Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Ana Cabrera 20201003

Their exact words, the president is doing very well. At this time the team and i are extremely happy with the progress the president has made. Thursday he had a mild cough with some nasal congestion, fatigue, all of which are now resolving and improving. The quote he left us with is i feel like i could walk out of here today and that was an encouraging comment from the president. Optimistic news from the president s medical team. Here is what has triggered a list of new and so far unanswered questions. The president s doctor said he was 72 hours into this covid19 diagnosis. But even that is changing. Cnns White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond is standing by with new information. Hes at walter reed medical center. This timeline doesnt add up. What new information have you just learned . Reporter well, about two and a half hours ago we heard dr. Sean conley say very clearly that President Trump had been diagnosed with coronavirus 72 hours ago. That would have put the president s diagnosis at midday on wednesday, which is a completely different timeline from what we had been hearing and was concerning given the fact that the president held a rally with supporters in minnesota on wednesday evening, for one. Now dr. Conley has just issued a memo which was released by the white house just moments ago clarifying saying, quote i incorrectly used the term 72 hours instead of day three, and he says that the president was first diagnosed with covid19 on the evening of thursday, october 1st, and had received regenerons antibody cocktail on friday, october 2nd. So putting back the timeline in place to what we had been hearing from the white house over the last 24 hours, which is that the president on thursday evening, after he began showing some symptoms of fatigue, after his white house aide hope hicks had tested positive for coronavirus, that the president indeed got confirmation that he as well was positive for coronavirus on thursday evening, and then around 1 00 a. M. Early on friday, the president tweeted and the white house released the first memo from dr. Sean conley saying that the president had tested positive for coronavirus. So they are putting the timeline back in place. Dr. Sean conley making as clear as he possibly can that he incorrectly used the term 72 hours when he actually meant to say that this is day three, meaning that on thursday was day one, yesterday was day two, and now we are on day three of the president having coronavirus. Obviously, there were a number of questions that were raised in that press briefing, though, beyond this question of the timeline. Theres also the question of the severity of the symptoms that the president has been experiencing and the reasons for which he was brought to the hospital yesterday at walter reed. We had heard from white house officials that this was mainly done out of an abundance of caution and then earlier today we heard a fairly optimistic assessment from the president s doctors that he was on a much better path to recovery. And then, whiplash once again, we got this statement from a person familiar with the president s health which was distributed to the reporters, the tv and reporters who were on site at walter reed, meaning this was a statement that was distributed most likely by the white house, this is from a person familiar with the president s health saying not only that the president s vitals had been very concerning over the last 24 hours, but also saying that the president s path to recovery is not clear yet and that there are questions still about how quickly and how well the president will recover from this coronavirus. So, again, there have been a lot of questions raised from this briefing by the president s doctors, more questions raised, perhaps, than were answered. But at least now we are getting some clarity on the question of the timeline in saying, quite clearly from the president s physician, dr. Sean conley, that the president was diagnosed with coronavirus on wednesday sorry, forgive me, that the president was diagnosed with coronavirus on thursday evening, and not on wednesday as we had suggested earlier in the day. So they counted thursday as one of the days, this being day three now here on saturday. So if that happened on thursday, that does clear up one of the questions. However, we still dont know whether this president has ever been on supplemental oxygen throughout the course of this illness, we still dont know exactly what degree his fever had reached. We are hearing hes 24 hours free now, but we also know hes been on aspirin as part of his medicine that hes been taking. There are so many more questions. We know youre going to continue to work to get answers. Thank you. I want to turn to indicakat collins at the white house. The timeline and what prompted the president to be admitted to walter reed, what more do you know or have you learned . Reporter were struggling to find out basic facts because they would not answer a lot of those questions at the briefing earlier. One of those that was raised was whether or not the president was on oxygen and i think the reason that was a question was because in a statement from the president s doctor, in a memo, not the one that jeremy just read, another one, it said the president is not on oxygen. It raises the question of why he would say that if he had been on oxygen previously and now a source has told our colleague, jim acosta, that the president was placed on oxygen at some point in week. I believe they said it was friday that had president had been given supplemental oxygen. So that is something that is good to know when he was on it, why hes not on it any longer. Its a good sign if hes no longer on it. All the doctor would say is the president is no longer on oxygen. When reporters asked several pointed followup questions, when was he on it, the doctor would not answer and would only smile and say hes not on it today. Thats just one question they wouldnt answer. They also wouldnt say what the president s fever was when he had one. They confirmed that he did have one. They said he hasnt had one in 24 hours. They wouldnt say what it was, was it 102, 101 . What was the president s fever. And this is a time when the credibility of the white house matters and right now they are not doing a good job at giving people a incredible updated assessment of whats going on with his condition, given that he is in the hospital and on experimental drugs. That is a significant matter and people should know what exactly is going on, whether its an hour by hour update or how they want to provide these. And clearly were struggling to get that. If you look at this memo that jeremy just read, there are typos in this memo. They clearly are not being careful and they dont clarify something as simply was the timeline as when the president was diagnosed with covid19. Theyre simple things. If you cant get the small things right its going to raise questions for so many people about the big things and if they can trust what the white house is saying. Yesterday we wanted to hear from the doctor because we had only heard from political aides. Today we hear from doctor and we cant get straightforward assessments or we get statements that have to be clarified hours later in a statement. Ana, its concerning that the white house is not able to just simply say here is whats going on, heres the best that we know. Instead, the doctor is avoiding questions about when the president was last on oxygen. Not to mention, he made an extra point at the end of his initial statement to come back and say, oh, by the way, the president has been given a heavy workload from his chief of staff and hes working really hard right now. It was clearly something somebody told him to say because he had to add knit at the end. Thank you for your reporting. Well check back. Lets bring in our Health Experts to get more clarification. We have the commissioner of health and also the host of the podcast pandemic, and emergency physician at brown university. Thank you both for being with us. We just learned the president did receive supplemental oxygen on friday. First, your reaction, dr. Gounder. So the reason we fixate so much on whether he had a fever or whether he required supplemental oxygen is this really divides between is this a moderate case of covid, is this a severe case of covid. So that has tremendous implications for his prognosis. In addition, it determines whether it would be recommended he receive drugs like remdesivir, li remdesivir. Weve heard he did receive remdesivir, which would be consistent with his having a low oxygen level, with his requiring oxygen. It was really interesting to me that dr. Conley cut off the press conference when asked about dexamethasone. Let me read you something that we were told by a source. It says the president s vitals over the last 24 hours were concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We are still not on a clear path to a full recovery. So on one hand, were hearing from his doctors publicly saying hes doing very well, and then privately just after that press conference, we get this statement from a source who knows what the president is getting as far as his medical care and as an er physician, im wondering, how do you square those two things and what do you tell a patient or their family when the next 48 amount of hours or x amount of hours are critical, what are you really telling them . So two things about those statements. The first is that anonymous source really accords with what i and other er docs who have treated countless covid19 patients over the last eight months, what we were reading between the lines in that press conference. It was so clear that the full truth was not being shared with us. The fact that trump had been sent to walter reed, the fact that he received all of these experimental treatments, and the fact that melania was still at home, tells me that he was much sicker than they were revealing. So really i believe the anonymous source more than i believe the details from that press conference. And then the part thats so tough for me is that, you know, as ive taken care of covid19 patients in my Emergency Department, one of the most difficult things is telling so many patients that there is so little to do and that they just have to go home and watch and wait, and wait until that moment when they get worse. Now, it is appropriate for us to offer every possible treatment to the president of the United States. If anyone deserves vip treatment, it is him. But it is also unbelievably unfair and highlights the absolute inequities in our health care system. If you think of the anxiety were feeling over trumps illness, imagine what hundreds of thousands, millions of americans have been feeling for the past eight months when they have received diagnose hes of covid19. Dr. Gounder, the president obviously is getting the absolute best care possible. How concerning is it that his team isnt being totally transparent, for example, the idea that they wouldnt say specifically that he received supplemental oxygen yesterday, they arent giving us a specific number for how high his fever got. Is that Important Information for them to share with the American Public . Theres two questions there. What information should the American Public be privy to and i think we should be at this point given that there has not been a transfer of power. We should understand what exactly are the objective measures, the labs, the ct scans. Hes probably had an echocardiogram. What have those tests shown . Now, is it on the physicians caring for him to reveal that information, there is doctor patient confidentiality. If you are a physician working at walter reed, you will treat every single patient who comes through the door and you owe that patient the same level of confidentiality. The physician caring for the president , on the other hand, dr. Conley, is a bit different in that hes chosen to be the president s private physician and so really should be more transparent with the American People as to the president s clinical status. Dr. Conley said seven to ten days, that is the timeframe when the most severe symptoms set in, and that they cant really be sure where the president is on this timeline. The source after the presser says the next 48 hours are critical. Considering what appeared to be a rapid onset and progression of the president s symptoms, is it possible the president is already in that dangerous seven to tenday range from when he may have contracted this virus . It is absolutely possible that hes already in that seven to tenday range. We know now that the rapid test that he was being administered is one that is not recommended for testing of asymptomatic people. So its possible that he had false negative tests earlier, even as early as tuesday, the day of the debate, if he even had a test that day. Its also possible, though, that hes getting a particularly bad case of covid. Any of us who have been practicing in the Emergency Department over the last eight months have seen patients who come in and get really sick really quickly. So its tough to say from the level of his symptoms how far along he is. What i can say for sure is that at this point knowing that hes been on oxygen, knowing that his vitals have been unstable, he not only faces an uncertain next week of his health, but also most likely is going to face longterm effects from this virus, even should he survive. Hes already clearly experienced some lung damage and perhaps other problems as well that we dont yet know about. They didnt provide any information about the condition of his lungs at this point, either. Doctors, thank you both for your expertise and sharing it with us. We appreciate it. More questions than answers this hour. The white house is under fire for its handle of the president s Coronavirus Diagnosis as mixed messaging causes chaos and more uncertainty. More of that as we continue in the cnn newsroom. Nt ultra dwer provides you with an unbeatable hold and strong seal against food infiltrations. Fixodent. And forget it. Vicks vapopatch. Easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you, for the whole family. Trusted soothing vapors, from vicks despite the white house currently being ground zero of a coronavirus outbreak, top staffers are not in quarantine, even though the cdc says people who have been in close contact with someone who has covid19 need to quarantine. Even yesterday the white house chief of staff was briefing reporters without wearing a mask. Why arent you wearing a mask right now . So ive obviously been tested. Were hopefully more than six feet away. And if theres any concern there from a guidance standpoint, we have protocols in place. Its unclear what protocol the white house is following, though, because the guidance im about to read is incredibly easy to find on the centers for Disease Control website. It says this, quote, even if you test negative for covid19 or feel healthy, you should stay home, quarantine, since symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. Its this continued apparent flouting of health and safety guidelines, even as the president battles this virus, that has been so mindboggling about the white houses handling of this pandemic. From the onset, the president and members of his administration have refused to follow simple but potentially lifesaving guidance from Health Experts. That is to wear a mask. These face masks are the most important powerful Public Health tool we have. We have Clear Scientific evidence they work and they are our best defense. I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covid than when i take a vaccine. Instead, as more than 200,000 americans have died, the president said that his experts were wrong. And he not only refused to embrace face coverings, but he questioned the necessity of them. I think wearing a face mask as a great president , prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, i dont know, somehow i dont see it for myself. I dont agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask, everything disappears. By the way, a lot of people dont want to wear masks. There are a lot of people who think that masks are not good. Your second question was can you take it off, because i cannot hear you. Ill just speak louder, sir. You want to be politically correct. When needed, i wear masks. I dont wear masks like him. Every time you see him, hes got a mask. Up until now this behavior has continued throughout the pn even as the death toll has climbed. The president continued to hold massive rallies where masks and social distancing have never been required, defying local guidelines, as well as the recommendations of his own Health Officials and those closest to him have done the same. Back in april Vice President mike pence went maskless while visiting patients at the clinic, even though masks are required. And just this week at the president ial debate where the audience was required to wear masks, the trump family wore masks to enter and then took them off while they were seated. When they were offered masks by a doctor, they were told me waved them away. Here is where it moves from mindboggling to infuriating. Despite what the administration is saying or doing publicly, privately the president has admitted he is well aware of how dangerous this virus is and how it spreads. It goes through air, bob. Thats always tougher than the touch. The touch, you dont have to touch things. But the air, you just breathe the air and thats how its passed. And so thats a very tricky one. Thats a very delicate one. Its also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flus. We now know the National Security council sent masks to the white house in february, but staffers were told by senior officials that it wasnt, quote, a good look to wear them. Did the white house suddenly know something others did not . No, because heres the president two months later. This thing is a killer. If youre the wrong person, you dont have a chance. And, bob, its so easily transmissible, you wouldnt even believe it. And yet youre risking getting it, of course, the way you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that . No, im not. I dont know why, im not. Im not. Why . I dont know. Recklessness, negligence, ignorance . Regardless, it doesnt change where we are right now, with more than 208,000 americans dead from covid19, and the president of the United States now infected. I want to bring in cnn National Political reporter, cnn political analyst and congressional reporter for the Washington Post and Kaitlin Collins is back with us, our White House Correspondent. Now that the president has covid19, has the tone changed within his administration . Reporter it seems that its jolted some people to the realization that they are not protected from this, which had been kind of the sense here at the white house, is they were lulled into this false sense of security because of these daily coronavirus tests that we should note are never administered to all staff. Theyre only administered to the staff that actually meets with the president. But obviously what we have realized this week is that the tests are not foolproof and if they had been taking other measures it could have potentially presented Something Like this from happening. One of the events that people are looking back to that was potentially an origin is the Supreme Court ceremony last saturday here at the white house, where of course you see all of the people, mark meadows, the chief of staff and the white House Counsel fist bumping people. Nobody is wearing a mask except very few people in the audience. Its also the president s debate prep that he did and we are now learning that a number of officials who were helping the president prepare for tuesday night have now tested positive for coronavirus. And the latest of that is just Chris Christie, who was around the president for several hours, as was hope hicks and bill stepien and several other people who were in that room with the president that are now positive. And its just raising concerns inside the white house about how theyve been so lax in conducting themselves over the last several months. There was a brief period where they wore masks but now things have changed and the president is hospitalized on experimental drugs. And even the people who have publicly dried to downplay what his condition was yesterday, it seems they are realizing just how serious this really is. And rachel, at least three republican senators have tested positive since the president s announcement there in the rose garden, including senator mike lee who we saw fist bumping people. He didnt have a mask on and we know he was sitting right behind the Vice President who was not wearing a mask. We also had thom tillis who was at that ceremony who was wearing a mask who tested positive. What does all of this mean for judge Amy Coney Barretts confirmation process . Its a good question. Whats happened with the president has clearly sort of cast uncertainty not just over the white house and the nation, but specifically over the senate. I mean, the Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has come out and said that theyre going to try to sort of keep senators away and adjourn for the next two weeks, but he still wants to see Amy Coney Barretts hearings be done potentially yn line, maybe have aum of people in the room in two weeks. The problem is with the senators coming down with coronavirus, and there could be more you know, we are hearing concern that there could be secondary spread beyond the original source to a secondary or third source with all these people being on capitol hill this week. Are they going to be able to have enough members there to move her nomination forward . Theyre going to start with hearings and then the following week theyll have the First Committee vote and Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell hasnt said specifically whether he wants to confirm her in the senate before or after the election, but there are some who want to move her before. Obviously this is all in question right now because senator republicans are reeling even as much as the white house right now and im not sure weve heard the end of who has received this illness and who is going to be facing this for the next couple of days and weeks. Just in the last few hours we heard senator ron johnson was infected. He was exposed obviously somewhere else. And then Chris Christie was just testing positive today when he had tested negative yesterday. We also learned that the notre dame president attended barretts nomination ceremony. He says he regrets his decision to take off his mask and shake hands. What do we know about the protocols from that day . Well, it was really interesting, in the notre dames statement where he was apologizing for not wearing a mask at that event, he talked about the protocol that was used, you know, for him specifically and were not sure how widely this was used, but that he was brought into the white house, that a medical official administered a nasal swab to give him a test. The test was negative, and then he was brought into a room with other people who had tested negative. They were then notified of that fact by presumably officials at the white house who then said, so you can take off your masks now. So obviously thats just one persons account, but its an interesting detail that tells you a lot about what the mindset of the white house was going into that event, where you can see from the pictures people were not social distanced at all, very few people Wearing Masks as kaitlyn just pointed out. And clearly we now have this widening circle even just looking at that picture of people who were in close proximity to each other who have now tested positive for the virus, and some of them, of course, going on to be very close to the president in doing debate prep over the next couple of days. So this is just a really embarrassing situation for the white house, and also a very dangerous one. It makes you think about the kind of gamble that they were taking with the health of all of those people that were there by giving this sort of false sense of security that if you get a test that youre okay, which we know from all of the medical experts is anything but the truth. And the trickledown effect in terms of the governments ability to continue functioning fully. Ladies, thank you all for your reporting and analysis. While there is conflicting messaging coming out of the white house, americas adversaries are watching. Coming up, how the president s diagnosis poses a potential National Security threat. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. A has clly proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory. Focus. Accuracy. Learning and concentration. Try it today with our moneyback guarantee for bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. Just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. For 45 days. I was drowning in credit card debt. Sofi helped me pay off twentythree thousand dollars of credit card debt. They helped me consolidate all of that into one low monthly payment. They make you feel like its an honor for them to help you out. I went from sleepless nights to getting my money right. So thank you. A livcustomizeper iquickbooks for me. So thank you. Okay, youre all set up. Thanks that was my business gi, this ones casual. Get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. Olays new serum is so powerful, won. It renews skin better than 300, 500, even 600 serums. Pretty amazing. Olay. Face anything. More confusion and inconsistencies today surrounding President Trumps battle with covid19. An update from the president s doctor just raised new questions about the timeline of his illness. Trumps physician, dr. Sean conley, said during this briefing this morning that the president was, quote, just 72 hours into the diagnosis. That of course conflicts with when the public was told about it at 1 00 a. M. Friday morning. Then just minutes ago, dr. Conley clarified himself in a memo saying he incorrectly used the term 72 hours instead of day three. Now, joining us is cnn National Security analyst. You say in spite of these efforts to clean it up, the white houses entire timeline was already implausible. Why . Ana, even before the conley kerfuffle, the entire white house timeline was full of holes. Ive been on air force one where hope hicks was reportedly quarantined on questions morning. Hope hicks sit in cabins close to the president. It is unlikely that the president didnt notice when hope hicks was quarantined and Standard Operating Procedure would be once hope was quarantined, for the chief of staff to immediately alert the president about a credible threat to his wellbeing. The same holds through for thursday morning. Once hope hicks got a positive diagnosis back, a reasonable step would be for the chief of staff again to alert the president about a credible threat to his wellbeing. Thats just Standard Operating Procedure because the safety of the president is paramount. Of course, you also dont want the president Walking Around spreading contagion among the American People. The more reasonable explanation here is that the president did know that he could pose a risk to others and chose to go about his political schedule. And honestly, ana, this is the angriest ive ever been on television. The idea that white house personnel knew that the president could endanger the health and security of americans and sent him out there as a contagion risk is really unacceptable. And now theres this additional threat, youve referred to the president s diagnosis as a code red moment for the u. S. Government and a worst Case Scenario for our National Security. Can you just lay out some of the immediate National Security risks that you see . Well, on an operational level we havent contained the threat within the National Security apparatus. That means that there is a health risk to National Security personnel while Contact Tracing and testing is under way. In addition to the physical risks, there are also risks to the functionality of our National Security process. I see this from experience. It takes all that a healthy person has to fully discharge their duties as a senior level when it comes to National Security and the president s compromised status raises real questions about whether he can make timely and important decisions about National Security. In addition to the president , other personnel that are quarantining dont have regular access to things like classified servers. Theyre not able to routinely engage with colleagues, which means that they are not able to go about business as usual. Critical resources are being redirected to focus on this current crisis, which means that other balls could be dropped. There are a lot of vulnerabilities right now and that means that this is a perfect storm for maligned actors of all shapes and sizes. Sam, what message does it send to americas adversaries if the u. S. Is unable to protect the president of the United States from a known Global Health threat . Well, this gets at the strategic risks that the president s avoidable diagnosis with covid19 sends around the world. Remember, russia and china have been long working to discredit the image of the United States as a competent Global Leader that can address threats, Trans National threats like a pandemic. The fact that the u. S. President was unwilling to take necessary steps to protect himself, to protect his staff, to protect their families, really doesnt make it a hard sell anymore when russia and china are trying to degrade the image of the United States. And finally, this notion that the president prioritized politics over the actual physical wellbeing of his staff and the americans he was coming into contact with sends a separate message that, for trump, National Security plays second fiddle to his personal needs. So overall, even if the president s physical recovery is expedited, the strategic geopolitical impacts will take a long time to mitigate. As always, good to have you here. Thank you. President trumps Coronavirus Diagnosis is now the most concerning health scare to hit the white house in decades. Coming up, we will speak to a president ial historian, doris concerns goodwin is with us to talk about how the Trump Administration is handling this crisis in comparison to previous administrations. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Heres another cleaning tip from mr. Clean. Cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. Theres an easier way. Try mr. Clean magic eraser. Just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum. And cakedon grease from oven doors. Now mr. Clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. Theyre perfect for icky messes on stovetops. In microwaves. And all over the house. For an amazing clean, try mr. Clean magic eraser, and mr. Clean magic eraser sheets. 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Here to discuss, doris goodwin. Doris, its so good to have your experience and wisdom when were taking a broader look at whats happening and putting all of this into context. When you look at what has transpired since thursday when we learned hope hicks had coronavirus and then the drip of information on the timeline of who knew what and when, there has been a major lack of transparency. How important is it for the American People to trust whats coming out of the white house right now . Its the most important thing in a democracy, i think that people can trust the information thats coming from the white house. And theres a troubled history of white houses trying to camouflage what actually was happening to president ial health, always on the rationale that the people would panic. Its incredible to realize that president cleveland had actual surgery for a diagnosis of jaw cancer, part of his jaw is removed, nobody even knew it. Obviously, weve talked about Woodrow Wilson having a massive stroke and the public didnt know it. Fdr had congestive heart failure, but his doctor said it was simply bronchitis. In the last couple of decades, ever since ronald reagan, theres been more transparency. The question for this administration, are we going to go backward, or are they going to trust as long as the government tells the people the truth, they can take it on the chin, they will keep heart, but then the people have to trust that the government is telling them the truth. So i think thats the standard we should be meeting right now. This is the greatest health threat, right, an american president has faced since reagan was shot back in 1981. What were your thoughts when you saw President Trump leaving on marine one yesterday to go to walter reed . You know, its one of those moments that you know that history is going to see that picture over and over again. Not only because of the president s health thats involved, but really as an image of what this crisis has done to america. And it makes you think not only of his being carried off to the hospital, but the over 200,000 people who were carried to a hospital or maybe never even made it to a hospital and died. Probably the most dramatic moment in the midst of a president ial campaign that even outdoes this one in a sense is president roosevelt, teddy roosevelt, shot in the middle of the campaign when hes running against taft and wilson and he insists on giving his speech, even though the bullet has gone straight into his chest. He delivers his speech and they find out he had a 50page speech in his pocket and that diverted the bullet. He goes to the hospital and his opponents say they Wont Campaign until he gets out of the hospital. Everybody thinks the empathy will win the election, but it was still a threeway race, and he lost the race. But that was a dramatic moment in our history. Yeah, you point out that there have been other president s who have had to be hospitalized during the course of their presidencies. The president , were told, remains at the helm of the country right now, and yet members of trumps inner circle, as well as leaders in congress have tested positive. Many people are forced to quarantine. Does this fact the ability of the government to fully function . I mean, without a question. No president governs alone. I mean, when you look at the success of the great president s weve had, whether that be Abraham Lincoln or fdr, they had a team that was behind them. Their team is critical. Thats true of leadership everywhere. So the fact that all these people were exposed at the same time without the proper social distancing and without the masks and they are having to undergo several weeks or more of being out of function in a full way is a very concerning thing, i think, for the country right now. And probably might have been mitigated had the science had been followed for everybody within that white house. Again, i really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. It is still on for salt lake, Vice President mike pence is still planning to travel to utah to debate senator Kamala Harris on wednesday, but tighter rules may be in place. Well have much more on that just ahead live in the cnn newsroom. Hmms and ahhs heard incall. Looking to repair dry, hdamaged hair. Without weighing it down . Try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. Its colorsafe formula uses smart conditioners to microtarget damage helping to repair hair without weighing it down. Try pantene. Economics . Algorithms . Magic . Turns out, its you. Doing your thing. Dreaming dreams. Building new worlds. Its why we built our workspace technology. To help you do your best work and to see what you can become. Youre made for bigger things. Latonight, silence it with newd byzzzquil night pain. And to see what you can become. Because pain should never get in the way of a restful nights sleep. New zzzquil night pain. Silence pain, sleep soundly. Taking california for a ride. Companies like uber, lyft, doordash. Breaking state employment laws for years. Now these multibilliondollar companies wrote deceptive prop 22 to buy themselves a new law. To deny drivers the rights they deserve. No sick leave. No workers comp. No unemployment benefits. Vote no on the deceptive uber, lyft, doordash prop 22. One ride california doesnt want to take. We have some breaking news just in. New England Patriots superstar quarterback cam newton has now tested positive for coronavirus. This is according to reports from the nfl network and espn. Newton has reportedly been placed on the leagues reserve covid19 list and in a statement the patriots say the player has tested positive, that other players and staff who had been in contact with that individual were tested as well. Those results were all negative. The patriots were scheduled to play the super bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs tomorrow. The game has been postponed. The nfl had already postponed another game this weekend between the steelers and titans due to positive coronavirus tests on the Tennessee Titans team as well. Back to our breaking news about the President Trump Health Situation and his diagnosis of coronavirus, this has upended a chaotic Election Year with just 31 days to go. On wednesday, Vice President mike pence and democratic Vice President ial nominee senator Kamala Harris are still square off in their first and only debate and i want to bring in arlette. The Vice President tested negative again this morning, we are told. At this point the debate is still on, but there are some changes, right . Reporter yeah, there are some changes to what is going to be this weeks marquee event when mike pence and senator Kamala Harris face off in Salt Lake City for their first and only Vice President ial debate of this cycle. Now, originally the podiums at that debate were only slated to be about seven feet apart. But weve learned from they have decided to move them a bit further away from each other. They will be seated about 12 feet away from each other as they debate on wednesday, due to the coronavirus and some of the concerns that have come up over the past few days after the president s diagnosis and also positive diagnosis of people in the president s orbit. Vice president pence has tested negative for this twice, but we will see Going Forward how many times he might be tested heading into that debate on wednesday. And another change to this debate is the issue of masks. Everyone who is in the audience in attendance will be required to wear a mask. The only people in the room not Wearing Masks will be the two candidates and the moderator. This comes after tuesday nights debate in cleveland when there were some in the audience, in the debate hall, who did not wear masks. You saw people like the president s family walking in Wearing Masks, but once they were seated, taking those masks off. But at the wednesday debate, everyone in attendance will need to wear a mask, and if they are not wearing a mask, they will be asked to leave. Arlette, thank you. You can tune into cnns special coverage of the only Vice President ial debate of 2020. It starts wednesday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern right here on cnn. Were back after this. Ion with spray mopping to lock away debris and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. Just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. The shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one disposable pad. Struggling to clean tough messes with wipes . 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Late this morning the president s medical team spoke to reporters, describing the president as, quote, doing very well, in good spirits. But feeling run down. At this time the team and i are extremely happy with the progress the president has made. Thursday he had a mild cough and some nasal congestion and fatigue, all of whi