this is a man who has been and presumably still is unwell and still is contagious to a degree but he's standing on the balcony of the white house as marine one leaves. he's taken his mask off he is standing for the cameras. as we've been talking about this moment as much about his return from hospital as it is about showing that he is back on the campaign trail in fact that's what he said he tweeted just before he left the hospital saying that he'll be back on the campaign trail and that the as he calls them fake news media don't reflect what's really happening in the polls. 7 pm on the u.s. east coast washington d.c. the white house marine one leaves the south lawn of the white house having just. left the president back at home after 3 days in hospital. continuing coverage here on al-jazeera of donald trump's departure from walter reed medical

hospital his return to the white house and then. correspondent who's been at walter reed all day then what who knows what happens next. well what we know is that the president's going to be closely monitored and you narrated us beautifully through that moment because although i don't have a monitor and can't see the image what i know is that donald trump ascended on those staircases that are on either side of that balcony and into the residence a it's notable that he used that entrance because it's not typically the entrance that presidents use usually that's a ground floor entrance but guess what harder for the cameras to see that so donald trump clearly wanted people to see him as the accident and enter the white house making once again a big show a better spectacle as we often say this is the same balcony i believe that we saw him when he was talking about the abraham accords and the foreign ministers of

bahrain and u.a.e. were there so this is something notable this is a special and significant balcony and the president chose this for making his return from the hospital in terms of that all important photo op because this is what is going to play on the t.v. screens throughout the evening here in the united states this is what he's going to project to american voters who are set to cast their ballots in 4 weeks for the next president of the united states donald trump trying to win reelection and it's going to be tough he's behind in the polls he's had a lot of criticism already over his handling of covert 19 now the fact that he has caught it he's not yet recovered this presents an enormous challenge for this president kimberly how is in bethesda maryland where the president's no longer is he's now moved back to the white house can be we'll talk to you again later i do want to bring in mike hanna one of our other correspondents in washington d.c. as we look at this live shot of the white house with the president has just returned he returns mike presumably to a very different white house not just as kimberly was talking about where he will

be in there where he will work where he will presumably isolate. the number of his stuff who have tested positive as well it's a vastly different place. it's a very different place over the last 10 days a number of infections related to the white house have been reported the white house just a few blocks over my right shoulder there the latest his press secretary confirmed that she was positive for the coronavirus in the course of the day along with 2 of the systems we know that at least 3 journalists who work at the white house have tested positive but also kemal one must mention something here too a number of weeks ago it was confirmed that 2 members of the staff tested positive for the coronavirus now we understand that there was no internal message sent to the white house at that particular time in fact the 1st time that

a message was stent to the general staff at the white house it would appear was last night when a message was sent out to all staff members saying if anybody is feeling ill or was running a temperature please do not come into work but this is in a way astounding that throughout all this period of time you had already had infections at the white house a number of weeks ago as i said but this past 10 days has seen that number absolutely leap in terms of those who have been involved or have been present at the white house at some stage a getting infected so this is a real critical issue now the other issue that we need to discuss kemal is the protocols for testing at the white house now throughout this whole period the testing method has been an antigen method which is convenient because it's very easy to take and the results come back within 15 minutes so people arriving at the white house for cabinet meetings what have you they will be tested before going to the president however research indicates that this form of testing has

a very high false ratio some put as much as 48 percent returns in correct results now this of course is an issue because this is a protocol that the white house has been using throughout the months on. the coronavirus now president trump himself was finally diagnosed with a p.c.r. test which takes longer to administer and the results take hours if not for the average citizen days before they come back now the question is whether the white house is going to continue with a testing protocol that is incorrect a large amount of the time or whether it's going to go back to a p.c.r. regime which would of course have massive impacts on the work flow within the white house people would take longer go inning cabinet members would need to be tested the day before they came so all of these issues would have to be worked out in the days ahead but it highlights too as well the almost arrogance with which the white

house has dealt with this coronavirus masks still not mandated within the white house it's left to individuals choice now all of these issues one must take a look now now that the president tested positive his wife is positive a number of right off members are positive is there going to be a change in how the white house deals with this issue and the way the administration and president trump himself view the coronavirus at large thank you mike hanna let's pause for now we are getting a tape replay just now remember we couldn't see donald trump disembarking marine one because the camera was on the other side of the helicopter as it landed looking at the white house these pictures now being replayed to us of donald trump leaving walking across the south lawn posing for photos some of his usual sort of thumbs up and. making a fist and i guess a strongman to show his strength he walks up the steps and just to

reinforce what mike was talking about about masks about testing within this white house we should see it on this shot as donald trump heads up to the balcony on the south side of the white house he takes his mask off. someone who has been in hospital with coronavirus for the last 3 days and he takes his mask off for a photo opportunity you would presume and then heads into the white house now reading on twitter some of our producers making the point that this is the white house this is not just the residence of the u.s. president there are a lot of people who work here kimberly was telling us earlier about some of the housekeeping stuff about the press secretary about other people who have tested positive in the last 24 to 48 hours now someone who is known to have the virus is returning to the white house and has taken their mask off on that balcony and i

think you will see in a moment when he turns and actually walks back in i don't think we saw him put it back on obviously no cameras inside the white house for us to 100 percent confirm that but these pictures just or only about 5 maybe 10 minutes ago at the most donald trump having left marine one standing on the south balcony of the white house solution i would assume that was saluting the helicopter as it lifts. the south lawn again and he stands while looking quite stoic i guess and again showing his own strength or trying to project his own strength it was important when he went to walter reed in the 1st place that he walked to the helicopter today half an hour ago he walked out of walter reed medical center to his s.u.v. which took him to the helicopter he walked on to the helicopter and then was flown 10 minutes back to the white house. judging by the way he hit the flags and his

hair moving there i would say that was the moment marine one took off again the great win created by the roses on marine one as it left the president salutes. making the point again i must say without his mask on and we know that this president. has a big focus on aesthetics on the way he projects him self and for this moment the return to the white house's official residence he stood there with no mask he saluted and he went back into the white house those pictures a short time ago. and right now for that live shot there we go. someone else heading out on to the balcony there so much will be going on at the moment lest we forget 27 days until the u.s. presidential election and our focus has been on the health of the president and just exactly how long he would be in hospital in the end 3 days is in hospital he

has been in hospital my canner in washington d.c. might kill talking to you earlier about the let's not forget the health side of things the fact that the president's been in hospital for 3 days with a contagious disease that has just walked back into the white house without a mask on. well it's quite astounding in a way from our looking at the replay of those particular pictures of the president walking up the steps standing at the top of the balcony and then taking off that mask that really is quite remarkable because as you've been mentioning the president does live alone in the white house obviously his wife is there but there's a large number of staff who work within both the residence and in the west wing where most of the work places are so the man having just emerged from hospital and one must know too as his own doctors say he is not out of the woods yet this man is

still recovering he is still infected with the coronavirus and yet he is prepared to walk into the residence without a mask so once again they're going to be a lot of questions about this and the question of course that immediately comes to mind is to what degree has he been humbled by the fact that he was afflicted with the coronavirus the fact that he'd walk into his residence with no mask is certainly an indicator of an answer to that particular question but there are as i keep mentioning a large number of people who work in the white house and they had previously been. reports of infection among white house staff a number of weeks ago were the 1st reports and as we kept on saying in recent days there has been a mess of increase in the number of infections of those who have either been to the white house or been in contact with people from the white house so this is going to be an issue in the days ahead remembering as well the a period in which the virus will take to take hold that period of time with which

it incubates there are still a number of people who have been connected to the white house in recent days in whom may still be incubating so there are many many questions and i think above all the what must be remembered is the attempt by the president in tweets and by. many of his supporters to contend that he has defeated the corona virus it's too early in his infection the fact that he has gone home does not mean that he is no longer suffering from the virus so i think that if you will these issues must be taken into account as we continue to discuss what happens next what happens in the next few days what happens in the next few weeks much more to talk about and we will do that again with you later on my camera in washington d.c. 12 minutes past 7 in the evening that is 1600 pennsylvania avenue where the

president is once again in residence about 1015 minutes ago here arrived back in the white house stepping off marine one off to his 3 days being treated for the coronavirus at walter reed medical center where we heard from his doctor. a doctor who provided an assessment of the president's health but declined to share results of his lung scans shown on the old so said trump would not be fully out of the woods for at least another week and that he would be getting treatment at the white house as well over the past 24 hours the president has continued to improve he's met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria to receive another dose of him does appear here today and then we plan to get him home it's been more than 72 hours since his last fever. oxygen levels clothing ambulatory saturations and his work of breathing are all normal. so he may not entirely be out of the woods yet

the team and i agree that all are evaluations and most importantly these clinical status support the president safe return home will be surrounded by world class medical care 247. very pleased to welcome dr bob. who now is a senior clinical lecturer at the university of exeter medical school joining us from boston the u.k. i know it's late there so i know you've been waiting a long time especially while we've taken all these pictures were really to appreciate you staying with us. let's talk about what we just heard there from the doctor at walter reed he was saying that despite the fact that the president may not be out of the woods yet that the medical staff support his move back to the white house what do you take from all of that it doesn't sort of sound like and it can't be that he's well and he's going home because you don't get well from current virus in 3 days or you can. president trump may have had a mild infection and it clearly shows that he's made

a pretty good recovery if all his test results are to be believed so it is really possible to be unwell for a few days and get better you do not have to have a prolonged illness some people of course have a very long and severe illness but there is a lot of variability in do how long anyone is ill for but you can still be contagious and i think that's probably the point after a lot of people are looking at it i mean he just walked into the white house took off his mask and and went in he will he may be better quote unquote but he's still probably be contagious. all without a doubt and i feel very sad i feel sad because president trump may wish to do whatever he wishes to do but he is a leader of one of the most powerful nations on planet earth and as a result some responsibilities come with that and of course as your reports were saying there are people who work in the white house the president is infected and

most probably infectious and therefore even he even if he was pretty good and pretty are not infectious tested and proven it would be good to wear that mask to show he doesn't want to generate the next case that's very important what about his ongoing medical treatment we've heard a lot from doctors about what he's been taking he received the 3rd of 5 planned doses of them disappear can you tell our viewers exactly what that is about what that's for so ramadan is a very is a antiviral drug and the evidence for the use of ram does appear is not clear it's not clear at all the only marginal benefit of using ram does appear has been that you can be discharged home 2 days earlier so it doesn't look like it is the wonder drug that it's made out to be and furthermore we also understand that he

was given x. a medicine which is a steroid now the evidence for the use of dexamethasone is for when you need continuous oxygen support for your lungs because you got a viral pneumonia at that point at that stage excess matterson has been shown to be of some benefit but to put it finely neither decks of medicine nor around as a very are magic bullets. on the take some of his own and this is been the controversial point and you've made the point there that he if he's been given it and it sounds serious that's what you give when a patient is particularly unwell i mean without being a doctor in the room and knowing exactly what's going on what is your take on that is it possibly just a case of well he's the president we give him the top shelf stuff so that we get rid of the soon as possible well that whenever presidents prime ministers and such people become ill we are often put under a lot of pressure to do everything and do

a lot more so i would say empirically speaking that he was probably overtreat good or would create good but with what we also know are safe drugs so i'm not at all concerned that maybe he had are or were intervention after all he's the president of the united states so for him to have had x. amount this on as well as around as severe as well as goodness knows what howard's i just say well part of the course for being a brat president makes sense doesn't it doctor thank you so much for your time we appreciate your expertise and experience that you're staying with us of late hour. just after leaving the hospital and this was it at i'd say it's about 40 minutes ago now that it's happened this was donald trump walking out of walter reed medical center in bethesda maryland. unaided walking fairly comfortably it looks like

just headed past the media there a few questions shouted at him before he got into his s.u.v. to head to the helicopter now just before he walked out he was back on twitter as he has been a lot today. and this is what we saw will be back on the campaign trail soon. we might see it in a 2nd anyway so it will be back on the campaign trail soon there is the fake news only shows the fake polls so the type of talk which we've come to expect from the president to say everything's ok i'll be back on the campaign trail before you know it. then he headed to the helicopter his motorcade headed it was only a couple of minutes drive really and headed back on to the helicopter as he went back to the white house so he's talking about getting back on the campaign trail vice president might pence he's out doing the same sort of thing he's spoken to donald trump ahead of his release from hospital and this is what pence told journalists about that. president told me. he was headed back to the white house

he told me that it is your job we're looking very much forward vice presidential debate. takes in this election never been higher. joy never been here and i look forward to the opera. in the 4 years president donald trump is the one. vice president my parents who will square off against comma harris later on this week in the one and only vice presidential debate will talk about that a little bit later 29 days left no 28 now i think it's down to before election day the latest polls not looking very encouraging for donald trump this is an n.b.c. wall street journal poll which puts the president 14 points behind joe biden the biggest gap so far between him and his opponents so let's talk about his opponent us democratic nominee joe biden who's campaigning

in miami florida and that's where we find out he gallagher to talk about this what is joe biden up to at the moment. well joe biden spent the day is basically reaching out to latino and hispanic voters of course he's been asked about the situation with president trump but what we're seeing from the biden campaign kemal is that they are really taking the scientific high ground here there are so many things that the former vice president could say you could say look you mock me for wearing a mask at the 1st presidential debate now look what's happened he isn't doing that he's saying we need to mandate masks we need to depend on science we need to listen to doctors and we need to move forward and tackle this in a logical scientific way i think that's a very deliberate thing from the biden campaign i think that will be the message going forward and in many ways that's what he did in the 1st presidential debate he didn't engage with the president he didn't get caught up in all that interruptions he addressed the camera and the american people now it's what we're seeing from him

here in miami now as to that next debate which is supposed to happen on the 15th of october here in miami joe biden says look if the doctors say the president is fine if everything checks out i will agree to do that and go ahead but his central message here is the lesson learned is that there should be a mandated mask wearing across the entire nation that's what i will do is the president that is his essential message to the voters in this country where as you say will be voting in the presidential election in about 28 days so pushing ahead with this sort of as you say taking the scientific line which is the what should be the irrefutable line a different sort of campaigning because they were previously and it's a more mark of any election campaign negative ads which the biden campaign chose to remove while the president was in hospitals that are going to continue to think. i mean for now i think i'm not sure what the biden campaign intends to do but what

they're trying to do i think is show the american people that being very translucent about what's going on they're saying look we will release both joe and joe biden's test results on a daily basis we will be clear with you we won't apologize for wearing masks going forward you know he's kept a very safe distance from the press he believes in this stuff where as you saw president on from there returning to the white house and taking his mask off almost immediately there couldn't be a big chasm when it comes to this pandemic between these 2 candidates and there is right now joe biden is somebody that wants people to listen to the center for disease control he wants people to listen to scientists he wants people to be patriotic as he said by wearing a mask that is almost completely the opposite message of president donald trump but it's showing in the polls and remember this state is an extremely important state it is that. battleground state with 29 electoral college votes biden is down here for a very good reason and she needs to win this state if he is to return for another 4

years and he can make it keeping an eye on the biden campaign in miami florida thank you randy and now with us sprint through and on scott from alexandria virginia previously director of global engagement in the white house under president obama bret thank you for your time again i know you've stayed with us so once we've watched all these live pictures from bethesda and then from washington so thanks for your time so you were the director of global engagement in the white house what do you make of the way that the president has engaged today he's insensibly a sick man returning to his house but this has been a big campaign moment. not only a citizen and he's a highly contagious man and can i just say having watched those holes in the white house how alarming it is for me that the president not only went back to the white house but then on the portico rips off the mast goes back into the blue room which

is that room right by the portico and it would have had to have traversed a whole ways public space its staff in the white house have to go through multiple times a day to the white house for humorous just to give them a sense is a very cramped place one of the things that people especially foreign visitors that i brought through when i was a staffer there remarked is how much smaller it is than most presidential palaces and how many people normally work and the white house in that cramped area so you have several portions it's really a complex and the white house itself is mostly made out of public space so you have the state dining room you have the east from those are where you see the the bigger events inside it's where the public comes in and tourists now up above on the 2nd floor is the president's residence but it attached to either side of the white house you have the east wing which is where the 1st

lady has her office and then the west wing which is where the president has his office the situation room along with some of the other senior officials now then there are about 3 major buildings all around that complex the old executive office building where i work and all of those staff will go in and out of the white house itself several times a day. says a lot of people with a lot of people we've already heard have been infected. as well the latest of them was the press secretary kenny mcinerney i mean there must be huge concerns about how the white house operates i mean i know a lot of us are focused on the election but there's still is governing of the country to go along in the lead up to and after the election and let me just focus on that point for a 2nd night biggest concern is i heard you know we're we're going after reports of senior white house officials trimming down with coronavirus is whether or not the

government is functioning as it should i mean there are not necessarily a whole lot of redundancies built into those senior levels or you know a whole lot of question the trumpet ministrations out of power and knowledge concentrated with a few strong suits as you start to lose some of those major players it becomes much more difficult much slower to get things done and let's not forget there are you know other countries there are adversaries that are looking for opportunities to take advantage of the president the white house this distraction just one more question for you about the white house itself because i love the fact that i can talk to someone who has been there and knows the place and can tell all of us about it medical treatment in there we hear from the doctors that will to read that he can get sole treatment he needs at the white house probably up to a certain point can you tell us about how that works presumably there's adult in residence all the time is there a medical center in there. there is there is

a centrally you were considered a small clinic within the white house itself but i emphasize small and on top of that the president is going to have to walk through the white house to get there and this is again is just on a regular basis going to expose a whole lot of people secret service agents all of the personnel that work in the white house and on top of that you know let's bear in mind in wow sure there are certain medical capabilities they are they don't necessarily have you know the full line of medical equipment of doctors and and experts there so you know the reason why he would leave one of the world class medical centers to go back to the white house just doesn't make any sense it absolutely puts a whole lot of people in danger bret burns been fantastic inside from you a former staffer in the white house under president obama thank you so much we

appreciate it you guys. so these are the pictures we've been following a little under an hour ago u.s. president donald trump left the walter reed medical center in bethesda maryland he walked out he had his mask on saluted to the crowd with his traditional farms up or shaking fist had a few questions thrown at him by some reporters on his way past people asking him how many of your staff are sick do you consider yourself to be a super spreader not the kind of questions you would usually think would be thrown into words in us in fact let's have a listen just to this. do you think you might be a super spreader mr president as i say traditionally when a president leaves hospital will be more about how are you feeling here it is more about could you potentially be heading to infect other people so that was him getting into the s.u.v.

this is maybe 2 minutes later 3 minutes later is the convoy headed to the heavy pad at walter reed medical center and donald trump again under his own steam walking fairly comfortably it looked like we got on board marine one the helicopter and for those of you who don't know bethesda maryland it's not far away from the white house at all it is if you're driving about 30 minutes but when you're flying in a presidential helicopter it is a direct line 13 kilometers 10 minute flight to the white house they have got to flew directly over the hospital cheering crowds below donald trump waving to them as he flew over. and there they are on the ground there these are some of the pictures we saw earlier a correspondent was in amongst them all there she said pretty much all trump supporters no counter demonstrations there all people in support of donald trump and then 10 minutes later landing on the lawn of.