President have now tested positive, with another key member of the west wing coming down with coronavirus. Team coverage standing by, world news tonight begins now. Good evening and its great to have you with us as we start another week together here and we begin tonight with that breaking news. President trump is leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and heading back to the white house, after being taken to walter reed friday night. The medical team treating the president aggressively. And the president s doctor confirming today that the president did receive oxygen twice since testing positive for covid. The president s doctor also saying late today he may not be entirely out of the woods yet for something this early in his course of treatment. In fact, the doctors said, we wont know until next weekend, several days from now, truly how the president will fare from this, given the normal course from the virus. But tonight, the president is going back to the white house, and this evening, the growing number. At least 18 people now connected to the president have tested positive. 11 of them at that rose garden event introducing judge amy coney barrett, including hope hicks, three senators, and just today, we learned press secretary kaylie mcnanny have tested positive in the west wing. The president tweeting about leaving walter reed, telling the American People, dont be afraid of covid. Dont let it dominate your life. It drew outrage immediately, who pointed out this country hit 210,000 lives lost today, and that the doctor and the president received the best health care in the world, those experimental treatments. Many upset with him, saying dont be afraid of covid in this pandemic. And we begin with our chief White House CorrespondentJonathan Karl tonight. Reporter after receiving some of the most advanced medical care in the world for three nights, including experimental treatments usually reserved for the most serious covid cases, President Trump tweeted today that he is heading back to the white house, telling americans, dont be afraid of covid. Dont let it dominate your life. He added, i feel better than i did 20 years ago the president s doctor says he gave the all clear to go home. Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and i agree that all our evaluations and, most importantly, his clinical status, support the president s safe return home, where hell be surrounded by world class medical care 24 7. Reporter so, how is the president really doing . Its been nearly possible to discern, amidst a series of false or conflicting statements from the white house and the president s physician, dr. Sean conley, over the past four days. Once again today, dr. Conley refused to answer basic questions about the president s health. Any inflay make in his lungs at all . Ot at libertyo discuss. Reporter on saturday, dr. Conley insisted the president was doing just fine. This morning, the president is doing very well. The team and i are extremely happy with the progress the president has made. He falsely told reporters the president had not been given oxygen. When, in fact, he had been given it twice. Yesterday and today, he was not on oxygen. None at this moment. pe was not on oxygen. Reporter minutes after that briefing ended, white house chief of staff mark meadows pulled reporters off to the side. If we can go off the record with some of yall and get away from the cameras . Reporter meadows then directly contradicted the doctor, saying, the president s vitals over the last 24 hours were very 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. Reporter sunday, as meadows looked on, his head in his hands, dr. Conley admitted he had not told the truth about the president being on oxygen. Dr. Conley acknowledged he was putting a positive spin on everything to please the patient. I was trying to reflect the the upbeat attitude that the team, the president , that his course of illness has had. I didnt want to give any any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. And in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasnt necessarily true, and so, here you have it. Reporter over the course of his hospitalization, the president staged a series of photoops designed to project strength and to prove he was still on the job. In this photo, the president appears to be signing his name to a blank piece of paper. Yesterday, the president had the secret Service Drive him outside the hospital so he could wave to the cameras and to his supporters, possibly exposing the the move outraged dr. James phillips, an attending doctor at walter reed, who tweeted all those agents now must now quarantine, adding, they might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity. Dr. Phillips appeared today on gma. I dont know what the benefits of this political stunt were, but i do know what the risks were. And my concern is that perhaps the secret Service Agents that were inside dont know the risks they were up against there and what the real threats were. Reporter tonight, the some of the criticism today, that was jon karl there. And stand by here as the entire network can join us for a special report. This is an abc news special report. Now reporting, david muir. Good evening. We wanted to pause so the entire network can join us. Many of you watching world news tonight as the president now leaves Walter Reed Medical Center in bethesda, maryland. We want to go to the pictures. Were told the president will be leaving shortly. He tweeted earlier in the day that he would be leaving 6 30 p. M. Eastern time. Obviously this president skilled in television, he knew that that would mean that much of this country would be watching the evening news. The president expected to leave walter reed tonight and head back to the white house. As you know, the president was taken by marine one from the white house on friday afternoon into the evening to walter reed for treatment where he has been over the weekend, given a couple of experimental treatments, ealo a powerful steroid. And the president also received at least two doses of supplem t supplemental oxygen in the course of this, since testing positive for coronavirus. Today was the first time he acknowledged that. The doctor, dr. Conley, was pressed about the president s lungs, the condition of the lungs what the images showed the doctor, he said he could not discuss that. He made it very clear late today that there is still a lot we do not know. This is early in the course of this, that we should know by next weekend, several days away, how the president will fare, given the normal course of this virus. Again, you can see several members of the team there, presumably many members of the secret Service Getting ready for the president to leave walter reed. We are told he will walk out of walter reed, there you see the president leaving walter reed after a couple of days there this weekend, friday evening, as well. There you see his normal signal to the cameras, you can hear the cameras, the still photos being captured of the president as he leaves walter reed tonight. Very important for this president in this time, with just a few weeks left until election day to be seen walking out of walter reed. Of course, friday evening, we also saw him leaving the white house. Lets listen to see if he talks. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you. You think you might be a super spreader, mr. President . President wearing a mask in public, something we did not see a lot of prior to this diagnosis, sometimes with a mask, sometimes not. We did hear him say there, thank you very much, he took note of all the cameras there waiting for him to leave. He will now be transported to marine one which will fly him back to the white house. Im joined now by our chief White House CorrespondentJonathan Karl. Jon, there is still so much we do not know about the president s condition, obviously dr. Conley late today acknowledging this is early in the course, though we still do not know, jon, when the president last tested negative for coronavirus, which would give us, obviously, a better indication of how far into this we really are. Reporter dr. Conley has refused to a basicnd the questions he has answered have been muddled because some of the information he has given has simply not be true. So, we really dont know the extent of his condition, but we do know that this is a president that believes that image is essential to his presidency, maybe above all else and the image that he wants to project is an image of strength. He was the one that drove the decision to get him out of this hospital and back to t go in terms of the progression of this disease. You see him walking himself out of walter reed. He did a series of video messages. He wants to project an image of strength to the American People. He clearly believes that being in a hospital is not projeblgting that image. Thats why hes making a point of saying that hes going to head back to the white house. Hes going to be working. We also heard, really, simultaneous to this from the trump campaign, the determination that the president has, we are told to do the next debate, to be at the next debate with joe biden, although they are leaving open the possibility, david, that that could be a virtual appearance, virtual debate. Jon, as you know, this was a reassuring image of the president leaving walter reed. Reassuring for the country. This was unsettling, not only to learn President Trump and the first lady had coronavirus and now at least 18 people who came into contact or connected in some way to the president , have come down with the virus. Reassuring to see him leave walter reed, no matter where you are on the political spectrum, but you did hear a reporter in the crowd there asking about the potential that event at the white house might have been a super spreader event, jon, and that is a question President Trump will face in the final weeks of this campaign, now that we know that at least 18 secretary and two other staffers in the west wing today, as this number continues to grow. Reporter the white house looks like a hot zone. All of those people, the people on the white house staff, that attended that event, and it does highlight what has been the central issue of this campaign, which is, the president s handling of the pandemic. I took note, david, that one republic senator who has been very supportive of the president , senator john cornyn of texas, recently gave an interview back in texas, just a short while ago, saying that hhf dealing with this pandemic. And there will be tough questions that will be asked. I think, as you said, you know, theres nobody thats unhappy to see somebody recovering and we donald know if he is, but hes clearly walking out of here on his own. That is a good sign, but he is going to face some very tough questions, both specifically about the events at the white house and how they may have spread the virus, but also more globally, his handling of a pandemic that has now killed more than 210,000 americans. Jon, thank you. Stick with us here, another thumbs up, a wave to the camera there. As the president boards marine one, headed back to the white house. Just moments from now. Again, after being taken to walter reed friday evening, after coming down with a fever, mild symptoms, how they were described at the time. But fever, congestion and discomfort from the symptoms that came on fairly quickly for the president , its been reported, since then he was somewhat spooked how quickly it came on overnight thursday into friday. I want to bring in dr. Ashish j jha. Thank you for being with us, again as we continue to guide the American People through what were witnessing. I want to ask you about what we heard from dr. Conley late today, the president s doctor, he said, we are cautiously optimistic and on guard when it comes to a patient, obviously the president , hes talking about, when it comes to the president who received therapies that he has received. So, early in the course of this. Dr. Conley said were looking to this coming weekend, several days away. He seemed to be acknowledging that were still very early in this. Yeah, david, thank you for having me on. We are still early in this. Of course, its hard to know because the white house has been very evasive and dr. Kon looep has been, unfortunately, e va s vasesive about when the president first tested positive, when he last tested negative. But we make some guesses and we shouldnt be in a guessing game. We have to make some guesses. We still have some days to go before the president is out of the danger zone. So, i think were all going to keep our fingers crossed that the president gets through this time pore beyond without getting sick again. Certainly hope this trip back to the white house will be the last trip to walter reed, but again, as you point out, its still too early to tell and we dont know when he last tested negative, so, its hard to have a firm timeline here. You know, the president also drew fire from some today when he tweeted to the American People dont be afraid of covid. Today. Ow, we take note that the president likely received the best health care in the world, those two experimental drugs, likely much more quickly than the average american would, he is the president. He did receive that treatment and a powerful steroid. A lot of people reacting to the president s words taetd on a pandemic that were now several months into. Yeah, and first and foremost, im thankful that the president did receive the best care that we have and i think thats appropriate. But i think this idea that people should not be afraid of covid it is a deadly disease. It has killed 200,000 plus of our fellow americans. And while we should not live in fear, we should take appropriate precautions. And i feel like the president is downplaying it again. I think we had all hoped, given what he has been through, that he would finally take this virus seriously and i think many of us found that tweet disappointing and the message to the American People is, take it seriously, its a serious disease, 200,000 of our fellow americans have died from this. We heard dr. Conley today confirm for the first time that the president did receive supplemental oxygen, at least twice since being diagnosed with covid. You heard the doctor pressed about the president s lungs, what they saw in the imaging, dr. Conley said he could not share that information, but that would be very telling about the symptoms and what kind of condition the president fruitly is in. Absolutely. And that that was one of the most odd parts of the press conference, is that he shared some very specific information, he actually shared the president s heart rate but then when it came to his xrays and c. A. T. Scans, all of a sudden invoked hipaa, he cant do this because of those regulations. So, it was the selective sharing of information that dr. Conley has been engaged in, i think has undermined his credibility as a spokesperson for the president and it leaves all of us baffled. We need to know what has been happening with his lungs because we want to know how serious this is. Dr. Jha, apologize for interrupting, but this is a fairly dramatic image were looking at here, not one that weve seen really for many of us, ever, marine one carrying the president back to the white house after being taken to Walter Reed Medical Center for emergency treatment in this pandemic for coronavirus, you see marine one thereesident. He tweeted earlier in the day that he would be leaving walter reed around 6 30 p. M. Eastern. I mentioned the president is skilled in television, given his experience in the past, that part of his career, obviously, he knew that at 6 30 the country e prident ate h g and stuin wereg mine as it takes him back to the white house and i want to bring dr. Jha back in, because we dont know about the lungs, we dont know a firm timeline with the last time he tested negative, but what we do know is that the president has been given two experimental treatments, the antibody treatment, in addition to another, remdesivir, another experimental drug, in addition to a powerful steroid. Those three talk our audience through what that is. These are three different they are pifs. I dont know of any patient that has gotten this exact combination. The first one, the antibodies, actually block the virus from entering into the cells of t the of the patient and we dont know if it works or not. Theres some preliminary Experimental Evidence that it does. Remdesivir blocks replication of the virus. There is some evidence that it ustoily usenely ill mee steanat patients. The fact that he received that, i think, has raised a lot of concerns about whether it was appropriate for him or not. But hes very good doctors taking care of him and i havent seen his chart and i havent seen the scans, so i am not interested in secondguessing the physicians that made that call, but it is an unusual combination. And dr. Jha, it underscores why we heard doctors say today that we will be keeping a close watch, that well be on guard, dr. Conleys words, through at least next weekend. They said that he could continue working from the white house, but that they would continue to watch very closely and as you point out, and as the American People likely would expect, the president receiving these treatments earlier than most, because he is the president , he does have the access and its important that he gets the health care that we need, given the fact that hes the leader of this country, being taken back to the white house tonight. But explain to us why it will be extremely important that the medical team continue to watch him very closely in these days ahead. Yeah, so, what weve seen, david, in this disease, is that it often, people do well early on, look good and then day five, day seven, even out to day ten, take a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse. So, depending on the timeline of the president , were really going to have to pay close attention all week into the weekend. For many other patients, he might have stayed at home, he might have stayed at the hospital, but hes going home to a place that has all the capabilities of most hospitals. So, the white house is a pretty safe place to watch the president , but hes not out of theed woos yet. And in fact, as we have reported here, the supplemental oxygen occurred while he was at the white house, showing that they do have treatment available, certainly, there and thats not a surprise to the American People, given the fact that that is the president s residence. Dr. Jha, you heard the question there from reporters, as the evitably, it will be a question the president kewh he at until election day, he was asked about that event at the rose garden, certainly reporters will be asking about debate prep at the white house, so many people gathered around him in the rose garden, then inside the white house without masks, he was asked if hes been involved in a super spreader event. Yeah, it sure looks like he might have been. Looks like, again, based on all the data weve got so far, that many, many people were infected after that september 26th event at the white house. Were getting some reporting now that the cdc has been blocked from doing Contact Tracing to identify who else got infected on that evening. Its really critical that we block the chains of isonte thdancesery clea isolated for ten days after the onset of symptoms, would put him into next weekend. Hes still infectious to everybody who is around him and wearing a mask is good, but it wont be enough to protect everybody around him. So, we have to be very careful in the next week that we dont have more people getting infected. And we cant point out enough here the extraordinary scene playing out this eventing in washington, the president being carried on marine one from bethesda, maryland, Walter Reed Medical Center, back to the white house. He was just taken there friday evening after being diagnosed with covid. We were told early friday morning, as youll remember, just before 1 00 a. M. Eastern time that the president had received that positive test result. Thursday evening, still unclear exactly when on thursday the president knew. But what we do know is that one of his top aides, hope hicks, tested positive, that some members of the White House Team pulled back from traveling with the president because of that, whats unclear is whether or not the president had been, in fact, briefed on hope hicks and there are questions that remain about why the president then continued to travel on thursday to a fundraiser at bedminister in new jersey. I want to bring in jon karl. Theres the urgent effort to reach hundreds of people who were at that fundraising event in new jersey, as we watch marine one now land back at the white house. Reporter incredible sight, isnt it . Its an effort being conducted by officials in the new jersey government. The Contact Tracing at the white house seems to be much spottier. And we are unable to get some very basic answers to questions such as, how many people on the white house staff, david, have tested positive for coronavirus . Weve done our own analysis, weve gone and done our own own reporting and counted 18 people that were involved in that ceremony or debate prep at the white house who have tested positive, but you know, there may be more. We just dont know. These are very basic and important questions and the anszs are not forthcoming from the white house. Really something, jon. Youve covered this white house and administrations before this one but never have we seen in our lifetime a Pandemic Take grip, ahold of this country, quite like what were witnessing, all of us here in america over the past several months. The news early friday morning, while many were sleeping, they woke up to the news friday morning that the president , the first lady, had tested positive for coronavirus, the first lady has stayed back at the white house. Her symptoms have been milder thanheest had very mild symptoms, perhaps a light cough and other symptoms, but was feeling generally okay, no need to take her to walter reed. But again, the reporting that we have is the reason the president was taken to walter reed in the first place was because of the frightening drop inhas witnesse e president s discomfort, chills, fever setting in. Thursday into friday morning. And that the president was somewhat alarmed by those symptoms himself, as the virus took hold. He was taken friday late afternoon, into the evening to walter reed where he was this weekend and as jon reported earlier, there were a number of photoops, both inside walter reed and outside when the motorcade did travel around and allowed the president to wave to many of his supporters who gathered outside walter reed. It drew immediate criticism, though, because of members of the secret service who were inside the motorcade with the president ocacro ectr saying, spectrum saying, the president very likely still infectious, though he was wearing a mask in the car, questions about whether or not the secret service was entirely comfortable with that photoop. But again, this president is aware of the power of the nation being gathered around the television for the evening news at night and announced earlier today he would be making that trip back to the white house on marine one during the evening news, around 6 30 eastern was his tweet. He also said, dont be afraid of covid, jon and i would gather that meant to say, he is getting through it, but for many, it drew outrage immediately, because of the numbers that were seeing in this country, 210,000 american lives lost. We hit that milestone just today. Reporter this is a president that wants to project strength at all times. And he has apparently come to believe that acknowledging the dangers of this virus is an acknowledgement of weakness. And thats why you see him doing not just what he did in that tweet, saying, you know, dont be afraid of coronavirus, but repeatedly over the past seven months or so, david, he has downplayed the dangers that this disease poses to the country. Now hes downplaying the dangers that the disease poses to himself. But clearly, david, he was in a bad he was in bad shape on friday. Thats why he came to this hospital. He is not this is a president that does not like to visit hospitals, does not he sees the very notion of it as something of a reflection of weakness. He resisted the idea of coming ryad shape. He was in shape bad enough to require supplemental oxygen, meaning to help him breathe. So, but he wanted to get back as soon as possibly can and well see how he does once he gets back to the white house. I expect well be seeing, though hes going to be confined to the white house residence for a time, i suspect that well want to make sure that we are seeing him at work and putting out those images. Jon karl watching with me here, marine one bringing the president back to the white house tonight after spending three day r medical center. Hell continue to be treated for coronavirus. Im david muir. Good night. This has been a special report from abc news. In the tubbs fire. The flames, the ash, it was terrifying. Thousands of family homes are destroyed in wildfires. Families are forced to move and higher property taxes are a huge problem. Prop 19 limits taxes on wildfire victims so families can move without a tax penalty. Nineteen will help rebuild lives. Vote yes on 19. This is abc 7 news. Over the past 24 hours the president has continued to improve. Hes met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria, though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and i agree that all our evaluations and most importantly his clinical status support the president s safe return home. And President Trump arrived back at the white house just a few minutes ago after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center with his doctors saying hes doing much better. President trump spent the past several days at the hospital in bethesda, maryland, getting emergency treatment for covid19. Marine one took the president back to the white t that takes only a few minutes, you saw it live here on abc 7 just minutes ago. This comes as the outbreak grows with more people in the administration testing positive today. Abc News Reporter schulze fo