Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim Sciutto 20201005

This after minimizing the seriouses of the president s coronavirus infection. The president did experience two drops in his oxygen levels and was given supplemental oxygen on friday, receiving a host of treatments, those include remdesivir and experimental antibody cocktail from the company regeneron, and a powerful steroid. Many doctors say reserved for serious cases of covid and despite all this the president did this, went on the a photoop joy ride outside the hospital to greet supporters. The move put his secret service agents, you see them there in the front seat, at risk, and attending physician at walter reed called the move insanity. We know that this large white house event to announce a Supreme Court nomination was the hallmarkings of a super spreader event. At least 11 people who attended that event tested positive. That number more than some entire countries total new cases per day. Sevenday average for new cases in washington, d. C. , 37, that event there quite a big one by comparison. Joe johns is outside walter reed for more on the president s condition. Joe, is there any new factual information this morning as opposed to spin on the president s health . Reporter not much, quite frankly, but we are hearing from the white house as well as the doctors over here that the president s condition is improving. Hes expected to meet with his doctors this morning, were told, and could be released as early as today. Previously we have been told that the president hasnt shown any signs of fever, at least since friday, all of that coming from the president s doctors, who have a bit of a credibility problem, the president s physician among them. Lets talk about that driveby here on Rockville Pike just yesterday essentially a political photoop. Its really created concerns not just about the president s health but also the health of the people who are sworn to protect him. Now if you look at the pictures, a couple things are clear. Theres an agent sitting in the passenger seat in full protective gear, but that might not be enough in an enclosed space like that with the windows up. There are concerns that the people inside the car with the president could have essentially gotten covid that way. Now, its become controversial. Listen to what the people from trump world are saying about last night. I have a hard time believing that without undue influence based on their chain of command that those physicians would have cleared that. Masks or no masks, being inside of a vehicle that is hermetically sealed circulates virus inside and potentially puts people at risk. I dont think this was a stunt at all. I think it was President Trump showing people hes very gracious for the hospitality theyve shown him. Reporter the White House Management Office has finally put out some guidance for people who work at the white house complex about what theyre supposed to do. They werent clear and told them, if youre sick or think youre sick dont come in but dont try to get tested by the people at the white house medical office. Back to you. Of course the hospital where americas wounded veteran Service Members treated as well. Joe johns, thank you. What do we know about the president s treatments and what do they mean about his condition . Our Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard joins us now. Lets talk about several, three major ones, remdesivir, the experimental antibody cocktail for regeneron and that coupled with the steroid dexamethasone. Poppy, what we can take away from this is the level of concern that has been around the president s condition. Now, its important to mention that we still dont know that much, but from the two press briefings that the president s physicians gave over the weekend, one on saturday and one on sunday, we can take away that there was some level of concern considering the list of medications that you just mentioned the president has been given. So here is what we have been told about what the president has taken so far during the course of his illness. We should have a list here, like you said, there was the investigational monocoronal antibody cocktail from regeneron and hes also taken remdesivir authorized for emergency use by the fda and shown in trials to speed recovery. We to know the president has been given dexamethasone, a court costeroid. This is a commonly used corticosteroid but there can be side effects, mood swings, hes taken zinc, vitamin d, and daily aspirin, so as you see it seems physicians have thrown the kitchen sink at his illness at this point. There is that long list of what he has been taking and it really speaks to the level of concern. We havent been told that much, but thats what we can take away from this list. Jacqueline, thank you for that reporting and your whole team over the weekend helping explain all of this because its new to a lot of us. Thank you very much, dr. Carlos del rio is with us, executive associate dean at Emery University school of medicine. Good morning. Thanks for being here. Happy to be here. So given what jacqueline just reported the three main things and the ceo of rejoan ron explaining friday to wolf blitzer taking the antibody not yet approved by the fda but experimental cocktail that that was sort of a race against time for the president versus the virus. What do those three things tell you about the president s condition over the last 48 hours . Well, poppy, as im trying to put things together, i say the president was diagnosed, you know, thursday night, friday early in the morning, then at that point in time, apparently he had mild disease. They decided that most people with mild disease were currently doing nothing, theres no therapy for them but some of the who know chromonochromal ar so the idea is that they will prevent people from getting sicker and thats how theyre being studied in clinical trials. By sometime friday afternoon he probably got worse, we a high fever, likely dropped his oxygen saturation so the decision was made to transfer him to walter reed, once he got to walter reed, if your oxygen saturation is below 94 , if you have a respiratory rate greater than 30 and infiltrates in your chest xray less than 50 , you have by definition severe covid. I think weve been told some of the information the president progressed to see veer covid, and no longer had mild covid. He received remdesivir and dexameth asone, drugs indicated for somebody with severe covid. Dr. Del rio, a diagnosis on thursday, although the white house was not clear when the first positive test was, how many days are gauged if its safe for the got leave the hospital, the normal course of this illness for someone who as you say seemed to have a severe case as of well 48, 72 hours ago. Well, john, there are two issues here. Number one, he needs to complete the five days of course of remdesivir now that he started therapy and of course, that could be in the hospital but that could also be at the white house. The white house is a medical unit and can certainly do that. I think the most important thing is to remaybe in isolation for ten days after his first positive test, so if i look at things from what i know, he needs to remain in isolation until october 12th and the fact that he was wandering around yesterday even went outside in the car just wearing a cloth mask, that is not right. That is not something we would allow anybody in the hospital or for that matter who is at home, we tell people who have mild disease at home to selfisolate and not to be in contact with others so that is in violation of cdc guidelines on what to do with people with covid. Doctor, from people who have experienced covid they have recounted the long haul event, weeks, months after they are recovered from the initial disease. 28 days out from the election can the president s doctors at this point say definitively there will not be any longlasting impacts of this . Right, theres so much unknown and the tail seems long for some folks. That is correct, poppy, theres so much unknown. He may very well in ten days or so be totally fine and be back to normal and i think thats what he was trying to display yesterday that he has energy but the reality is we see many people with covid who for two to three weeks after having covid or longer remain with symptoms of significant fatigue, headache, some people describe almost like a brain fog, just not being able to think correctly and some people have fairly severe complications such as microcarditis, arrhythmias and complications at the level of the lung. So we dont know. I hope he doesnt develop a longterm complication because patients we have seen with longterm complications tell you this is not a disease easy to recover from. Dr. Del rio, given that his medication will continue beyond today if he follows as you noted the prescribed number of days on Something Like remdesivir and given that the white house has significant medical facilities, is there any medical significance if he does leave to him leaving the hospital . You know, not really. I think if the white house can have the necessary things, one thing that i would ask im sure they have is can they get a chest extra because obviously if he starts having shortness of breath, needs a chest xray, can they do a chest xray but if they can, a chest xray, the ability to draw blood and send it to a laboratory, the ability to get an iv and have oxygen is things hes going to have but again i emphasize if hes at the white house, he has to be in isolation and anybody going to his room he has to, they have to dress up in full ppe. What i mean by that is an n95 mask, they need eye coverage such as goggles or face shields, they need a gown and they need gloves. Well the news were hearing now is the president was demanding to return to the white house yesterday, question being do the doctors and science determine that answer or does the president . Doctor, thank you very much. There is a crisis within a crisis, disinformation, sometimes outright lies coming from the white house. We witnessed it. How can we know the truth of the president s health . Plus fewer than 30 days out from the election and both campaigns are not holding back on events. Were going to dive into the strategies in this final stretch. Also right here in new york city, once the epicenter of coronavirus, now there are plans to reverse reopenings in some neighborhoods in brooklyn and queens as covid cases there continue to climb. Unitedhealthe plans offer so much more. So you can find just the right plan for you. Like the visit a doctor anywhere our rv takes us plan. The zero copays means more money for rumba lessons plan. And the visit my doctor while eating pancakes plan. Unitedhealthcare is the 1 medicare plan provider, so youre sure to find the right plan for you. Including the only plans with the aarp name. Get medicare with more. Including the only plans with the aarp name. 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Or the City Government Going Digital to keep Critical Services running. You are creating the future on the fly. And we are helping you do it. Vmware. Realize whats possible. H. E. R. O. E. S. , as the president and the nation battle covid were fightinging facts from the administrations lack of credibility. Mark meadows is dismissing reports the president is furious with him after he spoke off the record with the press about the president s condition, contradicting what the president s doctor had just said. Them alberto, chief correspondent for politico, it was reminiscent to me of the wake of the dump tower meeting in 2016 where when confronted with inconvenient facts or information, the president dictated a misleading statement which hid the truth of it, latdlatd later exposed to have been false. Meadows contradicting himself but a lot of people involved here, the doctors as well not providing accurate fulsome information and i wonder, based on your reporting, who is directing this . Who is dictating this or is it just a mess of different approaches, contradicting each other . Well, it is a mess, and i think to the extent that there is one person at the heart of it, its obviously the president , not just because he is his own, you know, spokesperson, his own press secretary, his own chief strategist but also because a lot of this, guys, we have to recognize a lot of this mixed messaging owes to these competing impulses felt by the people around the president , such as his chief of staff, mark meadows and also his doctor and the team of physicians at walter reed. They are walking this impossible tight rope, where they want to be able to provide some information, some accurate information, they want to be able to answer these questions truthfully. You can almost see this strain on their face in some of the instances but also recognize that theyre dealing with the patient who to put it mildly can be unstable at times, and somebody who is sick, perhaps very sick, somebody who does not want to be in the hospital, who has a long history well documented history of being germaphobic, of not liking hospitals. He does not want to be there, he made thatter cloo, wants to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible and does not like to be portrayed or depicted as weak and frail and that is precisely what he is at this moment. He does have a case of covid19 that by all accounts is severe, and so on the one hand, you have the white house chief of staff. You have the president s physician trying to, you know, share information and trying to impress upon people that the president does have a serious illness here, thats dealing with but on the other hand, the most important audience for these people they feel is the president himself, and they cant afford at least in their own minds they cant afford to be overstepping their bounds in telling the American Public that the president is in bad shape because they feel like that would be betraying him in some way. Mark meadows is the one who came out on friday to tell the world about the president s condition. It wasnt the press secretary, it was mark meadows. I say this because you in your new piece try to explain who mark meadows is. For most americans who dont know beyond some of his time in congress and white house chief of staff role now you open your piece explaining a situation between john boehner and mark meadows. Can you explain why that is so relevant today . You write the blame belongs to meadows in terms of the messaging. Yes, so when meadows was a brand new congressman in 2013, he had been part of an attempted coup to overthrow john boehner as the speaker of the house and when meadows involvement was leaked out and boehner learned about it, meadows was very scared, frankly, because he was a brand new member and he thought he was going to be sort of exiled from the House Republican conference and so he sought an audience with john boehner, and he went into the Speakers Office as, he had been in Congress Just a few weeks at this point. He goes into the Speakers Office and ard doing to people who were in the room, including the speaker himself, who told me this on the record as did his chief of staff, meadows fell down to his knees in front of the speaker and clasped his hands together and begged boehner for forgiveness, and you know, the people in the room said it was the strangest thing theyd ever seen in congress, never seen behavior like that and boehner felt bad for him and said its fine. Its in the past. Lets move on. A couple of years later, meadows votes against boehner again and then he comes back and sends a note to boehner telling him what a terrific job hes been doing as speaker and boehner looking back on the whole episode, he told me i just figured the guy was schizophrenic. I dont know what else to make of it. Thats actually a pretty good window into how meadows hat been viewed on capitol hill. Even people who really like mark meadows, some of his Close Friends will tell you hes not always reliable. Hes not somebody that they necessarily trust with information, that when hes telling you something, youre always sort of turning the wheels in your mind wondering is he telling someone the exact opposite, running a became here . This is somebody known always playing the angles and kind of has this cloak and dagger view of politics so that makes him an unreliable person to have at the center of the International Crisis surrounding the president s health. Sounds like youre saying he doesnt have a reputation for being trustworthy. In so many words, yes. There you have it. Tim alberta, thank you. I think, i know every single american deserves clarity, honesty, facts right now. Thanks, tim, appreciate the reporting. New york city is now preparing to shut down some of its neighborhoods again. Why . Because of the growing number of covid outbreaks in some neighborhoods in brooklyn and queen. Well get live reports ahead. And were moments away from the opening bell on wall street. All three indexes show a likely rise at the start of trading as doctors suggest the president could be discharged from walter reed today. What ma means about his actual state of health still an open question. Well know over the next several hours. Investors hoping for a new stimulus package despite an apparent lack of progress, stocks around the globe fell friday after the president said he was infected with the coronavirus. Hey, son no dad, its a video call. You got to move the phone in front of you like. Like its a mirror, dad. You know . Alright, okay. Hows that . Is that how you hold a mirror . [ding] power e trade gives you an awardwinning mobile app with powerful, easytouse tools and interactive charts to give you an edge, 24 7 support when you need it the most plus 0 commissions for online u. S. Listed stocks. Dont get mad. Get e trade and start trading today. With priceline, you can get up to 60 off amazing hotels. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. 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Health officials in the state of wisconsin say the state is nearing a crisis. A surge of new covid19 infections is causing both a frightening jump in hospitalizations and sadly deaths. Cnns Adrian Broadus has more. Welcome to the network. Its great to have you on the team. Pleasure to be here. And pleasure to share the news about whats happening, but the news out of wisconsin this morning is somewhat grim. As we enter the second full week of october, wisconsin is bracing for a beginning they hope they would never see. Over the weekend an explosion of new covid cases. Saturday more than 2,000 new cases. On sunday, more than 1,800 new cases and with saturday and sunday combined, about 24 new deaths. Thats all according to the state Health Department in wisconsin. The explosion of cases we are seeing in brown county, keep in mind, the president was supposed to hold two rallies in wisconsin over the weekend. That was before he tested positive for covid19. Those rallies were blanned for lacrosse and green bay. At the last minute, the Trump Administration did change the location from lacrosse to janesville. The Trump Administration said they changed that location due to a leasing issue, but that change came after governor evers pleaded or requested for a cancellation of that lacrosse rally. Lacrosse is in brown county, where we are seeing a lot of these cases. Janesville is in rock county, where the cases arent as high there. Keep in mind about 80 of people in wisconsin who are diagnosed with covid recover but the recovery for some of them comes with longlasting implications. Cnn spoke with a woman who says she is now testing negative for covid but she still has some lingering effects. The hope is that this trend will not continue upward. And big political implications as well, wisconsin a key swing state in the election adrienne broaddus, thank you so much. Mayor de blasio expects to hear from new yorks governor to returning portions of the city to lockdown in response to covid19 outbreaks in particular neighborhoods. That are growing a lot. De blasio is considering closing businesses and schools and day cares in those neighborhoods as well, in nine different zip codes throughout brooklyn and queens that trended up in terms of higher pass activity covid rates. Alexandra field joins us in new york this morning. Good morning. Reporter hey there, poppy and jim. This is being described as a targeted response to a specific area but it is a significant step backward for all of new york city. It affects just nine zip codes but that has a large impact, talking about 300 different schools, restaurants, businesses, youre also talking about an effect on part of the citys large Orthodox Jewish community, a community that has been hit hard by covid already. In this brooklyn neighborhood, hundreds of thousands of masks are being handed out. Thank you very much. Reporter as clusters of covid19 cases in new york city pop up again in Orthodox Jewish communities, communities already devastated last spring. There wasnt a family that didnt know somebody that was either sick in the hospital or dying. Nobody wants to go back there. Reporter back to funerals like this one for a prominent rabbi who died in april, bringing thousands of mourners to new york citys largely empty streets. Month after new york city bent the curve, holidays, celebrations and large gatherings may be fueling the newest cluster. This video surfacing from late september shows a large orthodox gathering with little regard for social distancing. I said to the local governments, we need an allout compliance effort. It has to be enforcement. Reporter stepping up enforcement, the city has already shut down two yshibas in brooklyn. State and city officials are urging 200 rabbis and Community Leaders to take a more aggressive stance with their congregations. Look now i would say almost everybodys masked up, on the street, you see it over here. Reporter thats what were seeing, too. Did it look different a few days or a few weeks ago . It did but i think people are getting the message now. Reporter the city recommends testing for everyone living in a hot spot but no line in this largely orthodox community. We shouldnt be singled out and certainly the fingers shouldnt be pointed at people doing their best because theyve gotten sick. You dont see that in any other community. Reporter Community Leaders insist there isnt resistance to masks or testing, but they say the spike here is caused by the same complacency they see everywhere else. I think theres fatigue. I think its been a long six months. We havent beat this disease yet. There isnt herd immunity. Those kinds of things are incorrect. We need to be vigilant through the rest of this fall, winter and probably next spring, until theres a vaccine. Reporter a reminder to a community that has suffered so much, that the virus isnt behind us yet. Remember to wear your masks. Reporter so while the proposed shutdown would affect nine zip codes now, the mayor is proposing stricter regulations for 11 zip codes where the rates are climbing. We know the governor is expected to weigh in within the next few hours to this point, hes pointed the finger at local authorities saying they havent done an effective job with enforcement. Its a shame with all the progress the city made. Alexandra field, thank you. We are closing in on election day. Both campaigns are fighting for the few remaining undecided voters. Our reporters are on the ground and going to bring you an update. Whether its bribes to roll over. Or an overdue makeover. Get all your pet essentials right when you need them, with Curbside Pickup at petsmart. And enjoy 15 off when you buy online and pickup in store. People are waking up tog with whats possible with rybelsus®. 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Obviously a lot of electoral votes up for grabs in that important state and what the Biden Campaign has announced recently in light of trumps diagnosis is that biden himself is going to be tested more frequently for covid19 and every time he gets a test result that is going to get shared with the press. Youll recall on friday morning shortly after trumps positive test, news broke, pidbiden announced he was tested two times separately and both came back negative and yesterday as well the Campaign Said he was tested again and that test also came back negative. Initially there were some questions about whether biden could put his Campaign Travel on hold for a little bit, because remember, he did share that debate stage with President Trump, even though their podiums were 12 feet apart, they were more than socially distanced. There were some concerns raised about the fact they were in an indoor space, there were people in the audience and potentially people who were not masked who could have been positive. We just dont know, but what the Biden Campaign is basically saying right now is that they feel really good about all of the precautions that they have taking so far with their Campaign Events, which are socially distanced. You are required to wear a mask when you go to a Campaign Event of his. Obviously all of this has been sort of the polar opposite frankly from the way that President Trump conducted himself out on the campaign trail. Ryan knowles, this weeks Vice President ial debate takes on more significance in light of the president s diagnosis. There are going to be changes in the rules from the first president ial debate, are there not . Reporter thats right. The debate team taking seriously the president s diagnosis and tightening up the restrictions from the first debate. The most significant thing is originally the two seated locations for Kamala Harris and mike pence were originally going to be seven feet apart. Theyve moved them to 12 feet apart and inside the debate hall, there is still going to be a crowd inside this debate hall behind me but every single everyone that comes inside the debate hall will be required to wear a mask and if they dont, theyll be asked to leave. Thats different from the cleave lan clinic. That was the standard but there was a fair amount of folks in the trump contin sent particularly members of the trump family that wore masks into the venue and took them off during the debate itself, debate organizers say thats not going to be the case this time around and we should also point out the university of utah taking very serious precautions to make sure that the coronavirus is not spread throughout the debate festivities. Every Single Person entering the debate perimeter including us reporters are required to take covid tests ahead of time. Jim and poppy . Ryan, the president s positive covid test did not keep at all the Vice President off the trail, after he tested negative. How are the campaigns handling things . Reporter its interesting, poppy, aside from the fact that President Trump himself is not going to be campaigning, the Trump Campaign has not changed at all. Theyre doing all the same inperson canvassing and volunteer door knocking they were doing before and Vice President pence is scheduled to hold an inperson Campaign Rally on thursday, the day after the event thats going to take place here on wednesday in arizona. So even with the president himself contracting the coronavirus and being forced to be hospitalized, that has not changed their campaign posture at all and we should point out the campaign and the president himself are encouraging their supporters to gather in big groups in front of Walter Reed Hospital and other places around the country to show a sign of support for the president , but in doing so, risking spreading the virus even more. So even with everything thats happened, it seems as though the Trump Campaign hasnt seemed to learn very much. No, apparently not. Ryan knowles, m. J. Lee, thank you very much. Watch the only Vice President ial debate this cycle of 2020 onn cnn, wednesday night coverage begins 7 00 eastern time. In Texas Governor abbott is facing two federal lawsuits over his executive order to limit ballot drop boxes to just one in each county across the state. He says the move will enhance election security. Critics say this is an attempt to suppress votes. Its pretty transparent. Harris county has more than 4 million people, its a democratic stronghold, it had 11 drop boxes, now it will have one. Cnn National Correspondent ed lavandera is there. You took a drive around to see how this will impact people of taking a simple step putting their ballot in historically a safe place to do t a drop box. What kind of obstacles does this set up . Reporter that is the question. The critics of this move say this is a move of voter suppression, making it much more difficult in this pandemic age for people, much more difficult and dangerous for people who vote, so we put that to the test. Welcome to Harris County, texas. There are 2. 4 million registered voters in this county, and if youre one of those voters who is skeptical of voting in person because of coronavirus pandemic, where youre concerned that the Postal Service wont get your ballot to the Elections Office in time, county officials here had set up 12 satellite drop boxes where people could drive their mailin ballots and drop them off at 12 locations across the county. The governor of texas ordered all counties across the state to close all of those down and only have one of those satellite drop boxes open in the weeks leading up to the election. So this is the story of what it will take to get to that ballot box in Harris County. Its just after 9 00 in the morning. We are in the far Northeast Corner of Harris County. The only drop box now available in this county is at Energy Football stadium, which is 45 miles away. But one of the locations that was closed down was just over 20 miles, so its kind of along the way so were going to drive by that location first. Harris county, which includes the city of houston, is nearly 1,800 square miles, much larger than rhode island. This county building is one of the 11 drop sites shut down by governor greg abbott. It took us about 31 minutes to get here. Its where we met peaches sullivan, who was dropping off Voter Registration forms for nursing home residents. People are still worried, why would you risk having people come out even more when they dont have to especially with the preexisting conditions that they have. Reporter this is a driver youre going to see almost like a slice of america. Youll see a little bit of everything on this drive from northeast Harris County into energy stadium, where theres drop box location is. Of course critics of the governor say this is really mas voter turnout, making it more difficult for voting populations in highly democratic towns like houston and austin to be able to safely submit their votes in the age of this covid pandemic. The Texas Governor says his decision will increase ballot security and help stop illegal voting. Though there are no widespread problems with voter fraud. So this is the one drop box ballot site in Harris County. Harris county clerk chris hollen says the Texas Governors move to close down the ballot drop sites is an abuse of power. To make it so that our voters who have disabilities, our elderly voters have to drive over an hour, more than 50 miles in some cases to drop off their male ballots, its unfair, prejudicial and dangerous. Reporter the drive took us about an hour and eight minutes so round trip looking at about two hours and 15 minutes, and quite honestly, it was an easy drive. We caught the traffic at a good time. It was actually relatively smooth sailing, considering how bad traffic can get in this city. And jim and poppy, the governor also says that this move will also stop attempts at illegal voting, but critics say this was always a secure process. People had to bring in i. D. And only drop off their own ballot at these satellite sites all across the county. Jim and poppy . Ed thank you for taking that trip littally and showing us exactly what it takes. Can you explain how the Governors Office is maintaining not only are they not limiting voting, theyre saying were expanding it. How so . Reporter the governor is talking about two different things. First of all, early voting in the state of texas expanded from two weeks before election day to three weeks and the governor is saying in this case these drop boxes the one drop box available was only available on election day and now this has been expanded to almost a month before election day, so there is an extended period of time where people can drive to this albeit one location, but they have all of this month to to it. Remember, this is a location that is only open monday through friday during business hours, so a lot of stars have to align for people to be able to safely make that drive, you cant get away from work, makes it much more difficult in houston, where we cant beat the drum hard enough that it is not easy to navigate the traffic in this town at times. So you have to do an hour drive, both directions conceivably on a work day during work hours. Yes. Makes total sense. Right. Thats from one of the furthest points, but regardless of where you are in the city, it could easily for many people be at least an hour round trip. Ed, thank you really informed reporting. Ahead new Coronavirus Infections could upend the republican push for a swift Supreme Court confirmation. Well take to you capitol hill and explain what it means for this now. Go go go on a real vacation. Visit go rving. Com or your nearest rv dealer. Today the Supreme Court begins a new term. It begins it without the late Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg. This also comes as the confirmation over possible replacement hangs in the balance. Right now three republican senators are battling coronavirus, senators ron johnson, mike lee, and thom till tillis. If they dont return soon, Amy Coney Barretts confirmation could be delayed until after election day. Were live on capitol hill. Excuse my skepticism but ive seen and covered Mitch Mcconnell for some time, watched him work. Is he going to find a way around this to get a vote before election day . Reporter it seems, jim, that he is pushing forward with this. He announced that the senate would not hold floor action for the next two weeks, but the confirmation hearing for Amy Coney Barrett is, as of right now, still scheduled to start one week from today. And democrats up here on capitol hill are pushing back at the schedule, saying it needlessly threatens the health and safety of not only the lawmakers that would potentially attend the hearing, the staffers and the capitol hill complex building staff, the hundreds of people that support this building being up and running. Heres the Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer over the weekend. Even though he said its not safe for the senate to meet in session but its okay to have the hearings. And the idea of having virtual hearings where no one is with the witness for the highest court in the land for a life appointment that would have such effect on peoples lives makes no sense. Reporter now with the outbreak of covid among three republican senators this throws a huge amount of uncertainty that republicans are calculating as they drive towards getting barrett confirmed by election day. If they remain sick, unable to return to washington d. C. To cast their vote on the floor, where they have to show up unlike the committee room, if theyre unable to do that, that could derail her nomination and the republicans time line for the that. So put simply, jim and poppy, they need the republican senators to show up and vote and to do that they have to be healthy. Its amazing they could have confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court justice virtually and the Supreme Court starts its session today virtually, hearing arguments over the phone. Its so 2020. Thank you for that reporting. 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Now you are in control and that is so powerful. Whether its bribes. Or an overdue makeover. Get all your pet essentials right when you need them, with Curbside Pickup at petsmart. And enjoy 15 off when you buy online and pickup in store. Morning, everyone, top of the hour im poppy harlow. Im jim sciutto. The white house says a decision on President Trumps possible discharge from walter reed will be made later today. Of course, the big question, will science and medicine drive that or the president and politics . Multiple sources say the president has been demanding to