Measure. This is a big deal. The president s diagnosis is raising new concerns about a potential National Security crisis and urgent questions right now over his health, the lack of transparency coming from the white house, the time line of events that led to this moment, and the impact all of this could have on the president ial election now just one month away. And there are also signs right now that the outbreak could stretch well beyond the president s inner circle. Cnn has learned of additional cases at the white house. Multiple journalists and at least one staffer have been confirmed with coronavirus. Lets get straight to the center of the crisis. Our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta is joining us. Jim, we of course wish the president and the first lady, everybody a speedy recovery. But these latebreaking developments are very, very worrisome. Reporter it is very concerning, wolf. And white house officials appear to be tweaking some of the language theyre using to describe the president s condition with one top aid has case of the coronavirus. We are told the president has a fever, and the white house doctor says mr. Trump is fatigued and has been fatigued all day long. The white house physician also says he was given a single dose of an antibody cocktail as a preventive treatment earlier today. His case was described as mild earlier today by white house officials. So a change in his status from earlier in the day. Either way this could be the most serious situation a president has faced in terms of his health in decades. After months of misleading americans about the dangers posed by the coronavirus, President Trump is now a covid19 patient himself, along with the first lady as the Global Pandemic has penetrated the white house grounds. It is a very moderate case. The president was kind of barking out orders for all of us giving us tasks this morning to follow through. Hes on the phone. I have not seen him. I last spoke to him last evening. I have not talked to him today, but apparently hes doing just fine. Reporter the president s illness forced him to cancel an appearance on a white house Conference Call on covid19s impact on senior citizens, prompting Vice President mike pence to fill in. Pleased to report President Trump and the first lady are both well at this time. Reporter top aid hope hicks as well as another westwing staffer have tested positive, as well as multiple members of the White House Press corps. As they are doing contact tracing, there are some concerns at the white house when the president announced his pick amy coney barrett. And the president of notre dame who were in attendance have also come back positive. Barrett who was previously diagnosed with the virus over the summer tested negative this week. Over the last week the president stayed busy taking part in his debate with joe biden. And holding a rally in minnesota. Then on thursday mr. Trump attended a fundraiser at his golf club in new jersey. White house Officials Say they discovered hicks was positive just before boarding marine one for the fundraiser. In terms of hope hicks, we discovered that right as the marine one was taking off yesterday, we actually pulled some of the people that had been traveling and in close contact. Reporter the press secretary defended mr. Trumps decision to continue on with the trip to new jersey. It was deemed safe for the president to go. He socially distanced. White house operations made the assessment in consultation with others. Reporter even after the president s sudden illness, top officials werent Wearing Masks around the white house including controversial dr. Scott atlas and chief of staff mark meadows whos tested negative. Why arent you wearing a mask right now . Ive obviously been tested even with a lot of the mitigating factors, what you have is a virus that is contagious that certainly continues to be regardless of whatever protocol we have that he has the ability to affect everybody. Reporter members of the president s debate prep team werent Wearing Masks either. No one was Wearing Masks in the room when we were prepping the president during that period of time. And the group was about five or six people in total. Reporter the president has spent months brushing off concerns about the virus telling reporters he wasnt concerned about catching it. Im more concerned about how close you are. [ laughter ] sorry about that. Because you know why . Im on the stage and its very far away and so im not at all concerned. Reporter and that the virus would miraculously vanish. It looks like by april in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope thats true. Reporter and there were the strange antiviral remedies. And then i see the disinfectant where it knock its out in a minute, one minute and is there a way we can do Something Like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning . Reporter including his experimenting with taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure. Im taking it, hydroxychloroquine. When . Right now, yeah. A couple of weeks ago i started taking it because i think its good. Ive heard a lot of good stories. Reporter the white house wont confirm that hes using that unproven medication now. Well, im not going to get into any particular treatment that he may or may not have. Hes in the residence now. And in true fashion hes probably critiquing the way that im answering these questions. Reporter and the president s illness has blown a hole into his campaign schedule. They are now in the process of canceling his rallies or shifting on online events. No word on if they will meet for the next debate in two weeks. Mike pence tested negative for the virus and that he is in good health. That is an indication that hell participate in his debate with Kamala Harris next week. But, wolf, i have to tell you, it is mindboggling that throughout the day we have seen white house officials not wearing their masks even after the president came down with the coronavirus. Mindboggling it is. All right, jim acosta were going to get back to you. I know there are late breaking developments. I want to bring in cnns mj lee for the latest developments out of the Biden Campaign. Mj, the former Vice President , hes where you are in michigan for this Campaign Event after both he and his wife fortunately tested negative for the virus this morning. What else are they saying these are very, very dramatic moments . They are, wolf. And we just saw joe biden speak in michigan. This was a trip that was actually delayed by several hours this morning as he waited for that negative covid test. He actually just said he took two tests and they both came back negative. This was a speech that was initially slated to be about the economy. Right off the top we heard joe biden talk about trumps condition and also issue a warning for the country. Here he is. My wife jill and i pray that they will make a quick and full recovery. This is not a matter of politics. Its a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. We can save 100,000 lives in the next 100 days according to the head of the cdc if everyone wears a mask in public. So be patriotic. Its not about being a tough guy. Its about doing your part. Wearing a mask is not only going to protect you, but it also protects those around you, your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, husband, wife, neighbor, coworker. Dont just do it for yourself. Do it for the people you love, the people you work with. And this comes three days after biden shared a debate stage with the president , and, yes, their two podiums were socially distanced. They were well over six feet away. They were actually 12 feet apart. But, keep in mind, they were indoors. This was a debate that had an audience. And some audience members as we saw that night were not Wearing Masks including some members of Donald Trumps family. So clearly the Biden Campaign determined that there was a concern for exposure. And so thats why they took the measure of making sure that he was tested twice this morning. And again they both came back negative. The president s 74 years old. The former Vice President is 77 years old. Mj, the way these two candidates have behaved while campaigning during this pandemic couldnt be more different, right . You really cannot emphasize that enough. The president , as we have talked about a lot, he has consistently understated the seriousness of the virus when he is out on the campaign trail with his own conduct he does not sort of follow the guidelines that have come out from doctors and Public Health officials who we rarely see him wearing a mask. We often see him not socially distanced. And we also have seen him hold these Campaign Rallies sometimes indoors. Whereas for the Biden Campaign, they have very much strictly adhered to these kinds of rules when you go to a biden event as a reporter, you are often sitting in a chair that is marked by a big circle around you. That is to make sure the Campaign Working to make sure that even the reporters are socially distanced. And of course we saw biden just today. His entire speech was given with him wearing a mask. And i have to tell you, wolf, one moment from this weeks debate that ive been thinking about a lot is the president mocking joe biden on stage for frequently wearing a mask. It is very difficult now to not think about those comments in a different light. Wolf . Mj, stand by. I want to bring in our analysts and experts to assess whats going on. Dr. Sanjay gupta of course is with us. Were getting these new details about the president s symptoms and treatments. We saw this memo that the president s personal physician, from sean conley sent out. This was all public, saying that he is fatigued, does have fever, and he is taking this experimental treatment, hasnt even been approved yet even for emergency use authorization. Tell us about that and what does that say to you . Well, wolf, i think if youre starting to put all this together, and ill been hearing these reports from early, early this morning. First we heard he was doing well. That was the first thing, really kind of trying to tamp down any concerns. Then the language changed saying hes having mild symptoms. Youre now hearing that hes had a fever really since the morning feeling fatigued. Someone even described it, jim acosta said someone described it to him as moderate symptoms. And then on top of that, wolf, this regeneron experimental therapy which is in very early trials still. 275 patients in that trial, its very early experimental therapy. He got the highest dose of that, probably under a compassionate use order as well. So, wolf, theres a concern here. He is 74 years old. Hes symptomatic. He has preexisting conditions. If hes starting to develop any trouble at all with breathing or chest pain or becoming worse in terms of fatigue or confusion or anything, i think the decision that the White House Medical Team is going to have to be is where should the president be for his care . The white house medical units pretty extensive, as you well know, wolf. But theyre not an intensive care unit. There are many things they lack it. I think theyre telegraphing to us wolf, at this point, that there is a heightened level of concern that has been increasing throughout the day here. If you read between the lines in this memo that the president s personal white house physician released, he goes through in addition to the polyclonal antibodies, this regeneron antibody cocktail that is now out there, even though it hasnt been formally approved. The president is also taking vitamin c, vitamin d, zinc. Why did he pick this one or at least his physicians picked this regeneron antibody polyclonal cocktail . We have to speculate because theyre not telling us much of the precise reasons why they are choosing Something Like this. The only two things really would be remdesivir medication and then steroids known as dexamethasone. Thats really more for people who are severely or critically ill, the steroids. Remdesivir is often times given to people who are starting to have difficulties with their blood oxygenation. Again, these are all very early therapies. The Monoclonal Antibody doesnt even have emergency use authorization. But what we know and we had a conversation with the founder last week, can be given to people earlier in the course of disease. What its basically doing is giving someone antibodies. When youre exposed to a virus like this, eventually the body will make antibodies and help fight it. But if thats not happening quickly enough or there is some concern because of someones preexisting conditions or their vulnerabilities, you may try and provide the antibodies earlier in the course of illness. Thats what hes received. We know he received the highest dose of this particular medication. Its, again, very experimental in that theres only really data thats out there. We havent even seen that data on 275 patients. If youre doing that, youre making that decision, youre applying this for under compassionate use. What that says to me is that theres concern. And i think the next decision tree is where does the president need to be to make sure hes getting the optimal care and management of this disease . Its very significant in his memo. Lets bring in dr. Leana wen. He is also an expert in this area. The president S White House physician says he completed the infusion without incident, a single eightgram dose of this regeneron antibody cocktail. Dr. Wen, what does it sound like to you . It sounds like he received this treatment and did not have any of the side effects that its possible to have with this treatment. But i agree with sanjay. I would want to know a bit more about how the president is doing. We dont have, for example, as far as i know, his vital signs. We dont know how his oxygenation is doing. They say that he has a fever. But what is the temperature . And im actually quite concerned about the fact that the president has a fever. Because fever is a relatively later sign. Its not something that you see at the very beginning of an illness typically. And so it raises the question of how long he could have had coronavirus and how long he could possibly have been infecting other people. Dr. Wen, i want to go back to sanjay. Were getting some major, major very disturbing breaking news right now. The White House Press pool is now informing all of the major news organizations that the president will be heading over to the Walter Reed National military Medical Center for treatment, will be leaving the white house to head over there for treatment. Clearly at least from my analysis and im not a doctor like you are, that would suggest this is a much more serious case of coronavirus than if he simply couldve stayed at the white house residence and dealt with it there. Yeah, wolf. This is a big development. And i think that theyve been sort of in some ways telegraphing this, being very opaque about it. But there is now obviously an increased level of worry about the president , his health as leana was just saying, i dont know what specifically is triggering this. If someones having difficulty breathing, if theyre having any kind of chest pain, if their symptoms are just progressively worsening. Those are all concerns. But, wolf, i got to tell you, ive been reporting on this since 1 00 this morning. I think that this is an important call and its the right call. I think that having the president and frankly any patient of his age with his vulnerabilities and now with these progressive symptoms being in the hospital if possible is the right thing to do here. And it sounds like thats what theyre going to do. I imagine theyre going to fly him over there. They have capabilities at walter reed that they simply dont have at the white house medical unit. The white house medical units intensive but they dont have intensive care capabilities, they dont have advanced imaging capabilities. Its unsettling obviously to think that the president is now likely going to be rapidly transported to the hospital. But this is whats necessary, clearly. And i think its sort of been building to this over the last few hours, wolf. As you know, sanjay, and ive been there, theres a president ial suite at the Walter Reed National military center thats just outside washington in bethesda, maryland. We are now told by a spokesperson at the white house that the president will be working from offices there at walter reed over the next few days. Our Jeremy Diamond is already over at walter reed. Jeremy, tell us what youre hearing over there, what are you seeing . I suspect fairly soon well probably see the president heading over aboard marine one taking off from the south lawn of the white house making a very brief flight over to walter reed in bethesda. Reporter thats right, wolf. And this is a Major Development here. Listen, we have launched the evolution of this from last night early this morning when we learned that the president had indeed tested positive for coronavirus. This morning the white house and the white house doctor initially describing this as a very mild case of coronavirus saying that he was having moderate symptoms. We even heard the white house chief of staff mark meadows say that the president was very enthusiastic and had high energy levels. And then came this letter from the white house physician dr. Sean conley this afternoon saying that the president had been fatigued. The situation has been changing the white houses description has also been changing. And now we are learning that the president is about to arrive at any moment now here at Walter Reed National military Medical Center to be treated not just for coming here for tests for a matter of hours but that he is expected to stay here for several days. I want to read to you, wolf, the statement that we have from the White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany. These are her words. She says, President Trump remains in good spirits, has mild symptoms and has been working throughout the day out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts. The president will be working from the president ial offices at walter reed for the next few days. President trump appreciates the outpouring of support for both he and the first lady. And that is what you are referencing, wolf, the fact that the president does have a president ial suite here at walter reed, that he is able to stay here for several days. But nonetheless, this is the president of the United States, somebody who is 74 years old, is in a highrisk category. Being admitted to the hospital for coronavirus. That is effectively what is happening here. The white house can describe this as the president working out of offices at walter reed. But ultimately he is being admitted to the hospital, wolf, with coronavirus. This is a very concerning situation. Wolf . Very concerning indeed. And dr. Wen, they wouldnt be we know the president , we know that he doesnt want to advertise that he has any medical conditions at all. For him to have agreed now to go over to walter reed and spend the next few days there, this is a Serious Development and underscores the problems hes facing as a result of being diagnosed with coronavirus. Thats right. We do know that most people who have coronavirus end up recovering. Some patients may never get any symptoms at all. Some people, most people end up having mild symptoms. But for some individuals, and we dont know exactly why, but some individuals do end up having more severe symptoms. And one of the symptoms that were the most concerned about is shortness of breath because then you may not be getting enough oxygen. Their oxygen levels could get very low. At some point they may need support to help them breathe. Im not saying that is whats going on with the president , but that is something we anticipate happening for some of the patients that end up not doing very well. And we also have to remember that the median time when somebody first starts developing symptoms to when they may need intensive care is 10 to 12 days. And often what we see in patients is that they seem to do well for about a week or so and then their clinical course can still deteriorate after that. And so this careful monitoring that the president is having right now. Im sure hell get Exceptional Care at walter reed. That careful monitoring is going to be so critical in guiding what happens next. And, sanjay, just tell us what the doctors can do at walter reed that they cant necessarily do at the white house. Because we know there are pretty sophisticated medical equipment and treatments at the white house as well. Yep. Wolf, i think theres a couple things. One is theres more sort of advanced imaging if he were to need any kind of imaging. I think the larger issue at this point is that if you remember with boris johnson, for example, wolf, as leana said, its five or six days after he was diagnosed he was doing okay. But then he needed to go to the hospital and ended up spending three days hold on for one moment. I just want to point out whats going on. We have a shot of marine one, the president s helicopter landing on the south lawn of the white house right now. You can see it go down. At some point the president , we assume will walk out, board marine one, and marine one will make that very brief flight over to the walter reed Medical Center. Stand by, continue your explanation. I just wanted to point out why we were showing marine one landing on the south lawn. Well keep an eye on that. Part of this is mainly making sure that should the president needs more advanced care, intensive unit care, for example, he will be in the hospital at that point to rapidly transporting someone to the intensive care unit from home is obviously a more difficult proposition at that point. So, having him in the hospital, being monitored there, he will probably receive highflow oxygen. And basically have that proximity to more intensive care should he need it. I think thats probably whats happening. Also, these therapies, even the monoclonal antibodies, they can be administered in an outpatient setting. But if theres other types of medications that he may be getting, sometimes you want to give those in a hospital where someone can be monitored when theyre receiving these types of therapies. They say this is an abundance of caution, but theres obviously a level of concern here in having them in the hospital with all the various specialists there who can quickly address whatever problems and symptoms he has is key. I think this is unsettling, wolf, to see the president of the United States being rapidly transported to a hospital for coronavirus. The but its the right call as well. Because you need to get ahead of this. You cant wait too long if someone starts to have troubles at home, cant get to the hospital, thats obviously a much bigger problem, wolf. You see the white house photographer getting ready to take some pictures of the president walking out on the south lawn and boarding marine one on that brief helicopter ride over to the Walter Reed National military Medical Center in bethesda. Jeremy diamond is on scene there. What else are you learning, jeremy . Reporter wolf, that is it at this point. Weve seen marine one landing on the south lawn as you said, which means that the president will be wheels up shortly for walter reed. But, again, i think it is important to underscore just how significant this development is and what it mustve taken, frankly, for President Trump to agree to be in the hospital for several days. This is the optics president. This is the president who thinks about everything through the lens of how it is going to be perceived in the media. And so obviously he mustve been aware that being admitted to the hospital for several days, that that was going to be a development that was going to be concerning, that it could potentially move markets, which is also perhaps why we are seeing this happen after market hours. And that this is ultimately something that is going to play into the minds of voters a month out from election day, wolf, raising significant questions, of course, about the president s health. We know that the earlier you catch this disease and the earlier you start aggressive treatments of it, the better the prognosis ultimately will be. And also notable, wolf, is the fact that this president is sticking with, you know, this experimental treatment that is showing very promising results, this antibody cocktail. Hes going with what the doctors are recommending in this case. He is not going with hydroxychloroquine, which has been proven to be ineffective against the coronavirus in which the president of course touted for months on end, and even took at one point as a prophylaxis or an attempt at a prophylaxis. Studies have shown that it is not only ineffective at treating coronavirus but its also ineffective as a prophylaxis in the way the president took it. Months into this pandemic the president is now going with what the doctors are saying now that it has affected him directly, of course. But the question is, wolf, what about the millions of americans who have heard the president for months talking about hydroxychloroquine, downplaying the use of masks . Perhaps the president s tune is also going to change now that we are seeing him actually change the decisionmaking that he is making, now that he has been affected by this disease, wolf . All right, were going to have you stand by. Were at Walter Reed National military center. Dana bash is watching all of this unfold. There is a lot of history thats happening right now, dana. Set the scene for us as far as the historical significance of a president right now whos obviously facing a serious problem, coronavirus and whats going on. This has not happened in my adult lifetime. We are seeing the president of the United States in such poor health that he has to go to the hospital. Obviously, he has a deadly virus, a virus that has killed 200,000 plus of the citizens that he governs. And now it has hit him. We certainly have seen and heard president s that you have covered, that i have covered, who have had minor health issues. This is major. This is very, very serious for all the reasons that sanjay and dr. Wen were talking about. The signs that we are seeing from the doctors, explaining the experimental treatment that he is getting and ultimately the fact that he is now going to walter reed, which is an important step. The other thing is that we havent seen the president since the white house told us at 1 00 this morning that he tested positive for coronavirus. And the iconic photo on the lawn of the white house that were looking at right now for president s since there were helicopters has been the president walking to marine one and waving. What are we going to see . Are we going to see the president walk . Is this the reason that he is going to walter reed by helicopter . So he is the showman, as jeremy was saying. He is the optics president. Is he going to make sure that americans see him . We dont know. And thats what im going to be watching for in addition to the obvious to listen to the medical experts about what this means for the health of the president of the United States. And Kaitlan Collins is with us as well. Our White House Correspondent kaitlan, we got this little memo from the white house physician, dr. Sean conley. But there really arent a whole lot of specifics there. And we do know that the president , hes been silent at least so far today. He isnt even tweeting, kaitlan. 16 hours ago was his last tweet when he posted i tested positive for covid19. We will begin our quarantine, a Recovery Process immediately. We will get through this together. Since then, more than 16 hours havent heard from him, havent seen him. And certainly its significant that hes not even tweeting. Reporter it is very uncharacteristic for the president to not be tweeting or anything. And of course now were waiting for him to come up to marine one. Its been almost exactly 24 hours since weve seen the president. What we really have got to talk about here is the fact that we have not heard from the president s doctor in a briefing in a session where he can actually take questions from reporters. Yet, they are taking the president to the hospital for the next several days without giving the reporters any more information than that. We have just gotten those two memos from dr. Sean conley. Thats the president s physician. And then we got this statement from Kayleigh Mcenany informing us that hes actually going to be spending several days there. Its not just going to be a quick trip like youve seen him take in the past. This has got to be a time when the house has to be transparent about what exactly it is thats going on with the president s health. All weve heard is he had mild symptoms, that it was a moderate case and we actually found out that the president had a fever, he had these other developments that he was not feeling well either. These are Big Questions that we still want to know the answers to. And yet the president is being taken to the hospital in just a few moments. We have not heard from the white house physician and had a chance to ask him questions about the health of the president. And it is critical that the white house allows us to do that because of course the American People need to know about the president s health. And this has been a white house that has shielded details about the president s visits to walter reed in the past, as they did last november when they claimed he was getting a physical. And we never still till this day found out the real reason why the president was there. Right now there are not any doctors on the horizon to come out and give a briefing. What do we know about mike pence, where is he right now, his whereabouts . Because all of this is significant if the president s heading to the hospital. Thats a question weve been trying to find out since we found out the president was going to walter reed a few minutes ago. We have not heard back from the Vice President s office. Though earlier they said he had tested positive once again for coronavirus. They tested him today after developments with hope hicks and the president. This is critical because what is the Vice President s role going to be while president is in the hospital . Because theyre saying that hes going to be working out of a suite. Hes still in the hospital. Even if hes working while he is there, he is still being admitted to a hospital. So that is notable. And remember there was the book recently that was published talking about when the president went to walter reed in 2019. And it said that the Vice President s office was told he needed to be on standby. That is something that the Vice President did not deny at the time. So we are waiting to see if this is another one of those situations where the Vice President is once again told that he needs to be on stand baby and how that affects his schedule. Because right now he is scheduled to leave sunday, maybe monday to go to Salt Lake City for a week of travel. Whether or not that changes. We have a lot of details that we are still trying to figure out. He is supposed to have a debate with Kamala Harris next week as well. Well see what happens. He did say his doctors did say he tested negative, the Vice President today when he was tested for coronavirus. I will point out that in this brief statement that was put out by the president s physician in contrast to the president , dr. Conley said First Lady Melania Trump remains well with only a mild cough and headache. And the remainder of the first family are well and tested negative for coronavirus. I want to bring in the president s former National Security adviser john bolton right now whos watching all of this together with all of us. Ambassador bolton, thank you so much for joining us. Whats your reaction to what were seeing unfold right now . Well, i have to say, listening with you to this that its unsettling that the president cant stay at the residence. I would say on the other side this is not just any patient. This is the president. There is zero tolerance for risk here. Im sure its the prudent thing to do to go to walter reed. But, nonetheless, this is not what the white house wants to see. Theres no doubt about that. Who would be notified . Would allies of the United States under normal circumstances be notified that the president of the United States is heading over to the hospital . Now, i dont think there would be any special need to notify the allies there have been public statements from the white house. Im sure that people are in consultation all the time. And its not at a stage yet when thats required. But i do think the white house, the defense department, the state department should have procedures in place here. This is obviously going to be somewhat more difficult to carry on business. The president wont be just a few hundred feet away at the residence. But theres no reason business cant go on at least as far as we know. Take us inside the National Security console right now where the president s National Security adviser worked with him on a daytoday basis. Take us inside what theyre seeing. Because, presumably, some u. S. Adversaries might see this as an opportunity to take advantage and do some things the u. S. Doesnt necessarily want them to do. Right. I would say right at the moment this is an allhandsondeck situation in terms of making sure that were completely up to date on events around the world, even in conflicts that may not seem important in the United States, arm ena, azerbaijan, the potential for those conflicts to escalate, or as you ask for adversaries of the United States to try and take advantage, not just of the lack of attention that sometimes happens in a president ial campaign but because of the coronavirus complication. To make sure that were fully aware of whats going on and able to react in realtime. This is not a time for anybody to be on leave. Thats complicated of course because we dont know what the testing status of people in the executive office of the president is. Most of the nsc staff is in the Old Executive Office building across west executive avenue. But theyre in the west wing all the time on a normal basis. So, this could complicate things from that perspective. We do know, ambassador bolton, we just learned that the Vice President mike pence is over at his official Vice President s residence at the u. S. Naval observatory not too far away from the white house here in washington d. C. Whats going through the Vice President s mind right now as he watches all of this unfold from a National Security perspective . Well, i think his sense would certainly be heightened. I think the Vice President knows exactly what the stakes are here. And i think it makes sense to have him at his residence rather than in the white house at this point. Whether there are protocols involving disinfection of the west wing or not, i dont know. But until its completely safe to bring him into the west wing, i think being at the residence makes sense. And i think Vice President s are quite properly very reluctant to make it look like theyre assuming any functions. We recall how awkward it was when president reagan was shot and secretary of state hague went to the white house and said im in charge here and so on, which was even more egregious than the Vice President. So i think hes going to be very careful. But i think Vice President pence is a prudent man. He is going to be thinking through what might happen in the next days fend depending on the president s condition. And i think thats the right thing to do. We remember 1981 when president reagan was shot at the washington hilton hotel. You remember at the time, ambassador bolton, he was in very serious shape, but he did survive, fortunately came through and all of us are hoping clearly for the best for President Trump and the first lady. In fact, everyone whos suffering from coronavirus right now. Ambassador bolton, thank you so much for joining us. Well continue this conversation. I want to bring in our special correspondent jamie gangel whos watching all of this unfold right now. Jamie, this is obviously a disturbing development. The president about to board you see the live picture coming in from the south lawn of the white house, marine one its not every day we see a president boarding marine one. And hell be boarding fairly soon, were told. And then making that brief flight over to the Walter Reed National military center in bethesda just outside washington. Whats going through your mind . Youve watched this history unfold over the years as well. Right. I also remember and was working when president reagan was shot. And that was, you know, a very scary time. I just spoke to two senior republican officials. They do not know what the situation is with the president s health right now. But they pointed out two things. One is if the president is feeling well enough to walk to marine one, and we see those pictures, those will be important optics. We are not getting much information from the white house. So, it may very well be that the president wants us to see that picture of him. With that said, wolf, we all know we heard sanjay say this earlier and dr. Wen. The fact that they are moving him to walter reed makes complete sense. It is the safe thing to do. But because of his age, because of this report of a fever now, it is probably out of an abundance of caution but also because theyre very concerned. I will tell you, i had a Family Member who had coronavirus and did not get a fever for the first three days. And actually over the weeks got much sicker, days 11, 12, 13, its just anecdotal, but that has been a pattern we have seen where as time goes by, if someone is going to get much sicker, it can be down the road. Its again very wise for someone his age to and, look, we have to worry about National Security, the continuity of government to make sure that he is in a place where if suddenly he isnt doing well, they can take care of him, wolf. Jamie, stand by. I want to bring back dr. Sanjay gupta who is watching all of this unfold. Sanjay, you know the procedures very well. I assume well get a shot of the president leaving the residence over there at the white house walking towards marine one. That would be significant in and of itself, as jamie points out, right . San gentleman. . Im not hearing sanjay. It doesnt change the wolf, can you hear me . Yeah. Start again. I didnt hear the beginning. I think it would be certainly significant that the president would be walking out. And i fully expect that. They described him as having mild or moderate symptoms. But, wolf, it doesnt diminish the fact that the president is essentially being rapidly transported to the hospital for this covid disease. That is happening, and that reflects a level of concern here, wolf. And its something ive been reporting on this since 1 00 in the morning. Its been a steadily building sort of level of concern, talking to people at the white house, hearing how theyre characterizing things. I think jamies absolutely right. It would be important to see the president walking out. But we are seeing something thats truly, its something thats a bit unsettling, i think very necessary. I think its the right call from a medical perspective to have the president at a place like walter reed whereas good as the white house medical unit is, there are significantly more resources at walter reed. But this is not a decision that i think is taken lightly. To transport the president like this does signify that there was a significant level of concern. Wolf. I know ive said that many times. We have to sort of speculate a bit on what it was specifically. Because the white house doctor hasnt spoken to reporters. At this point the president of the United States is about to essentially be medevac today a hospital and we dont till have very many details at all about whats happening here. They really need to explain this, wolf. The optics of him walking out, sure, but theres a lot of other stuff that is still unclear right now, wolf. And remind our viewers why the president of the United States is now considered to be at higher risk of serious potentially and hopefully not but higher risk of serious complications from coronavirus than someone much younger . Almost since the beginning when we started seeing some of the early data about this novel disease going back several months, it was clear that there were certain people who were going to be at higher risk because of age. We know for example the president 65 to 74yearolds are five times more likely to be hospitalized because of obesity. Hes three times more likely to be hospitalized. But it can vary. Theres people who have these sort of preexisting conditions and really never develop much in the way of symptoms. And there are people who have no preexisting conditions and are younger and get very sick. So these are just general sort of trends that we see. One of the things about the president , as you know, wolf, he did receive this experimental therapy at the white house, Monoclonal Antibody therapy, which, again, was a, i think, telegraphing some level of concern to give the president under compassionate use the highest dose of this antibody therapy. You do that i think if there is some sort of level of concern. I do want to remind people that, as, again, unsettling as this is, statistically the president still very much has the odds on his side. When you put all those risk factors together that i talked about, still greater than a 90 chance that he will get through this. But he needs obviously to get the kind of care that theyre probably going to provide for him at walter reed. He certainly does. As we wait, i just want to point out. And, dana, i want to bring you into this conversation. There is, we are now told, a pool of Network Correspondents and photographers standing outside on the south lawn of the white house. We cant see them, and near the door over there, the president presumably at some point will be walking out. Itll be interesting, dana, if the president stops and answers reporters questions or if hes simply going to go up and walk up to marine one, board that helicopter and make that very brief flight to the national walter reed Medical Center in bethesda. Its not going to be the first time he was over at walter reed, is it . No. And really that is one of the many things just in covering donald trump and knowing the way that he approaches such things that is most fascinating. In fact, i was just texting with somebody who does not have any indication of his current condition. I want to make this clear. But somebody who knows the president and has had conversations about such things and said the fact that this president who is all about optics and all about strength and all about shunning anything that even remotely looks like weakness would not allow this unless he had to. So that i think is very telling as to what we are seeing right now, what we could see. And that is why like i said before, and jamie obviously is hearing this from her sources as well. One of the key questions that everybody is looking towards right now is that lawn, and whether or not we are going to see the president , again knowing him and covering him, probably every fiber of his being wants to walk across that lawn and wave and show the world that hes okay. Hopefully he will be able to do that. So well see. The i just want to make one other point, wolf, if i may. Were looking at, you know, the south lawn of the white house. And it was in august that very spot that donald trump accepted the nomination of his party for the second time. And it was with great fanfare and there were a lot of people on that lawn, and not a lot of people were Wearing Masks. And here we are not even six weeks later, maybe five weeks later, a very, very different scene on that very same lawn. Very different indeed. Kaitlan collins is watching all of this unfold, our White House Correspondent. Kaitlan, people will start asking questions once the president arrives at the Walter Reed National military Medical Center in best eiththesda, mary. Does he transfer his power to the Vice President . Reporter we are told, wolf, that that has not happened and officials do not expect that to happen as the president is spending the next several days at walter reed. Right now we are told that the Vice President is at his home at the naval observatory. But we are told by the White House Communications director that there is not going to be a transfer of power. She says that President Trump is still very much in charge. So that is the status of things right now, wolf. But of course the question is what happens over the next few days . What happens with the president s condition, as sanjay was noting . Because, of course, if they are sending the president to walter reed not just for a brief afternoon visit, for the next several days that reflects a different level of concern than what weve been hearing publicly from the chief of staff and from the press secretary and from the president s economic adviser today who all seemed to talk about mild symptoms, great spirits. This seems a little bit more concerning to that internally in the white house as we were seeing marine one sit on the south law for over 20 minutes now as we are waiting for the president to come out. And of course those images of what happens when he does come out will tell a story since we havent seen him. But it does seem to be more of a concerning situation to the white house than they initially led us to believe. All of this that were learning is all mainly coming from reporters and then being confirmed by the white house. Because you have to wonder if bloomberg had not first reported last night that hope hicks had tested positive, where would all of this had gone . Would the president have been tested yesterday evening . Most of the information that were getting is coming from reporters on the ground that are at the white house learning about the situation. So well have to wait to see what happens once he is actually at Walter Reed Hospital. Very interesting indeed. And, kaitlan, there is a pool of reporters and photojournalists waiting outside on the lawn of the south lawn at the white house, waiting for the president to emerge and at least shout some questions if he doesnt want to stop and answer questions. Is that right . Thats right. You cant see them because theyre just over marine one standing there beneath the truman balcony. There are several reporters and cameras and photographers waiting. What will be interesting, wolf, is whether or not the president speaks. This is what they call chopper talk. He loves to talk tohes leaving. There are some days when he chooses not to, but you have to wonder if one of his top aides and confidants makes a different. He went to a fundraiser that was partially indoors and outdoors. The president went after he learned that hicks tested positive. So many people are questioning that especially now that the president has his own diagnosis. The president did not speak yesterday. We will have to wait to see if he does. This could be the last opportunity to question the president if he is spending the next few days in the hospital where we wont have as much access. I will be waiting to see when the president emerges, if he is wearing a mask or not. Gloria, we have covered a lot of major historic events. This is history unfolding. Right before our very eyes. I keep thinking about not only the president s condition and we all wish him well. But kayleighs statement that said the president will be working from walter reed. There has been no transfer of power. Mike pence is at the naval observatory. The president is still the president here. She said he will be working from there. What does that tell us about his physical condition . My question is why havent we had any real briefings about the health of our president . We have had a statement from his doctor who as we know is an osteopath. He has told us what drugs the president is on as sanjay was talking about before. But i do think this is a moment, if ever there were one, for the president s medical team to come out and brief the American People about the president s condition. We do not know anything beyond the tidbits we are getting from his doctor there, from kelaylei mcnene and now we see the helicopter on the law ready to take him to walter reed. Maybe he will tell us himself. Maybe he will speak a little bit. Maybe he is not in any shape to do that. I dont think we should be reading the tea leaves. I think we need to know the facts and what exactly the situation is. I dont think we are getting that information in the very least. We are not getting it, at least not now. Hopefully there will be a full briefing with the president s condition and everything else. Doctor, thanks for joining us on this historic day. I am sure, like all of us, you wish the president the best and a speedy recovery. We understand the president remains fatigued but in good spirits. He does have a fever. When you see this unfold, what do you think . It is a day by day issue. If people get more sick from covid, it happens over 3 to 10 days. The treatment given is unproven but promising especially early in the disease. A cocktail of antibodies made in the laboratory. Overall risk of someone the president s age is about 3 , but higher in males and someone obese. We are thinking of the president , the first lady and his family and hope they recover soon. Hopefully this has implications in terms of contact tracing, mask wearing. I do think that he testing likely gave people in the white house compound a false sense of security. It is important people not go to work when they are sick and its important if you have been exposed you quarantine so you dont risk other people. Masks do make a difference and something that can help us get to a new normal as quickly as possible. What is available at walter reed that is not necessarily available at the white house . They have a pretty sophisticated medical unit at the white house. I think this is the responsible thing to do. You dont know what the coming days will hold. You want to monitor oxygen ka capacities. You might get a ct scan to look at the lungs, so you want someone who is 74 years old and has covid and has such an important position to be in a hospital where they can be well managed, not in a workplace, even if that is the white house. What does that say that thes president is being treated with this regeneron antibody cocktail . This is looking good. Only 300 patients have received it. It seems to be helpful if patients havent made antibodies of their own. But it seems reasonable to try. Thank you very much. History unfolding here in washington, d. C. Dr. Sanjay gupta is with us. We are waiting for the president to emerge from the white house and walk over to marine one which will take him on this broef flight to walter reed. We are learning more, but one of the most frustrating things for all of us is that there is no formal detailed White House Briefing from the physicians to tell the american public, tell the world in the 200 countries we are being seen around the world, tell the world what is going on as far as the president of the United States is concerned. It is quite remarkable. We have covered these sorts of things, nothing quite like this. But typically you get the president s doctor coming out and talking about these like this. Especially as the president is about to be medevaced to the hospital. Even what we have heard throughout the day, since 1 00 this morning, we have had to piece things together. Mild illness, had a fever, moderate illness, receiving experimental therapy, all of these details unfurled. And no ability to address questions to the medical team. We dont know what is going on. Clearly the fact that the president is going to be transported by helicopter does raise a significant level of concern. They may say its an abundance of caution, but as you pointed out, the white house medical unit can do some of the things like check pulse, oks i am triand things like that. The white House Doctors need to come out and talk about this and answer questions. Today we know is when the president we are told anyway, the first time the president diagnosed positive for coronavirus. It seems to have had a significant decline over the day, at least to warrant this visit to the hospital. The testing presumably he gets tested every day so presumably he has had negative tests and all of this happened on the same day. That would indicate a level of concern. Got the disease and the symptoms. Thats probably why they said the place the president needs to be is a hospital, close to the intensive care unit, close to a place to provide care he may need. Wolf johnson, mid 50s, was diagnosed, spent three days in intensive care. Recovered from all of that. We are watching all of this unfold. Sanjay, dont go too far. Just to update our viewers here in the United States and around the world, im wolf blitzer. We are in the situation room. We are following major news in washington, d. C. From the south lawn of the white house where marine one is standing by where it will take the president to Walter Reed Hospital in bethesda, maryland. Very short flight. Maybe a 20minute car drive through the suburbs of washington, d. C. There are photo journalists and journalists outside waiting for the president. We will see if he stops. We are told that the white house secretary is already standing by and she is, as opposed to other times, wearing a facemask. I want to bring in Jeremy Diamond who is at walter reed. Jeremy, set the scene what is going on because fairly soon we are told the president will board marine one and fly over to