influencer now because i'm going to buy some cranberry juice. right now on "america this morning," the covid-19 outbreak at the white house growing. another top aide to the president testing positive just hours after we learn most of the nation's top military leaders have entered quarantine. overnight new details on how often president trump has been tested and what we've learned about tonight's vice presidential debate. also breaking overnight, separating families at the border. new revelations about the government's zero tolerance immigration policy. a watchdog reveals why former attorney general jeff sessions was quoted saying, quote, we need to take away children. bracing for delta. thousands of americans scramble to escape a massive hurricane taking aim at cancun as the

american gulf coast prepares for yet another blow. plus, changes at the pet score. the controversial item for dogs that will no longer be sold. unusual punishment. why inmates at one jail say they were tortured by a children's song. and this morning, paying tribute to two beloved musicians. ♪ i can see clearly now >> from johnny nash to rock legend eddie van allen. ♪ go ahead and jump, jump >> a look back at what made both so special. good wednesday morning, everyone. we are just hours away from tonight's vice presidential debate and the number of coronavirus cases linked to the president and his inner circle is growing. >> at least 24 people have tested positive so far. among the latest is the president's top aide, stephen miller. also this morning nearly all of the joint chiefs of staff are in

quarantine. >> president trump has been tweeting in recent hours attacking his own fda for following s onvaine, he eelast s to americans a $1,200 stimulus check even though he called off negotiations on a stimulus bill yesterday. >> we'll get to all the details but we begin with the growing covid-19 outbreak linked to the white house. this morning, stephen miller, a senior aide to president trump has become the 24th person connected to the white house to test positive for covid-19. his wife, katie miller, vice president mike pence's communications director, has now left salt lake city where the stage is set for tonight's vice presidential debate. the plexiglas between the two candidates now installed. senator kamala harris requested the protection due to coronavirus concerns. the pence campaign after signaling it was against the plexiglas now says if such a barrier is critical for the harris team, then we're not going to let it stand in the way. this morning covid-19 also breaching the pentagon. all but one of the joint chiefs of staff are now working from home after the vice commandant of the coast guard tested positive.

abc's martha raddatz calling it unprecedented. >> even after 9/11 when the building was hit by an an airliner, they worked out of the pentagon. it is humiliating to have our nation's highest military officials all confined to their homes, and you can bet our adversaries are getting a good laugh out of it. >> reporter: the pentagon insists there is no change to the operational readiness or mission capability of the u.s. armed forces. among the other cases at the white house, one of the president's military aides who carries the so-called nuclear football, plus a presidential valet and another staffer in the press office. >> we have precautions in the residence, and we have ways that we can interact with him in a safe way with ppe and at a distance. we are doing the people's business. we're just carrying it on in a safe way. >> the exact status of the president's condition right now is unclear. white house doctors only saying yesterday that trump reported no symptoms as he attacked the fda. the president accused the agency of carrying out a political hit job after fda officials tightened their safety standards

for vaccinemakers making it unlikely that a vaccine will be ready by election day, and there are new questions about how often the president was tested for covid-19 before being diagnosed with the virus. according to "the new york times," the president was not tested every day. a senior administration official saying trump was tested only regularly. his doctors have repeatedly dodged questions about when the president last tested negative. >> do you remember when he had his last negative test? >> i don't want to go backwards. >> when was his last negative test, and what was his viral load? >> everyone wants that. >> as for tonight's vice presidential debate in salt lake city, there won't be any opening or closing statements, and there will be ten minutes of discussion per topic. president trump is calling on congress to approve billions of dollars for airlines and small businesses after abruptly ending talks for a coronavirus relief package. his announcement to halt negotiations after the election sent stocks tumbling tuesday, and it came hours after federal reserve chairman jerome powell said a relief bill was essential for an economic recovery. overnight the president also

tweeted that he wants a stand-alone bill to send another round of $1,200 stimulus checks immediately. he said, quote, i am ready to sign right now. are you listening, nancy referring, of course, to house speaker nancy pelosi. and breaking overnight, the trump administration's policy on separating families at the border is once again in the spotlight. "the new york times" reports former attorney general jeff sessions ordered authorities to, quote, take away the children of parents suspected of crossing into the u.s. illegally. abc's andrew dymburt has those details. good morning, andrew. >> reporter: and good morning. back in 2018 the trump administration received international outcry for its zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration, and now some former top members of the department of justice are accused of being a driving force behind the policy that separated families at the border. overnight "the new york times" published a preliminary report from an inspector general who investigated the administration's policy. the report says during a phone call back in may 2018, then

attorney general jeff sessions told federal prosecutors that, quote, we need to take away children, and he added, if immigrants care about kids, don't bring them in. we won't give amnesty to people with kids. the inspector general's report also noted that sessions repeatedly distanced himself from the policy in public citing an interview from june 2018 when he told a canadian news station that, quote, we never really intended to separate children. now, the report also claims that sessions and former deputy attorney general rod rosenstein pushed to separate parents from their children even as infants. in a statement rosenstein insisted he never ordered anyone to prosecute a case. now, according to the aclu, about 5,000 families have been separated at the border. it is unclear how many of those families are still separated. the organization calls the trump administration's policy, quote, child abuse. kenneth, mona. >> all right, andrew dymburt there live in washington, thank you. facebook says it's cracking down on all pages and groups

linked to a qanon conspiracy theory. the company says all accounts that represent qanon whether they promote violence or not will be removed. critics say the crackdown may be too little too late. thousands of americans are taking shelter in cancun as one of the biggest storms to ever hit that region slams the shore. hurricane delta has just been downgraded to a category 3, but it's set to become the record tenth named storm to make landfall in the u.s. during one season. here's abc's andrea fujii. >> reporter: overnight, thousands of tourists trapped in the bull's-eye as hurricane delta bears down on cancun. >> we're just trying to get out of here. >> reporter: the powerful storm catching vacationers off guard. airports packed as travelers scramble to get out. officials in cancun clearing out more than 30,000 people staying in hotels along the coast. many were moved to these makeshift shelters inland. >> never been to a hurricane area. >> reporter: along the entire coastline, heavy rain, high slamming beaches and now --

>> i am issuing vitorshorere visiting or planning to visit our coastal communities. >> reporter: alabama and louisiana declaring states of some evacuations already under way. >> this storm is already proving to be a much stronger storm than sally. >> reporter: delta is set to make its way up to the gulf coast later this week hitting the louisiana and mississippi coast as a category 2 storm late friday into saturday possibly slamming the same areas recently devastated by hurricanes laura and sally. these floodgates in morgan city, louisiana, being closed. flood barriers also set up in new iberia. >> anyone from port arthur and beaumont over to i'd say right along the alabama state line needs to be on the lookout. >> reporter: wary officials near new orleans even posting this sign asking the famous storm chaser, jim cantore, to stay home. i'm andrea fujii, abc news. >> andrea, thank you. now let's take a look at

your wednesday forecast. as we mentioned, hurricane delta was just downgraded to a category 3 storm, but it's expected to get stronger again. the newest forecast has it slamming into the louisiana coast late friday as a category 2 or weak category 3 hurricane. checking the radar, dry across most ofhe country. rain in new england and florida today. looking at high temperatures, new york and boston hit the 70s. most of the south will be in the 80s. 103 in phoenix. coming up, one of america's favorite desserts is getting a new name. but first, caught on camera, a young girl is kidnapped on the street. the news overnight about the suspect now under arrest. and the new tributes overnight for a rock 'n' roll legend. gend.

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♪ i can see clearly now the rain has gone ♪ i can see clearly now the rain has gone ♪ houston born singer johnny nash has died. he hit number one in 1972 with "i can see clearly." nash also owned a record label which at one time included bob marley. johnny nash was 80 years old. also this morning tributes to rock legend eddie van halen. a fellow musician calling him a god of the guitar even though van halen could not read music. he learned from watching his music teacher's fingers. ♪ panama, panama ♪ panama, panama >> reporter: he was the guitar god behind those iconic electric riffs that could bridge genres. ♪ beat it, beat it

>> reporter: this morning, one of the most admired electric guitarists in rock history, eddie van halen, being remembered by family, friends and fans after the 65-year-old lost his battle with cancer. ♪ running with the devil i yll about it ♪ >>rmed the band van halen with his brother alex on drums back in 1972 with david lee roth out front on vocals. ♪ might as well jump ♪ go ahead and jump, jump >> reporter: their smash hit "jump" skyrocketed to number one in the summer of '84 and stayed there for weeks, and after a long list of hits -- ♪ i'm hot for teacher >> reporter: -- van halen would become one of the most popular rock acts ever selling 80 million albums worldwide. eddie would go on to explore a solo career though many reunions would follow, and in 2012 "guitar world" magazine ranked

10m number one on its list of me his son wolf who joined van halen as its bassist in 2006 shared the news of the rock legend's passing on twitter writing, quote, he was the best father i could ever ask for. every moment i shared with him on and off stage was a gift while bandmate and friend, david lee roth, posted this photo with the caption, quote, what a long, great trip it's been. back in 1980 van halen told "rolling stone," quote, i just want my guitar to make people feel something, and it sure did. other rock stars paid tribute overnight. gene simmons saying, quote, eddie was not only a guitar god but a beautiful soul, and lenny kravitz tweeted, heaven will be electric tonight. coming up, a change in the pet store. what petco will no longer sell deils on co who pointed their gn at protesters outside their mansion. the charges they now face. enough, crohn's. for adults with moderate

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risking viol the governor says he'll pardon them if they're convicted. petco has stopped selling electronic shock collars used to train dogs, and it's calling on its competitors to do the same. petco says shock collars have been shown to increase fear, anxiety and stress in dogs. the pet supply chain says it wants to promote positive reinforcement training instead. eskimo pies are now a thing of the past. the chocolate covered ice cream bars will be renamed edy's pies. the company says -- has acknowledged the word eskimo is considered offensive and derogatory. the rebranded ice cream named for the company's founder will go on sale next year. back now to the coronavirus and concerns about cases being linked to the white house. the president's top aide stephen miller is the latest to test positive and most of the nation's top military leaders are now in quarantine. earlier i spoke with dr. alok patel about the growing concern in washington. dr. patel, let's start with the reporting on how much president trump was tested for covid-19. "the new york times" reports it was not every day, only, quote, regularly.

how significant is that difference, and how important is it to find out when the president last tested negative for covid-19? >> president trump for a long time was saying he was tested every single day, and that's what was keeping them safe and protected, and it was part of their argument for not wearing a mask even though, number one, he may not have been tested that often and, number two, getting tested a lot doesn't exactly protect you from the virus. now, with regards to knowing when he last tested negative, we know that symptoms are likely to pop up about five to seven days after you're positive. so he may have been positive for a longer period of time, which kind of changes how many people may have been infected, who else needs to quarantine, and it all comes down to contact tracing. >> and, doctor, facebook and twitter had to censure comments made by president trump yesterday because of claims about how the flu compares to the coronavirus. we know covid-19 is deadlier, but can you tell our audience what the difference is between their symptoms and time lines? >> they're both respiratory viruses. you can get shortness of breath,

fever, sore throat, shortness of breath, those kind of symptoms, but with covid-19 people are reporting loss of taste or smell and tends to spread more aggressively. also we've seen symptoms that don't even involve the respiratory system, things like strokes and neurologic symptoms. >> and as a medical professional do you think president trump should travel to miami next week for the second debate with rival joe biden, and how much of a difference would it be to have it outside or with plexiglas? >> we know ventilation will lower the potential for the virus to spread. so outdoors would be the best scenario. if they can't do that, i'm sure they could think of a way to increase ventilation, maybe have an open wall, open ceiling, something. the plexiglas will obviously help as well, but the more mitigation the better. but, kenneth, we got to look a little further and make sure transportation to the debate is safe, any type of event surrounding the debate, people are also respecting all the safety rules. >> our thanks to dr. patele. in sporthes ar way from t nba they can wrap it up tomorrow

night right here on abc. coming up, what 30% of people do after watching a horror movie. also ahead, how inmates at one jail say they were tortured by a children's song. making easy work of tough messes. dawn is a go-to grease-cleaner throughout the kitchen, too. keep a bottle in the laundry room to pre-treat greasy stains and keep dawn in the garage to lift grease off car rims. it's even gentle enough to clean wildlife affected by oil. dawn's grease cleaning power takes care of tough grease wherever it shows up. scrub less, save more...with dawn. we'rethat are very acidic.foods and beverages it can soften the enamel. pronamel repair, what it's doing is driving more minerals deep into the enamel surface, that's going to help actively repair. pronamel is taking it to another level. nature made helps you win the night. our melatonin gummies are scientifically developed

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for you, for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks ♪ ♪ time to check "the pulse." we begin with a new revelation about people who watch horror movies. >> yeah, apparently a lot of them are scaredy-cats. a new survey finds after watching a horror film, 36% of people will sleep with the lights on, and about one-third of them will double-check the locks in their home. >> the survey also revealed the top three halloween movies of all time, "halloween," "nightmare on elm street" and "scream." >> also check under the bed. >> no "friday the 13th"? >> freddie. next the song "baby shark" being used to punish jail

inmates. >> investigators say it was ha city. they accused two former officers of forcing inmates to listen to "baby shark" repeatedly while handcuffed. >> they're facing multiple counts including cruelty to a prisoner. next, if you thought your dog just can't wait to see your face, think again. >> it seems dogs' brains don't work like that. a new study finds man's best friend doesn't care about your face and can't even distinguish between the front and back of someone's head. >> researchers found dogs use other body parts and their sense of smell when decidian i like your face, mona. >> ah, thanks. i like yours too. well, finally hotel staff in florida at the nba bubble will have fond memories of russell westbrook. >> the houston rockets star left wascked oe he also reportedly left his room spotless, mona, as another way of saying thanks. >> westbrook said he likes to do the right thing.

>> that momma raised that boy right. >> she sure did, and i guess freddie is "nightmare on elm street." i guess i referred to him as freddy krueger. >> all right. that's true. >> top headlines are next. thrit. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis . and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed

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checking the top stories, the coronavirus outbreak linked to the white house is expanding. senior trump adviser stephen miller has tested positive. at least two dozen aides or associates have now been infected including the vice commandant of the coast guard whose diagnosis forced all but s to quarantine. meanwhile, president trump has ended talks on a coronavirus relief package, but in a flurry of late night tweets, he called on congress to approve money for stimulus checks, airlines and small businesses. voting rights groups suing to extend florida's voter registration deadline are due in court today. the governor extended the deadline by seven hours after the system crashed monday, but advocates say they need more time to inform voters about the extension. a grand jury in texas has indicted netflix on criminal charges claiming the streaming

service promoted the lewd depiction of children during its controversial movie entitled "cuties." netflix calls the charges baseless. today's weather, rain in florida and new england, dry across the rest of the nation and the gulf coast is bracing for hurricane delta's arrival late friday as a possible category 3 storm. and finally the man finding internet fame thanks to his video featuring cranberry juice and fleetwood mac. >> he spoke with will ganss. >> reporter: the vibes were right when nathan apodaca posted this tiktok less than two weeks ago riding his longboard to work because he was having car troubles sipping on cranberry juice. got to the work, had less than five minutes to punch, you know, sitting there punching in doing my hashtags and everything. i wasn't going to post it. >> reporter: the 37-year-old racking up more than 25 million views. >> everything was just perfect timing, perfect place, perfect song obviously. >> reporter: fleetwood mac drummer mick fleetwood recreating the video himself. popularity of nathan's video undeniable.

"billboard" saying the song "dreams" saw a 374% bump in download sales in the days since the video went viral. the bottle, nathan's recipe for a perfect day. ocean spray hearing about nathan's affinity for cranberry juice and his car troubles surprising him with a brand-new pickup complete with, what else, bottles and bottles of his favorite cranberry juice. good samaritans on tiktok had already been crowd funding donations for new wheels for nathan, which he immediately paid forward to his own mom and dad, further proof that the good vibes thing isn't just an act. what's your message to folks who are feeling discouraged who want to live their life with some of that joy that it seems like you're living your life with? >> take a little time to be yourself, and do what you want and do what makes you happy. >> reporter: nathan, who works at a potato factory there in idaho and volunteers to fight wildfires, hopes that if the good vibes and blessings continue for him, he'll be able to move out of his rv and into

an apartment with his daughter by this winter.>> influencer now because i'm going to buy some cranberry juice. right now on "america this morning," the covid-19 outbreak at the white house growing. another top aide to the president testing positive just hours after we learn most of the nation's top military leaders have entered quarantine. overnight new details on how often president trump has been tested and what we've learned about tonight's vice presidential debate. also breaking overnight, separating families at the border. new revelations about the government's zero tolerance immigration policy. a watchdog reveals why former attorney general jeff sessions was quoted saying, quote, we need to take away children. bracing for delta. thousands of americans scramble to escape a massive hurricane taking aim at cancun as the