team Reporter we may. And i would add to that that just today the White House Correspondents Association announced three journalists around the white house over the last few days, they too have tested positive. The white house part of the Contract Tracing did a lot of testing for the reporters in the pool and around the president over the last few days, they did that this morning. We kept learning throughout the day, another one, another one, another one, had tested positive so there are a lot of people in confined spaces where the masks are not necessarily worn for the most part and were going to continue to see the ripple effects of that and it is just you think about the humility that some people have taken and in their approach to this pandemic because there is no cure and people are affected differently. Weve seen more than 200,000 americans killed that point and it has not been until the president himself contracts the coronavirus that you start to see people at the white house more than most actually wearing the masks yesterday and today. So that is just sort of startling. And everybody is hoping that the president gets through this and is okay and able to return to the job. But it is a huge concern and just given the variety of symptoms and the severity, differing severity of cases and symptoms for different people, it is really impossible to know where any of this is headed and how it will affect any one person who contracts it. I think that is the consistent thing that ive been hearing from the scientists and Public Health experts over the last six months you just dont know how this is going to impact you and how it may spread and you may spread it without knowing. Eli stokeles, reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Thank you for your time and reporting. I appreciate it. Lets drill down on this spreading thing. We know the president is at walter reed and he has the best care available and the whole nation in the world are wishing him a speedy recovery. But with the president now there, lets bring in reporter Matthew Herper from stat news. Com, that tracks health news theyve been covering covid19 since the early days of this outbreak in china. Matt, were seeing and eli and i were just talking about it, were seeing potential spots for major superspreader events try to put in this context for us if you could. Tell us about the progression of the virus when somebody is infected. Well, for most people, most people who get covid19 do fine. But about 20 of people, about a fifth of people end up in the hospital and about a sixth of those end up going on to the icu and once people are in the icu, rates are very grim. Now those are overall numbers. Things have gotten better since the beginning of the pandemic. Especially in that later part where were learning how to care for people better, even there are some drugs but there is also just kind of doctors learning what to do but that is kind of an overview of what happens. People tend to go to the hospital when theyre starting to not get enough oxygen from their lungs, particularly when theyre o2 goes low through a finger device that a lot of people have now. We have it on the screen. I apologize for a minute we have on the screen the progression. This is not to say that everyone does this. But these this is the progression as noted by the scientists and how it works. So go ahead if you would im sorry for interrupting. The other thing to emphasize here is that all of that is pretty unpredictable what doctors have said from the beginning is they often dont know what will happen. Patients they think will do well dont and patients that arent doing well sometimes recover and that is hard to test medicines against a disease like this. Lets talk about the spreading. Weve just gotten a report from david k. Lee of nbc news that at least 11 positive tests could be trac traced specifically to the president ial debate in cleveland. Keep in mind the context that was an empty hall except for those who ran the debate, the families of the two participants and invited guests. Chris wallace, the modder atdert was a small crowd and yet 11 people have tested positive for that one event there have been multiple event before and since we have the big event at the white house for the Supreme Court nominee and since weve had the fundraiser at bedminster in new jersey and all of the people who flew on the plane with them. If you could help our audience understand how this virus ripples and how each person who contacts it and then becomes in contact with others could cause just ripples across the landscape. Well i think that, again, it is important to remember this virus is unpredictable but i would i would go back to the bio gen event toward the beginning of the pandemic. That is a Bio Tech Company and they knew biology and it was a corporate event of Top Executive leaders. And i dont remember the numbers offhand but a lot of people at that event caught covid19 and then they brought it to lots of other places and sometimes events become spreader events and sometimes they dont and researchers ive talked to havent really got a full explanation of why but certainly in a case like that, where you have people in a con finedroom, the virus could spread that is the reason for the gi s guidance about doing things outside and Wearing Masks and keeping a social distance of at least six feet to reduce the risks and all of the things that we talk about from masks all the way up to if we get a vaccine, theyre really about reducing risk, not eliminating. And youre layering one reduction on top of another in order to protect people. So if any of those steps fall down, youre less protected. You need all of them there is not one magic bullet for anything from the coronavirus. The stats from the age group and im reading them from the research department, 65 to 75 years old, the cdc looked at 5. 23 million cases where that age is available, the 65 to 74 year range is particularry susceptible and has had particularly bad outcomes. That is absolutely right. You get varying estimates but the risks are highest for people in that in the older age groups. And then if you have a chart of them going up, they go up, it is very dramatic the risk goes up pretty quickly. When you look at the events of the last couple of days, it is one thing, youre wearing a mask and you get the virus but you wear the mask all of the time, you contract the virus and you dont know you have it for eight days but since you wear the mask youre risk of spreading it is much less. But if you dont wear the mask at all, the risk of spreading it is much, much greater, correct that is what we think, yes. For masks we dont have this randomized data. But the data we have seems to indicate population wide that if people are Wearing Masks, we get a lot less transmission and that is what we follow from physics and wearing a mask. Matt harper from statnews. Com a great source for stats about this virus matt, i appreciate it. Thank you. Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees youre in the middle of something ongoing and it is all happening so fast. It is unsettling and unnerving but you kind of forget the overall context. Think of the president of the United States has contracted a disease which is deadly, has killed 206,000 americans and sickened more than 7 million some people recover from it. And some people dont. And there this case the leader of the fee world lets go to michael besh loss, historian here to give us context. I saw a tweet from you today about what happened 101 years ago today. Exactly right of all things, Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke in the white house and he showed us how you do not deal with the situation where you have a lifethreatening illness wilson tried to conceal how bad his stroke was and he was basically in bed, couldnt function, wont talk to his Vice President , wouldnt let his cabinet meet, had his wife basically be sort of a semi president and make an awful lot of decisions and the result of that was that people thought that the worst, they were completely rattled because it was right after world war i and so the lesson here is that if you are president nowadays who has a lifethreatening illness, release as much information as can you about your condition so that americans can be reassured and that at the same time make sure that we know how youre being treated. If do you not do that, youre not fulfilling your responsibility as president. What has happened so far has happened so quickly. Weve been dealing with this coronavirus since the beginning of the year, really. But it really hit in the United States and in washington and in late february and then in new york city in an enormous way in march and that is when country began to shut down and throughout all of that, one constant has been that were constantly hearing from the president one way or another about it and then all of a sudden today, it had hit at the seat of our government and it was shocking. And i wonder if you could put it in Historical Context with similar events with other president s i just dont remember anything of this magnitude, in the last 35 years any way. I think youre right, shep. I think youre doing great i cant think of anything repoetly similar to. This you have a president one month away from running for reelection, hospitalized. Weve never seen that before in our history. The closest weve come was 1956, president eisenhower had an attack of illyiteis and at the old Walter Reed Army hospital and he said president s are too secretive about medical conditions here i am trying to get people to think that i could care on for four more years and i could function, i will have my doctors and my aides tell the American People as much as they want to know and they really did they told us almost too much about his bowel movements, details what weve never seen before from a president. But that was the right thing to do a lot of people tonight are rattled. We depend on a president whether people like him or not, for our security what if there is a war, if there is a disaster. We need to be reassured that President Trump is 100 able to function and also hes got to make the case that even despite this terrible ordeal, which you wouldnt wish on anyone, hes going to be able to lead for four more years if reelected. That is his case to make. And those around him, should we expect to hear from a mike pence or someone else in the higher echelon of government now, some reassuring words, some comfort. Historically we have. It would be nice to get some comfort but what wei really need is news. If there is good news, Franklin Roosevelt said it is bad news folks and im going to level with you that is what we need to hear from a president so for a Vice President to give us words of comfort that are not warranted by reality, that would be almost worse than saying nothing at all every week it seems like if you look around at all of the facts around you, it feels like were in a historically difficult period until you wait a week and then recognize were in a historically difficult period and yesterday with surges in the midwest and fires on the west coast and people trying to recover in louisiana from a Hurricane Season that is now alpha beta, gamma is the next storm, we have significant Racial Injustice going on. We have economic disparity here. It feels as if we are in the middle of a point in history like we havent seen and i would like to know your thoug thousan thought. A People Living through 1968 and in 1940 and when america seemeden ga seemed endangered and no one lived through 1860 and the civil war. 2020 is beginning to feel that way. Maybe not a full magnitude but a lot of those same crises that were going through. And the problem, shep, i dont want to be unnaturally reassuring, we have a system that is very dependent on president ial leadership. A president who could say, will make you safe. I will explain these issues to you. I will make sure that we come out all right. The worst time for that to happen is in the middle of a Political Campaign as were seeing right now the upside is that there is election in a month. People have the ability to choose tell us about the history of president s and walter reed it is rich it really is. Walter reed, as it is now, was earlier called, as you know, the bethesda Naval Hospital and there is a whole lost long history of president s with that building 1937, roosevelt was the one that roughly designed the building. He wanted it to look like the tower that still stands of the nebraska State Capitol reagan and Lyndon Johnson and other president s went there for surgery. John kennedy autopsy took place at walter reed on the night of his assassination in 1963. And the most interesting political story is that in 1973, when the senate and the world learned that in the middle of watergate, Richard Nixon had a been secretly taping conversations in the white house, guess where nixon was he was in his hospital bed at what is now walter reed suffering from viral pneumonia, and in that state he had to make the decision, do i burn the tapes or do i leave them be and maybe jeopardize my presidency he later said if i had not been in the hospital, if i had been back in the white house, i maybe i would have burned the tapes and had that happen nixon might have survived as president michael besh loss, president ial historian and author of ten books about president and the presidency and nbc news historian it is great to have you hear thank you so much. Same here shep keep up the great work context it is helpful isnt it so the president is said to be at walter reed where he will work for the next few days in president ial quarters there what about those eamon javers is at the hospital, tell us about it. Reporter that is right were getting new details from nbc news, as the Pentagon Team as to what is in the president ial suite it is a self contained area where a president and a small group around him could live and work indefinitely includingthe white house physician. It has his own icu and kitchen and dining room and several sitting rooms one secure room in what they call a scif used as a Conference Room or office and a area set aside for the white house chief of staff and a first ladys suite but we do not believe she is expected to arrive here any time soon. And shep, that president ial suite is very impressive marine one very impressive all of the regalia of the presidency impressive as well. And we appropriately come out here with all of the cameras and lights to focus attention on this when a president of the United States is there danger like this. But it strikes me shep that tonight this is all about just one man. And the context is that weve seen a nation where more than 200,000 people have died of this same virus and those people went to the hospital in ambulances not necessarily in helicopters it is a massive event for our society and as we stand here tonight there the hospital in closing, it doesnt feel like getting much better. Eamon javers with a reminder that were all in this together. Thank you. A reminder, careful of the social media there is a lot of mi and disinformation out there the conspiracy theories are running wild maybe let them go for the weekend. Well update you as you can. Well rely on nbc news for more. Im shepherd smith at cnbc world headquartersi headquarters, i hope to see you back here for the news next week shark tank begins right here and tonight, baseball legend and business titan Alex Rodriguez returns to the tank. Sometimes, you have to understand when the opportunity of a lifetime is hitting you. You guys are the worlds worst businesspeople, or you dont need us. Stop the madness. No. What am i eating here . Sand . Ohh, wah. Geez. I feel like ive been an entrepreneur my whole life. Why would you want to invest with me . Ouch i literally lost everything. Oh, my god. Wheres all the money going . Oh, boy. [ grunts ] for 2. 5 , you wont be able to get him on the phone