confirming it shortly before 1:00 this morning. fox news has been on air this entire time. jillian and i the past two and a half hours. fox and friends takes over here. they begin right now. have a good day, everybody. steve: exactly 6:00 in new york city and straight to a first alert. breaking overnight president trump and first lady mump have confirmed they have both tested positive for covid. ainsley: the president tweeting quote tonight the first lady and i tested positive for covid-19 we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. we will get through this together. brian: announcement coming just hours after top aid hope hicks tested positive there you see her on marine one talking to the president over the last couple of days. i went to bed and we were all possibly listening to the president of the united states talked to sean hannity about his debate about hope hicks testing positive. he said hey, i'm going to go get

a test, too. a little bit later around 1:10 eastern time, steve, that the president tested positive for the as though he has severe symptoms or any that we know of. steve: it has been noted that people at the white house over the last couple of days have noticed that the president in particular yesterday it a raspy voice. keep in mind that could be related to covid but then again it could also most probably be that he has been at all sorts of rallies and events over the last 72 hours it. could all be related. i understand that apparently white house aides were discussing through the night whether or not the president should make some sort of a on camera appearance so that he can reassure the country that he is okay because right now, ainsley, he reportedly does not have any symptoms. ainsley: right. the first lady did tweet that out saying we both feel good. his doctor, dr. shawn connolly said they are both well. he is going to carry out his duties without disruption.

mike pence tweeted that karen and the vice president are sad -- actually not sad, sending over their love and their prayers and i think most americans will agree it's not a time to be political. everyone needs to remember them in their prayers. quickly the "new york post" got this out. look at the headline president has covid. brian: exoob a time when you get it, this is what happens and this is what you do and this is how you beat it and live with it. let's get straight to griff jenkins who is live in washington. i listened to you on the air anchoring when i woke up today. what has really developed over the last few hours? griff: good morning brian, ainsley and steve unbelievable news breaking not only rocking washington but sending shock waives around the global with anmany of theworld's leaders ser well-wishes. you read the president's tweet just before 1:00 a.m. confirmed the news that none of us wanted to hear. and, ainsley, you mentioned the first lady's tweet. let me show it to you as you unpacked.

this as too many americans have done this year potus and i have quarantining at home after testing positive for covid-19. we are feeling good and i have postponed all upcoming engagements. please make sure you are staying safe and we will all get through this together. and, brian, you mentioned the white house decision. dr. shawn connolly putting out a statement that really gave us an insight where things stand with the president's health. he says the president and first lady are both well at this time and they plan to remain at home within the white house. he added rest assured, i expect the president to continue carrying out his duties show it

been in cleveland at a debate and rally in pennsylvania. and the news also coming just an hour or so ago, another person close to the president, secretary of state mike pompeo. now, he was traveling abroad flying from rome to croatia. he told reporters he and his wife have tested negative. a good sign there he said to the press gathered there -- we are not going to play it for you because it's very hard to hear the secretary of state actually wearing a mask making it harder to hear him on an airplane. he said we are praying for the president and first lady that they will have a speedy recovery. the secretary of state last with the president on september 15th at that white house for the abraham accords so, we shall see. if we get more from him. now, meanwhile, we have learned that the white house chief of staff mark meadows, someone who is in daily near hourly contact with the president has tested negative in his most recent test. and this is all very fluid. it's important to note, guys,

that a positive test within the president's bubble is very different from that of anywhere else in the country because of the rigorous testing and standards that they have although we certainly will have critics that will be speaking out. the president, by the way, was speaking with hannity as this news with hope hicks broke. here was the president's reaction. talking with hannity. >> she tested positive. she a hard-worker. i just went out with a test. because we spend a lot of time and the first lady just went out with a test, also. whether we quarantine or whether we have it, i don't know. >> now, of course, we must think about vice president mike pence he tweeted as well overnight saying karen and i send our love and prayers to our dear friends president trump and melania we join millions across america praying for their full and swift recovery. god bless you president trump and our wonderful first lady

melania. a rally down in florida tonight has been canceled. his schedule cleared for the foreseeable future as best we can tell. we have calls. in calls in to vice president pence's office to find out what his most recent test has shown, what his schedule will do. how this may change things. one thing is for sure, things will look differently not only in how the president will conduct business, perhaps virtually in meeting with his aides, but the implications for the campaign trail. we're just 32 days away. we now have a president who is quarantining at home. a lot of questions now but the good news, perhaps the take away if you are just waking up and learning this. the president and first lady testing positive but asymptomatic with the white house decision keeping a very close eye over them as they quarantine. brian, ainsley, steve? steve: that's right. griff, i know the news broke at 1:00 in the morning. and i was speaking to peter

doocy who i have his home number. and he told me that he has got calls in to the vice president -- vice president biden. it is unclear whether or not joe biden even knows this has happened yet because famously out on the trail he has said a number of times i get up at 8:00. have you got to wonder whether or not his aides woke him up early to tell him the news. griff: you have a goot good point, steve. it's interesting now after 6:00 a.m. on the east coast and the former vice president has not responded. no statement, no twitter. now, it is interesting, also, i think, to presume on some level. i don't want to get in front of it. but from what we have seen with vice president joe biden at the dnc in wilmington and everywhere else on the campaign trail, he has made the president's handling of the coronavirus his main criticism of the president why he should replace him. so i suspect we should hear something soon but nothing as of

yet. will will will. ainsley: thank you so much, griff. let's bring in dr. marc siegel fox news medical contributor. good morning, dr. siegel. >> good morning. ainsley: what do we know someone of his age 73, 74 years old. he doesn't have any como bid at this, no diabetes. 74 being confirmed. co-morbidities no, diabetes no, heart disease. he doesn't smoke. >> and he doesn't have lung disease and he doesn't have underlying kidney disease which is key. doesn't have high blood pressure. all of those bode well. the fact that he is over 70 means that everyone has to be very, very cautious about this and, of course, that he is overweight. i have to tell you look at the other end of the periscope, i have taken care of patients elderly covid antibodies where did that come from they haven't had symptoms. a vast majority of people still have no symptoms or have very, very small minor symptoms. i'm hoping that will be true with the president and first

lady as well it. may very well end up being the case. and the fact that hope hicks had symptoms though makes me concerned that this is actually real. that these are real cases. and another point i want to make that griff jenkins just pointed out. you know, it's not just one test. the chief of staff is testing negative. but, of course, he's going to be retested. and we have to continue to be village length on anyone that's around the president. brian: the way i understand, dr. siegel and there has been so many nuances and definitions of this virus. you could have it but you could test negative for it because it takes about three days once you get it to test positive for it. and after -- once you enter that i'm wondering about the test itself. when you go to the white house to interview the president as did you, you get that rapid test. you know in 15 minutes whether you are positive or not or you go forward or go home. the president gets that every day. i'm wondering he said to shawn i got a test, i'm waiting.

that can't be the 15-minute test. it's got to be -- do you think he possibly had the 15-minute test they said it's 80% positive, 80% accurate and then went for an additional test? >> i think that that's probably true. he probably had the what we call the pcr test, the nasal swab. given, again that hope hix had symptoms that this result is real and also that the first lady tested positive. again, the fact that he is asymptomatic is a really good sign. we have to watch that very, very closely over the next several days. there is no question in my mind by the way, brian, he can perform his duties 100 percent. no symptoms. that's not even an issue on the table here. steve: okay. what we do know about hope hicks and she tested positively and the news was broken by bloomberg first before the president and first lady typically and there is a picture, you know, stock

picture from a while back. typically, dr. siegel, the symptoms appear after about five days. can be as early as two. can be as late as 14 as well. what people are going to start to do is they are going to try to do reverse contact tracing on her from what is known of her personal schedule et cetera. as ainsley said, she was traveling with the president a couple of days ago, and went to some rallies and things like that. so, is that how you figure out where it came from or does it even matter? >> steve, what you just said means that the cdc is probably going to hire you because you got that exactly right. and, listen, when this news first broke at 1:00 a.m., everyone was saying whoa, hope hix was on air force one with the president and first lady on wednesday and, you know, on air force one, i want to point out all plane planes have hepa filts which are excellent at filtering out viruses 95% of the time. you are still on close quarters

on a plane and still don't have ideal venting labor relation. must be air force one. it probably wasn't because it was too quick. too close to when he tested positive. steve: we should also point out that apparently when she was traveling back with the president on air force one, she was feel ling poorly. ainsley: isolated her. quarantined her on the plane. >> that's good. ainsley: will -- he will obviously stay in quarantine, is he doing that how long does he have to stay in quarantine? i have heard 10 days and 14 days. first debate he said he test you had positive last night october 1st. first debate october -- i mean second debate down in miami. >> the reason for confusion is because originally the cdc said 14 days. over time they started to test that and change it. and the number became 10 days. 10 days total. >> but what we like to see is two negative tests. if the president continues to feel well, somewhere around day

six or seven, he will get a test and then get another test. and then he will be able to go back. i think 10 days is the magic number here. in the cases of people returning to work by the way, sometimes we will cut it as short as seven days from diagnosis but, of course, we are going to be ultra careful here with the president. so i think it will be 10 days. brian: you can't forget about the first lady testing positive, dr. siegel, too. she is in such fine shape and younger. you focus more on president especially because of the position. let me ask you something. is he your patient. he tests positive. so far according to reports, he doesn't have any symptoms. do you treat him with remdesivir, do you give him this steroid cocktail that people are talking about? do you give him just recommend zinc or vitamin d? how do you treat him if he comes into your office and tests positive? >> really excellent question, brian. first of all, i like the points you made about zinc and vitamin d. i do think those are both good

ideas. i think they are pretty much harmless. i would consider that. remdesivir is working but that's something we would give to somebody that's asymptomatic even the president and the steroid using later in the game when people are hospitalized. that's not going to be given to him. the thing that's really interesting here mono chrome mow antibodies against the virus, against the protein in the virus. brian: whose antibodies though, your own? >> that's plasma like yours or mine that somebody that recovered. i'm talking about synthetic, made in the lab, synthetic antibodies. two studies out over the past week that showed they work very well, even in mildly tom i mildc or asymptomatic patients. still thought there yet. i'm looking down the road. i don't think he will get that either if he remains asymptomatic. steve: brian was talking about some of the therapeutics out there. famously the president revealed

that in the spring, after one of the valets at the white house who had been serving him food, et cetera, tested positively and had not been wearing a mask. the president apparently went on a course of hydroxychloroquine. he said he had stopped taking that he had been taking it prophylactically in anticipation he might be at risk. looking at what he did at that point, does that impact anything? >> well, listen, steve, i think early in the pandemic we all thought that that was a really good treatment. my father took that and recovered. my mother ended up with antibodies. they both ended up testing positive. as time has gone on, research has not really backed that up. still being used in many places around the world with zinc. i would have to tell you honestly i don't think it's ever been ruled out. we are in the middle of a pandemic here. things are going at lightning

speed. studies have not proven that. but i don't really believe that they have disproven it either. the reason the president was using it early on is because a lot of people were thinking this is something that really might work. it hasn't been ruled out. ainsley: thank you so much, dr. siegel. we're going to check back in with you throughout the show. let's bring in tennessee congressman mark green who is also an emergency room physician. good morning to you. >> thanks for having me on, guys. ainsley: you are welcome. what else the political impact here. he douse have rallies and fundraisers planned. not going to be doing that for the next 10 days unless he does it virtually. >> yeah. i think the biggest impact is going to be on the campaign side. very clearly the president can function from the white house quarantined and take care of all of his duties as commander-in-chief. no one should worry about that. but he will have to, you know, quarantine, which will probably be very difficult for our president. he is a go getter and action guy.

so, but he has got to quarantine. can't do those rallies. brian: you are a doctor. what questions do you have if you picked up the phone and called the white house now as the president is 74 years old. his condition is public. we all know that what questions do you have knowing what you know about the virus. what's good to hear from them so far is he a asymptomatic. the changes are that the vast majority of people are asymptomatic. even those folks that are in the higher age categories. things like that. all praying for him. we'ved to know that he is doing well. steve: absolutely. as we look at images o of the president the president and joe biden were on the same stage a couple of days ago. the question becomes what's up with joe biden? i know his campaign has said that he and kamala harris have been tested regularly. not clear when his last test was. but, since joe biden was on the

same stage with the president who has now tested positively, and you know there were a lot of raised voice and the cdc says shouting can spread covid, how concerned should the biden camp be? >> i think they should, you know, it's no greater risk than being around the general population. because this is an aerosolized virus. so, you know, they were on the stage. they appeared to be extremely social distanced. kind of hard to tell when you are watching on television, but, there is a chance. to answer your question, steve, brian, there is a chance. ainsley: what role will contact tracing play? >> they are going to use contact tracing to figure out exactly his required quarantine time. that's the purpose of it again as i said earlier, this president is going to want to get out there on the campaign trail and get going on these

rallies as quickly as he can, 30-something days until the election. that's the purpose of the contact tracing for him. now, for others, it will be to say okay, you were exposed and they have to kind of get themselves tested at that point. ainsley: how does that work? do they contact anyone that was around him the last few weeks? >> yeah. i'm confident that that is what they will do. of course, they will find out if those individuals have been in the intermediate time been tested but, yeah, that's exactly what they will do. brian: all right. quick thing. the "wall street journal" reports on the board to flight to cleveland with the president, bill steppian, congressman jim jordan, ivanka all there. if you are them today, do you go quickly and get a test? >> you know, that's -- there is debate on that in the medical community. if it were me, personally, i would probably go get a test. if it was my patient i woulded say go get a test and maybe get a second one 24 hours later. that's probably the safest thing to do.

there is some debate on whether or not you should be tested if you are asymptomatic. steve: congressman, dr. green, let me ask you this, have you been talking about how the president, you know, he wants to get back as soon as possible. he has been compared to the energizer bunny before. so, the news broke late last night that he had covid actually early this morning that he had covid. you know he stays up late at night. he gets up first thing in the morning. he is probably up right now. he wants to do things. but, as somebody with potentially exposure to covid and has contracted covid, what should he be doing in addition to what dr. siegel said taking zinc, taking vitamin d, things like that. should he be getting a lot of rest or turn off the tv. bad idea, maybe. i'm kidding about that. what should he be doing at home? >> obviously, it's just like any other viral illness. you want to stay hydrated. of course, the zinc and the vitamin d have shown folks who have a worse outcome are

oftentimes vitamin d deficient. people should be on that and get tested for that from primary care doctor. rest is important but no more so than he normally requires which is for him apparently a lot less than most of us. steve: just a couple hours. ainsley: congressman, what do you say to those people who are already criticizing him? >> for becoming positive with covid? i think that's just another opportunist. i have only been here for 18 months, a little over 18 months. i'm a freshman congressman. and they have done nothing but bully this president from the beginning. it's really quite despicable. here is. so things they are now saying about amy coney barrett. i mean, they are just bullies. and it's unfortunate. brian: congressman, the other thing is let's just look on the reality of politics. you have got 30-plus days until you have an election. a lot of republicans on the ballot concerned about their own future from senator lindsey

graham got $10 million from the rnc in the fight of his life. joni ernst, thom tillis what's happening with martha mcsally in arizona they're on the bubble right now. what does this do for their chances as amy coney barrett is also somewhat of a risk, they say, for those in tough battleground states. what happens now that the president has to pull back and then other people are going to say how has the president done with the virus and they are going to look that he has it now positive. what does it do for their political fortunes? >> honestly, i think it depends on the district they are. in again, i have been at this a little less than most, what i have learned is that each district is very specific and the president has an impact one way or the other on each district. i really couldn't answer that question. i think some people it will probably, you know, maybe have a negative effect. steve: all right. he is an er physician and member

of congress for 18 months as we have just heard congressman mark green from the great state of tennessee. sir, thank you very much. thank you, sir. brian: heck of a freshman year. steve: no kidding. stock futures have taken a plunge. here with reaction is the host of varney and company on fox business stuart varney. stuart, you know, for the longest time, for months we have wonder you had what the reaction would be if the president contracted covid. well now we are starting to see it. >> yep. look, what you have got right now is a sharp sell-off in stocks. but that's what you should expect when you throw more uncertainty into an already chaotic election and election process. i think the future of your money, the money of our viewers,ing that future of your money depends on several factors. number one, the severity of the president's i willness. he is a heavy guy. he is 74 years old. those are two risk factors.

secondly, his ability to campaign. in the immediate future he has already canceled a three-point florida. his future rallies are in doubt and so, too, is the debate. number three, what's the impact on voters? the betting mark that some have already suggested right after this news broke that there is a greater changes of a biden win. so it's a plus for the democrats, according to the betting markets at this stage. and number 4, my question really is will the change, will this change, public opinion, make us morcautious and more reluctant o open up the economy? if that happens you have a greater economic impact from the virus, a slower economic recovery. not good at all. so your money depends on various factors which at this moment, steve, ainsley and brian, are unknown. ainsley: what are you expecting today when the jobs report, when those numbers come out for the month of september? >> you will see a roughly 8% unemployment rate.

8.2, 8.3. that shows that the recovery is ongoing. but, really, this news of the president testing positive for the virus, that sweeps away the economic story under lied by the jobless report. i will make one other point though. talks about a stimulus program are still ongoing. they are not over. they are still ongoing. and there is a possibility that because the president has tested positive, congress will be more willing to spend some more money like $2 trillion to get us through and get us more coverage and more aide for covid-19. that's just a speculation at this point. and we don't know that. brian: right. stuart. 2.2 trillion passed the house yesterday unless the white house does a deal and continues to roll up their sleeves. it's not going to go anywhere in the senate so it will be fascinating. here is another thing this is off the speculation of the president. this is also called monday. wasn't monday a terrible day in the market where they dropped 500 points, too? do you think if the president

shows he is asymptomatic. if he says here's my plan for the next 10 days, being that nothing happened to the economy, nothing economically took place and a stimulus package could be going, could we see a rebound within this day? >> i'm not suggesting that you are going to end the day higher on wall street but i agree with you, brian, it is possible that some of those factors will mitigate the loss. in other words, it won't be a total rout if we look like we are going to get some more aid, if it looks like the president is not in really really serious condition, that could mitigate the decline. brian: stuart, let me take it to another level. a lot of people say if i get it i die. 7 million people have it, it's terrible. what if the most famous person in the world gets it and in 10 days is back out. doesn't that also send a message that you could say whatever you want in stats and graphs but i give you an example of somebody who is in that danger age of 74

who is out there, gets it and beats, it could that also send a message? >> it could. it could. that is a distinct possibility, brian. i think the immediate reaction on many people's part will be my goodness if the president of the united states can get it, maybe i can, too. i'm going to be more cautious i'm going to wear a mask more often and not so keen of opening up the economy and going out to restaurants and bars again. that is the immediate reaction. i agree with you, brian, over the longer term, if the president recovers quickly that will mitigate the downside loss on wall street. and our concern about the virus. steve: that is such a good point, stuart, is he, perhaps, one of the most protected people in the world who at the same time is trying to have some sort of a public profile as well where he has had the rallies and trying to get everything back on track and get us back to normal, whatever, that is going to be going forward. i notice that the oil has

dropped a couple of points, percentage points as well. and we are starting to get reaction from other world leaders, including boris johnson who had covid a while back to the point where the president offered american pharmaceutical companies would send him some treatments. >> look, you raids the case of boris johnson yes, he did test positive for the virus. he has taken to the hospital. and he went into the icu. and briefly he had to transfer his power to his deputy. now that's an extreme situation. heaven forbid that we see the same thing happening in the united states. there is always the risk of that and that's being factored into the financial markets and in the voters' minds this morning. ainsley: it's interesting that you brought that up because that's our next subject. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. ainsley: let's bring in carley shimkus she joins us live as president trump does join the

growing list of world leaders who have tested positive for covid-19. how many are there. >> at least seven major world leaders have tested positive for the virus sings the start pandemic. prime minister boris johnson was the first one to receive he spent three nights in intensive care where he said things could have gone either way. at the time president trump sent well-wishes saying all americans are praying for johnson. and today the prime minister reciprocated tweeting my best wishes to president trump and the first lady. hope they both have a speedy recovery from coronavirus. brazilian prime minister another notable leader who was previously infected, he reportedly tested positive three times between july 7th and july 21st. now while in quarantine at his presidential palace he posted pictures of himself feeding birds and eating alone. the president of honduras juan herntionlearned fernandez annoue and his wife.

he was briefly hospitalized before being released in july. last month the president of guatemala announced he too tested positive during a televised address he described his symptoms as mild like a bad cold. the elected leader of the dominican republic tested positive for covid-19 in june. notable because he was forced into isolation just weeks before the country's election in july, a similar situation here, guys. brian: all right, thanks some for that recap. you forget how many leaders have been affected in different ways. let's bring in pulmonologist nyu langone and been on before. dr. ahmed, we are seeing again the president doesn't have any symptoms. little bit fatigued and mild symptoms. does that show you this virus is changing at all? >> brian, we have known all along this virus has manifestations where people are asymptomatic. with the president of the united states first of all we wish him really a full recovery, godspeed, the whole country is

for our president to be fully recovered. you can guarantee the discussion in the white house will be the remdesivir which marc siegel sealing mentioned. brian: even with wild symptoms? >> this is the president. the goal is to bring him to pcr negative as soon as possible. not just for the confidence of the country but the less viral burden on the patient the better they are going to do. remdesivir shortens that but also controversially convalesce sent plasma is probably be considered in our put. it has been shown to reduce and bring people to pcr negative within 72 hours. now, we also must be mindful and of course prime minister johnson's case i was watching that in london. i'm also british. when a president contracts an infection it has different outcome than the average patient. our president is constitutionally incredibly strong. he operates more like a

45-year-old than a 74-year-old in terms of his stamina. he has no underlying co-morbidities. he will naturally resolve this quickly. that would be enormous focus on his advisors in terms of his position today. he may even have received some of those agents last night. i also think, god forbid, when prime minister johnson went to the intensive care unit at st. mary's hospital in london, he -- we treat world leaders slightly different than the every man because the stakes are so high. so we must not panic if the president is going to be moved to an area of higher monitoring whether it be inpatient setting or intensive care setting does not necessarily mean is he critically ill. but we do know he will get the very best medicine. he is being aggressively tested every day. his infection will be detected much faster than any of my patients. he have access to the widest

medication. the problem is will people are very able to transmit infection while asymptomatic. the president has to be around the advisors, around his cabinet. so it would be very important to bring him down to having no viral as quickly as possible. that will benefit his outcome, too. i'm very confident. i have had many patients in their 70s result the infections at home. didn't know it until they found antibodies. i don't think we should be overly focused about the president's age. steve: i was going to ask you if you have had any patients who had similar profiles same weight, same age, so co-morbidities and, you know, every patient is different but just curious about the outcome. >> >> steve, the answer is yeah. now, as you remember, i was in the intensive care unit at the beginning of the pandemic

treating gravely ill people. did i thought treat people like the president. but since then i'm seeing patients come into my office for other reasons, exactly the same age. exactly the same body weight, less stamina, less of a constitutional strength than the president has. any of us that have been in contact with the president and his events in the past know he has amazing drive. amazing energy. and they have resolved the infection without this kind of close supervision. and i think for the president's physicians, their main concern is going to be do we throw many things that we have at him because they may contain some risk, for instance, convalescent plasma can have an allergic reaction to that like getting a blood transfusion. the stakes are so high and it will be phenomenal. he will be quarantined for 10 days not 14 days. he will be pcr tested every day. and if they can shorten that, that's a tremendous boost to the country, to the markets as stu varney said but also to the

president because he needs to be on the move. i would not be shocked if he also gets on camera, speaks with us on video. that could all be done with people around him in personal protective equipment and he can connect with the country dry remotely just as we are doing now with each other. ainsley: so if he is asymptomatic when he tests positive, what are the chances he will remain asymptomatic? >> i don't know the exact numbers. but they are fairly high. many patients have infection and are completely unaware of it. if he had not been the president of the united states, if he had been a private person, he may have been unaware of his infection, gone about his business and discovered antibodies several months later. we see that so commonly. i think also, critically, the patient doors not have the major co-morbidities that we are very worried about. he does not have organ failure. he does not have diabetes, he is not on immunosuppress isn't as.

he has even had the benefit of plaque quinel early on which may have conferred him some protection. i wouldn't exclude that either. plaque crennel in some studies has shown the virus to enter into red blood cells. it has been unfairly vilified. the virus the president has now is not the same the virus my patients had here in new york city in march and april. it is a different beast. we are seeing that all around the country. even those americans that become hospitalized at every age group are not showing the severity of illness that we saw the other thing that would be happening to the president may have happened last night already is ct scans of the chest to look to see if there are any feathery shadows to the show that the virus is having activities in the lungs which can show up very early. that may also buy decision-making. i'm extremely confident the president will resolve this and in a few days we will be talking

about his pcr test coming back negative. and we will see the convalesce sent plasma being a center of that discussion. brian: lastly, dr. qhanta, if you look at the numbers cases are up 8% around the country. 16% around the country, deaths are down significantly too around the country. does that show we are getting better at treating had or does that show that this is changing? >> i think it's both. i think we have so much more than we did in march. i think the character of the virus has changed. remember, you and i went through this in new york city. nowhere else in the world had the manifestation of coronavirus that we had in new york with the highest number of deaths, a million population in the world truly. numbers from china cannot be relied upon so perhaps it was worse but we don't seem to think so. so, number one, we are getting better at treating it. number two, it is changing in virulence. it is not as god awful as it was here in march and april.

the president's story or president's course is going to be different than that of prime minister boris johnson who got it early on in the pandemic. number two the united states has expanded its public health security. hospitals are standing by waiting with intensive care unit beds as our facility at nyu is we are absolutely prepared should there be a surge. we are not yet seeing it. there will be more cases in the community. people will resolve them. they there will be outbreaks. people will resolve them. we are not going to seat same. very important. decision makers, policy makers, congress men, world leaders we keep calm. we must be absolutely optimistic. the president is robust and the virus has a formidable foe in the president's constitution. but i am hoping if i was in the room with his physicians i would be arguing for the use of both those drugs as of last night in order to give him the best possible chance of eliminating the virus from the body and becoming pcr negative. that is not how i would treat

anyone that would come into my office because they are int note leader of the free world. that's what makes the cases. brian: cases up nationally 8% deaths are down 16%. backs up your point. thanks so much, doctor. >> thank you, my pleasure. steve: she is actually going to see patients in 21 minutes. the death rate while you cited right there still over 200 to you thousand people in the united states have died. meanwhile, how will things change at the white house? rich edson joins us with that right now from near the white house. he is socially distanced from it. >> very much so steve, ainsley and brian. the way things will change is the president and first lady quarantining. this all unfolded gradually last evening and really quickly overnight as we learned from the president and first lady that they had tested positive for the coronavirus. the president tweeting last evening, quote: tonight the first lady and i tested positive for cota. we will begin our quarantining and recovery process immediately. we will get through this

together. the first lady adding as too many americans have done this year the president and i are quarantining at home after testing positive for covid-19. we are feeling good and i have postponed all upcoming engagements. please be sure you are staying safe, and we will all get through this together. now we learned late last night that the president's close aid hope hicks tested positive. then the president and first lady started quarantining and then overnight those tweets came when we learned of the president and first lady's condition. hicks has been traveling with the president. a source familiar says she began showing symptoms wednesday night around the time the president's campaign rally in duluth, minnesota. she quarantined on air force one on the way back according to a source familiar and then she tested positive yesterday morning. we still don't know whether the symptoms or whether there are any symptoms for the president and first lady in all of this. we just know according to the first lady that they are feeling good. we also don't know about the rest of the white house staff, who has been in contact with the president and how much risk they

might be at. and what kind you have testing is ongoing right now. the president also is known for and has had scheduled a very aggressively campaign schedule. he was supposed to be in florida today campaigning. instead. that has been changed his public schedule says he is now going to be at the white house having a call about supporting seniors and covid. he was also scheduled to be in wisconsin yesterday. there were a couple of rallies that were scheduled there one of which had been changed the location of, local officials had been complaining because of the spike ongoing in coronavirus cases there that they needed to shuffle some things around. so this very much has an impact already on the campaign schedule. the president as we are less than five weeks out from the elections. back to you guys. ainsley: all right. thanks so much, jeff. -- appreciate it or rich i appreciate it. my next guest is jeff joining us now is jeff landry he tested positive for covid-19 a few months ago. good morning to you. >> good morning.

ainsley: you heard dr. ahmed say she would treat the president differently because set leader of the free world. you are in a very important position in louisiana. how were you treat you had? >> well, again, i got the virus from my wife from basically caring for my wife when she had got it. she was i wil ill four days. i saw a dr. immediately and he prescribed a number of medications including hydroxychloroquine for me and anti-bottom particular and vitamin zinc, d 3 and vitamin c. i got through it without any symptoms. she was treated as well with other drugs. and after about four days she recovered. you know, i was with the president about a week and a half ago in the white house where we had a round table. and we talked about that. i can tell you my prayers goes to both the president and to the first lady. and i believe that the president will come through this great. i think he is in great shape.

he has a lot of energy. and he has got great doctors. brian: jeff, what goes through your mind when you first hear you are positive? >> you know, it's a bit concerning. you know, again, you know, i have read a lot about stayed up, 25u7bgd to medical providers. i can tell you, this our front line medical providers are not being thanked enough for where we were in march to where we are today. every day i talk to doctors who are finding better and easier ways to treat people. ways to keep them both healthy and keep them from going into the hospitals. you know, and we see that in the statistics. and so, you know, again, after i -- i tested positive for it. i just listened to my doctors, did my quarantining, and stayed safe. steve: yeah. mr. landry, what do you make of some of the president's critics who are already essentially

sight the fact that he and the white house and the campaign have largely avoided social distancing and worn masks? >> i think the president has a job to do. when you look at everybody understands what the concerns are and what the dangers are. but, again, we are not in the same place we were in march. this is not a novel virus anymore. our front line medical providers are finding bigger and better and more efficient ways to treat this virus. we have got a number of drugs and a number of tools in doctors' arsenals in order to treat the virus. again, look, they love to criticize this president hate to give him any credit for the job he has done. can i tell new louisiana he has done a remarkable job. he was down here during the hurricane right after the hurricane visiting affected area. he made sure that his cabinet members go around the country and solve problems that the american people have. ainsley: what exactly did you go through when you had it?

i have heard different stories. what was your experience? >> >> the interesting part is i really had no symptoms. i actually continued to exercise in my home throughout the 14 day or 10 day quarantine. my wife, you know, she had flu like symptoms for about three or four days. she had fever, coughing. very similar to treating somebody with the flu. brian: trureble jeff landry, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. brian: let's bring in dr. ronny jackson rear admiral physician for frump and former president bush. you are a political figure. you know how necessary it is toe go out and about and get the word out about your candidacy at the same time take risks into account whether a are your

thoughts about the president and can be. so far the symptoms are not profound. >> what i know to be true is he asymptomatic right now. think that's great. i think he will continue to be asymptomatic. we have to remember that he is in great physical health otherwise. he doesn't have the co-morbidities that several of your guests have mentioned that that's true, that's going to be big for him. i think he's going to continue to move forward. and, you know, most of the people his age, even in his category, the vast majority of them, you know, they recover from this very quickly. most of them don't even know they have it. and i suspect if the president weren't getting routinely tested and hope hicks hadn't tested positive and prompted him to be tested he may have moved on and not known. he gets tested every day. and under other circumstances. steve: you know, at this point we don't know where the president got it. we don't know if it's related to hope hicks. but, you have been around the white house during the pandemic.

do you feel that the white house protocols have been, you know, stringent enough to protect the president at the same time do you feel the protocols campaign trail distanced from people but invariably people get up closer to. they have those protocols been safe enough to protect the president and the people around him? >> well, absolutely. i believe they do everything they can to keep him safe. certainly at the white house. i continue to go up there pretty frequently. the testing that the white house is aggressive. and that's part of the reason that this gets picked up so quickly. i suspect that this got picked up very quickly in the course of this illness for the president because of the aggressively testing there but, you know, the president he has led by example and part of leading by example you have had to get out and he has had to interact with folks. he has continued being president. he hasn't been boxed up or cooped up in the white house and campaigning from went white house. that's been necessary.

so i think they are doing everything they can to keep the president safe and i think they have been doing a good john doing that. ainsley: there are democratic leaders that are saying the vice president should not debate donald trump again. the next debate is on october 15th. he said he tested positive yesterday which was october 1st. so if he continues, not to see any signs to be asymptomatic, will he be good to go on octobe? >> absolutely. that's plenty of time. and i mean he is going to be ready to go before that quite honestly. people talking about the 10 day quarantine for the most part people get exposed to it don't get any symptoms and we don't know that they're positive. we know the president is positive. they will keep him in relative quarantine at the white house. they will continue to test him every day. buff once he has two negative tests that are 24 hours apart. he should be good to go back at that point and go back to normal. ainsley: after the 10 days? >> even before the 10 days. ainsley: really? >> even before the 10 days we know he is positive. once he tests negative twice,

you know, he should be safe to go back to you know, to his normal routine. and that will be well before the next debate. brian: by the way, dr. jackson, wouldn't you also say antibodies to make him safer final sprint to the end last 15 days, when you get it so it leaves you with the antibodies, correct? >> sure. almost any infection you get will produce some type of, you knows transient if not permanent we don't know how this will play out with the coronavirus. some type of immunity. certainly well passed the debate. brian: dr. jackson, if i can add one thing dr. ahmed on short time ago nyu langone treating patients. being he was the president. i would probably hit him with remdesivir and maybe plasma because of the nature of his position. would you back that up? >> i'm not going to arguer with had. she is a very intelligent lady nyu pulmonologist. i won't argue with the fact that that could be a reasonable

course. i will tell you i don't think that will happen with him. i don't think they will pull the trigger on that as long as he is asymptomatic. that would be something that the threshold would be low for once he became asymptomatic though. i don't think that's going to happen right away. ainsley: could i ask one more thing? why? would there be risks if he took that? >> right there. is risk to everything. so, you know, as a white house position, we always try to make sure we are not treating the physician differently than we would sometimes can you overdo it and injure the patients in the course. especially with remdesivir iv medication you will have to give that to him every day. the threshold would be low if he got symptoms. they would i don't think they would do that if is he asymptomatic. steve: for people just waking up the news last night late yesterday discovered hope hicks his communications director tested positive and first lady and first lady were treated and now they are positive. talking to former white house physician ronny jackson.

rony, it was back in the spring, famously, the president started taking hydroxychloroquine after a valet who was there in the in the personal residence had been around them and not wearing a mask. hindsight is always 2020. should he have been continued a course of hydroxychloroquine right up until today? >> no, not at all. i mean, he was taking pro-atlanticly. prophylactic dose is only 202210 days. he took a prophylactic court right thing to do at the time. i do think we were talking about the remdesivir. i do think it's possible that they go ahead and reinstitute the hydroxychloroquine and maybe the zinc and azithromycin and steroids. those are the medications that have very few side effects and it's possible that they would do those at this early point. and you know we already know because he has had the hydroxychloroquine before that he is probably t not going to he any type of negative reaction to that we have already test you had that. that's something they can feel

comfortable with. ainsley: don't they say the sooner you start taking that the better the results. >> that's what. so studies to date have shown. ainsley: dr. jackson, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. ainsley: todd piro joins us live how this could shake up the campaign trail 32 days until the election. >> unbelievable. good morning. one month out from the 2020 election president trump now in quarantine. so, as a result, the president clearing a packed campaign schedule overnight. he was originally supposed to fund raise in washington, d.c. today before boarding a plane to florida for a campaign rally. while he is no longer meeting in person there is a chance he could address his supporters virtually or is have someone take his place on stage. we have reached out to the white house to find out more. meantime, going forward, it's unclear how long the president and first lady will be on quarantine: white house doctor shawn conley.

conley stating rest assured the expect the president to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering. there are also questions about how this will affect former vice president joe biden who shared the debate stage with trump just days ago. biden expected to rally voters in grand rapids, michigan today. no word if he plans to quarantine voluntarily instead. we have reached out to biden's campaign have not yet received a response. back to you. steve: all right. todd, thank you very much. by the way we have just received word that the secretary of state mike pompeo has revealed in the last couple of minutes that he has tested negatively for covid virus. all right. meanwhile, regarding joe biden, we do not know at almost 7:00 eastern time whether or not joe biden has been told that the president tested positive for covid. the president and first lady sent out tweets in the 1:00 a.m.

hour. joe biden has famously said out out on the campaign trail he doesn't get up until 8:00 in the morning. it's interesting, the fox news channel has asked repeatedly the biden campaign for any sort of comment regarding this and fox has not heard back from them. you would imagine that as soon as as the former vice president does know, has heard, his statement will be forthcoming. ainsley: i would think that they probably woke him up early to let him know this news and probably come up with a plan and i would imagine he would tweet something out wishing him the best like mike pence did he said we send over our love and prayers. my question was how is he feeling? the first lady tweeted out we feel good. his doctors said both of them are well. we heard continuously from dr. jackson and others this morning they are both tom is a which is great news. brian: one thing to note. if you get in contact with the president, he keeps his distance. he is always very cognizance of

what's going on with the virus. he has lost friends that one minute they are fine. the next minute they passed away. he says four or five really good friends in new york to this virus around his age. he has been taking protocols, people like to say that when he gives speeches not wearing a masks when he walks up there but people are distant from him. ainsley: brian, what was your experience like you went to washington for an interview. brian: two times through. very cognizant. in fact he was kidding around don't get too close. and when we were doing the interview we kept our distance. and when we were walking we kept a distance. there is an awareness. also makes you feel some secret service have tested positive too and steve mentioned one of the valets who serves the food tested positive. when you go in there every day and get the results in 15 minutes it makes you feel a little different than all of us who walk in here and walk around, you know, with masks. we don't have daily testing. in fact, it's a bit of a challenge getting a daily test, rapid test in new york.

meanwhile, let's go to griff jenkins he is live in washington with the latest. griff, i imagine people are waking up and getting some reaction. griff: that's right. the washington press core is pretty much all awake now and a lot of emails flying back and forth and text messages. following up on your conversation, brian, ainsley and steve, that is vice president former vice president biden has yet to weigh in. consider the news was broken at 12:54 a.m. president tweeted confirmation that he and the first lady had tested positive and were quarantining. that's six hours now have elapsed and it does --ance ainsley alluded to make you wonder if we are going to get a stronger response from biden than just a tweet. perhaps a virtual address of some sort. we don't know it's unclear. what we do know is that the biden campaign is not responding to either fox news or anyone else. because none of us in the press core havcorpshave anything.

the president's response to the pandemic has been joe biden's signature criticism. it is his base for why he should replace president trump and stop him from a second term. we have had no response to that that's very interesting. meanwhile we will continue to bring you all throughout the morning is the test result and the stalls of those around the president, pompeo testing negative, mark meadows testing negative. unfortunately hope hicks testing positive. the people that come in daily constant contact with the president very important, as the day evolves, how the president is doing his daily duties as leader of the free world continue to change in this unprecedented time. at least for the time being know the fundraiser in d.c. canceled as todd piro pointed out. he won't be going to florida where there is going to be a rally. guys? steve: you know the former vice president joe biden, speaking of

him, he was on the debate stage obviously with the president and melania a couple days ago. and joe biden is due to go to a some sort of a campaign event today in grand rapids, michigan. so the question is whether or not he is going to go ahead and go because he is always talking about how he would lead by example. but he came in contact in a general way with covid a couple of days ago. the question is whether or not joe biden will actually quarantine. griff: we will find out we typically get a schedule from the put campaign. i have reached out already this morning to the commission on presidential debates to see if they have any information, any statement as to who with that organization may have come into contact with either or both or if they can give as you more detailed picture of the contact former vice president biden. we know they did not shake

hands. not even an elbow bump. what common areas did they share? who -- which individuals may have been in similar contact at that time. steve: right. >> it's just unclear at this point. steve: one things about that event the way it was described to me, griff, and you were at the venue as well as many reporters were. you guys all got multiple covid tests the cleveland clinic the gold standard. the way it was explained to me joe biden and his campaign were essentially in a sterile area. so they were not tested per se and neither was the white house team and the president's team going into the event because everybody was cordoned off from each other. griff: i couldn't speak directly to president trump's team or vice president's team although i will say us a you noted cleveland clinic home field

advantage they tested us every 72 hours everyone in the media. inside that hall whether ticketed guests security or otherwise were. >>videographer: russly tested. ainsley: griff, stay right there. we want to re-set because a lot of people are waking up at the top of the hour. 7:00 a.m. on the east coast. breaking overnight. president trump and first lady melania confirming they have tested positive for covid-19. tonight. brian: tonight the first lady and i tested positive for covid-19. we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. we will get through this together. steve: that came five hours after news broke that top aide communication director for the president hope hicks test you had positively. what we do understand and griff jenkins is still with us, apparently griff, and we are looking at images those are from a couple of weeks ago where hope hicks was on marine one. you can see to screen right you can see the president of the

united states sitting. you can't see his head but you can see his arms crossed over his chest. apparently white house aides through the night have been discussing whether the president should address the nation today or find another way to reassure people that he is okay right now. we believe he is asymptomatic. and, also, griff, apparently aides are in shock because at this point while we have heard from mark midwest doughs, the chief of staff, that he test you had negatively for it, it is unclear how wide this may have gone. griff: that's exactly right. for our viewers just tuning in this news just shocking not only washington but sending shock waves around the world. the president making the news that the tweets that you guys read came ought 12:54 a.m. it. came just hours after the news was learned that hope hicks had tested positive. now, to get some clarity on the medical status because implications are very wide not just from the president's health

but of course for the election november 3rd as well as the administration's response to the coronavirus. but we got direct message from the whit white house physician. sawn conley he says the president and first lady are well at this time. unclear what will happen but we know that he is doing well and he will continue to stay in contact with the american people who will wake up very concerned. now, how wide it goes we just don't know. we did learn though because secretary of state mike pompeo, another person who is in close contact with the president, who was traveling abroad flying from rome to croatia, he told reporters on the plane that he and his wife have tested negative. here aption little bit of what he had to say.

a little hard to hear but listen. >> we might not have that. steve: you are trite is really hard to hear. griff: these are fluid times with such a large story we are praying for the president and first lady that they will have a speedy recovery. this is significant. pompeo was last with the president on september 15th at the white house abrams accord the signing between netanyahu and the uae. what we are going to consider be looking at now is how many of the people who are in a daily contact with the president to help anymore conduct the duties of president how they are going to now test. the vice president mike pence also tweeting overnight well-wishes to the president and first lady. saying they send their love and prayers to them. we have not yet heard from vice president pence's office what his most recent testing is looks

like his most recent contact with the president was on monday at the rose garden. meanwhile, i should add, even though we were just talking about it for our viewers tuning in no response so far on twitter or in a statement from surrogates from former vice president joe biden who made the president's response to the coronavirus his signature criticism and attack no response from him yet. brian: right. because i think there is going to be a sense that you have got to be able to communicate this correctly. because if you come out and say i told you that by being -- you are not being safe and this is what you get or deserve or as opposed to our thoughts and prayers go out to the president and first lady and keep it high-minded. i think about our enemies as the congressman just wrote me northh korea iran china they might look at the situation unprecedent you had in the white house at least for decades might make america vulnerable. that's why we look for the president to make a strong statement on camera or through

a -- through some words, through a memo that, you know, we are in charge. everything is fine. business as usual. griff: well, that's a great point, brian. because as we already know, there is a high concern of meddling in our election both from russia and china in particular, this sort of disruption has huge implications for the next 32 days. that's all that's left between now and november 3rd. we did see russian president vladimir putin wishing the president well, hoping for a speedy recovery. i think we will probably hear from national security experts today that this heightens the concern as we learn more about what the national security council's response may be. it's not like they can rush in and sit down face to face at a table with the president. we don't know what the communication will look like, but we do know this, they will continue to be on high alert at

the white house. hopefully we will get a readout on that. because the national security implications are just as significant as is the campaign implication. ainsley: i wouldn't be surprised if the president did phone in something today or put something else on. steve: he knows our number. ainsley: just to assure the american people. people are waking up, you know, nervous and shocked praying for his family. steve: we will find out soon enough. griff: this the is sort of development that no one would ever wish for because of the instability it potentially poses. as americans wake up and feel for this development, they do need ainsley you point out reassurance and no one better to deliver that message than the president. by the way last night was the annual al-smith dinner held this year largely virtually. the president of the united states did make comments, thank you, griff, last night they were

pretaped and at one point he said the end of the pandemic is in sight. the ironic part was he was diagnosed with coronavirus two hours later. ainsley: brian sits on the dais on that event. both candidates go and roast each other. that didn't happen this year. ainsley: i was invited this year so i got the zoom call. i was able to see the whole event. the president's remarks were really great heart-felt got off prompter a lot. joe biden made some remarks too and cardinal doll lynn. especiallifully new york. been blitzed. happening. coronavirus. steve: in a big way. and cardinal dolan has been on

our program a couple of times talking about that. we have tentatively booked him for next week. tried to get him meanwhile, what about official reaction from the white house where the lights are coming on at 7:07. rich edson joins us from just about a block away up 16th street. hey, rich. >> good morning steve, ainsley and brian. you guys work out the cobs sequences here something we are still all trying to figure out what the consequences are to all of this, to the president, the first lady, their family, the international consequences of all of this. and, of course, having to do with the campaign trail and all the staffers in the white house been with the first family and hope hicks after all this of this news started come out last evening. the president confirmed it overnate on bitter he tweeted out tonight the first lady and i tested positive for covid-19. we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. we will get through this together. the first lady then adding on

twitter as too many americans have done this year the president and i are quarantining at home after testing positive for covid-19. we are feeling good and i have postponed all upcoming engagements, please be sure you are staying safe and we will all get through this together. now, the play out of this last evening is that we learned from a bloomberg report that hope hicks, the president's clos cloe aide and someone who has been traveling with the president fairly often had tested positive for the coronavirus. after that relearned from the president he was beginning the process you have quarantining and he and the first lady were getting a test it. then came out shortly after that that 1:00 a.m. tweet that the president had tested positive, along with the first lady, for coronavirus. the playout from the hope hicks angle is that according to a source familiar, the president flew to wisconsin in duluth, gave a rally on wednesday night and that at some point during or around that rally hope hicks had started feeling symptomatic. the person who has knowledge of

that situation said that hicks had quarantined on the flight home on air force 1 so that she could stay away from everybody else on that. but we still really don't know right now whether the president or first lady are in fact symptomatic. we know according to the first lady that they're feeling good. don't know if they are displaying any symptoms at all. we should note the president is 74 years old and cdc does say those in their 60's, 70s and 80's are apt to have a tougher time with this than those who are younger. but, as have you also said there are those who could be fully asymptomatic throughout this entire process. we also don't know about the rest of the white house staff and if anybody else has tested positive to all of this. there have been some aides, including the national security adviser robert o'brien who tested positive over the summer for the coronavirus but we don't have any sense of those beyond who may have tested positive. you heard from the secretary of state mike pompeo who meets fairly often with the president usually at least once a week. he says that he was just tested

about a half an hour ago and that he and his wife have tested negative for the coronavirus the secretary is traveling in europe not in the united states right now. campaign consequences to all of this. the president was supposed to be having a rally today in florida. that's been canceled. instead holding a virtual covid for seniors event or addressing senior covid issues. there is campaign traveler moving forward on all of this. the president was supposed to be maintaining a fairly aggressive campaign schedule. he was suppose you had to be in wisconsin tomorrow a couple of stops in green bay and janesville. the first lady said those events scrapped. those events off given the president tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday. we are less than five weeks from election day. the president likes holding rallies. he likes getting out there. part of his pitch in this entire thing saying i'm out here with the voters and now conceivably

at least for perhaps the next couple of weeks if not longer he will be constrained in doing so. a long list of consequences now as we just found out a couple hours ago that the president and first lady have tested positive for the coronavirus. back to you guys. steve: rich, we have heard only from mark meadows, the chief of staff, that he tested yesterday negatively which is great news. but between hope hicks and the president and the first lady sir could you lalgted throughout the white house i'm sure there are people in the west wing wondering should i get a test today because i would like to know if i'm okay. >> yeah, absolutely. there has been testing in the west wing for a number of staffers. but throughout the federal government while there has been testing there still has been senior officials and government employees in and out of federal buildings especially as departments like the state department have gradually been are bringing their staff back.

the white house and the west wing fairly staffed throughout the coronavirus pandemic. some places it's impossible to stay away from people and certainly when you are confined in doors it makes the problem and issue of transmission more pressing and more concerning. so, you would have to imagine at the white house there are going to be a greater round of testing today just given now that not only do you have the president and first lady that have tested positive but you also are hope hicks who tested positive. you remember there are others who have been in the white house. press secretary for the vice president has tested positive. the national security adviser had tested positive. so, positive tests is something that the white house has dealt with before. but we still do not have sense beyond the three positives that we have gotten over the last 12 hours how much deeper this is if it's deeper at all. steve: rich, let me ask you one more quick question i know reporters and techniques and vendors are tested every day

going into the white house with the rapid test. but what about the white house staff? essentially the high ranking government officials, are they tested every day? is the president tested of every day? is the first lady tested every day? >> that's a good question. the white house has been saying that there have been very frequent tests but it's unclear if all the high level people are testing -- are getting tested every day. but i do know that throughout the west wing and executive office complex there certainly are meetings with people that are ongoing there and many of those people are not tested every day. and the white house is a very large sprawling complex the west wing smaller and much fewer people the larger building across the street. this is a very, very highly it's an atmosphere where you have a lot of people can be close to one another. these are old government buildings not a lot of spacing that go on in there the idea that you can maintain social distancing constantly in those

areas in there it's pretty -- it's something that probably can't be adhered to fully. ainsley: it's so tricky because the government can't shut down. they have to go to work. brian: right. ainsley: rich, thank you so much for being with us. >> thanks. ainsley: let's bring in dr. marc siegel fox news medical contributor. good morning to you, dr. siegel. >> good morning, ainsley. ainsley: we know the president gets tests every day it can take days to manifest. is there a chance he could have had this at that rally in minnesota on wednesday night? >> it's possible. it can take three or four or five days buff symptoms become manifest you had. of course in this case he is not even showing symptoms now. generally, it's not more than seven days. looking back in time i wouldn't think it's very likely that it was prior to that. but, again, it doesn't occur a day or two after exposure, usually. it takes longer than that. brian: so right now the president gets up if he is

asymptomatic is he going to feel fine. is he going to be tempted to go out his day. i know when robert o'brien tested positive he said listen, i'm doing my job i just can't get into work. i'm not going to be around people. do you expect the president to have a full day? >> yeah. this put, of course, brian. he's not going to slow down at all. the one thing. brian: why recommend he did? >> i think it's good. i think it's very positive for him. i would like to see him sleep a little bit hour than he does maybe over these next few days. by the way, you might see medical personnel only go around him with protective personal equipment order of shield masks gowns, gloves. otherwise he is really going to be isolated, i believe. i think it's vital for him to continue doing business as usual. as far as test something concerned, i want to make a quick comment to what rich was saying. they use the abbott test in the white house. for people that were really in close contact with him or with the first lady, they might use the more standard pcr test which takes a few hours to get the

results back. and it might be that's what the president had to confirm the abbott test. the abbott is 15 minutes but not conceived to be quite as accurate. brian: 80%? is that an accurate number? >> it depends on what going in your likelihood case since hope hicks was having symptoms i believe a positive test. if you test somebody where they had no exposure it's not as accurate. you tis somebody who had exposure then a positive is real. i think it's about 80% of this case or more. if there. steve: all right, dr. siegel, for people just tung in, the breaking news overnight the president and the first lady have tested positively for covid-19 after it was revealed that communications director hope hicks apparently had contracted it as well. the news so far what we have heard, dr. siegel is that the president is feeling fine, presumably that means he

accident have? i symptoms. white house staffers have noticed on thursday that the president's voice was raspy. that has been an indication in symptom cases with covid. he has been doing all of these rallies and doing all of these events and at the white house it. would not be unusual. perhaps it could just be voice strain. >> yeah, you know, i have listened very carefully to that since you brought that up in the last hour. and it it doesn't sound to me like the throat i have been hearing with people that have covid. but it could be. it's possible. it's possible but it's probably more likely as you said that it's from all the shouting and talking and the rallies and the debate, of course. but, you know, the other thing is here what do we have to expect with the president? and i want to point out that the centers for disease control is saying has always said over the

past several months 10 days of quarantine or 10 days of isolation that can be shortened if you have two negative tests. i don't think that you are going to see any shortcuts here. i think you are going to see 10 days where the president, you know, isolates himself and then, of course, does the negative test just to reassure people before getting back. ainsley: for friends of mine that have kids in school and if a kid at school has a positive, i'm hearing they shut down for a day, they do contact tracing. they are able to come back. it's amazing they are actually able to do that. we have journalists at fox that have sat down with him over of the last week. some people work with him at the white house. some people on the plane with him coming back from that rally. how does the contact tracing work? >> well, it's just that you test people, ainsley. and i think that people that have had just casual contact with him probably will just get the act test, which is right there in the white house. so you can rule out a lot of people quickly. people that have had very close

contact by the way, they might test more than once or with a more aggressive test. i also wants to reassure the american public out there about something. i have been taking care of covid-19 patients for months now, the vast majority of the people in the president's age group and even with his weight being up a little with no other pre-existing conditions, vast majority remain asymptomatic and do incredibly well. that's what i'm hoping for and inspecting here. ainsley: dr. ronnie jackson who used to be his doctor at the white house said the same thing. 99% of those individuals recover completely. theater that throat may have nothing to do with code whatsoever. i'm expecting a complete and full recovery here. in the meantime he can keep doing his job for sure. brian: dr. siegel i think as we mentioned earlier people not saw the first hour send a great message. i'm in the age bracket most dangerous, i got it.

i worked through it, and then i beat it and then maybe people will realize that, you know, don't panic if you test positive. just take precautions. the other thing to keep in mind, too, when he look at what the president is doing, and that is the possibility of him taking something to accelerate the healing and dr. jackson wasn't for this but dr. qhanta ahmed was and that was giving him remdesivir. >> well, brian, i'm for him taking zinc -- again, he's not my patient. i'm for the idea of taking vitamin d because we have seen some studies that low vitamin d correlates the effects. remdesivir i spoke to as you know i interviewed the original author of the study on this. i think it's moderately effective. i would probably not give it without symptoms. i think it's more for people just starting to get sick. antibodies, synthetic antibodies are very promising but we are

not there yet where you could give synthetic antibodies early on. i think it's too early for remdesivir i am hoping he won't need that. ainsley: we are learning the vice president was with the president the last time with the president in the oval office tuesday morning. his debate is next workers' compensation october 7th. 8 days later. will his debate be a go. >> i thinks his debate will be a go. i'm looking forward to it. he should be tested a few times before then. test negative a couple of times. i think it's a very, very remote risk. i think he could go. steve: dr. siegel, thank you very much. by the way, we have also received word that apparently the vice president and the president are tested daily. meanwhile, chris christie was on another morning show this morning. he said he was tested while with the president this week and chris christie was negative. he tells a host over there he is going to get a test this morning after news overnight but feels fine. adds that the group that prepared the president for the

debate did not wear masks but was a small group. brian: i think rudy giuliani was one of them. ainsley: yeah. steve: dr. siegel, does that make sense to you that if they weren't wearing masks and in proximity to the president a couple days ago getting ready for the debate to go ahead and have the good test today? >> yes. i think it's a precaution. people out there need to understand we are talking about a precaution here. you test people that have been around the president for a short period of time and they were distanced and wore masks. you are not expecting to be positive but that's what exact tracing is. you want to make sure how far the circle goes. so far a lot of people are testing negative and that's good news. steve: it is. ainsley: dr. siegel, thank you. >> thank you. ainsley: todd piro joins us live with how this could shake up the campaign trail. only 32 days left until the election. >> and counting. one month out from the 2020 election. president trump now under quarantine. so as a result. the president clearing a packed campaign schedule overnight.

he was originally supposed to fund raise in d.c. today before boarding a plane to florida for a campaign rally. but, while he is no longer meeting people in person, there is still always that chance the president could address his supporters virtually or have someone take his place on stage. we have reached out to the white house and campaign to find out more. we will keep you posted. unclear how long the president and first lady will be under quarantine. have you been talking about that all morning long as well. largely depends if they are asymptomatic or not. either way white house doctor shawn conley says he will be able to work. conley releasing a statement in part rest assured i expect the president to continue his duties share the debate stage with trump days ago. expected to rally voters in grand rapids, michigan today. no word if he plans to voluntarily quarantine. we have reached out to joe biden's campaign thought yet received a response back. back to you. brian: all right, todd, thank you so much.

let's put this in perspective. mollie hemingway has been taking in the news like we have. fox news contributor. mollie, from the time we learned about this virus in february we knew leaders were going to be susceptible. we watched boris johnson get it and have to be hospitalized. and, okay, had to be hospitalized and we watched baltd narrow of brazil get it and take forever to get cleared even though he felt better. had to get two positive tests somali is going to be with us shortly. what i find interesting everyone's comments on this as we find out the president and first lady have tested positive along with hope hicks and we hope nobody else, you see this msnbc contributor jason johnson says hopefully he survives but if he has to go through the coronavirus process this is a nail in the coffin of his incompetence in handling the virus. mollie, i don't know if you heard that so jason johnson says this is the nail in the coffin to show his incompetence for the virus. also, cnn security analyst says he is not able to fully perform

his duties as commander-in-chief. the president of the united states may be a super spreader number one at this juncture. a lot of people taking shots at the president. not heartening but thought surprising. >> yeah. i was disappointed. genuinely disappointed to see the glee with which some people responded to this news. there is a proper way to respond to this news. for people who pray. it is a good time to pray. you should be praying for your world leaders, the leader of your country every day but this is a good time to do it. it's also important that people not be hysterical when they will don't have reason to be hysterical. and that works for people no matter their perspective. this is a very tough virus. and it is something that you wouldn't wish on anyone. but it's also true for the vast majority of people who get it they are not even tom is a or they arasymptomatic.the death r. people need to have accurate fact-based perspective rather than responding as if it's more dramatic than it is. steve: let's figure out what is

going on before they start throwing the slings and arrows. mollie, we are 32 days out from the election. you know, and the president was expected to be traveling more in the coming weeks. i believe he was going to make some trips out west and things like that. it's got to be frustrating for him. and you have covered him now for coming on five years, for him suddenly to be on the sidelines when he feels like he should be out and about with the people. i think given his diagnosis now, with covid, it will be interesting to see if they continue to stage these great big rallies where there is very little social distancing and very little mask-wearing given the fact that the president himself has contracted it there is no question these two campaigns trump and biden's campaigns differently. biden wouldn't change how is he campaigning so much because he

isn't doing events. trump massive rallies and enthusiasm and whatnot. they have to modify in some sense at least during this quarantine time how they are doing that i think you should not forget that a lot of this is a result of an enthusiasm gap among the different voters. it's not that biden voters don't have enthusiasm. it's just that it's mostly based around their hatred for donald trump not about actual like of their candidate whereas for trump voters there really is this genuine excitement and enthusiasm and a desire to come out and show support. that will continue. i mean, this is shocking news. this is a big deal today. but i think that after people adjust to it, that you will see, you know, continued events and continued campaigning from the trump campaign. i don't think there is much that would keep trump voters from getting out and showing their support. ainsley: i was going to ask you about that because brian brought up a good point in the last hour. one of the lawmakers is writing him and saying how is this going to effect us with other world leaders? are they going to look at us at vulnerable? also if you look at the stock

futures, they plunged this morning already. people -- i woke up this morning and as i was coming into fox and using my hand sanitizer a little more than i normally would thinking of the president and the forefront of our minds right now. going into the weekend, how is this going to effect the american population? >> yeah, i do think, you know, people might be concerned about how this news would effect the campaign, if they are worried about a biden presidency, you might see reflections of that in certain financial markets and other things like that. but, again, i think it's after a day or so we will no more. we will know more. and there have been a lot of people who have gotten this virus. it is no easy thing. i have had family members and friends who have gotten it and i wouldn't wish it on other ones. it's also true other people have gotten it don't have symptoms. people should let the facts lead them into their analysis and they should also remember that of all those world leaders that we talk about and all those world leaders' wives and other people you didn't hear a lot of

people succumbing to the illness. brian: if the president is asymptomatic and working full steam ahead like robert o'brien did when he tested positive, it makes you wonder about the candidacy of something else that matters a lot to the american people amy coney barrett. already there is movement among democrats to say hey, let's slow this down in light of what is going on. you wrote the book on the kavanaugh proceedings before and after and through his confirmation. where do you think democrats are going to be doing with this candidacy now? >> well, i was not surprised to see them officially call for a delay. you might remember that during the kavanaugh confirmation delay was kind of the theme of the democratic response throughout the summer. and then when the allegations came forward and then they just kept on trying to find reasons to delay it. we need another fbi investigation. we need more time. delay is something that they want because they want to push it past the election because that is their best shot for preventing this nominee from filling her seat. but, the senators do not seem inclined at all to delay on behalf of democrats.

particularly because of you who they handled the kavanaugh confirmation. there is no reason to defer to people after they showed what they were wig to do then. there is no reason to listen to them now. steve: all right. mollie, thank you for joining us on this busy friday. ainsley: thanks, mollie. >> thank you. steve: all right. meanwhile, more reporters for you. edward lawrence from the fox business network joins us live from the d.c. bureau right now with how the markets are reacting overnight and, you know, we wondered edward, what the reaction would be if the president ever got covid. and at 7:31 in the morning we are seeing it on wall street. >> we are, down about 400 points at the beginning. this might be a situation where it sort of self-first and ask questions later to figure out exactly what's going to happen. there is concern, obviously, about the election going forward in the markets. concern about whether the president can carry on his duties. we do know this morning he is going to carry on his duties. but there is concern over that in the markets here. also you see markets around the

global selling off dax index in jearming down. shanghai composite in china is down. france is down. markets just as this news is rippling across the globe, markets are selling off. and it's a situation where investors would like to have more information. the market abhors uncertainty. this uncertainty with the policies of the president going forward. with the president operating the nation going forward that uncertainty is causing investors at the least at the open to sell off. we will have to see how the index finishes the day. in the beginning it's selling off. gold is actually going up. and what happens is investors will take their money out of the stock market and put it in gold as a safe haven and that's one of the indicators as the stock market is selling off. we are seeing gold prices are rising right now. back to you guys. brian: and the thing is, too, the market is down. buff the people aren't going to be that shocked. i think the market dropped monday or tours the same amount,

correct? and we didn't even have an event. >> exactly. we will see this volatility from now until the election. uncertainty who is up in the polls, down in the powells. uncertainty going forward and economic data coming in a big one in about an hour we will get the jobs report. that is going to be huge for this market going forward. expected about 850,000 jobs gained is what the expectation is. if it beats that we could see the markets turn arranged again. it's all going to be about the data and the uncertainty, what the uncertain tiff is doing going forward. ainsley: what if the president comes out today and does some sort of a phoner today. what will happen with the market. brian: with fox and friends. >> exactly. i think they will see the president working on it. as far as we know, he is doing very, very well. which is what the physician says. he is carrying on the business of the nation. that's something probably the markets would like to seat president announcing hey, i'm fine. hear it from the first person saying going forward. we know that in the beginning of

this virus you don't see any symptoms. some people never have symptoms related to the virus going forward. so, to be able to show that the government is functioning properly, takes that uncertainty out of the markets. steve: all right. edward, thank you very much for the live report from d.c. now let us bring in our friends who are normally on the weekend couch and there they are right there. we have got pete hegseth, jedediah bila and will cain, good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. steve: we will go ahead and go through everybody. ladies first. jed, your observations about the president and first lady hope hicks all testing positively for covid? you had covid yourself. you know what -- how this impacts people. jedediah: yeah, obviously first and foremost wants them all to be okay, hoping that they have mild symptoms. hoping that this goes away like a bad dream. what i learned from having it is that this effects earn's body very differently. i was not on any medications

prior. we know the president was taking some medication prior that may ease his symptoms a bit. i'm not a doctor so i'm not going to weigh in on that. but, you know, we want them to be okay. we want all the steps taken, obviously, to make sure that anyone that the president or first lady or hope hicks came into contact with is tested. i think politically this is a moment where a lot of the strategy we have been talking about the strategy of campaigns. fronts and center a conversation about these rallies. remember, the president of the united states is thankfully, luckily enough to have a team of doctors around him who are going to make sure hopefully that he is okay. but that conversation will become what about the people at these rallies? how is this managed? is this a good idea? obviously for all event in the future we want to makes sure they are safe and everyone around them is safe and make sure it's taken seriously. this virus can be a beast. it's not for everyone. it can be. and it can have lingering symptoms that are odd for

people. i hope that's not the case for the first family. you just never know. that he was the bottom line. you just never know. ainsley: pete, you just sat down with the put. last weekend we washed your interview with him. what does that mean for you today? pete: i don't know. i mean i feel fine. first of all, i echo exactly what jedediah said that we pray for the president and first lady hope hicks and that's the way everyone should be feeling this morning. i haven't felt any symptoms i guess i will get another test and confirm that i'm still negative. i had gotten one the day before for something unrelated. i have been tested multiple times as well. i think from the president wants perspective this is a guy who has understood the risks from the beginning just like a lot of the americans who have been watching cable news understand the severity of covid-19. his mentality has been i'm an essential worker for the american people. i can't hide in a bunker. you have got truck drivers and nurses and police officers and

construction workers. going to do their job over a zoom call. they have to be done in person, they have to be out there working in proximity of people. they understand that risk. and if they contract the virus, they will deal with it and be responsible in the meantime. i think the president demonstrated to people here and pray is healthy. he can keep working. he will recover. he will test negative. he will move on. and the campaign will continue. now, there is all the political ramifications that come from this. i actually think the same applies to rally goers. i think differently. i think rally goers also newt risk. they have been told a lot of things true and untrue over six months. they made their own risk calculation as human beings who can make choices as free individuals to go to a rally to wear a mask or not. there will be conversations about that. i get it. but i like respecting people and the president has respected people at every turn in this

case. we wish him the best. and i think he will keep working, guys. i have no doubt from wherever he is. he has a pen and a phone he will keep going. brian: will, how important do you think it would be not only for the markets or american people to see him today to have him make an address to the country do you think that's something that will be important? will: i do. if not see him than hear from him. i want to echo again pete and jedediah's wishes we send our best wishes and prayers to the president and first lady. as we have these conversations and i have been watching the three of you throughout the morning. there is going to be a temptation to draw big arching narratives it about this. we have a choice look at this emotionally or factually. we will have questions does this reveal some vulnerability president's choices or in our nation. or i believe we can look at the facts. we can understand as pete pointed out every individual, including the president of the united states makes their own risk assessment about what is in

to their job and own life. more importantly also highlight each if you are in the age demographic that the president is, your recovery rate is north of 99.5%. i think it's important that the american people understand the risk but also understand the facts and this is an opportunity for everyone to see that and hopefully as you point out, brian, hear that from the president. steve: the president's physician dr. conley says that the president is doing well. and, yet, apparently aides at the white house will not say whether or not the president has any symptoms. so, you know, what does well mean regarding symptoms and you understand that. but, my question to you though after the president has gotten to within 32 days of the election and he has tried to put coronavirus framing it like we are rounding the corner on, this coronavirus is now, once again, the number one issue in

politics. jedediah: to your first point, yes. asymptomatic is very subjective and i have been arguing that mild, the word mild is subjective. we talk about the coronavirus oftentimes in terms of life and death which is important. you need to also understand sometimes what sounds like mild, what doctors say is mild doesn't feel so mild to the individual. this will be a front and center issue, steve to your point 100 percent. the fact that the two campaigns handled this very differently will be a front and center issue and you can argue that every single rally goer has he the right to make that decision for themselves and i think there is some truth to that you columbus have to know though people look to the president for leadership on these issues. many people trust him on these issues. so if they feel that he has been in any way wavering on the issue of masks or in any way minimizing the risk of these crowds that will weigh in to their decision not all but to some. that's something the administration is going to have to factor. in the primary story though this

is the leader of the free world. he is the president for all of us. we want him to be well. if you are talking about political implications i think that the biden camp right now is strategically trying to figure out how to both wish the president well and wish him okay but highlight the discrepancy between the two campaigns and the reasons why the biden campaign has decided to follow through with these virtual rallies and with these virtual events and not having the president front and center that may be a talking point that's used today that would not surprise me. ainsley: pete, what do you make of the critics the awful things being written on social media? i told you so kind of comments even worse than that plans for the wore for him. pete: would you expect anything else at this point? the level of hatred for this president that they have dehumanized him. could you thcould you the wild s

cue vitte individual vitriol. the best way forward for the put is to i'm going through what a lot of other people have gotten through, yes, i have more doctors and access to more care than most. but i'm going to take the same precaution of others. i urge you to do the same. i'm going to get back to work as soon as i have that negative test, which is hopefully very soon. in the meantime, i'm going to do the work that i can i actually think a lot of people who either had it or know someone who had it will relate to the reality that no one is immune. you can't put a bubble around yourself despite how many tests you may have. so working through it, proving that as a 74-year-old you are going to have as will said a 99% survival rate is demonstrating that science and fact ultimately show we can go about our lives evened a mist this and theed .

brian: news man brian williams president has been outwardly and publicly from the start can be called a covid-19 denier did his best publicly to diminish the threat. there is somebody delivering the news with a lot of opinion and a lot of inaccuracy. will: there is going to be a lot of that today, brian. i suspect that will not bees first. wasn't the first and will not be the last. and, look, everybody is going to wants to draw their own political narrative off of this. they will look for confirmation by it we don't want anyone to get covid-19. much less the president of the united states the goal was never to zero transmission rate. that was never what anyone espoused as the goal. the goal was to balance the spread of this disease against the choices we have to make. business the fact that the president developed covid-19 is

not proof of political point it. is proof that you can't control the spread of this disease. can you slow it and we can control the mortality rate to the best we can and science allows. but this is not proof in my mind of any particular political point. it's just proof that you cannot control the virus. steve: will and jed and pete, thank you very much. we will be watching you all weekend long. pete: thank you, guys. ainsley: you will have a lot to talk about tomorrow. we will see you then. jedediah: thanks. steve: cnn is reporting now that joe biden is going to get tested for covid-19 later today. peter doocy has been following the former vice president on the campaign trail and, peter, the vice president was due -- is due in grand rapids today, that's where you are. have we heard from the biden people so far the news has been out there for six hours that the president has covid. what's up with joe? >> the news has been out there almost seven hours now that the president tested positive for covid-19 and we still don't have

anything official from the biden campaign or from the press pool that has been assigned to travel with him this week. i have reached out to every email address and phone number from the biden campaign that i have got to confirm that he is getting a test, which would be consistent with what the campaign has told us in recent days democratic convention in wilmington that there are campaign events and biden and harris will be traveling outside of their homes and outside of their bubbles where they were quarantining. that they would be getting regular tests that those around them would be getting regular tests. we also haven't heard that he is still coming. i'm sitting in a hettle room in grand rapids, michigan. we were with biden yesterday in delaware. now we are in michigan. he was supposed to have a few

events here but we have no guidance yet about whether or not he is still coming because, again, it's been almost seven hours this story has traveled around the world twice by now and still nothing. steve: peter, do we know whether or not joe biden has been told about this? i know have you heard out on the campaign trail what time he gets up and we're not to that time yet. >> he has said in different stories about the day in the life of a candidate and what you do when you are home that he usually gets up around 8:00 or he tries to be up by 8:00 in the morning we don't know yet if he has been told. we don't know if this is a situation where somebody went and him in the middle of the night. that would be difficult secret service protectee and he lives in great isolation on a compounds in wilmington, delaware. so we don't know if he has been

told yet. we are getting nothing from the biden campaign yet. and what is, again, 7:45 a.m. are difficult but that is a long time in 24 hour news cycle terms. steve: indeed. ainsley: i know you have been on the campaign trail and followed this president and joe biden. do you think we will hear from either one of them today based on your knowledge of their permanents? >> we will definitely hear something. i can't say definitely but in all likelihood we will get something from joe biden today whether it's a paper statement or whether he pops up on a camera that's in his house as he feels safe going to because he was able to do it throughout the pandemic lockdown. it still is not, again, clear

whether or not he is going to come today or for the next 10 days or for how long people need to isolate now as a result to the exposure of covid-19 because i know it's been reported so far today and overnight but joe biden was only one of the people on stage on tuesday night with the president and with the first lady. brian: interesting to see those that have spent the last few years screaming that trump's uncaring devoid standard now spewing their gleeful joy that he and his wife have the virus. they are no better than anybody else. so they're getting a lot of that. and i think, peter, there is going to be a nuances with this communication from the biden camp. because of what could happen down the line and what has happened in the past and the clashes they just had. do you sense that they are actually putting their heads together to try to put together

the right messaging here because it's so important? >> we don't have, brian, a sense of that yet. our focus so far has just been on trying to figure out we were chasing a train around pennsylvania and ohio two days ago. and it was biden's busiest campaign day since march. he had seven stops on a train and they were hopping out in a motorcade and going to other places and it seemed like this is going to be the way that it is now for the next six weeks and something else to consider, the biden campaign for months, since june, when the trump side started knocking on doors, they said that is irresponsible in the covid era. that is a way to get your volunteers killed. we don't need to do it because we are reaching everybody on the phone. and online. and, yesterday, before left delaware the biden campaign told us we are about to start knocking on doors. we figured out a safe way to do

it. there was some behind the scenes calculation there. we don't know what that change is now. again, because we still haven't heard anything from the campaign or from the candidate. steve: indeed. all right. peter doocy, on the phone from a hotel room somewhere in grand rapids. peter, thank you very much. go ahead and get some room service breakfast. >> thank you. steve: let's bring in dr. nicole saphier fox news medical contributor. dr. saphier, good morning. for anybodied up right now the president and first lady and hope hicks all have covid-19. what would you like to say to the american people today about that? >> well, as we are still in the midst of this pandemic it is important to remember that anyone is vulnerable to contracting this viral infection. over 40,000 federal essential employees have tested positive for covid-19. and the president is one of those essential employees. you know, many of them, like myself, we go to work every single day because we are

needed. and the majority of people are starting to get back. so we are going to see positive cases. that being said, the president is doing what is necessary. he has already begun his quarantine process. i believe he mentioned last night that he was going to start that even before he tested positive knowing that he had a close positive contact. and that's the right thing to do. now is the time where we start seeing how important contact tracing and self-isolation are. so the contact tracing meaning who was in contact with hope hicks? who has been in contact with everyone that was in close contact with hope hicks within the last 48 hours as well as the president and the first lady. and then they, themselves, will not only need to be tested but also be under quarantine. let me tell you, steve, those tests that people are doing, they have varying -- they have varying precision. up to 29% of them can actually be a false negative. steve: oh boy. >> that being said false negative is more likely when people are asymptomatic. that seems like what happened in the case with hope hicks.

she was traveling with the president on wednesday and then again on thursday. now, everyone who travels with the president does get tested every single day from what i'm told. and so, she likely was test you had negative both of those days and then she developed symptoms later that night. so it is likely she had a false negative those two days. that being said, the president and the first lady then tested positive. it sounds like they are possibly asymptomatic at this time. hopefully they stay asymptomatic and they are not just presymptomatic the asymptomatic period before they get symptoms. ainsley: dr. sean conley the president's white house doctor. he said both of them are well. they are staying at the white house. the medical team is on village length watch he says. some of our country's greatest medical professionals. he says the president will carry out of his disiewts without disruption. are you confident with this team of doctors. i know the doctor world is very small you all know each other. >> let me tell you, ainsley, he has the best of the best taking

carol of him right now. and the best medical care you can get right now is not necessarily about one single doctor. it's just being proactive and having that attention. they are proactive. he is being looked at after every moment. if he gets symptom trust me they will be on top of it. the biggest problem we have in united states is delayed medical care and not seeking it at the moment that people have onset. if the president or first lady or anyone else develops symptoms it will be crucial that they're on top of it and they have swift intervention if necessary. can i assure you the president will be able to work remotely like the rest of us do occasionally and i wish him well and the first lady well and the chances are they are going to be just fine. we know that age is the strongest risk fact for for severity of illness those over the age of 80 which the president is not at the most highest risk of developing illness. that being said being from 70 to 79 years of age does put you at

about an 8% higher risk for severe critical illness but, again, the far majority will have a mild course if any course at all and recover just fine. brian: dr. saphier, thanks so much. we are seeing a lot of famous people get it and beat it and hopefully this is the latest. thanks. >> thanks, brian. brian: right now, let's bring in byron york, fox news contributor. chief correspondent. what a series of events that took place and then about 1:00 in the morning we hear about the president and first lady. so far the -- his doctor says they expect him to go about his business as usual. do you think it's important to hear from the president today? >> absolutely. look, the president has two roles here. one is as president of the united states and the other is as a candidate for president. and the first is more important and i think today he needs to show the country and the world that he is final. that's very easy to do.

via video. and the think the needs and probably will make some sort of video statement today to show the world that he is just doing fine and he can explain a little bit about what has happened. i think it's a good idea for the administration to let the country know the status of vice president mike pence has he been tested recently. is he negative? that will also reassure the country and financial markets and everybody that the administration is in good shape. steve: i got some breaking news for you in the last 20 seconds, they whispered in our ear, byron, that the vice president and second lady karen pence have both been tested this morning and they tested negatively. that is really good news. and now obviously everybody in the west wing who has been exposed to them over the last 10 days probably going to do a little contact tracing regarding that. byron, it's going to be really frustrating for the president.

he loves to get out there and he loves the big rallies. and for a while he is not going to be able to have that as we are just 32 days away from the big day. >> i know. look, the big rallies have been the hallmark of president trump's campaign style since 2015 when he started attracting huge crowds an in his run for te presidency. the president and a lot of republicans have mocked joe biden for, quite, hiding in his basement. that staying inside and doing only virtual events. well, for the next 10 days or so it appears that the put is going to have to do dlg like that. he is going to have to adopt a biden style campaign. he will probably do it with a lot more in consideration and events. all very possible given the internet. you will see the president pretty active as a virtual campaigner in the next few days. ainsley: so you think he will even do rallies that way put up like a huge screen in front of a crowd?

>> it's entirely possible. now, you know, there have been concerns about social distancing at trump events. but, there is no reason that they couldn't do something like that, stage a large event. have a big screen with the president. there will be a different kind you have dynamic, yo you know, because the president gets very animate you had in front of a big crowd. sure, he can absolutely do that i think that's important not just a candidate but as president to show show the world repeatedly that he is doing fine. brian: byron, something else. think about the president running the country doing the campaign. one man machine doesn't have a lot of surrogates outside of his family doing a lot of the work that he can do. this is also an opportunity to recalibrate, strategize, prepare for the second debate. go over your tapes. go over the policies, study your opponent. that could be this forced study time, forced reflex time. and maybe, you know, brainstorm.

>> yeah. you are absolutely right. it could be. i think there is one thing that is really important to say. obviously this is a huge event. huge events take a while to sink in for the public to kind of figure out what their reaction is, what they think about it. i personally don't think we have fully digested of the debate which was on tuesday night. so, you know, early impressions are early. people take to each other, rethink things. and then they finally form an opinion. so i don't think we are even there yet with the debate. so we don't know what effect the president getting coronavirus will have on this race. i think it will have some effect. but it's going to be several days before we can really figure that out. steve: well, you know what, byron, it was only several mention for the internet and for twitter to figure it out. you know, and the president's critics and i'm just going to summarize essentially have blasted him and said, hey, mr. president, do you still think it's a hoax? >> look, that is the least

surprises news in the world. that of the president's critics would be taking shots at him. they have been taking shots all the time. some of them are probably going to say things that they regret. i think he shallier mollie hemingway said it perfectly. this is a time for people to pray for their leaders to wish them well. and i think any of the president's opponents would be smart to do that because i think that the whole nation is doing that right now. ainsley: can you believe this virus? it has taken so many lives, so many loved ones have been lost by this. people didn't go to school. summer plans were all changed. now our president has it and we are just a few weeks out from the election. i mean, what a year. we couldn't -- we always hear anything is possible in an election. things can change at the drop of the hat. this was so unexpected. >> i think we have all been surprised at how long this has lasted. remember back in march. march 15th? 10 days to slow the spread? 15 days. that's been a long time ago.

and clearly it is -- it's not over yet. but a number of doctors have been saying it's clearly killing brian: great perspective. >> thank you, brian. brian: breaking just moments ago vice president's press secretary confirming the vp and second lady tested negative to covid-19 this morning. overnight president trump and first lady melania trump confirmed they have tested positive for covid-19. steve: the president tweeted, tonight the first lady and i tested positive for covid-19. we will begin quarantining and get through this together. ainsley: hours news broke that top aide hope hicks tested positive. she felt mild symptoms on air force one according to

administration officials when she was coming home from the rally on minnesota on wednesday night. we were told that she was isolated on the plane and she wasn't near the president and then she tested positive yesterday. the president said in his tweet early this morning that he tested yesterday. so on october 1st he tested positive. brian: i listened to the president last night with sean hannity for an hour, he sounded fantastic. he talked about hope hicks and hopes she gets better. i'm getting tested just to make sure. was he going to the longer test that goes to a lab because -- steve: more accurate. brian: it's more accurate and might have been in contact with somebody who had it. we will find out very shortly, griff jenkins went on live last night, continuing to track the story and follow up and close

loop on a few things. hey, griff. griff: closing the loop and trying to find out what we can and we found out as steve mentioned good news and that's vice president pence testing negative. let me show you the tweet that the press secretary put out, as has been routine for months, vice president pence tested for covid every day. this morning tested negative and vice president pence remains in good health and wishes the trumps well in their recovery. i can tell you i just got off the phone with senior member of the vice president's staff, he says the reason why we were getting back to people prez so late is we needed to do the test. this is a fluid situation and has far-reaching implications, guys, not only president trump's health but november third election to national security in the administration's response to

the election. 12:54 a.m. the president tweets confirmation that he and the first lady tested positive. will quarantine immediately wishing that everyone in america will stay safe. first lady sending out a similar message as well right after that. then, of course, the white house decision, sean connolly giving the nation a little cleaner view of where things stand saying this in a statement. the president and the first lady are both well at this time and they plan to remain at the home within the white house. he added that he rest assured the president can continue carrying out duties without disruption while recovering. that came hours after that hope hicks tested positive, she was with the president most recently wednesday in minnesota and debate in cleveland and saturday at a rally. more good news, secretary

pompeo, close to the president was traveling abroad following from abroad from rome to croatia telling reporters that he and his wife tested negative. here is some of the sound of the secretary of state traveling abroad. >> they'll have a speedy recovery. i spoke with the vice president. we are taking this obviously very seriously and we will do everything to keep everyone safe including you all. griff: white house chief of staff mark meadows, he's tested daily because of the proximity to the president. that a good development. interesting, though, i think we should point out, we've been looking and the wires and twitter for any prominent democrat to have weighed in. here in washington we have the four corners of power, speaker pelosi, minority leader kevin mccarthy and then you majority leader mitch mcconnell and chuck

schumer, minority leader. only one of the four corners was minority leader was kevin mccarthy. here is what he tweeted. president trump is a fighter through and through, please join me in praying for complete and speedy recovery for him and our first lady. now, this is clearly set in motion a day with a lot of question marks. we do know the president's schedule has been cleared. he will not participate in a fundraiser here in dc. he will not travel to florida where he was supposed to hold a rally. he will hold a phone call to talk about covid-19 with respect to seniors. that's close to press, but perhaps that could change, we will see if we hear from the president. the last time we heard directly from the president is on camera or i should say on the phone on television was with hannity last night reacting to hope hicks' positive test, here is the president from hannity last night, take a listen. >> she tested positive.

she's a hard-worker, i just went out with a test, we spend a lot of time and the first lady went out with a test also. so whether we quarantine or whether we have it, i don't know. griff: so, again, no emails, no statements, no tweets from prominent democrats, surely that will develop now that we are going on 7 plus hours that this news has broken with far-reaching implications and also a final note, we are not sure how it would impact debate schedule. the president goes into quarantine today, that would mean two weeks possibly now, we've heard medical experts say it can be shorter, but the standard is 14 days and that would include the miami debate on the 15th between the president and vice president joe biden, so, you know, i don't know what changes could come to that, but we are all waiting to hear from former vice president joe biden which as when you were talking the last hour with peter doocy, we just have no indication, no word, it's listen

radio silence from their campaign so far this morning. steve: that's curious. griff, thank you very much. the story out this morning apparently at the white house through the night they were trying to figure out whether to give some sort of a address to the nation to reassure everybody about how the president and the first lady are doing. will he do that, you never know, he has been known to call this phone -- this show back in the golden days he used to call all of the time. brian: like last week. steve: maybe he will call us this hour. somebody who has been through the entire pandemic, dr. mahmet oz, dr. oz, so much to talk about, what would you like to start about? dr. oz: let's talk about how dangerous the virus is, political and personal ramifications. you pointed something out before you came to me that i want to correct, because he's infected it's not a quarantine anymore,

it's isolation and the general rule is 10 days of isolation. 14 days of quarantine would apply to all members to have government that the t for has been in contact with, perhaps the new supreme court nominee, you know, other people who probably have to quarantine but for the president it's 10 days of isolation as long as he doesn't have symptoms. ainsley: he found out last night, october 1st, he said, that would be 10 more days, the debate is on the 15th, he would be okay to that as long as he doesn't have symptoms and he tests negative a few times? dr. oz: those are the rules that we are following and we are using cdc guidelines, and that's the number that most people should keep in their eyes. brian: dr. oz, in uk it went up 167%, virtual lockdown again, in israel virtual lockdown and sweden had a unique tickup in

handling things. cases are up 8%, but deaths are down 16%, some are concluding, make you are that it's easier to get, it's changing, it's easier to catch but also easier to beat, correct? dr. oz: that seems to be the data, i think it's because we have better protocols and a lot of the complications arise from the inflammation as much as the virus itself. we are doing better and it's concerning. testing has been fantastic and good but it's not the same prevention, social distancing and wearing masks and some of the things that i know people will be battling over because the president got covid-19. there's a teachable moment. if you don't socially distance, which is what they primarily are doing in sweden or wearing a mask, you will end up with the upticks. the virus is contagious. brian: has the virus changed,

have you and your colleagues concluded that the virus is changing at all since we got it in january? dr. oz: the virus changed since january but we don't think it changed that much since it got to the country. the original virus that was in wuhan in china was different that came to europe and this country. more similar to the one that hit the west coast. it's mutating but not changing ability to hurting us. the virus wants to infect us but not kill us and so the virus that's affecting us now is pretty much the same we've had through the entire pan dem nick this country. steve: what do you make of the fact, dr. oz, that apparently white house aides will not indicate whether or not he has any symptoms, but over the last day or so, his voice has been noticed to have been raspy but it could have been the rallies and the events? dr. oz: it's impossible to tell.

the virus is a camaleon. the classic ones we all know about. fever is not that common, but it happens. i'm sure that he didn't have a fever that he would have identified. my bigger concern on a personal level is the president has two important risk factors for covid complications, getting the virus is one thing and having complication is another as we have been debating, age 74 and being 244 hounds which takes bmi over 30 and is obesity, he has risks. just going on age, if you're a young male versus the 74-year-old gentleman the difference is dramatic, 74-year-olds are 5 times higher to have hospitalization and 90 times higher mortality rate.

the numbers are important that we watch in the next couple of days to see the direction we will head. i'm hopeful that he says pretty active. ainsley: thank you, dr. oz. let's bring in chris wallace, fox news sunday anchor, he moderated the debate between president trump and joe biden on tuesday, good morning, chris. chris: good morning to all you guys, quite a development over the night. ainsley: exactly. you were just in the same room with him. you got just as close as we saw, nothing happened behind the scenes? chris: that's exactly right. what you saw on tv is the closest, he never approached me at the end to have debate, vice president biden did briefly to -- to basically -- i'm trying to remember the exact words

basically to say i bet you didn't know you had signed up for this. it was an extremely contentious debate. i certainly saw no sign of any flagging of energy in the president during the debate as we all saw, he was loaded for bear. i will say a couple of things just to give you background and information i have that very few people will be talking to today did. when we arrived in cleveland, everybody, you had to take a test that was administered by the cleveland clinic and it was one of those deep tests that goes all the way up your nostral to front part of your brain it seemed like, and the interesting thing was, though that the cleveland clinic would set up safety rules, nerve the hall with the exception of the president and the vice president and myself had to wear a mask. when mrs. biden came in, when

members of her party came in, they were all wearing masks and they took -- they kept them on throughout the debate. on the trump side of the hall, mrs. trump came in wearing a mask but took it off once she sat down. i didn't see when they came in, but all the other members to have first family that i saw there including ivanka, tiffany, when they sat down they weren't wearing masks. i'm told by the pool of reporters who was there that somebody from the cleveland clinic came up to the first family, i believe this was before mrs. trump sat down and offered the masks in case they didn't have them and they waved them away and people in the hall did notice that while they were wearing masks including my wife and four of my children that the first family did not wear masks during the debate. when it ended, mrs. trump came up to go on the stage as i think everybody saw, she was not wearing a mask. mrs. biden did come up and she

was wearing a mask, she came up past me and went up to her husband. but you certainly -- there was no sign during the debate of any problems with the president in terms of his health, but it is worth noting that the different people treated the safety rules inside the hall differently. brian: if it wasn't clear by now, it should be clear, that no matter who you are, whether you're tom hanks or the rock, or boris johnson, you could get this, it doesn't matter how famous, rich or powerful. byron york was on a while ago. with all your years of experience, i'm not saying you're old, i'm saying with your years of experience, how is this going to affect the campaign at the very least he's off the trail for 10 to 15 days? chris: let me say one quick thing about age despite your as a matter of --

snarky remark, the people were 70 plus. the vice president is 77, the president 74 and i'm 72, we are in the high-risk factor and you can bet, i've been asked by a lot of people, i will have to get a test because although i think i was far enough away, you know, we all take that question, were you exposed to somebody who was has tested positive for covid, the answer is yes. very good question. look, our primary concern is for the health and safety of the president. our second concern obviously is he is the president for the health and safety of the country, no reason to believe that there's any danger but here is the commander in chief, you know, if he does begin to get symptoms, that has national security implications. in terms to have campaign, i've been trying to consider that myself. there is a debate i think on the 15th and today the second, that's less than 2 weeks from now. what's going to happen in the debate. you're right, one of the things

that he works for him and mobilizes his base is to be out on the campaign trail talking to people and -- and summoning the huge crowds. obviously he won't be able to do that for a week, 10 days, 2 weeks, let's very much hope that he has no symptoms and recovers quickly. so this has a dramatic impact and the other point i think i'd make is that, you know, at various points in the campaign, various issues have risen to the top, covid, then race issues and then law and order in the streets and now the supreme court, clearly this is going to put covid back at the top of the agenda and this will raise questions again about whether the president has been serious enough in the way he has treated covid now that he has caught it himself, may be fair or unfair but it's the political fact of life. steve: right. still chris, we still have not heard from joe biden's camp which is curious, usually they have a rapid response team and they will put something out.

there's no love between campaigns, what do you think is the tone and tenure of the message they send out? chris: for all americans, however you feel about this, the first and overwhelming concern has got to be for the safety of the president of the united states no matter how tough the campaign is and the second is concern about whether this is going to have any effect on -- on how the country is run. in terms of trying to score political points on that, i think it would be a huge mistake. the story tells itself as it's become a cliché in the campaign. it is what it is. i don't think -- i'm not saying he's going to do it but unbecoming for anybody to try to score points on this. the primary -- >> steve: well then you don't have twitter. ainsley: could that help? could this on both sides -- can

it help or hurt both sides? if they are being critical i can imagine it's harmful if they have undecided voters and they are seeing it's critical, what about the coronavirus that president tested positive, can it help him and say i'm relatable and i understand what you've been going through as a country, how do you see this playing out over the next few weeks? chris: well, look, you know, when this first happened i turned to my wife and i said as i'm sure a lot of us has said, it's 2020 because the unthinkable seems to be the next thing around the corner here, here is the next 2020 thing. it's hard to predict how it'll impact but -- you know, fairly or unfairly, i don't think there's any question it's going to raise questions again about how seriously the president has taken the coronavirus, you know, there's obviously been criticism that he's been holding these rallies, yes, outdoors, but holding them outdoors with thousands of people with close

contact. the issue of masks came up in the debate and, you know, i'm sure you have the clip if you want to run it because i was talking to them about the different ways they have handled and one of the things that i hit biden on was you have been much more reluctant on the president to reopen the country and reopen schools and clearly the president thought it was a strong point for him and then we talked about the fact that the president was much less likely to wear a mask and if you remember he took a mask out of his inside jacket pocket and said, you know, i've got this mask and i wear it and made fun of the vice president and said he wears the giant mask and he has crowds of, you know, 6 people all in circles. that's going to get played a lot today and, you know, as i say, it'll speak for itself and people will decide whether they think that's legitimate or not. brian: right, it's going to be interesting to see what happens, if the debate -- the next debate does happen it'll be within the time he's quarantined.

if everything goes well and reassures the markets or whatever, the american public that he's okay and our enemies, don't try anything, he start preparing for the second debate, everyone is talking about changes they are going to make. you know how hard is to negotiate the actual rules leading up to your debate. do you suspect that they're going to agree to changes to a debate in which there's another almost to it and that's the town hall format? chris: well, you i don't know, one of the issues that was raised is having a mute switch and, you know, on the mics and you certainly could do that if you wanted during 2-minute space when nobody is supposed to interrupt anyway, but i really have had two objections to that and i've expressed them to the commission, first on practical level, if and we are just playing a thought game here, hypothetical, if one person decided that he wanted to continue to interrupt, first of

all, it can probably be picked up on the other candidate's microphone and it would continue to disrupt the debate and secondly they were saying, let's put a mute button on the desk for the moderator, can you imagine a moderator, i'm thinking of myself, but, you know, i'm not in it anymore, pushing a mute button and saying you know what, american people, 70, 80 million whatever people, i will say, no, you can't hear what he's saying. brian: sure. chris: i wouldn't do it. having said that the commission hasn't decided if they are going to do anything. ainsley: also concerns from conservatives saying the next guy who is going to be the moderator he interned for joe biden, what if he pushes mute if joe biden is going to have a gaffe, i'm not saying that he would do that because i'm hoping

the moderators would go in without bias but that's concerns of conservative friends that i've heard. chris: absolutely. steve scully, i was surprised that he was an intern with joe biden. the whole thing that changes equation, the vast majority of questions are not asked by the moderator, they are asked by real people talking about their problems, so, you know, it really to a large agree is taken out of the moderator's hands and i would -- i would hope, one, that the president is going to get better, again, that's our overwhelming concern. two, that we can go on with the campaigns and debates and, three, when we get to the town hall that they are busy answering the questions of real people about their real problems and not playing games with each

other. steve: indeed, chris wallace, what a week to remember, thank you very much for joining us, we will be watching. chris: and who knew tuesday wasn't going to be the big news-making of the whole week. brian: formally -- >> chris: october 2020. steve: chris, we will hit the mute button on you. [laughter] steve: thank you, sir. chris: you let me go this long and brian usually interrupts me. steve: that is so tuesday. ainsley: exactly. we are done with interruptions. brian: i'm not going to try it. steve: meanwhile let's bring in somebody who lives in cleveland, that would be geraldo rivera, he spoke to hip hicks before diagnosis, our thoughts and prayers to president, first lady

and everyone suffer from covid. >> it's devastating news and extremely troubling and we got the news about hope with whom i was exchanging texts on tuesday, that was on tuesday, last night we got the news that she had tested positive and immediately our concerns, erika and mine went to the first family, to the president of the united states that seemed to when he was talking to sean that he was extremely concerned, you know, those tests take 15 minutes, the quick ones, we all got the up the nose test in cleveland with those. half hour, 45 minutes and indication that the president already knew that if he was not negative he would have said so. i see the implications threefold, medical, financial, medically we are very, very concerned about the first

family, the president first as dr. oz suggests very appropriately, both overweight, 74 year's old but in good spirit. a lot of energy, we will see where the disease takes us, but we must be thinking about the third section 3 of the amendment where the vice president becomes president if the president needs a ventilator and we are hoping that he doesn't need plasma treatment. as soon as he's out of danger about cavalier attitude over masks. i saw him in those rallies this week where people were behind him, but there were a lot of people there without masks behind the president and -- and erika and i were watching, wait a second, get those people out of there. there will be a political price to pay, financially, we are worried about the markets, that, of course, is the least of all

of this, but this is the kind of turmoil the country did not need. and i think betting on the debate less than 2 weeks from now is a real long shot, back to you. brian: yeah, absolutely. i think the debate would go -- go into the thresholds of the quarantine and if the president is debating, making remarks today on camera to say he's okay, i would imagine it would still come together, the other thing to keep in mind too, they have to agree on the rules. if they start changing debate rules, they made it clear yesterday rnc and the president's camp, they will not go along with that, it's more of a town hall format. that's the subset of the headline today, but geraldo, in the big picture, there could be a good message sent here to the american public, you can get it, you can be a senior and you can beat it and go back, you got that from the rock, you got that from tom hanks, you get that from robert o'brien. this is another thing, the most famous person in the world gets

and beats it, correct? >> geraldo: yes but the rock and tom hanks were extremely prudent, brian, in the way they dealt with their diseases and i want the president of the united states to take a break, take a break for goodness sake, he's the 45th president of the united states, we want you to get better, we don't want you holding, you know, little pocket campaign rallies. i think the american people would look at that -- brian: i don't think so. >> we want you to be healthy and test negatively. once he has assured us he's on the comeback trail -- brian: you got it wrong. if you're asymptomatic and you isolate you can do -- you can isolate and not do anything if you're okay. >> geraldo: this disease kills

old people, brian, period, if you take it in a way that i can handle this because i'm a tough guy, then shame on you. i want him to be prudent now. enough about i have a mask in my pocket. why wasn't the mask on your face, mr. president? brian: he was was talking. >> enough, brian. we want him well. absent that, nothing else matters, brian. steve: yeah, geraldo, we should point out within the last hour we learned that the vice president and his wife have tested negatively, we have also just learned that steve mnuchin and his wife as well have tested negatively. so that's a really good -- it's a really good sign because everybody in the west wing is getting a test. geraldo,i will give you the last 15 seconds. >> i send my best vibes to the president of the united states, please get well, please, the first lady, you know, the most underrated first lady in history, we send our love and

good vibrations to you, the american people want you to be well, republican, democrat, all of us want you back on your feet and we want you to handle this thing, be an example, we have the vaccine coming, we have the economic recovery coming and we have a rosy tomorrow coming but we've -- >> steve: the satellite time went away at exactly 8:30. brian: steve mnuchin is negotiating with nancy pelosi for 4 straight days and maybe this can be an impetus to get some type of rescue package done and that would help the economy and a lot of people. steve: the good news is that he's not -- >> ainsley: you don't want anybody to have a positive. pompeo is negative as well and the bidens told cnn they are getting tested, karen pence and vice president testing negative. steve: yeah, indeed, we will keep you posted. also the september job's report just released at 8:30 eastern

time. 661,000 jobs were added last month beating -- actually in the prompter beating or missing economists expectations, unclear which one that is but nonetheless, that's the number. brian: i think it's short. i think it's short. i bet they were hoping for 800. unemployment rate at 7.9%. that's good, it dropped below 8 for the first time in a long time. that's -- the unemployment rate drops down. they are hoping for a few more jobs than that. stuart varney, what number were you looking for and what was your re-- what's your reaction to 660,000? stuart: that's allow number. that's disappointing. we were hoping for a lot more than that, maybe 800,000. we came in at 661,000 new jobs. now, this tells you something about the state of the economic recovery. we were hoping for massachusetts

-- much bigger number to show it was stronger, we got less than what we were expecting and therefore that throws into some doubt just how strong the economic recovery is. one more point on this, at the moment we've got this discussion about do we need another stimulus plan, an aid plan for the virus going through congress. when we have a weak number like this on the job's report, you can say that that adds to pressure to get the money out there, have congress agree to some kind of new stimulus package. it adds impetus to that movement towards putting more money out there. as such, it's probably something that the market, the stock market is going to like, but the overriding factor on the market is the president testing positive for the virus. that throws into confusion and more chaos the election process and we wonder when will the president get back to work, what kind of interruption would the government business we will be seeing because of the positive test. but the good point here is that

the unemployment rate has come down to 7.9%. that's a really strong performance because we were about 15% in the middle of the crisis back in the summer. we cut it all the way down to 7.9. that's the good news. the shortfall and job creation is the bad news. i noticed right-hand corner of your screen we are down 360 on the dow industrials and that's pretty much where we were before the numbers were released. steve: sure, but we should also point out, of course, the circumstances have changed overnight, but, you know, the stock market has been up and down, mainly down over the last 2 weeks because people on wall street have been waiting for the deal between nancy pelosi and the white house. stuart: that and election chaos. you throw in the president's positive test on the virus, that is a negative for the election. we don't know what the president can do in the next couple of weeks to go out and campaign,

how fast will he recover. i suspect that the future of wall street, the future of your money depends a lot on the severity of the president's illness, how fast it takes for him to come out of it and voter reaction to his positive tests, will it swing things more towards joe biden or will there be a sympathy vote for the president. that's uncertainty. the market hates uncertainty. ainsley: at the bottom of the screen we have the job's number in september. what are those jobs that are coming back? i know florida reopened 100%. restaurants in new york are now opened but that doesn't affect the numbers because -- that will affect october numbers. stuart: that's a pretty small impact on job's numbers. i will say this, i think that because the president has tested positive, you might see people be much more cautious about

going back to restaurants or wherever. that would tend to slow down the reopening of the economy, slow down the economic recovery. that's just a thought off the top of my head. that's how people may react to the president's positive test. brian: if you're in hotel, restaurant business, transportation, it's terrible. stuart: terrible. brian: you can't get off your back unless you open up the doors and people are going to have to negotiate that risk personally and professionally but not if your governor or mayor doesn't let you like it's happening here. if it hurts the president's fortunes, wall street says what does a biden administration look like and that means adding states, it means packing the court, if it means good-bye filibuster, if you don't like change, man, you're not going to like that. stuart: a lot of what you said, brian, depends on whether or not the democrat take the senate.

steve: fire wall. brian: if the president loses republicans lose. stuart: you have to wait for the total result. i will say this, if biden wins and the democrats win the senate, you have a real problem here because you have tax increases, a packed court coming, you have all kinds of changes, but if it's just joe biden and the white house and the republicans keep the senate, the damage and i'm making a judgment here, the damage to our society will be a lot less. and don't discount the possibility that trump wins. you can't discount that entirely. you can't. brian: that's why stuart varney has one of the most successful shows in the television. you start in 24 minutes, stuart. steve: bring in another guest, jim jordan, ranking member of the house judiciary committee was on air force with president trump this week, congressman, are you going to get a covid

test today? congressman: yeah, we will get one as soon as i get down to this interview. i just woke up to the news this morning, after the interview we will get tested. after the most important thing is paula and i are praying for the president and first lady and ms. hicks and everyone impacted by the virus. ainsley: are you worried or scared? >> i was only around the president with brief, brief amount of time. ainsley: that might be all it takes, though. congressman: i didn't fly back, i stayed to do tv on fox, so i feel great, i had a great workout yesterday. i feel fine, but, yeah, we will get -- i've been tested -- i was tested tuesday, i've been tested like 13 times but we will get tested again and then we will probably out of caution do the hearing that we have scheduled today i will probably do that virtually from my office, i think that's the safest course

of action. brian: and if you get it, you'll beat it and you're in great shape. congressman: i think the president will beat it. the president beat just about anything been thrown at him in the last 4 years and i think he will beat it too. i think he's a healthy guy and that would be the case with him and first lady and hope hicks. brian: she had mild symptoms on the plane, did you know that she was isolating herself? congressman: i did not. i wasn't around them that much during the whole trip. so i didn't notice anything like that. steve: sure. on this friday morning, mr. jordan, everybody in the west wing is now thinking, you know, i just saw hope hicks yesterday over by the water cooler, we all have to have a test. congressman: yeah. steve: for the most part, i've reached out to a number of white house west wing sources and

officially they are not having anything to say so far on this friday morning. just curious, if you have spoken to anybody at the white house, did they reveal anything that you could publicly tell us? congressman: i typically talk to mr. meadows, i talked to him this week but i have not talked to him since tuesday. i talked to mark some time. i've not talked to him since tuesday night's debate. ainsley: what do you make of all the criticism? when we got up at 3:00 o'clock this morning, social media is already nasty comments about this. congressman: well, what's new? i mean, they've been doing this since before president trump got elected and there's always attacking conservatives, they are always attacking republicans and maybe most importantly they've had a relentless attack on the president. when i've always had back to in

spite of attack that comes from democrat side and everyone on the mainstream press, the president has delivered for the american people and that's why he will get reelected. we've never had a president do as much as he said he would do than this guy. that's what i hear from our constituents and hear helping our colleagues. in spite of of attacks, what he has done for the american people is amazing. steve: no word is out, but meggie from the new york times one minute ago tweeted this out. president trump is said to have minor symptoms, he was lethargic at fundraiser, last night per attendee, they were discussing treatment options as well as addressing the nation. he was exhibiting some sort of

minor symptoms. congressman: yeah, the brief amount of time i was with him on tuesday it sure didn't seem that to me. it seemed to have the same knowledge which was amazing. he had energy during the debate. just yesterday everyone was criticizing for being too -- what's most concerned to me is the president get through this, i think he will. he's a strong individual and that's why we are praying for him and i'm sure the country is praying for him and the first lady as well. brian: polls are one way, overall there's a sense that the american public is going the other way. listen, by nature, you understand you could have plans and then when the match start you have to adjust those plans. for the next 10 to 15 days the president will be on the shelf depending on the severity of the symptoms and this. what's the plan for the republican party if the

president can't lead, big rallies and everything and set the tone and make appearances and what's -- what was the plan, what is the plan? congressman: well, the president has been calling to congressional districts doing these -- these -- these calls where a number of people get on the line and campaigning for our good candidates across the country. he will continue to do that. i mean, look, he has done everything he can to help republicans win and when the president comes in and supports a candidate, that makes a huge difference. his record is like i don't know, he only lost one or two races of all the people he's endorsed. he will continue to do that and do everything he can to help conservatives and republicans across the country just like he has done for the last 4 years. ainsley: if you look at joe biden's twitter account and the last time he tweeted was 12 hours ago and that was the president criticizing him over covid-19 and deaths and unemployment. should he be tweeting out

something immediately this morning even just well wishes for the president? congressman: i don't know, i said this the other night. the other night at the debate, the first thing joe biden should have done is say he's running for president. i think he closed off his campaign at 9:30 in the morning. look, it doesn't surprise me he hasn't said anything for 12 hours. he goes days after days, he gets up and has cup of coffee and calls it a day. i don't think that's unusual. that's up to joe biden and his team on how they run their campaign. the president has run his campaign -- even with the virus, he will still be out communicating and talking to the american people via zoom, via telephone like he's done for house candidates across the country. steve: the governor of michigan put out a statement that the president testing positive for coronavirus should, quote, serve as a wake-up call to every single american, virus doesn't

care if you're rich, poor, republican or democrat, no one is immune, not even the president. clearly with 32 days before the election congressman the number 1 issue going forward with the president having covid is going to be covid. congressman: yeah, i mean, look, it's always been an issue and it'll continue to be obviously with -- with the president's situation, but, you know, the president has handled this thing, i think, from the get-go. when he took decisive action early on and criticized by the left, criticized by pelosi and criticized by biden and individuals on the other side, it was right direction that he took. it's nothing new. they've been doing it since he came down the escalators and they've been doing in 2016 since they launched the russia investigation. i think the american people

appreciate this president's record of cutting taxes, reducing regulations, growing our economy. prior to the virus, strongest economy we've had, lowest unemployment in 50 years. all to have foreign policy wins, doing what he said, out of the paris climate accord, embassy in jerusalem, hostages home from north korea. the courts, i mean, you got gorsuch and kavanaugh on the court and amy coney barrett on deck. in the end the american people will appreciate that and that's what going to carry when he wins. brian: joe biden says he's the worst president we've ever had. jim jordan, a day we will never forget. the military reassuring that president trump remains commander in chief in attempt to ease national security concerns, let's bring in the best fox news senior strategic analyst general jack keane.

general keane, former green beret looks for the president to have a strong message, we have to show that we are not vulnerable to north korea, iran, russia, all those who wish us harm. jack: i think that's a bit of an overstatement to be frank about it, but look, our adversaries have been taking advantage of covid-19. they also recognize that the united states is somewhat distracted by a presidential election, so the chinese communist party stepped up their activities in the pacific bullying our allies to a degree that we hadn't seen quite recently and russia has moved in to belarus under the guys of military exercise, they got airborne forces there and keep rotating them there and attempting i think with some success that belarus will be in

their orbit. all of this has been going on. the iranians have stepped up activities weeks ago, actually months ago to drive the united states out of iraq. they've got the proxies attacking us on a regular basis, secretary pompeo is threatening to pull the embassy out of baghdad as a result of it. so our adversaries are there. there's nothing new here. dealing with this commander in chief who we wish him well, our prayers go out to him and his wife, if his symptoms stay pretty much what they are, maybe minor, at worst, there will be no disruption in his activity in terms of running the government of the united states. look, brian, so the american people understand, the -- the united states has embassies, diplomatic posts around the world in virtually every country except a few and the united states military is in over 100 countries, our ships are at seas and intelligence service

operating 24/7, full throttle. none of that will be disrupted. the secretary of defense is in africa, the secretary of state is in europe. they are about the nation's business. this government is going on. and if the president gets sick to the point where he can't perform his duties, we have an incredible succession plan where the vice president takes over that. i hope that doesn't happen. i don't think it will happen to be frank about it. steve: i tell you what, general, while you were talking right there, the former vice president who is the president's opponent just tweeted out, jill and i send thoughts to president trump and first lady trump for swift recovery and we will continue to pray for the health and safety of his family. he's sending prayers and good wishes just as you did a moment ago. general, can you think of a time in american history where we've been in a similar situation where there's great speculation about the president's health and at this point we have no reason to believe that he will be

incapacitated? jack: the last time we had a serious issue with a president's health is with president eisenhower that led to the 25th amendment and the cabinet believe he can't perform duties and hasn't voluntarily turned over duties to the vice president, they can make the decision for him. that's not going to happen here. i mean, if there was ever an issue dealing with the president's health where we have to be hospitalized and weren't able to perform his duties, he would voluntarily turn them over to the vice president to be sure. but i don't think we are going there to be frank about it. we have a very healthy president here, a very vigorous active president. i think he will be on the phone all the week with foreign leaders like he normally does and also dealing with the -- the business at hand domestically and also dealing with foreign policy and national security routinely and i suspect -- i'm not involved in the campaign at all, that he will find a way to

still be very actively involved in his own campaign for reelection. ainsley: we hope so. hopefully he won't get sick, hopefully he will continue to stay asymptomatic like we heard that he is. what would you tell your soldiers because our country is hurting, we have riots, lost business, fires, racial tensions, we have law enforcement, no matter what side you're on with that issue, we have covid obviously, 200 million plus dying in our country, people had to cancel weddings like steve's daughter and now our president has covid and we are 3 or 4 weeks away from highly-contested election? >> well, dealing with our troops, listen, we've only had 8 troop members, service members die from covid. remarkably low mortality rate, and i think there's only been one active-duty person of that 8 who has passed away and that was

the cement from the teddy roosevelt. some have to be in closed corridors. ainsley: what would you tell them for morale? >> they are part of the greatest militaries ever been put together and they are serving the american people every single day. they -- they deal with danger and threat routinely. i think when covid comes, what they are most concerned about is less about themselves but more about their families which is normally not at risk when they are putting their lives on the line to protect the country in a foreign land. so i think that's really the issue that -- that weighs on our service members particularly those who are away and they are not able to see their families on a regular basis, that they are protected and they are not going to contract the disease. but other than that, their performance out there, they are

leaning into the mission and they draw great satisfaction from what they do every single day that most american people don't get to see and they feel good about who they are and what they are doing. brian: general, we are monitoring the president's condition and looking at the economic numbers but i think about what you must be thinking knowing over the last 3 and a half years the pentagon got some attention and they got some money and they were able to build up again, if you have a change in leadership, there's a much different philosophy. there's expensive programs. guess where they go to finance programs, right to defense. do you worry of a hollowed out armed forces down the line, politics aside? jack: i'm always concerned about it, to be frank about it this, democrats and republicans have both taken risk with the united states' military's budget.

that was before the collapse of the soviet union. so this is as always given us concerns. we are on the right path now. we have a long way to go to catch up to the advances that china in particular has made and russia is making now to make certain that we have, remember, an effective deterrence. we are not looking for conflict. we want to have a deterrence so that we don't have conflict and that has proven itself through 40 years of standing up for -- to thesoever yet -- soviet union and, of course, you have to have those weapons in the event our adversaries do decide that conflict is in their national interest, we have to be able to respond effectively to protecting the american people. steve: thank you, general, for responding to the breaking news that the president and the first lady have tested positive for covid. still very, very significant problem for the country here in the united states, 200,000

people, plus have died so far. general, thank you very much. jack: yeah. steve: meanwhile dial in dr. nicole saphier, fox news medical contributor. dr. saphier since we saw you last in the program, maggie of "the new york times" says the president is said to have minor symptoms, he was lethargic at the fundraiser in bedminster, new jersey, not far from where you are according to an attendee. "the new york times" also said that the voice was raspy but that would be from all the speaking. what do you make of the suggestion that he has minor symptoms? doctor: well, steve, i would say that being tired, lethargic and having a raspy voice go along with campaigning like he's doing right now, so i'm more interested to hear if there's any fever, if he's lost his ability of smell or taste, those are a little bit more specific, but that being said, the raspy

voice and being tired may be symptoms of covid-19 and may not be. the good news is it does sounds as of right now they are extremely mild. we have expectation that potusa and flotus will recover. the risk of severe illness is there which is why it's important to make sure that he's under intense scrutiny from medical professionals and they are an top of all of the symptoms. ainsley: as far as taste is concerned, he put out a picture of eating the mcdonalds, so there was no word that he couldn't taste it but maybe that's changed. can people test negative to this test if they had it? doctor: absolutely, ainsley. it depends. there's certain variables that give you accuracy with these tests, certain things -- if you

test too soon, before you're exposed and depends on manufacturing and whether they jabbed the swab up and got a good sample. there are many variables. brian: can you tell me about the journey of the virus? if you get it could that be a path to first symptoms or the symptoms that carry through? doctor: brian, that's a great question. the president has 3 things working against him, one his age, also the fact that he is mildly obese, bmi is 30.1, that's the very lowest end of obesity, but it is still considered obese and also the fact that he's a male. males tend to have more severe illness than females. that being said, often times you can start with very mild symptoms and they can become severe, whether it's because their lungs don't function as well or involves the heart, you know, there's many variables,

brian. with that being said, it's important to keep a close eye and it's important to not be eating mcdonalds now or limiting that always. [laughter] doctor: making sure you're eating healthy diet, vitamin, d and vitamin c and zinc and make sure you get water intake. rest is crucial during this time. steve: sure. it's always good. i know that we have been speculating a lot over the last 3 hours because so few details are known for sure. i'm sure we will get an update later on. but just kind of walk us through the timetable because right now everybody is going, oh, the president has got covid, what will happen with the debate. let's say he has mild symptoms, at what point do they start testing him and at what point do they say, you're on the clear and you can go see joe biden on the stage? doctor: great, question, steve. right now it seems that the president was traveling with hope picks wednesday or thursday and hope picks tested positive

so it's likely that's his contact, that's probably how he contracted the virus. hopefully they are doing some aggressive contact tracing to identify to make sure that that's his timeline. with that being said, since testing positive he's going to isolation and isolation will usually last 10 to 14 days and originally 14 days. the cdc has scaled it back to 10 days worth of isolation as long as you have two negative tests and you are symptom free. that being said, it'll be -- you'll have to watch him to see if the symptoms do progress, if they stay mild like this, and then he has two negative tests at the end of the 10-day mark, then likely that he would be able to do that debate. but it really will depend on his symptoms. if he develops a fever and symptoms become more severe or prolong outside of the ten-day mark, of course, we will not -- we would encourage him to isolate and not want him to break the isolation if he's still exhibiting symptoms or if he is still testing positive for

the virus. brian: dr. saphier one other thing, we watched the president for the last 4 and a half years, he hasn't had a cold, doesn't that mean something if he's your patient? doctor: well, brian, the majority of people who get covid-19 will be asymptomatic or just mildly symptomatic and even if he had mild symptoms he probably wouldn't pick it up. i'm sure he's had a cold in the last 4 to 5 years. that being said, great news. i have feeling of optimism that he will get through just fine. that being said, we need to air on the side of caution and make sure he's being extremely healthy right now and the doctors are keeping a close eye on him. ainsley: thanks, dr. saphier. doctor: thank you, guys. ainsley: live for 3 hours and no commercial break and we woke up to the news that the president and the first lady have tested

positive.