>> a fox news alert, from walter reed medical center in maryland, where we got an update on the president's health where he remains in the hospital for a third day. doctors saying he could be discharged as soon as tomorrow if his condition continues to improve, noting his oxygen levels dropped for a second time yesterday, requiring doctors to give him a steroid. welcome to a special edition of america's newsroom. the news conference from the president's team of physicians coming after a day of mixed messages on his health. white house chief of staff mark meadows confirmed the president's condition deteriorated following his diagnosis friday. this morning, steve cortez is

giving a more optimistic update. >> what i know is that we have it from the president himself that he's doing well and he is on-task, believe me. there was not one even iota of the president feeling sorry for himself. he said we are going to win this cacampaign. he is still governing as president of the united states, even from the hospital. we're fully confident his recovery will be complete. we begin with kristin fisher, live for us outside walter reed medical center. kristin, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, trace. boy, we just got a whole lot of information about exactly why president trump was brought here on friday. we learned that he has indeed had two drops in oxygen. the president's physician, dr. sean conley, said the first drop happened on friday morning. it coincided with a high temperature. we don't know exactly how high.

you had a spike in temperature, you had a drop in oxygen, and the doctor said that at that time, at the white house, they did give president trump supplemental oxygen for about an hour. this is something that's very common for a lot of people who have the coronavirus, so that in and of itself, not too terribly alarming but it is significant because at almost exactly the same time, you had the white house chief of staff, mark meadows, coming out and talking to reporters and saying quite publicly that the president only had very mild coronavirus symptoms and then of course later in the day they brought him here to walter reed. then it happened again, just yesterday, on saturday the president's oxygen levels dropped again. unclear, though, if yesterday if they gave him supplemental oxygen. the doctor said he would have to check with the nurse on that. but they did give him a drug for this drop in oxygen, decks methadone, gave him the first dose yesterday. the good news, the doctor said president trump is continuing to

improve. they say he is out of bed, walking around. they are encouraging him to be up and active as much as possible. they say that they're going to continue him on that five-day course of remdesivir. but really, trace, i think maybe the biggest surprise to come out of that briefing is that president trump, they are now talking about discharging him from walter reed and letting him go back to the white house tomorrow so some great news there. >> that is big news and significant, kristin. how's the white house explaining the mixed messaging yesterday about the president's condition? >> gosh, i mean, you know, the white house still really -- i mean, a spokesperson from the white house has not gotten in front of the cameras yet and really explained that. we had mark meadows call in to the judge why neo janine last nd with he reiterated, where he said there had been quite a bit of concern about the president's health, really contradicting the

much mormuch more rosey portrf the president's health that was painted yesterday. the doctor just said he believes mark meadows' statement had been misconstrued. unclear exactly how that is, since we were just reading it verbatim. but at least we're getting a lot more clarity today from that briefing with the president's medical team than we did yesterday, trace. >> we're going to talk to white house communications director alyssa ferin to get more information from her. as president trump undergrows treatment, a -- undergrows treatment, a number of staffers and allies have tested positive for the virus, including one of president trump's so-called body men, nick luna, who is married to an assistant to jared kushner. mark meredith is live for us at the white house. do we know how many white house staffers have tested positive?

>> reporter: we don't have a final number. the white house doesn't put out a list every day of who has or hasn't tested positive. john roberts was able to confirm that the president's body man did test positive. for the last several days we've seen the white housework backwards to see who has tested positive and who hasn't. there's a lot of focus on the president who may have contracted the virus from whom, the first lady, where she may have gotten it. the first lady's office said she is resting but doing well. a lot of people are asking whether it was this ceremony that happened last saturday as the president nominated the supreme court nominee, whether or not that may have played a role in spreading the virus. this weekend we haven't seen many staffers inside the west wing. the president's national security advisor says the team has been taking a number of steps to avoid close contact with each other. >> over the past couple days, as this has spread through the west wing, notwithstanding the but yobubble that was created, e

made mask wearing required for staff. i don't think we've had anyone in these ranks at the nfc test positive. >> reporter: it's not just white house staffers you need to be concerned with. three republican senators have tested positive in the last few days. kellyanne conway as well as chris christie both tested positive, are said to be doing okay at this moment. kristie hospitalized himself yesterday. the election less than a month away. do we know how the campaign plans to adjust with the president off the trail? >> reporter: the president was supposed to be in wisconsin yesterday. he was supposed to have multiple events. those were scrubbed. right now, no new travel added that we've seen on his schedule. it looks like the vice president will be doing a campaign event a little bit later on, next week, he's going thursday to arizona.

that follows the debate in salt lake city on wednesday night against senator kamala harris. the campaign says they're doing all they can to make sure they have surrogates in place. >> and the vice president is going to go on with his schedule as planned, to rallies. >> he's going to continue to campaign with an yo abundance of caution. >> the campaign said it's convinced it has the resources it needs to get the president's message out until he get back on the trail. as to when that will be, anyone's guess at this point. >> mark, thank you. for more analysis on the president's condition, let's bring in former cdc director, dr. tom freeden. this is a key time for you to come and talk to us because of just having the doctors with the president kind of going, giving us a news conference. first of all, i want to talk to you about the president's oxygen, blood oxygen saturation levels. we now know two days running

they were at 93. they dropped. they're now at 98. what do you make of that, sir? >> well, if there's one point i would like you to be clear about is that this is a day by day issue. we all hope the president, the first lady, their family will all do well with this, as will all people with it but it's going to have to be monitored day by day. i understand we want to know immediately. what we know so far is he's gotten four different treatments, he's gotten oxygen, monoclonal antibodies, remdesivir and steroids or dexamethasone. that's essentially everything we can give to treat covid. and i think they're taking a no regrets approach, want to make sure you do everything possible to avoid a bad outcome. that's a reasonable, responsible thing to do. it doesn't imply he's very sick. we don't know what the course will be over the coming days. >> let's talk about the newest therapy, dexamethasone, the steroid of you talked about,

sir. that's clearly in relation to the drop in blood oxygen levels for two days in a row. does that concern you? is that standard operating procedure. >> we're learning more about the role of dexamethasone in the treatment of covid. it's the only medicine that's been proven to decrease the death rate for those who are severely ill with covid. many believe it's best to give it late in the course of the disease. it suppresses the immune system. what it looks like is that early on in disease you have the virus attacking you. later on in illness, you have your own immune system attack youing you. the idea is remdesivir and monoclonals early and steroids late. but i'm not the doctor treating him. it's really up to the doctor treating him and the patient himself to make those decisions. >> you bring up a good point. it's usually the dexamethasone, the steroid goes later in the disease when the body is kind of overwhelmed by its own immune

system. are you wondering why deck mentn met season was given to -- -- why dexamethasone was given to the president this early in the course of the disease. >> on the one hand, i don't have access to his medical records. i don't know what the markers of inflammation are, whether they've done a ct scan and whether that shows viral pneumonia. there's a lot we don't know. there's always a balance with how much is shared about a president's health. so i wouldn't in any way want to second guess. but i think it does emphasize, this is a severe disease and to put it in perspective, the president became ill or was diagnosed on thursday. approximately 200,000 other americans also got covid on thursday. 40,000 diagnosed cases, five times as many cases total as diagnosed and sadly, of those 200,000 people, about 1,000 will die from this. so this pandemic is still here and all of the testing in the world doesn't replace safety measures. >> yeah. and i want to point out, you talk about the lung scan,

possibility of pneumonia. the doctors were asked about that, would not elaborate on the lung scans, if they showed lesions or whatever. i want to point out that we also learned the president's fever is down, his vitals are stable, no shortness of breath, he's walking around, cardiac, kidney, liver, normal. he's not on the fourth there -- he's now on the fourth therapeutic. he's eating and drinking. he could be released as early as tomorrow. your final thoughts on how the president is handling this? >> well, he looked great when he walked to the helicopter. he looked very sound when he recorded a message yesterday. so it's encouraging to see him doing so well with this. the five-day course of remdesivir probably won't end until wednesday, usually people would stay in the hospital for that. but we just hope he and others who are affected by this virus will go through a at th stie did complete recovery -- steady and complete recovery. >> doctor, good of you to join

us, sir. thank you so much. >> thank you. ♪ >> meantime, the biden campaign announcing routine coronavirus testing for the former vice president and kamala harris and program missing -- promising to release the results of each test going forward. >> we have been adhering to public health guidance from the beginning of this onset of this pandemic and vice president biden has tested negative. our traveling staff has tested negative. both dr. biden, vice president biden, senator harris, they all traveled on friday but not one person got on the plane until we were sure that everyone was negative. >> jacqui heinrich is live in wilmington, delaware. how is the campaign's covid precautions developed over the past few months? >> reporter: good morning, trace. this is a step beyond the promise that the campaign made back in august, that both the former vice president and

senator kamala harris would be tested regularly and the campaign would make it public if they tested positive. now we can expect to know the results of every test. as the campaign's making an effort towards transparency. it's especially salient heading into the vice presidential debates this week after biden and his guests with exposed to the virus at the first presidential debate and after vice president pence was pictured in the rose garden at the event for judge amy coney barrett with several people who have tested positive for crus. the cleveland clinic told us after last week's debate individuals traveling with the candidates had been tested by their respective campaigns and tested negative. they didn't say whether they asked for proof of negative results and the university of utah which is hosting the vp debate would not say was whether they're allowing the campaigns to conduct their own testing or if they'll involve a third party for testing. the biden campaign said they're comfortable steps are being taken to ensure safety. >> we have every expectation that the debate commission takes all necessary precautions to

ensure that everybody who attends the debate is safe. obviously that includes distancing, includes a requirement on masks provided that all of those expectations are met, yes, absolutely, we look forward to any opportunity for senator harris and for joe biden to make their case directly to the american people. >> reporter: the commission did make one noticeable difference. they have agreed to separate the candidates during the debate from seven feet, expanding that space to 12 now, trace. >> and jacqui, despite the former vice president possibly being exposed to coronavirus at the debate, the biden campaign has no plans to scale down travel whatsoever? >> reporter: yeah, they say they're doing it safely. they say that before anyone gets on a plane, they are tested and test negative. biden was not tested yesterday. however, he also didn't travel yesterday. he's being tested today ahead of a planned trip to miami tomorrow for a town hall we will be

socially distanced. trace. >> jacqui heinrich live for us in wilmington, delaware. fox news will have special coverage on wednesday night, leading up to and following the vice presidential debate, the faceoff between senator kamala harris and vice president mike pence kicks off at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. and as we keep an eye on president trump's condition at walter reed medical center, we zero in on the white house's mixed messages about his health to the american people. a former assistant to one president reacts. and mike pence picking up some slack for the president on the campaign trail as he continues to recover. but will it have the same impact with their supporters? it's the baseball playoffs right now, he's on the dl right now but very, very shortly he's going to be back in the game throwing 95-mile-an-hour fast balls, you can count on that.

trace>> operation maga is someg we're ready to launch. the vice president's debate is next wednesday. leading up to the vp's debate we're going to have a big virtual evidenc event on monday. after the vp's debate we're

going to send out pretty much all of the big characters from the maga universe. trace: that's trump campaign communications director, tim mor mortau laying out details. vice president mike pence and several trump family members will visit key battleground states to rally support for the president. pence is set to take place in events in salt lake city and arizona, in addition to wednesday's debate. critics say the vp is taking too big a chance as he hits the road with health experts saying he's not completely in the clear after being exposed to coronavirus. let's bring in the chief political reporter for the los angeles times. it's great to see you. i want to point out that the trump campaign believes it is going to be firing on all cylinders with operation maga. the campaign manager, who by the way has also tested positive for coronavirus, said the following here. operation maga will fire up the

entire maga universe to keep president trump's campaign at full speed until our commander in chief returns to the campaign trail. vice president mike pence, the first family, our coalitions and our grass roots supporters will be out in force to show the real enthusiasm behind the president's re-election and to show that we are working as hard as he always does. i guess the question here is that you you've got surrogates of out there, the vice president and members of the family. does it energize the crowds? does it bring out the crowds the way the president does? >> i mean, some of the surrogates are very popular. you look at don june quare junis the crowds. the president is the main draw. we've seen this across past campaigns. if people wanted to see barack obama, joe biden excited people, barack obama excited peel. mitt romney excited people. the only exception is in 2008 when sarah palin really drew

crowds. people want to see the leader of the free world or the person who wants to become the next leader of the free world. it will be interesting to see if mike pence creates as much enthusiasm. trace: the enthusiasm may not be as hot. do you think maybe because of the president being incapacitated, because the president is sick, maybe his base and supporters become more energized and as a tribute to him they show up, they do more, they take it upon themselves to get this campaign going? do you see that scenario unfolding at all? >> i mean, we do see messages of support and well wishes all across the country, in social media. in los angeles we have small gatherings where people had signs on her cars saying they're thinking about the president, wishing him a speedy recovery. i think for his supporters it engenders sympathy and a he desire to help the campaign. the question is what does it mean for undecided voters, how does it play out for that. trace: the trouble with not

knowing is the fact that we won't know for at least another week until they start doing more polling and stuff, we won't know if the strategy of sending out the surrogates will actually benefit or it will hurt or how much it will hurt. so that's critical time. you lose another week, we're talking about you're down 20, 22 days before the election. do you have time to alter course at this point. >> people are already voting right now. the election has already -- it already is election day. it turned into election month. the question is how long is the president hospitalized. we heard from the medical team he might get out as early as tomorrow. when will he feel well enough to go on the campaign trail. what will events look like? people were at huge events, shoulder to shoulder, not many people were wearing masks. there's a lot of questions about what will this look like going forward. trace: i think at the very least, he'll have to quarantine

until the end of next week at the soonest. i want to put up this poll. it shows that joe biden is now leading by 14 percentage points. that's from september 30th to october 1st is when that was taken. and it is concerning because that's a widening of the gap for joe biden. your thoughts on that poll? >> well, that said, hillary clinton was leading by a similar margin in national polls four years ago. we know what happened there. i think it's still a little early. it's going to come down to the battleground states as it always does. in ohio, it looks like the former vice president has grade and ground in michigan and which iwisconsin he needs to dig into states like florida and pennsylvania, to try to predict what's going to happen. trace: i want to put this up on the screen. the same poll had his this underlying theme, men 50 of years and older moved from a 13 point advantage to trump in the pre-debate poll to a 1 point

advantage for biden in this latest poll. your final thoughts on this? >> we're seeing his core supporters, in recent polls, we've seen some of the people that were the most passionate supporters of the president decreasing, particularly among working class white men and women. if he loses large numbers of these people, it's hard to see him winning re-election. trace: thank you for getting up with us this morning. the coronavirus forcing the nfl to call several awe audibles wih their schedule this weekend, with more teams including the pay trotpatriots seeing at lease case of coronavirus. plus, the white house facing a credibility crisis as mixed messages on the status of president trump's health raise concerns about transparency. >> i came here, wasn't feeling so well. i feel much better now. we're working hard to get me all

the way back. i have to be back. because we still have to make america great again. >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story.

this couple was on a camping trip... ...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ new projects means you need to hire.gers. i need indeed. indeed you do.

the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. trace: as we stay on the president's p conditio conditior reed, some other headlines this hour. a south carolina police officer killed during a gunfight in myrtle beach last night. another officer was injured. top aides to texas' attorney general calling for the state to investigate claims that he took bribes and abused office, among other crimes. the office saying the complaint was filed to stonewall an ongoing investigation into some public officials including some of his employees. the parent company of regal cinemas says its will close all 543 locations in the united states and the united kingdom, at least temporarily. the company reportedly making the decision after the makers of the latest james bond film

decided to delay its release until next year. that decision put impacting more than 5,000 workers on the line. and a fox news alert. today's nfl game between the patriots and the chiefs pushed back to monday night after two players tested positive for covid-19. cam newton is the only new england player to get infected. christina coleman has all the details, live from the west coast newsroom. what can you tell us about rescheduling that game? >> reporter: this is all so fluid. the plan is to have the patriots, chiefs game tomorrow pending negative covid-19 test results. both teams are going to be tested tomorrow as well. newton was the only player to test positive on the patriots. he immediately entered self quarantine. the chiefs, a practice squad quarterback on the team tested positive. as for the tennessee titans covid outbreak, that ongoing

situation, the titans would have played the steelers today but now that game is postponed until week seven. fox sports is reporting that two more people in the titans organization have tested positive, bringing the total now to 20. the nfl and the players association are reviewing whether the team followed protocols. now, the new orleans saints, detroit lions game will start in about a half hour after a false positive gave the saints quite a scare but that game is still on. trace. trace: christina, the league is reportedly trying to get kind of things under control after these new cases threw a wrench in the schedule. >> yeah, that's right, trace. the nfl is set to hold a call tomorrow with general managers and coaches. nfl officials are going to try to drive in the message that they want to finish the season and no one can be complacent. they're going to try to push the message that protocols aren't failing, people are. they hope this serves as a

wakeup calls for coaches, gms and players across the league. trace: christina, thank you. >> w he had a fever and his bd oxygen level had dropped rapidly but he's made unbelievable improvements from yesterday morning, when i know a number of us, the doctor and i were very concerned. trace: white house chief of staff mark meadows yesterday detailing serious concerns about the president's health. his remarks contradicted the roseyer assessment white house physicians gave, raising questions bouts transparency and whether the administration can be trusted when it comes to the president's health status. with us now is brad blakeman. he was an advisor to the push, cheney campaign. brad, it's always great to see you. kristin fisher was saying at the top of the broadcast, we have not had the white house come out and kind of clear the deck and set the record straight, kind of

giving us a point by point. why not, brad? why in you assessment would the white house not come out and say, okay, here's where we stand? >> because the doctors did it. i think the doctors have done a great job. everybody should stay in their lane. if you're not a doctor and you're a staffer and you're not competent to talk about the medical condition of the president, then you leave it to the professionallings. i really don't see much of a difference as to what the chief of staff said to what the doctors said. maybe he was alarmed because as a layman, any time you see somebody who is so robust getting oxygen, they may be more concerned than the clinical people who are treating the president. after all, you talk about the nfl. when we see a robust quarterback go on the sidelines and take oxygen, nobody is concerned about whether he's going to be able to finish the game. the fact is, they have been transparent. i think satisfactorily. but it always helps when people stay in their lane and their core competency and leave it to the medical professionals to give us the kind of information that we're entitled to in

assessing the president's health. trace: you say stay in their lane and leave it to the medical professionals but even dr. sean conley came out this morning, brad, and said, well, listen, you know, i didn't give you all the information yesterday because i was trying keep the president's upbeat theme going here. what did you think about that response from dr. conley? >> well, again, i think that he corrected the record but what the doctor omitted or didn't tell us was not material to the president's condition. it was incidental. receiving oxygen wit when the president has such high blood oxygen levels is not extraordinary. i'm not a doctor. how do i know that? because that's what the doctors have told us. trace: yeah. i don't know if we had this to put on the screen. i want to read this from the wall street journal. it roods in part, americans want to know the truth about the president's health which bears on current governance and election in a month. the white house needs to reassure americans not with happy talk but with daily medical briefings that are

candid and complete. what d do you think? >> i think the editorial is unnecessary. i think that's exactly what the white house is doing. i know what i saw other day when the president got on the helicopter. there was no difference in his gait, his demeanor, he gets on, he gets off. they did a photo release of him working in the hospital. this all jives. ism waiting for the conspiracy people to say maybe there's a body double, that wasn't the president who got in the helicopter. in an election cycle that's so close to the election, there's always people who are armchair doctors and they're unreliable. let's listen to the professionals. the president has the best doctors in the world caring for him, both at the white house and at walter reed. trace: i think you're exactly right on the whole mixed message as thing, being a bill overblown. mark meadows, he was talking about the president's health and he came out and said some things that people were astounded about andeand then it turns out the dr said he was pretty much right

and we didn't really want to build that up because we're trying to keep things optimistic. and the question is, is mark meadows though still in the doghouse for coming out and saying those things? we know the president wasn't all that pleased with the way things transpired yesterday. >> look, it's a lesson for everyone. let the doctors tell us what the president's course of treatment is, what his long-term assessment is. look, the best news that we can have from the doctors today is the president's likely to return to the white house tomorrow. that certainly wouldn't be the case if he was needing to remain in the hospital. the president has the ability to have a medical unit to continue his course at the white house. i have seen no change in the fact that the president is working as we speak at walter reed which the doctors are encouraging. trace: i wonder, brad, if that's why the president kind of released that video, that formative video statement last night. was the president saying you

know what, i'm going to handle this? let's not have the white house come out, i'm going to handle this, i'm going to tell you exactly how i'm feeling. what do you think? >> there's nothing better than hearing it directly from the president in his own words. the fact is, if he was unable to communicate, he wouldn't have done it. so this all jives with the medical assessments, the reports that we're getting from his doctors. trace: brad blakeman, always good to see you, sir. thank you for coming on. >> thanks, trace. trace: the governor of texas now facing some backlash after he signed an order limiting each county to just one ballot dropoff site, critics saying the move is suppressing the vote. a clerk in one of those counties reacts to the measure, next. ♪ but i like it, i love it, i want some more of it ♪ ♪ i try so hard, i can't rise above it ♪ ♪ don't know what it is ♪ ♪ get a dozen double crunch

shrimp for one dollar with any steak entrée. only at applebee's.

....how to ensure your vote counts......because of covid-19 presidential election, with any steak entrée. ......polling locations ......confusion is high..

(fisherman vo) how do i register to vote? (working mom vo) i think i'm already registered. ...hmm!...hmm!...hmm! (woman on porch vo) can we vote by mail here? (man on porch vo) lemme check. (woman vo) thank you! (man vo) thank you! (grandma vo) you'll be safe, right? (daughter vo) yes! (four girls vo) the polls! voted! (grandma vo) go out and vote! it's so important! (man at poll vo) woo! (grandma vo) it's the most important thing you can do! to stir that fire, university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in scholarships through this month.

see what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix.edu. >> harris county stretches over nearly 2,000 square miles. to drive from the northwest part

of the county to our election headquarters where we stand at this very moment is over 50 miles. to force hundreds of thousands of seniors and voters with disabilities here in harris county and millions of voters across the state of texas to use a single dropoff location in these massive counties is not only prejudicial, but it's dangerous. trace: democrats in texas crying foul after governor greg abbott signed an order last week that allows only one satellite early voting office to remain open in each county. now two civil and voting rights groups are suing abbott in federal court, arguing the bill puts a burden on texans' voting rights. let's bring in dana dubois, clerk in travis county. dana, thank you for joining us. we very much appreciate it. the whole thing is if you don't want to mail in your ballot in texas you can drop it off at a dropoff site. the democrats are complaining, saying we've been promoting dropoff sites for weeks and weeks and now the governor comes

out and saying we're getting rid of all of them except for one in each county and they say that puts a heavy burden on voters. what do you think? >> good morning. well, i am concerned about this ill-timed decision because since july 27th, the governor has told everybody that this is the way we're going to approach elections. we're going to offer these option of ofs for voters who are concerned about going inside in person and who are also concerned about the damage done to the post office. so harris and travis county already started using these facilities. voters were actively participate aing, when the governor suddenly and abruptly canceled the use for this and the legality of his decision is in question. so i'm very concerned that this is deliberate disruption. and we're surprised that the governor would do this. trace: yeah, the governor's

response is, you know, and the governor's people say people can still mail these things in. on the flip side, the governor says this in a statement, i'm quoting here. because of covid-19, the governor's executive order increased the time period during which voters can submit their nail mail-in ballot in person to include any time leading up to election day. that time period did not exist under current law. so in the governor's defenses saying, look, i'm giving you all kinds of time. you've got instead of one day, you've got 30 some odd days or 20 some odd days to drop off your ballot. is that a valid defense? >> no. no, it isn't. because the thing that makes people want to cast a ballot by mail, the motivation is that they don't want to have to go inside. so opening up additional days for in-person early voting does not address the concern. trace: what about those -- the lawsuit says this. it says the impact of this 11th hour decision is mo

momentous, targets older voters and voters with disabilities and results in wide variation in access to dropoff locations, depending on the county a voter resides in. the other side says people with disabilities and older voters primarily will post their ballot and they will mail it in, they're not going to dropoff spots, they're mailing their ballots in by and large and a polls tend to support that. older voters, voters with disabilities, will mail their ballots in, they're not driving 15, 20 miles to a dropoff spot. >> well, i think that's normal circumstances, that's what you would expect. but with the damage done to the post office, i think a lot of these voters are worried that if they put their ballot in the mail, especially if they do it, say, a week or two from now, that it may not arrive in time. that it will overwhelm the post office. so it was a natural move to go to a place where they could hand-deliver. in texas, you can't drop off.

hand-deliver means you stop, you show id, you sign the signature roster, and then you place your ballot in the ballot box. so it isn't a matter of being dropped off. there's an entire procedure that mirrors exactly what goes on inside every other public place. trace: do you find the irony where across much of the country you have republicans, you have the president raising the alarm, sounding the alarm about mail-in ballots, saying that you're going to be late, they're going to be -- now you have in texas some democrats kind of raising the alarm about mail-in ballots saying, well, they could be late, just because of this specific thing the governor did. so there's this dik dichotomy of republicans saying mail union ballots could be a problem and democrats in texas saying, yep, they could be a problem. >> i don't think it's going to be a problem. it is incumbent upon all of us who conduct elections to scramble if we have to, to protect voters' rights and that's what everybody is doing

with this sudden decision. the main thing is that the larger counties are the ones that needed multiple sites because we need the capacity. there are probably 500,000 people who are going to vote in this election, just here in travis county. i can't set up one site and a then assume it's going to be overloaded and the lines will be too long. that's not proper service to voters. so what we want to do is expand our capacity, even if it is only at one location, to try to counter what the governor has done. trace: we also should point out the democrats are angry because they believe the most populated counties are democratic strongholds in texas. do you have an idea when there might be resolution on this lawsuit or some rulings? what do you think? >> yes, i believe we'll see some action by the courts about october 16th. that's still a little bit late but it helps us with the critical period, which is later

in the by-mail voting process. trace: dana, good of you to join us. thank you. >> my pleasure. trace: well, several senate republicans infected with covid-19 possibly threatening the confirmation of judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. what top senators are you now ng about the timeline. >> i feel very comfortable that she has the votes, we'll be confirmed the last week of october. people were afraid i was contagious. i felt gross. it was kind of a shock after i started cosentyx. four years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. learn more at cosentyx.com.

trace: despite two senators on the judiciary committee testing positive for covid-19, committee chairman lindsey graham says the confirmation process for president trump's supreme court nominee will move forward. >> the virus is serious. but we have to move on as a nation. we're going to have a hearing for amy barrett, the nominee to the supreme court. it will be done safely. but i've got a job to do and impressing on. trace: lauren blanchard is live for us at the cathedral of saint matthew in washington, d.c. where the annual red mass celebrating members of the legal profession wrapped up a short time ago. lauren. >> reporter: trace, saint matthew's red mass is always held the sunday before the supreme court begins a new term.

it's a time to pray over judges, justices, attorneys and those in public office. >> bring your faith into the public arena. and be authentic witnesses of christ's saving action in the world. >> reporter: due to the pandemic, this service was by invitation only. this year, chief justice john roberts and justice brett kavanaugh arrived quietly and off camera. this particular mass comes as the nation's highest court will begin their term with only eight justices. the nation still mourning the death of justice ruth bader ginsburg. republican senators are hoping to fill the seat as soon as possible as covid-19 concerns are growing. on the senate judiciary committee, senator josh holly tested negative but mike lee and thom tillis have tested positive. chairman lindsey graham says the october 12 confirmation hearing for judge amy coney barrett is moving forward even though democrats want to delay due to the virus.

>> there is no reason on god's green earth why these shouldn't be delayed other than an effort to rush a witness through in an inadequate hearing. >> i feel very comfortable she has the votes, she'll be confirmed the last week of october. some of the democrats have said they don't want to participate. maybe that will speed up the whole process and we can do it earlier. >> reporter: and the supreme court's term begins tomorrow and like mass today it will be available to the public via live stream. trace. trace: lauren blanchard live for us live in washington. thank you. doctors giving an update on president trump's health as he continues treatment for covid-19. details on his condition and how his diagnosis could impact the 2020 race, next.

>> late friday morning when i returned to the bedside, the president had a high fever and oxygen saturation dipping below 94%. given the two developments i was concerned of possible progression of the illness. i recommend the president try supplemental oxygen. >> white house doctor 90 minutes ago finally answering questions about the president's condition before he went to walter reed medical center on friday. but also saying the president is improving so rapidly he could be discharged and back at the white house as early as tomorrow. that despite his oxygen levels

dipping twice over the last 2 days. welcome to brand-new hour of special edition of america's newsroom. i'm grace gallagher, conflicting messages out of the white house yesterday when chief of staff mark meadows said the president's condition had declined following his coronavirus diagnosis. kristin fisher live outside walter reed medical center with more. good morning, kristin. kristin: hey, trace, we definitely got more answers today than we did yesterday. overall president trump is doing well according to his doctors but we also learned today about 2 episodes of transient dropped in oxygen saturation. the first time it happened was on friday morning and coincided with high fever and doctors worried of possible progression of the virus and put him on supplemental oxygen at the white house for about an hour and the second time was yesterday here at walter reed.

>> yeah, yesterday there was another episode