Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Leaves Walter Reed, Returns to WH; Downplays Virus: "Don't Let it Dominate Your Life" as U.S. Tops 210,000 Deaths; Trump, Still Infected, Returns to White House and Takes Off Mask even as Cases Rise Among His Own Staffers. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 05, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: But the President still there trying to show that things are getting back to normal. I guess that's his message. That's what he's trying to show.
But clearly, the fact that he took off his mask is rather reckless. I will say that. I want to turn over our coverage right now on Erin Burnett. She's watching all of this unfold. Erin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right. You see the President of the United States there, looking out from the White House. His mask is off. He has coronavirus.
First thing he did after he got off Marine One which you just saw lifting off there just like a reality show that this was, lifting off, the President there without a mask. He gets off, walks up those steps, goes between the flags, faces the cameras and takes off his mask.
Again, the President is returning from Walter Reed after three days in the hospital. He is on multiple drugs to treat the coronavirus. He is not out of the woods. His own doctors say that. It was a White House photographer who came up right behind him masked but right in the range, taking pictures of him. You see people there.
The first thing the President of the United States did was take off his mask. This is a stunning moment on top of an absolutely stunning series of events that I think has left everyone in this country just completely in shock, what we just saw there.
As we watch this and we're going to see in a moment when he got off the helicopter, it was on the other side of the cameras that you saw, so you'll be able to see that in a moment. Obviously, when he got on that helicopter, it was a thumbs up once he left Walter Reed continuing to downplay the virus and he's tweet speak a thousand words, which they did today.
But what he just did there was everything anyone in this country needs to know. A person hospitalized with coronavirus who feared for his life on Friday because of the virus, today ripping off his mask.
Sanjay Gupta is with me as well as Kaitlan Collins who is at the White House. So Kaitlan, tell me where you are, what you have just seen and what those around you in the reporter corps are now saying? I know there was fear about asking questions because of whether he would breathe on them. Tell me.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's remarkable, Erin, to see this moment where the President is clearly staging it to look like a success as he is returning to the White House less than 72 hours, excuse me, after being admitted to Walter Reed. But then that's why he clearly climb those stairs, that's not normally where the President goes into the White House.
He normally gets off and goes into the ground level when he goes into the residence. But clearly, he wanted to make a dramatic entrance into the White House to show that he is back. But remember, the President was diagnosed with coronavirus less than four days ago. His doctor today would not say the last time he had a negative test, would not say what his lung scans showed and would not answer a slew of other questions citing a Privacy Act that prevents the doctor from revealing information if the President, in this case the patient, does not want that information revealed.
So there are still a lot of unknowns about the President's health but he is making this dramatic return to the White House, something that he had been agitating to do, we were told by sources for about 24 hours now, but did not do so yesterday. Instead, settled for that car ride outside of Walter Reed.
But he's returning to a very different White House than the one he left, Erin, on Friday because his Press Secretary has tested positive for coronavirus and is now working remotely. His body man has tested positive for coronavirus and is now working remotely.
His daughter, Ivanka Trump, has not tested positive, has tested negative, but out of an abundance of caution is also working from home and quarantining this week, as well as a slew of other officials who have tested positive, of course. And so, this is going to be a very different White House that he's entering and there are going to be questions about the level of people the President just exposed as he made that trip back to the White House, but also what the next few days will look like, because we know that they are setting up temporary office space for the President on that side of the White House, the resident side, which is where he just entered.
BURNETT: Yes.
COLLINS: And it's going to be on the ground floor, which is near where the medical offices are. But, of course, it raises the question if staffers come into the room, are they dressed in full PPE with gowns and a mask and face shields, what does that look like, because it doesn't look like it but the President does still have very much coronavirus as he just walked into the White House.
BURNETT: Right, he does and, of course, somewhere in his course of the virus here right and we all know you can get sick and feel a lot better and get extremely sick again. His own doctors have said he's not out of the woods. But certainly he has the virus, so he can transmit it.
And what he just did, what he just told Americans it's OK to do when you have coronavirus is to not wear a mask. That's what he just did.
Sanjay, I believe you're here as well, right, Sanjay?
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BURNETT: Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Yes.
BURNETT: So Sanjay, I would like to say that nothing surprises me at this point, but that was awful.
[19:05:00]
GUPTA: It was just reckless and it's heartbreaking to think that someone who clearly now has a contagious deadly virus, that person happens to be the President of the United States is showing such reckless behavior and disregard for the people that around him. As everybody I'm sure who watches your show knows by now, you wear a mask to protect those around you.
So he goes up there, he takes off his mask. I'm just watching everything. Someone runs up there to take his picture, has a mask on. But again, the President who we know has coronavirus is not wearing a mask. I mean, he should be in isolation. He should not have left the hospital.
The doctor said today, as you pointed out, he's not out of the woods that we are uncharted territory that day seven through 10 could potentially be the worst days for him. There's nothing about this scenario that make sense.
BURNETT: Here - yes. I'm just, so everyone knows, Sanjay, this is a few moments ago, the other side of the helicopter when you saw it land, the cameras were on the other side. This is him getting off as he walks up those stairs.
So Sanjay, keep going, this is where he has the mask on, right, as he goes to the - passes, the press, doesn't take questions and is going to head up those stairs.
GUPTA: Right. So he heads up the stairs and then when he gets to the top of the stairs is when he takes his mask off. And if he's going to go inside the residence, I mean, maybe that's where he's going to isolate, I don't know, but at that point, Kaitlan was raising this issue. At that point, if anybody comes in contact with him, they need to be in personal protective equipment.
I mean, if he was in the hospital still, whenever the doctors when went to go see him, they'd be in personal protective equipment. So you're getting a very different picture here by seeing the President like this. Doctors look at this and they say, "Well, what's going on inside of him? What's the illness all about?"
We know he has an infection with this coronavirus. We know that that infection, that coronavirus can be very contagious, which is why people take great pains to protect themselves in the hospital. But this is obviously setting a ...
BURNETT: Here's it's going to come, here we go.
GUPTA: ... a very different ...
BURNETT: Takes it off.
GUPTA: ... an incorrect message.
BURNETT: And you see him here, he takes it off and he's getting ready for his pictures. The flags flank him. Right, Kaitlan? This is what he did. This is the moment. This is what he produced it for. He wants the image to be, I'm strong. This virus is nothing.
His tweet today, feeling better than I did 20 years ago. Don't be afraid of COVID, don't let it dominate your life. There he is. This is the image he wants.
COLLINS: Yes. Let us remind viewers now that the President is on steroids and a drug that fewer than 10 people outside of clinical trials have gotten inside the United States to deal with coronavirus. He had a level of treatment and a level of care that most Americans would not get. That's understandable. He is the President of the United States, obviously, everyone expects that.
But what the President is portraying by taking his mask off when he gets back to the Truman Balcony to give this grand return to the White House is that everything is fine and as he said don't let coronavirus control your life. But that is very much still a president who has coronavirus, despite the lights and the flags and the staged insurance that the President wants to create. He still has coronavirus and he is only a few days into the diagnosis.
And Erin, today his doctor didn't reveal a lot of information as he hasn't for the past two days, but he did still say that he will breathe a sigh of relief until Monday. That's a full week from today.
BURNETT: And a full week from today, Sanjay, during which he's going to be in the White House, OK, and there are going to be people around him who are - he's going to he's going to eat, he's going to fit. That's the way the whole thing is, he wants this image.
And then by the way, when you said where is it going from here, this is obviously so what happened a couple moments ago, he then goes back into the residence, Sanjay, and I couldn't say exactly where he went. But he has no mask, he's breathing, walking around, leaves or doesn't leave and there's a whole bunch of people standing there, in the space that he just left.
GUPTA: I mean, everybody should know by now he is likely expelling virus into the air outside, you could argue, a lot better than inside, although there were some people close to him even outside, but now inside. And it's hard for me to tell from these images, but it looks like there are several people around him.
I just don't get it, this breaks every protocol and there's no sort of equivocation here. People know that he has the virus. They know that he could be spreading the virus to other people. I mean, that's a huge concern.
And Kaitlan raised the point about the medications again.
BURNETT: Yes.
GUPTA: The thing about it is you say, well, he looks really good and everyone should be glad that he looks good. But people do worry with these types of medications, especially the steroids, that it's a false sense of security. It gives people this sort of burst of energy and makes them feel better, but it may be just masking the problem for a period of time.
BURNETT: Right.
[19:10:03]
The virus is still there. The virus may even replicate more easily, because the steroids sort of suppress the immune system.
BURNETT: Right.
GUPTA: So this is a significant concern.
Again, the doctors at Walter Reed they know this. I'm not telling them anything they don't know, every doctor knows this.
BURNETT: Right.
GUPTA: But why this has transpired the way that it has is reckless at this point, Erin.
BURNETT: And again, to your point, it masks the underlying symptoms. It doesn't treat the actual virus. And as you point out in the study that was out in The New England Journal of Medicine, it has not been proven any benefit and perhaps the risk of negative impacts on someone who is not on oxygen right or intubated.
So there is a risk that what he perceives from this is not the reality that it may be. Let me bring in here, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, add him to our conversation, Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at George Washington University Hospital.
And of course, in the context of what we're looking at this very moment, Dr. Reiner, you advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush, talking to the public about Dick Cheney and his heart issues as we went through that. Also with me, Dr. Jeremy Faust, emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He has been treating and is treating now coronavirus patients. And Abby Phillip, our Political Correspondent.
So let me start with you, Dr. Reiner. What we're seeing here really looks like - it's like something out of North Korea. The dear leader comes out with the magnificent helicopter entrance and up the stairs and off goes the mask as he pauses and preens for the shots. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes. I was half expecting him
to hold up a Bible at the end of that shot. It's unexplainable that the President of the United States who's actively shedding virus in millions of particles with walking to that building with the enormous number of staff unmask, shedding virus in the air in that building. It's really hard to understand how no one told him not to do that.
And I think this is the problem that I've seen over the last several days. There doesn't seem to be anyone in charge of his care other than the President of the United States, other than the patient. I'm wondering how much of his therapy was dictated by the patient, how much of his hospitalization, the need for hospitalization and then the time of discharge was dictated by the patient.
BURNETT: Surely.
REINER: No one is in charge there but him.
BURNETT: And I want to just - I'll add to that because I think it's just a fair objective point to make. No one needed to tell him to keep his mask on. He has coronavirus. He's shedding it. It's absurd to think that the excuse would be, oh, I didn't know, I mean, that's false.
Dr. Faust, I want to show we have another angle here because when he went up there and took his mask off, obviously all cameras were on. So I want to show another angle that we have of how close he was to the White House photographer. We'll show it in just a moment.
When he gets up to the top of the stairs and he takes off his mask and he's sitting there for the cameras. A White House photographer rushes up the other side of the stairs to get a close shot from another angle. So, Dr. Faust, when we get to that point, because it's a moment away, I'm going to give you a chance to react to it.
But when you hear I'm feeling better than I did 20 years ago, don't be afraid of COVID, I feel so fantastic. With the guy on dexamethasone, what do you hear?
DR. JEREMY FAUST, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: Well, I hear a contradiction to what he said last night, which is he said that he finally after 200,000 deaths or more that he gets it. But what strikes me today is that he goes home either contagious today or contagious during the debate with Vice President Biden. It's difficult to construct a timeline in which he's contagious at one or the other.
So we know is putting people at tremendous risk. From the viewpoint of coronavirus, which doesn't have any sanctions but think about it, it started halfway around the world and today got a ride in the Marine One via its host, the President of the United States. It's unbelievably weak, but the coronavirus has really proven resilience and the President is now going to spread it possibly to other people including people in these images that we're seeing.
The message that he said don't worry about it, don't let it control your life. This is a tremendous problem when he first was infected, we had two bad outcomes, either he had a bad outcome and yet another life was lost or people looked at him and said, oh, look it's, OK, this thing isn't so bad after all.
There are no wins here. We are living in nightmare and coronavirus is now in the White House.
BURNETT: And Sanjay, you can even see here, he's adjusting his suit right to get every picture. There's the shadow, I think. There you go. OK.
So Sanjay, take a look at this. That's the close up shot, yes.
GUPTA: Yes, this photographer who is wearing the mask, which again I think most people on your program, watching your program know this, the photographer is protecting the President from him, from the photographer.
[19:15:08]
But the President is the one who has the coronavirus and he's symptomatic and we know he has the coronavirus. People should be wearing masks regardless because everyone has to behave like they have the disease, but he is a symptomatic carrier of a potentially deadly disease that is very contagious.
So this is just reckless to put people in this sort of situation. And again, we see him walk in a few minutes into the residence. There's other people around. I really don't get this at all. I mean, there is stuff that is just pretty reckless, but at some point it's becoming absurd.
BURNETT: Yes.
GUPTA: So a person with known contagious deadly disease, without a mask on is walking into the residence, other people are around him, maybe they're wearing masks to protect him, but he already has the disease. That entire area will need to be disinfected, decontaminated. I don't know if that's where he's isolating.
BURNETT: Right.
GUPTA: As Dr. Reiner said, they still continue to minimize this disease and the way that they minimize it is all these strange ways and we're seeing yet another one of them.
BURNETT: Abby, this is - I mean, you had the images that he put out of Walter Reed right, people taking pictures of him in a room where he's in the hospital with coronavirus maskless and now he's doing this. So it is a clear bet, Abby, not just that he thinks that he looks - very clear, it's very clear, he thinks he looks weak with a mask on, period. I mean, we've known that but that's clear.
But he's sending a message of this thing is not serious and f--- the mask and he knows it.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And you know what, Erin, the White House is acting as if the President has already recovered from this virus. And as Dr. Faust just explained, that is unlikely given where he is in the progression of this illness.
So basically, what we're looking at is the White House staging, mission accomplished moment outside of the White House on the South Portico with the President walking up the stairs proving that he's just fine, that everything is great, that there's nothing to worry about. He's standing there in the doorway filming, basically, what we can only assume to be a campaign commercial, because of the length of time that he stood there seemingly walking in and out to repeat his steps in multiple takes like it's a television show.
He is still sick. He just left the hospital and has not even completed his course of treatment. And so it's a sign of how this White House is approaching this as some kind of PR stunt, some kind of effort to turn this around from a political perspective. And we saw signs of this all day long as the President's allies and supporters tweeted these memes of him as a wrestler body slamming the coronavirus.
I mean, they laugh about these things, but this is exactly the kind of image that they want to project. The problem is for all of the Americans who are watching this, the President's supporters included, this is the wrong message. He is not changing his message about how people need to protect themselves and we are going into a very perilous period of time for this country and the President is - none of this, this entire experience does not seem to change his approach.
BURNETT: No, no, not at all. And let me ask you, Dr. Faust, because you're treating patients currently. So if someone, a regular person, who doesn't have access to intravenous drug dosage at home is where the President is with the virus sick in a hospital for three days on remdesivir. And the antibiotic cocktail by Regeneron, as Kaitlan said fewer than 10 people in this country have been on and a steroid, would they be able to go home?
FAUST: No. In most cases, they certainly would not be ready to go home. And in fact, really one of the only correct things that we heard from the press conference today is that we're not out of the woods. When you look at all the trials where all the mortality began to occur. The first three days in the hospitalization, it really is very little mortality. It starts to crop up after that period of time, seven, 10, 14 days. So no, we don't usually discharge patients to the to their homes.
Now, he gets some care at the White House that the average person cannot get. So I'll grant them some degree of leeway here, because the President has resources. But when we look at the data, patients that we sent home and who come back later ill, we can't really put the President in that calculation, because he's going home sooner than most people would go home, sooner than most people would advise.
He actually shouldn't be on steroids at home. He should either be done with steroids or home. So you go home when you're ready to be off of steroids. So they're making an exception here.
[19:20:02] And again, it's probably safe for him because he can be scrambled to
what he needs. But it's not safe to those around him and honestly the Secret Service signed up to protect him, but not themselves from the President. That's an unusual kind of change in their risk calculation and there's a power dynamic there that I'm worried about.
BURNETT: And for sure, it's a recklessness in thought of others. And it also is sending a message loud and clear to those who believe in him, that this is OK behavior and that it's fine and that that is that is deeply damaging.
Kaitlan, let me ask you, because the President tweeted tonight, we'll be back on the campaign trail soon with three exclamation points. I know you're learning more about his plans.
COLLINS: Yes. And that comes after when his doctor was asked earlier when should the President be able to travel again, they just said we'll have to see. He didn't give a firm answer or say the President shouldn't travel until this day. This is when we determined it would be safe for the President to be back out on the road. And, of course, you've got to question the decision making that the President is going to have because we saw what happened on Thursday where knowing that a top aide had tested positive, the President still went to New Jersey anyway.
And as his doctor admitted today, wasn't tested for coronavirus until after he returned. That was the first time the doctor said that he had the conversation with the President about whether or not he was developing symptoms, which of course raises an entire slew of questions.
But the President is teasing he'll be back on the campaign trail. It's not clear when. Though his campaign did say they think he's going to be able to attend the second debate, which would be at the end of next week, next Thursday. And, of course, that would not be within that 14- day period of the President first being diagnosed with coronavirus. So that raises a whole slew of questions for the Biden campaign about what they'll do.
But Erin, one more thing I do want to note about what the President just did as he took off his mask, put it in his pocket, did not appear to put it back on as he walked into the White House. We reported over the weekend that the military personnel valets who served the President and the First Family several of them are quarantining over the weekend, and now for the next few days, because they came into contact with the President and the First Lady.
And they obviously, because of their jobs and the nature of those positions, they work incredibly closely with both of them and with Baron Trump and with everyone else who comes into the residence. They don't have a choice. That is their job.
And so the President who has Coronavirus and is contagious, just walked back into the White House without putting his mask back on. And it just raises so many questions as did this return to the White House of whether or not he's putting those around him, those who dedicate their lives to serve the President in danger by doing things like taking his mask off for political purposes, because he wants to show a sign of strength to his supporters, but doesn't really seem to have much consideration for the people who are serving him just inside that door that he just walked into.
BURNETT: Dr. Reiner, this also raises the question of his testing. So this question has been asked again and again and again, ever since we found out he had the coronavirus, about when was his last negative test. It's crucial because his team certified on the honor system that he was negative at the time of the debate. So it should be very easy for them to answer the question, if they were honest about that. Can you think of any reason why they would not disclose his date and of last negative test?
REINER: Yes, that he wasn't tested when they certified he was. I think that's the - or he tested positive and he still continued his duties. There are no other no other answers for that. If the President tested negative on Tuesday, why wouldn't they simply say the President tested negative the day of the debate or even the day before the debate. I think that would be very reasonable, but they won't say that.
The other possibility, as I said, is that the President tested positive on Wednesday or earlier on Thursday and still carried on some of his duties, which would be unforgiveable to expose people to the risk of his contagion. There's no other explanation and the White House has to release that.
We heard today from the President's physician, Dr. Conley, when asked that question directly, he said, I don't want to look backwards. That's not an answer.
BURNETT: No.
REINER: And it's important for what Dr. Faust is saying, in order to understand the President's prognosis, we need to understand when he actually got sick. Because if he got sick earlier, then we suspect that he actually might be over the hump and doing quite well now. But if he really got sick at the end of the week, there may very well be much more to come, so the White House needs to release that data.
BURNETT: They do and I just want to, to be clear here, even if he didn't know he was positive, when the White House knew that hope Hicks was positive by any metric that anybody in this country should follow, according to the CDC, he should have stopped everything he was doing. He still went and met with donors. It was still reckless and wrong.
[19:25:00]
But Sanjay, in terms of the timing of this last negative test, which is so crucial, and we do need to know what is the latest as you understand it.
GUPTA: Well, this is interesting, our medical unit did dug up some reporting today. So the Cleveland Clinic overseeing the debate sort of medical protocols here and I'm reading here one of the things that they - so the way that this worked for them, as they said, both campaigns had to submit the names of those who tested negative within 72 hours prior to the debate, OK. So the campaigns had to submit negative test for everyone who's going to attend from tests that were at least 72 hours before the debate.
So what that means is - so the date was on Tuesday, so they could have testing that dated back 72 hours to Saturday. They just had to submit it. The President, Vice President Biden both submitted saying that they had tested negative at some point during that 72 hour period. But again, we don't know for certain when that was. It didn't necessarily have to be the day up, it could have three days.
And also, it didn't have to be this the sort of gold standard PCR, polymerase chain reaction test, it could have been an antigen test as well. So any kind of FDA authorized test was allowed, 72 hour window, there was a lot of loopholes there, Erin.
BURNETT: Yes. Well, I mean, for the obvious reasons, I think that, just to be honest, I think people didn't think that these guys would have it, because they're so protected, 72 hours would be a ridiculous window, because you could have gotten it within that. And well, he may have even ...
REINER: Erin, can I say something?
BURNETT: Yes, go ahead, Dr. Reiner.
REINER: Over the last several months, the public has been told one of the reasons why the President doesn't wear a mask in the presence of other people is that he's tested every day, so he's known to be negative. So the White House should be able to present his test from all last week.
They say he's been tested every single day, so it would not be that he was - it could not be that his last test is Saturday unless they have not been forthright with the country.
BURNETT: Right. Something is not true about how this was all been laid out.
REINER: Something is not true.
BURNETT: Something is not true, the question is what. And, Dr. Faust, I want to ask you another really important thing, because obviously he's now back at his home, on a lot of very powerful medications, so remdesivir and a very powerful steroids and dexamethasone. And, of course, he has coronavirus and they have not released a lot of information, for example, about his lungs and we've heard from many about the longer term impacts of COVID itself.
So there's the drugs that he's on now and how that impacts a person and then there's what comes next, presuming that indeed he does not have another course of the illness itself. He's going to - he is and wants to continue to be the Commander-in-Chief. Is all of this relevant to his ability to actually execute that job? FAUST: It very well could be and here is where we, as the public,
find ourselves in quite a bind. Dexamethasone does have a record of causing some altered mental status, we call it changes in your behavior. It can cause psychosis mania, word finding difficulties, you have your reading comprehension goes down, anywhere from the small numbers in the single digits to 50 percent of patients.
But here's the thing, altered mental status, that word we use, is really about your baseline. So if you're a very shy person and suddenly you're very, very energetic and acting outlandish, that's altered. For the President, typing in all caps, that's his baseline and so we have to look at his baseline.
But his but his physicians, we have to rely on his physicians to say he's at his baseline, he's not behaving abnormally. And over the weekend, what we kept seeing was a moving target. They'd say today's everything is fine, yesterday, things weren't so good. Well, yesterday, they told us things were good and the day before things weren't so good.
So they keep saying that everything is great today, everything was not great yesterday and so we need to rely on their assessment and so far their assessment has been much more about reassuring us than informing us. And so we're in a tight spot, because the people who are responsible for this decision have not been very reliable.
BURNETT: So Abby, Kaitlan was talking a little bit about the President wanting to get back out on the campaign trail. What does that look like? I mean, does he literally go back out there before he gets his negative tests if he's like, well, I'm not next to people and I don't wear a mask anyway, as he just showed?
PHILLIP: It's such a great question and it was a question that I felt actually was even more urgent based on the press conference given by the President's doctors today, because Dr. Conley was asked about when they believe that the President might no longer be shedding the virus. And he seemed to give a really convoluted answer, suggesting that perhaps it could be five days, it could be seven days that they were doing extensive testing to find out what his viral load was.
[19:30:02]
So they seem to be preparing for a scenario in which the president could say to the public, you know, I've been tested, they tested me to find out what my viral load is and I'm not shedding active virus. And it made me wonder, you know, is this the precursor for the president getting back on the campaign trail outside of the guidelines that have been set out by the CDC?
And you know, I don't know what they want to do but he is clearly eager to get back out there. And they've already said they're going to be at that debate, which is in a week from now.
So, you know, Erin, I wouldn't put anything past this situation. You know, this is a president who wants, you know, the rules tailored specifically to his desires and I think that he clearly seems to be surrounded by many people who are willing to make that happen. Just the simple fact that he walked back into the White House and then took off his mask is a sign that people around him are not saying, Mr. President, you're contagious, don't do these kinds of behaviors.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: No, it's amazing. No one around him -- no one around him seems to be telling him that. And if they are the way which he is treating that information and that person is shocking.
All right. All of you, thank you very much. The president now in the residence. Supposedly in quarantine.
OUTFRONT next, Trump saying today on Twitter: Don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life.
Well, one of his supporters, the man you see there, he died of coronavirus because he listened explicitly to Trump on masks. We're going to talk to his daughter. She says her father trusted Trump.
And also tonight, Trump reportedly telling one of his advisers not to disclose the results of their positive test. Seriously. That is a cover-up. And it's deeply morally wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:31]
BURNETT: Breaking news, we are monitoring the latest as President Trump is back at the White House from Walter Reed Medical Center. The president's message as he left the hospital was, quote, don't be afraid of COVID. This was the tweet. Don't let it dominate your life. I feel better than I did 20 years ago.
He is, of course, on a very, very potent steroid with serious side effects.
His words coming as 22 states in this country have cases increasing. The U.S. death toll tops 210,000 lives lost to the virus. The White House's own model is expecting that to nearly double over the next fewer than three months.
Kristin Urquiza lost her father to coronavirus in June. She said he died because he trusted President Trump.
And I know, Kristin, you and I have spoken. You were telling your father take this seriously, wear a mask and he was saying the president says: I don't need to. I'm going to listen to him.
Let me ask you your reaction when you see the president get off that helicopter, go up, and the first thing he does for the cameras after being in the hospital for three days and still having coronavirus, is take off his mask.
KRISTIN URQUIZA, LOST HER FATHER TO CORONAVIRUS: Thanks for having me again.
I've got to be honest with you. At this point, I think the president of the United States is the most dangerous person in the world. He is continuing to spread misinformation about this virus not only through his words but through his actions.
By taking off his mask and entering into the White House, he is signaling to his people and to his supporters that it is the strong person's will to go forward with the virus as is and everybody will be fine. But that simply is putting people at risk for contracting this deadly disease, and it's appalling.
BURNETT: He also said, as I mentioned, in that same tweet, I feel better than I did 20 years ago. He of course is on an incredibly potent steroid at this time.
You know, you just said it really beautifully, Kristin, right? That the image he's projecting is that if you're just strong and tough that the virus is nothing.
Obviously, that is a false statement.
You watched a strong and tough person in your life, your father, battle the virus for two weeks, go on a ventilator. And he's not with you now.
So when the president says, I feel better than I did 20 years ago, what do you say to him?
URQUIZA: The thing that we're seeing playing out, Erin, is what I talked about also at the DNC, that there are two Americas in this country -- Donald Trump's America and the America my dad died in. Had my dad had the opportunity to have the type of care that abundance of caution, he may still be here with us today.
But instead, my dad and so many other people were told and are being told to go home and come back when you can't breathe.
BURNETT: A completely different level of care. That is very clear obviously from what we've seen in terms of the treatment, the going home, the drugs as well.
You right now I know are self-quarantining, right? Because as you mentioned you spoke at the DNC. You were at the front row of the presidential debate on Tuesday.
Others who were there are not doing that. Nine people tested positive at that Rose Garden event, right? Where Amy Coney Barrett was having her Supreme Court announcement. You can just look here at what we actually saw, where they sat. That's nine and counting.
URQUIZA: Hmm-hmm.
BURNETT: So, you -- Vice President Pence, of course, has been tested now every day since then, has still tested -- has still tested negative.
What do you say to those who have been there who are not self- quarantining, those who were at the debate where you were who are not self-quarantining as you are?
URQUIZA: It is fundamental that we use simple things to keep each other safe. I've since been tested and I also have tested negative. But the idea that that can be a false negative keeps me in my quarantine until I am 14 days on the other side because I care about human life and I couldn't imagine potentially putting somebody's life in jeopardy just so that I can go about my day to day.
[19:40:06]
And it's a small sacrifice one has to make in order to uphold the sanctity of life.
BURNETT: Kristin, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you coming back on.
So what the president just did by taking off his mask, of course, should -- well, it did surprise me. I'm going to be honest. It actually truly did. I sort of gasped for a moment.
But in the context of how he's behaved, right? It is consistent. And it's also consistent with the cover-up, right? We don't -- they're not saying when he got the last negative test.
"The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the president asked one of his own advisers not to disclose results of their own positive test, actually asked his adviser not to do so. The president himself reportedly saying, quote: Don't tell anyone.
OUTFRONT now, Olivia Troye. She served as Vice President Pence's lead staffer on the coronavirus task force. She has now endorsed Joe Biden.
So, Olivia, you've got the president doing what he just did with the mask. So let me just ask you because you've been in those rooms, you've been in the room with him and the vice president.
Was there anything about that that surprised you or is that what you actually expected him to do?
OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER LEAD STAFFER FOR PENCE ON WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: I have to say that I was somehow, even after two years of having worked in this White House, I was still shocked. It was deplorable what he just did.
As the leader of the free world showing that -- exhibiting that behavior, the rest of the world must just be -- I mean, this is just despicable. I can't even -- I guess I'm rarely at a loss for words, but I could not believe that he did that. I mean, he is entering the people's house. He continues to use the house that we all unfortunately elected him to, right?
I mean, this is who he's representing. And this is just -- it's embarrassing as an American. It's embarrassing as a national security professional to watch this firsthand play out. It's just horrifying.
BURNETT: So when we hear the "Wall Street Journal" reporting one of the president's advisers had a positive test, the president specifically said don't tell anyone. "The New York Times" is reporting there were two people who worked in the residence of the White House who tested positive, they were told to use discretion in discussing their positive results.
Hope Hicks obviously, we did not find out that she was positive from the White House. It was Jennifer Jacobs from Bloomberg who found out and told the world, thus starting the domino effect which resulted in the president disclosing he had gone to a meeting with donors, right, in a closed room knowing that. And his own positive -- his own positive test.
Is there any question that there's a cover-up?
TROYE: I don't have a single doubt in my mind that that article is not accurate or any of this is false. This is what it's like to work in the White House. They instill this culture of fear and they purposely go out of their way to manipulate whatever narrative there is.
And they expect you to lie. I am not at all surprised the president would ask his assistant to do that. I honestly -- I feel horrible for his aide. I know him. And I just can't imagine what it must be like to go home when you're sick and wrestle with that on a personal level morally and be like okay, I'm loyal to this person, I work for him, I continue to support him, but at what cost?
BURNETT: So I want to ask you because you've been there and you've seen this and now we see what's happening, which is you have respected medical doctors who they are confident he can get the care in the White House, that's one thing, right? But, you know, they can't -- they can't physically restrain him from taking off the mask, right?
But how is it that he's maskless in a picture at Walter Reed, right, that he -- that when he got on Marine One to go there on the day he was so incredibly sick, he's wearing a cloth mask, not even an N95, when others on the helicopter are, he's shedding virus, that he whips off his mask now.
I mean, are people telling him in incredibly strident terms that he's wrong, or are they not telling him?
TROYE: He's been told several times that he needs to wear a mask. He's been told by the highest levels of the cabinet. He has been advised. It is very clear in no uncertain terms, you need to wear a mask.
And in this situation I guarantee you every single doctor --
BURNETT: Told him.
TROYE: -- has said, sir, you need to wear a mask.
[19:45:00]
BURNETT: And he did -- he did what he did. And we've got some more reporting here that we're working on in just a
moment about exactly what really just happened on that balcony. It's stunning.
Olivia, thank you very much. I appreciate your coming back on. Thanks for your time.
And next, a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence mocking Senator Kamala Harris after learning that there will be a Plexiglas divider between the two at their upcoming debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: OK. This is the breaking news I said we were going to tell you what happened on that balcony. OK?
So we are getting in new video and it is important. I want to show it to you. So this is president Trump coming back out. So he took his mask off and he went in and there were people around him. He with no mask. They with masks.
Then he came back out. OK? He came back out. He came back out with no mask. They had masks on. He's still not wearing his mask, surrounded by people. And he did so because he wanted to reshoot the video of himself with the flags to make sure that he liked the shots.
Kaitlan Collins is OUTRONT.
Kaitlan, so just explain to me what happened here. I sort of did it. But please do it again and lay out the timing as you understand it.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first video is remarkable. Seeing the president come up those stairs and then take his mask off as he saluted Marine One. But Erin, we saw him go inside and not put that mask back on. And now we're learning a little bit more about what he's doing.
You see as the president is going inside those doors and then he comes back out, still without a mask on, apparently to reshoot his entrance into the White House because my colleague Alan Malloy (ph) looked at this closely and you can see an official photographer and a camera crew standing inside the White House shooting the president. And it's about four people within close proximity of the president who, of course, like we said is not wearing a mask despite just returning from the hospital after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
And this is part of this staged entrance that the president is making where he wants to be back at the White House and be able to use this, apparently you can guess maybe in a campaign video or something of that nature to show his supporters his return. But let me repeat that. He is not wearing a mask as he is walking into the White House where other people are shooting this and redoing his entrance to make sure they can capture it in the way that the president wants them to.
BURNETT: OK. Kaitlan, thank you.
So I want to go now to Senator Chris Coons. He's been advising Joe Biden, long-time friend of Joe Biden.
And I just want to be clear. Senator, you were at the debate. You have been tested for coronavirus to, you know, see if you had it. You have tested negative.
[19:50:00]
So I want to ask you now, now the story's changed a little bit, right? I mean, he goes up, takes his mask off. He goes in with people. He's unmasked. They're there. He then wants to reshoot it.
So, they all stay around him while he keeps his mask off to reshoot it so he likes how it looks.
Your reaction?
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Erin, I can't believe that I'm still capable of being surprised at anything Donald Trump does. This is just another reminder that we elected a reality TV star who doesn't take seriously the health and the risk that he's putting others through.
The CDC just renewed their guidance that COVID-19 can be spread -- can be airborne, particularly in indoor spaces. And after tweeting out that he's learned a lot about COVID-19 in his brief stay at Walter Reed, he demonstrated first that he cares more about appearances than substance.
Second, that he doesn't take seriously the health and safety of folks at the White House. I remind, nearly 20 people were infected in recent days over events at the White House.
And, last, he shows he's not the leader that we need to bring us through this pandemic safely. Just when he went to Walter Reed, 10,000 Americans have been infected and this coming week, 5,000 Americans will die.
President Trump is not setting a good example of how to respond in this pandemic.
BURNETT: So, the fact is though that he also -- he did just stage, right? He staged the whole thing. He produced the helicopter arrival.
COONS: Yes.
BURNETT: He then literally wanted to stage and do redos as if -- as if this is a reality TV show, I mean, as if it is fiction, right? As if it's entertainment. I guess let's call it that. It is entertainment.
Meanwhile, those who are there, that's their jobs. They were put in a position of risk, right, personal health risk.
COONS: Erin, it -- it reminds me of how he chose to go out a ride around town to wave at his supporters, putting at risk the Secret Service agents who were compelled to travel with him.
The ways in his example is misleading Americans into doing risky things.
You just had Kristin who lost her father who believed it was okay to go unmasked because he saw President Trump doing that.
I'll remind you, in recent months, President Trump has led thousands of his supporters in large rallies unmasked, not socially distant, not following public health guidelines and he has mocked Joe Biden as recently as that debate on Tuesday for wearing a mask, for avoiding large public events.
At the end of the day, a large part of why I am supporting for Joe Biden because he listens to our health and he cares about our people.
BURNETT: So, I want to ask you about -- you know, what happened to that debate in retrospect, everybody has learned a lesson and the very basic thing in that you can't have a test (ph) 72 -- 72 hours before. I'm putting aside the fact as to whether the president even had one that was negative, because they've refused to disclose that information.
But 72 hours is too many hours, OK? And an honor system isn't unacceptable. We've learned a whole lot of things.
So, now, you know, I was talking, you know, talking to a doctor this weekend, you said -- the obvious thing is put a complexity plexiglass up, whether you're separating them or not.
COONS: Right.
BURNETT: So, now, there is going to be plexiglass. The Presidential Debate Commission announces at the vice presidential debate. And a spokesperson for Mike Pence's comment is, to mock it. Senator Harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it.
And so, what -- what's your response to that, from the vice president's own team is still mocking basic safety?
COONS: Well, apparently, not everybody learned the lesson from the debate this past week that you and I learned, which is that we need to be more vigilant, we need to be more determined to keep people safe. If even the president of the United States surrounded by people with world class healthcare being tested everyday can get COVID-19, that means we need to be more vigilant.
And for the vice president to mock my colleague, Senator Harris for this, for Lindsey Graham to be barreling ahead with confirmation hearings in the Senate, without a clear path towards doing so safely, it is just a reminder of the ways and which this pandemic --
BURNETT: OK.
COONS: -- our Republican leadership, the president and vice president haven't been committed to our safety.
BURNETT: Senator, thank you very much, I appreciate your time.
And the president's doctors dodging questions about the president's health, not answering so many specific and important ones. Why?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:23]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump is back at the White House from the hospital. His doctor creating more questions than answers about the president's condition and his treatment.
Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When did the president last test negative for COVID?
DR. SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: I don't want to go backwards.
FOREMAN: How high was the president's fever?
CONLEY: I rather not give any specific numbers.
FOREMAN: Any signs of pneumonia?
CONLEY: Just not at liberty to discuss.
FOREMAN: Was he ever getting supplemental oxygen?
CONLEY: He's not on oxygen right now.
Yesterday and today, he was not on oxygen. He's not on oxygen right now.
FOREMAN: From the start of the 74-year-old president's battle with COVID, White House physician, Dr. Sean Conley, has been giving vague and oddly optimistic assessments, considering Trump was hospitalized, being pumped full of powerful drugs, including an experimental treatment.
And when Conley was caught misleading, turns out the president had gotten extra oxygen. His explanation?
CONLEY: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president and his course of illness has had, didn't want to give any information that might stir the course of illness in another direction.
FOREMAN: Conley's file, he went to Notre Dame, studied osteopathy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a practice often associated with holistic healing, then into the Navy. He served in the medical corps in Afghanistan before rapidly rising to the top job in the White House, replacing Dr. Ronny Jackson, who once gushed about the president's incredible genes and excellent cardiac health.
DR. RONNY JACKSON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: He has a lot -- a lot of energy, a lot of energy and a lot of stamina. FOREMAN: Conley has toed the Trump too, amid all the questions about
his health. He called Trump's sudden trip to Walter Reed last fall part of a routine physical, a claim widely seen as suspicious considering the extremely unusual nature of the unplanned visit.
Trump said in May he consulted his doctor and began taking hydroxychloroquine, despite studies saying the drug did no goo and could be dangerous.
And now, in a White House that prized his loyalty, Conley appears to be just what the president ordered.
CONLEY: The president has phenomenal patience during his stay here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Make no mistake, Conley maybe a fine physician, but whenever asked a question where his medical expertise could collide with the president's opinion, every time, Erin, the doctor dodges.
BURNETT: Well, Tom Foreman, thank you very much.
And thanks very much to all of you for joining us.
Our breaking news coverage continues now with Anderson.
