♪ judy: good even wg. i'm judruff. tonight -- >> he may not entirely be out of the woods yet. the team and i agree, and all of our evaluations and his clinicae status support president's return home. judy: outbreak at the white house. president trump returns from the hospital as more of his staff test positive for coreaavirus, ng disarray in the west wing. then a race upended. we talk to representatives from both campaigns about how the presidentha diagnosiss up the election. and politicalli stakes. our cs monday team assesses the impact of the outbreak could have the campaign for the white house and the supreme court confirmation hearings

all that and more on tonight pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that is fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. sf railway. flthe william and ora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better >> the chand zuckerberg

initiative, working to build a moreealthy, just, and inclusive future for everyone. and with the ongoing support of these a individua institutions. ♪ rothisam was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: he is heading home. this evening, president trump plans to leave a military hspital, whe has spent just under three days being treated for covid-19.

he says he will continue his treatment and recovery at the white house. our white house correspdent recounts the day's development so far. yamiche: the president is being discharged from waltereed, but serious questions remain about the state of his health. today, his physician spoke about his progress. >> it has been more than 72 hours since his last fever. oxygen levels, including saturations and breathing, are all normal. though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and i agree that all every evaluations and most importantly his clinical status support the president's safe return home. yamiche: before lving, he tweeted that he was feeling better than he did 20 years ago afraid of covid or let itt to be dominate their life. sunday evening while still contagious, he briefly left the hospital, he made a surprise drive-by visit to wave at

desupporters outsihe hospital. he wore a face mask as he rode in a sealed presidential suv. white house officials say his medical team approved the trip, but it p for exposure his secret service agents who wereed mal gowns and face masks. an attending physician -- an attending physician at walter reed blasted the move. >> there is no medical benefit. itiolates cdc guidelines. they absolutely must quarantine. the cdc guidelines are clear thatf you spend that period of time within six feet of a person itre requi a mandatory 14 day quarantine. there are no caveats for masks. this is inside chemical weapon proof vehicle. yamiche: shortlyriefore the su drive-by, president trump posted a p videoising his nurses and doctors. he said he has a deeper s.understanding of the vi >> i learned a lot about covid,

i learned it by really going to school. this is the real school. geis is not the let's read the book school and it and i understand it. yamiche: the white house also relieved photos working at the not wearing a mask.te all this is a credibility crisis the ite house has deepened. who should the public believe when it comes to the president's condition and treatment? on saturday, his physicianio evaded questns about treatment and baited this rose picture. >> this morning, the president is doing this really well. the team and i are extremely happy with progress. yamiche: but soon after, the chief of staff contradicted him, saying the president's early vital signs were very concerning and he was not yet on a clear path to full recovery. what is still unclear is precisely when the president was affected and h many people were exposed as a result. day, the white house pre secretary along with at least positive.r deputies al tested she tweeted, "after testing

negative consistently, including every day since thursday, i tested posive for covid-19 monday morning while experiencing nohe symptoms has regularly briefed reporters including as recently as yesterday. three journalists who work at the white house have also been infected. so far, more than 10 of the president'sil f and close associates have tested positive for the virus, including first lady melan trump, the press secretary, white house advisor hope hicks, campaign manager bill stepien, former counselnt tohe presiellyanne conway, presidential aide nicholas luna, the rncchairwomaw and three republican senors., [applaus most of those who gothe virus where either at the white house rose garden ceremony held more than a week ago where the president announced his supreme court nominee or involvein his debate preparation.

two -- infected senators are members of the judiciary committee considering the idprent's spring court nominee. the first lady tweeted she was feeling gd and will continue to rest at home. vice president pend who tes negative again today went to salt lake city, utah, at of endnesday's debate with his democratic oppont california senator kamala harris. democratic challenger joe biden said today he is still open to taking part in the next presidential debate scheduled for october 15. >> if the scientists say it is safe, then i think that is fine. i will do whatever the experts say is the appropriate thing to do. yamiche: after continuing to test negativeus for the virthe former vice president campaigned this afternoon in florida. as for the vice presidential

face-off, the debate commsion has agreed to position the candidates 12 feet apart. this comes after the biden campaign voiced concerns about the safety oyothe original . judy: and now, the president is on his way back to the white house. this evening he left walter reed national medical military center wher he had snt just under ree days being treated for covid-19. nehe was flown on ma one. he is saying he will contue ros treatment and recovery pennsylvania avenue. yamiche joins me now. we are learning the president has -- his helicopter has arrived at the white house. tell us,hat have you heard from t people arou the president? what are they saying about how heill continue his treatment and recovery? yamiche: we just saw an extraordinarfscene o the president leaving walter reed medical center and really wanting to show strength.

he arrived at the white house, walked up the stairs with a mask , en removed that mask and waved to the marin one helicopter that had just transpord him from the hospital. fthis is no doubt a show strength. the president wants to appear confident. but hi doctors continue to say let's read a tweet the president sent before he left the hospital. we wilbe back on the campaign trail soon, the fake news only shows the fake polls. that is the president saying he wants to get back on the game. a reporter asking him how money people in his staff are sick and rua super spreader? the president took no answers. the president's doctors say he will continue his treatment at the white house d be monitored 24 hours a day. theyal say walter reed med staff will be helping monitor the president, but there are a lot of unanswered rest it comes to the president' health and how this procrdds moving for judy: what about that?

i know from listening to the reporting today, what are you another reporters who spent so much time coverinthe esident, what questions do you still have? what is known about contact tracing, trying to find people in contact with the president? yamiche: there are a lot of unanswerstions, a long list of them. partly because the president's doctor has said himself that he was not fully transparent and at times wanted toeem eat instead of giving out facts. some of the questions are when was the last time the president tested negative for the coronavirus. was he tested before the tuesday debate with ate biden? o scans show of the president's lungs? is there some set of pneumonia the president is still feeling? where is he going to be working at the white house? ere are people wondering, is he going to be in the oval office? are other people going to be exposed?

answers that we are not getting. judy: and finally, yamiche, the president, among other things the president tweeted today, "don't be afraid of covid up your how does that sare with the public health guidelines around this very infectious disease? yamiche: well, we can see that the president istarting to hint that he will use his coronavirus dgnosis as well as his hopeful recovery to really his own political benefit. he is focused on the fact that he is down in the polls nationally and that joe biden has opened up a lead in critical battleground states. the president is saying people should not be worried about the virus, that is something the president has been doing a long time. he has admitted to downplaying it. there are health officials who py that is dangerous and he should be telliple to stay vigilant. there arewo lot of people ied the president is not being right when you say, don't

let this dominate your life? judy: from talking to your sources in and around the white house, how are they saying this decision was made for the president to come back after not even three days? yamiche: well, the president really has been pushing his doctor white house.out of the from what my sources are telling people saying, i need to get out of here, i don't want to be here anymore. he was cognizant of the fact that the campaign might be looked at as weak because he might be sitting in a hospital bed. the president wanted to make sure he was out. we heard from the white house doctor he wanted to reassure the president, he wanted to put out information that would put the present at ease. that is why we have these critical unanswered question, how can the presidenteafely back at the white house when he is on at least three different drugs fighting theoronavirus? he is also 74, he is at risk, he

is overweight. a lot of people are worried this decision was not made based m on hisical status, but made based on what he wanted. it is a big issue and an issue i'm going to continue to press on and what we will continue :report on. ju yamiche, thank you very much. . ♪ the r president may burning to the white house tonight, but the number of confirmed coronavirus cases among white house staffers tick higher today, raising questions about theth precautions iwhite house and how well they were followed. john yg gets an insider perspective from olivia troye, a former advisor to vice president pence who previously worked on the white house coronavirus task

force. she lt the administration in august and has since been workingn with republioups who oppose the president's reelection. 's start off with t question, what precautions were white house in terms of wearing masks, in terms of testingtaff , in terms of working in the west wing and the eisenhower executive office buiing? >> certainly, we had a idelines posted. we had masks available, especially upon entrance of the west wing. fore immediate staff, we w conducting testing. for me who saw the vice president on a daily basis or senior staff interacting with the president and the vice president, but the truth is the issue was that even thoh these masks were available, nobody was really following the protocols internally. the west w ag isery small space. people often sit in very close proximity to each other and people were not following these

we weren't wearing masks all the time and we were quite frankly very exposed to each other. john: even though you were on the ce president's lead staffer own the coronavirus task force, you say you would not wear aask? why is that? is that because it was frowned upon? did you feel pressure not to wear a mask? >> the answer is two i wore a mask -- i triedo. i would wear it around the west wing or the hallways, but t truth is it was awkward because he would walk into a meeting and you would get these looks from some of the senior staff in the white house at times, i was complicit. you take your mask off. granted, i was in fortunate situation where i am tested. you can see that there is no such thing as a real rapid test when some of the times that we were tested.

we certainly had false negative lse positives, but that wasn't a guarante not everyone in the buildin is not everyone on the staff is tested. peop come in and out of these buildings all the time, so the potential for expose.e is still th john: there are a lot of experts on this task force. what was their reaction when they came into the west wing for task force meetings and saw all the staff not wearing masks, sort of crammed into this -- you say it is a very crowded west wing -- its a very crowded workspace? >> it was frurating. ey were very frustrated with the situation. i would have these conversations where i would see dr. fauci, dr. redfield, dr. birx, she has an office in the west wing. she did at t time i was there and she wore her mask all the time. unless she was about to speak during a meeting, she did follow the proper protocols.

you know, everybody knew that it was just a matter of timeme befe ing like the outbreak you are seeing happen this weekend and over the past few daysould happen because this virus does not discriminate. it can impact anyone and everyone, including all of us in the white house. john: the president -- two tings on social media -- president yesterday in his video said, i get it, i get it and understand it. then today, he said better than he has in 20 years and that people should not be afraid of covid. afterll the meetings, all the task force meetings, all the briefings you helped coordinate that the president sat through, what is yourou reaction when first heard him yesterday say, i get it? >> my reaction was i wish he would have gotten it ba in january when we did the initial briefing and we told you how bao this was goinge.

the problem is perhaps you got it, but that is not what you were tel when i saw him say i get it, i was also saddened because i cannot believe it took him rsonally experiencing covid to of the situation that a lot of americans and people who haveed lost lnes or who are currently still suffering with covid today have experienced. john: bute also today said he feels better than he has in 20 years and that people should not be afraid of covid. also, he has never mentioned the people you jusiod, the people who have lost loved ones in the united states. >> i was concerned when i saw the president fall ill, you never want to see the commander-in-chief be sick or have anything happen to him. he is the leader of o country. however, i was concerned that knowing whatbo i knew how this white house works and the

political dynamics andhe messaging that comes out of it, i was concerned he would use this as an opportunity to continue his messaging of playing down the pandemic and aying down the virus, which is just factually incorrect, so i've seen that develop right before my very eyes. he is saying, i've had it, no big deal. don't let it affect your personal life. john: olivia troye, former top staffe of the coronavirus task you very much.se, thank >> thank you for having me. judy: w n explore some of the questions being asked aboutp' president t's condition and treatment with two physicians. one is an emergency position and professor of health picy at the george washington university. she is a former health commissioner for the city of baltimore.

and dr. william lang, a former deputy white house physician, and director of the white house medical unit under president's bill clinton and george w. bush. we welcome both of you to the newshour. based on what you heard today from the president's doctors at walter reed, everything they are saying about him and the fact that they say he is not still out of the woods, that they will be continue to monitor him -- what is your understanding of his condition? >> i believe that his condition is very serious. this is bas on all the little pieces of information that were given and all the things that we are not being told, but it had at least two episodes where his oxygen saturation dropped. one ofev them wase enough to prompt the transport to the hospital. he has also had various lung imaging, that we don'know what it shows. it sounds like he probably has pneumonia. and he is on at let three medications, one of them is not

given except if patients are severely or critically ill. inec fact, it is ically not given to patients who have nonsevere illness. allf this makes me wonder. by the white house's own timeline, if he first had symptoms on thursday, this is day five of his illness. the times we are most concerned about covid-19 our days seven through 10. why is he being discharged home right now wn the period that we arehe most concerned about is yet to come? judy:hat is exactly my question to you, how does everything he said to you square withhe decision to have him leave the hospital tonight to go back to the white use? >> it doesn't. think that is why we need so many more answers from the they have been insistent on ally in a way that is hugelynd misleading. this is not what they should be

doing. i think about it as a doctor telling a patient's familyt members abat patient's condition and prognosis. what you can say or you should not say to my family member. that doctor, we would respect that request, but what we would not do is mislead the patien's family. we would not say that the patient has a mild illness, when he has a severe illne we would never lie to family members. i believe that is what is happening here and it is unethical. judy: dr. lang, you know the white house set up. how well-equipped is the white house to hane a patient who is contagious and especially the president of the uted states, who is infected with covid-19, and all the treatednt he might >> as you can imagine, the white use as far as being a place he can be monitored during the critical days as was just said, days seven through 10 can be critical days for ant patho is in the at risk groups, but

monitoring today is pretty small. you can bring the small equipment into the white house. he has a tea the team is at the white house. he can be monored very closely at the white house, just as he would be in the white house. andca h be moved back to the hospital very quickly, as we saw last friday when he was moved to the hospital quickly. that can happen if it was needed. but all the monitoring that can be done, all can be done to monitor, that is available very easily within the white house compound. judy: but i gss what i'm king is here is someone who is still infectious, is that correct? if so, how do you keep everybody else -- what lengths will they have to go to at the white house to make sure infected?t become >> well, everyone will have to be trained in what is the appropriate infection precaution, just like they would. is a walter -- in fact, the

white house medical unitre hedical professionals from military you know how to deal with infectious disease. they will be wearing appropriate ppe. they wilngbe dhe day-to-day care for the president. then the othererces, the household services that need to be done, that will be done in conjunction with the medical units so that nobodyt at risk of disease. they will be following the precautions from cdc, just as they would be if it was somebody in a hotelou whereave to have cleaning staff come in, but that will be done in conjunction hand-to-hand with the medical unit, so thaeverybody is protected and everybody is wearing appropriate ppe. they can do it very safely. judy: it sounds as if you are sang they don't have to make that many accommodations fort him, butso -- what we are hearing is that he will not be going into the west wing, he i will be stayithe residence?

i'm just trying to understand what you are saying. >> yes, the white house itself, especially the private quarters, is the very private place. there are very few people who go into the private quarters. it is security, the household staff, the people servi his meals, those kinds of things, and family, and the medical but there are very few people. also within p thevate quarters, there is office facilities, so he can do what ho needs to dun the country, to all the communications, all the security that is needed for him to do his day-to-day activities, but not just with other people. judy: how long will the i also want to ask you about a new york times report tonight that the white house is not going forward with what is known as contact tracing, are notifying people who were around the president before a coup days -- a couple days

before he tested positive, but they are not going through the formal process of contact tracing. e how much differees that make? >> i only have jus now heard about this report. it is reckless andxtmely dangerous. the white house is the epicenter this is an outbreak that is hugely complex. we are talking about individuals who potentially may be -- if the super spreader event happened a the rose garden, these are people who came from many parts of the coury to this event. there are many people in the white house that tested positi m that are verile. they have gone to rallies and events and have interacted with people. we are not just talking about first-generation spread,e are talking about second-generation spread, other individuals who een in contact with tho exposed, who ultimately may be a symptom attic and not know they have a covid-19 may be spreading to others. this is what the cdc does.

the cdc does contact tracing in highly complex cases. i knowl is a former loalth official, we worked with the cdc when there were multiple states or jurisdictions involved for contact tracing. every minute matters for contact tracing. i cannot quite believe or wrap my head around the fact that they are not doing this willfully. actually, this is a huge epicenter. to your questi earlier, president trump should be isolating for at least 10 days from the onset of his symptoms to when he can stop that isolation as long as he remains fever-free for the last 24 hours of tt time. that is the protocol for isolation. if someone tests positive i ncerely hope and i'm sure president trump will get exceptionamedical care and that the medical staff know how to follow e isolation protocols, but i hope president trump and allro thosed him insist that people follow the protocols, that aids are not interacting with the president

when he is in that period of isolation. judy: dr.ee lang, we didhe president take a ride in the presidential suv to greet the people who were standing outside of walter reed. this is while he is being treated at the hospital. was that a go idea? is that something his doctors should have been comfortable with? you look very carefully at the people who are with him. theyea wereng not only respiratory protection, they had n95 masks. they had n95 masks, they had i protecon,hey were even wearing cover gowns. is it what we would have, what we would recommend people do all the time? no,ut they were taking the right precautions you need to take, just as if he hadcaeen in his me room. i did not see that this was putting anybody at risk. it was not putting him at ri. and it was doing something that the patient, firstnt pat made him feel more comfortable.

he wanted to getnd oute was not putting anyone at risk, so i did not have any significant heartburn with that. judy: all right, we are going to leave it there. we thank you botvery much. ♪ with president trump's return to the white house' lets turn now to one of his reelection campaign's senior adviser, steve cortez. welcome to the newshour. we heard the president's doctors today say he is not out of the woods yet, they are watching him closely. they saytihey know he is contagious. given that, why is that a good idea to go back e? the white ho >> listen, i'm not going to speak to the medical side of things. that is up to his team, but they enow they approved of this and i trust their jud

dr. conley is not only a man of ience, but he is also a naval officer and incredible patriot to serve in afghanistan. between his patriotic service and professional credentials, i'm going to defer to tm. the president prefers to be in the white house. i think most p patientsfer to be at home, but he is not doing this without thend approval cooperation of his medical staff. judy: it is understandable hent would o be back there, but as you know, he is still contagious, we already have at the white house not just the president, but the press secretary, two press aids, you ve others on the staff who have tested positive. and there is going to have to be a duicate secure area p around tsident because he is contagious. it jt calls into question why and whether this is being done for political reasons? >> well, listen, ian assure you it is not being done for

political reasons. i deferredhe to medical authorities. i'm not a doctor. if they thinks t appropriate and they believe they can manage him as well as protect other folks at the white house, and secondly i can tell standpoint, althoudoesl have an office suite and a considerable one of walter reed it is not quite the white house. i think the president believes that he will be more effective as our c white house.f at the he isot going to be wandering the halls of the west wing clearly, but look, this is good ws. i think we all should celebrate this, that our president, i think people who don't support his agendaere very understandably worried when marine one took off from the white house with p thesident infected with this virus. he is returning home and far, far better condition in just a few short da. judy: let me ask you about the state of the campaign. the campaign manager is now down with covid. the chairman of thes rncwn

with covid. the president is back behind joe biden from anywhere by 8, 9 points in the polls. how far are you behind in this campaign? >> let me address that on polls. i don't like to play the game of cherry picki paul's, but yes, there are national pol which are not really all that relevant to how we elect the president, t there are some nationa polls that have shown a sliding, a retat in our standing. there are also national polls show usng gai respectable ones. they show joe biden with an gaining three points since the debate. here is what i think, if you look at battleground states, the polls are important for us in the campaign, public and internal ones that we do. states,at battleground all of them in the last couple of months have tightened dramatically. even if we don't have a lead and

a lot of those states, we areth very much striking distance. i'm trying to be unbiased as i can, i believe the battleground states are toss's. i think the biden campaign would isable of winning theseer side battleground states, given what we know of internal and pu ic judy: very quickly, vice presidentence, no concerns about his exposure to covid having him travel the country as is between now and th election? >> no, listen, the chain of command is well-established. i'm not talking politically, i'm talking governmentally. neither the president nor mike pence, nor anyone our campaign, we cannot cower and hide. we will not do that. we will take reasonable wprecautionhave and we will. none of the guaranteed safety. we saw that with t president, who unfortunately got infected is the most protected person in the world. vice president pence is out there traveling the country, headed tthe debate. we are going to defeathe virus

and convince the american people to rehire donald trump as their ceo for this economic rev fal of the ner years. judy: steve cortez with the trumppa camn, thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ judy: president trump's covid diagnosis also affects joe biden's campaign strategy and the closing wee before election day. advisor to the cam andnior joins us now from salt lake city. welcome back to the newshour. how doeshe presint, the fact that he is still fighting covid, but that he is leavingal the hospnd going back to the ite housewhat effect does this have on the campaign? >> thanks for having me, always good to seeou first, i want to extend our thoughts and prayers to president trump, t first lady,

the folks in the white house who have contracted covid-19, but also folks all over this country. than 200,000 americans have died from this virus, more than 7 million amicans have been fected. our thoughts and prayers are with all of those folks. we don't think this is a matter of politics. frankly,ew we this as a bracing and stark reminder that coronavirus is real and that have to take this seriously, all of us, no matter who you are. judy: the fact thathere was this so-called super spreader event at the white house, the factunhat people athe white house were infected,teery well infduring the debate, had been infected by the time of the debat -- vice president biden was there, others on your staff for their -- does that call into question the wisdom of the country?en travel around he is in miami today, he is

moving around, should there be more cautionaken in your campaign? >> wel judy, we are taking caution. vice president biden and our mpgn are consulting with our mecal professionals. i will note that on friday and yesterday -- on friday, vice president bidenei rd two tests that were both negative. they were the pcrts t the one that goes way up to the brain. as did dr. biden and senator rris. our staff received testing on not oneot person on the plane friday until we were sure everyone's test were negative. as you noted, he is traveling in miami today. we are being safe and consulting they are guiding us through this press. i will note to this, we taken this very seriously from the onset of covid-19.

on the debate stage, president trump mocked vice president biden's wearing of mask. the trump campaign and officials in the white house have mocked r event. those little white circles on help keep people safe at our events. we are holding events outside. when we have them a inside, w ensuring we are adhering to local public health guidelines about how money folks should be inside, there is social distancing. our sff is wearing masks. we are taking this seriously, judy. we implore the american people to take this seriously because this virus is real. judy: i was note the cdc was out with new guidelines sing that now point out that there can be spread in the air from a greater distance than six feet, it can up to 12 feet or even more. hang in the air.ets can i want to ask you about the campaign. we just heard steve cortez advising the trump campaign, that in the battleground stes,

no matter what the polls show, that it is a lot closer than that. how do you see where the race stands? >> you know, i'm young, but i've doing this a little while and i like to say, it is always good if you have the minds at you are 15 points down and you are broke and you don't have any money and that is how we e we know the polls are good and i thin the polls aeflective of the work we have done and how the american ople feel about the leadership that they have seen over the last four years. this election is a choice between vice president aydin and senator harris' america and the leadership they have seen over the last four years. ntvice presiiden and senator harris are going to articulate n at visd are going to make a forceful case about why vice presidentiden should be the next president of the united states. we are gng t continue traveling, doing it safely, as the public health experts guide us.

awe really working to earn every vote out there, judy. we don't take anything for granted. we got to campaign hard until the end becauple are voting right now. it is not just november. i think i saw a stat tt more than 2 million ameriave already cast ballots in this election, so we are excited be out there and we look forward to earning the votes of the people in the country. judy: very quickly, the viceen presal debate between senator harris and vice president pence, if he comes at her with the same linet f argument tesident trump did at his debate with vice president biden saying essentially your camngign is a stal horse for the most liberal wing of the democratic party, that this is a socialist philosophy that joe biden and senator harris would bri to the whit house -- how did she answer that? >> well,he will be ready.

vice president pence is a good debater, a formidable debater. we think this will be a vigorous debate. i nothing anybody looks that joe biden and see liberal socialist. voters know joe biden. senator harris knows joe biden. she will speak to the american people just as biden did last week, about their vision for the future. she is loong forward to it. judy: simone sanders,dvor to the biden campaign, we thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. we will return to judy wooe uff after thadlines. there are reports tonight that top white hoe officials are blocking new federal standards for the emergency release of a vaccinerus these guidelines, which aim to

hold vaccines to a higher bar for safety and effectiveness, would likely have pushed any approval to after election day. meanwhile, in parts of new york city, some schools will close tomorrow where covid-19 infections are rising. governor andrew cuomo issued an order affecting 100 public schools and 200 private schools. he cited a lacof testing data. >> some of the schools izi the hotspocodes have been test, but some have not. how can you send children into a school in a hotspozip code? when younow that y don't have any information as to whether or not it is safe? stephanie: the world health organization said today that 10% of the world's population may have been infected so fa amid a flurry of lawsuitsvo ing mail-in voting procedures, the u.s. supreme court is allowing a restrictive voting law in south carolina to remain in place for the upcoming november election.

their mail-in bal signed byhave a witness. ballots already sent in would tnot have to comply wi signature requirement. there is a competitive senate race at stake in south carolina. tropical storm delta has no it is projected to hit theane in yucatán peninla early wednesday before striking the gulf coast of the u.s. later this week. the yucatán is still reeling from the damage caused by tropical srm gamma, which has killed six people and forced thousands to flee. wildfires in california are burning their way into the record books. as ofh today, a single fire no of san francisco has charted one million acres, making it the state's largest ever. more than 4 million acres have burned statewide, doubling the evious record. the glass fire in one country is among so two dozen countries -- fires still burning and fire go.ill has two months to

scientists and on british one have won this year's nobel prize in medicine. they discovered the hepatitis c virus. in 19 it kills more than 400,000 people worldwide every year. one now works at rockefeller university in new york anden sad he nobel committee called, he thought it was a prank. >> after a chawith him i said, well if you don't leave me -- actually just would've go to the nobel sit and in an hour hopefully we will convince you that this is not a prank call. stephanie: the nobel committee tsa scientists' work has greatly reduced to -- reduced the chans of contracting patitis c through blood transfusions. the u.s. supreme coicked off its new term with only 8 justices. colleague ruth bader ginsburg in

a conference held by phone due to the pandemic. chief justice john roberts are amended ginsburg as a dear friend and a treasured colleague. and wall street started the week with fresh hopes of new covid economic aid from congress. the dow jones gained 465 points to close that 20,148. the nasdaq rose 250 seven points and the s&p 500 added 60. this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona ate university. judy: presiden' trump' diagnosis has upended a presidential race that is already underway.mp where did the gns go from here? him none of oz has that and more. amna: it has been just days

before the president -- since we learned of the president'sno dis. nearly 4 million americans have already voted according toomata he united states election project. by the end of this week, male in or early in person voting will be underway in 40 three states,s plusngton, d.c. our politics monday team is here to break it all down. welcome to you both. i'm so glad you are here. i wanto start with you because, man, millions of people have already voted and a lot has happened in just thefour days. what is the potential electioim ct, if any, of the president's covid-19 diagnosis in these final weeks?>> you area of an october surprise usually

was something that happens in october that gives people three weeks or two weeks or something to process and think aut as they go and cast their ballot. people are voting evy single day, even as hugeri s are unfolding in front of us. it is not just the president that has contractedushe v people in and around his orbit. we could hear more stories going forward. it is definitely a factor. this has been an incredible year of tomo and chaos -- tumul and president and voting intent have really not moved all that much. people have been pretty well locked in on who they are going to vote d how they feel about the president. the one thing we saw today and over the weekend is polls that

have come out right over the debate or since the president's diagsihave seen the president's overall job approval ratings or disapproval ratings -- his disapproval ratings go up and that is not good news for a president that is already running behind. amna: at the same time, when you look at some of the states that mr. trump won back in 2016, there are some of the states where they are just starting to secovid-19 surges and we don't know what is ahead in the fall. dnorth dakota, souota, utah , wisconsin is seeing a surge. coul any of these outbreaks affect him? >> i don't know that it is going to affect anything as far as how people fl about president trump or joe biden. these are two people that have been so well-known for so well long and we have seen such a constent race. certainly in national polls. we have seen some tightening, as the trump campaign has pointed outespecially in florida.

that is key to the trump campaign most. joe biden certainly has the edge overall. coronavirus is goingo be one of those things that just makes it very difficult to organiz, difficult to get out your vote with all of the confusion around mail-in voting and its efficacy and safety, that makes it even ugher for the campaigns tw really ko their voters are going to be. amna: the challenges for both the campaigns mentioned few weeks ago , the trump campaigth was hammerinbiden campaign for hiding in a basement. some of this has switched. have the c eventsnged or shifted the biden strategy? >> listen, think tha from the very beginning it has been clear that president trump for the campaign's strategy is driven much more by what presidentli

trums to do than by whether or not it is effective at turning out voters or convincing voters who might not be interested in voting for him right now to vote for him. at the biden campaign has been focused on all along is who are the voters that we need to go and fin and what are other ways we can go and find them? whher that is through the phone or the internet. otd so whether oroe biden is on and in front of crowds is not an important iss for the bide campaign and quite frankly with the president seems to be doing rit now, even as he is leaving the hospital and he did the drive-by yesterday is his interest in beg part of the story. his interest in always being the story. in showing that he is tough and he is strong. think the challenge for the president isn't that people don't think that he has the sort ofigor to be president.

what they are worried about is that his overall administration's handling of an aiissue that impacts their life day in and day out. it is whether kids aren't in school, why they haven't hugged their grandparents in a while. that is what is most important and those of the things that them into the voti place, not which candidate is out there with bigallies or not. amna: speaking ofllhings voters ake with them when they vote, i remember wn we were talking about the supreme court vacancy as the potential big gameas changer something that could change how vots see the election. do you think that is the case? >> iever thought that was the case, first of all. [laughter] considering by the way president trumen havingh vigor to be president, after that last debate that might be some it think he has too much vigor to be president.

look, the supre court decision is something that s largely been unpopular for most voters, saying in paul's they don't think president trump should go forward with picking somebody now as compasd to let'ay when president obama put forward merrick garland in 2016. what i think it has done g has actualten a lot of democrats to focus on the supreme court ia way that they had not done in past years. it has alwayic been very dit to get democrats fired up for the supreme court, it has always been an issue republicans have looked w that th key to what they wanted to see the country become. the court now potentially moves to a 6-3 majority court, you are seeing a supreme court that could be changed. be the bigges legacy of donald trump, that shapes social policy for th next couple generations, and has huge impacts on all the thingsnk we tbout in life.

look, particularly wheit comes to women's rights and whether or not women can have access to abortion. that is going to be a huge part of this. i think a lot of democrats realizing that and see this as a fundamenl election because of how many more supreme court get in the next term.p could amna: of course, we should share also the nomination hearing has been set for judge amy coney barrett. that will start on october 12 and that will be one to watch for sure. that is politics monday. thanks for being with us. ♪ debuts on pht, tell me more the author ander podca

contributes to theewshour. now, she begins aers of meaningful conversations with people who matter. in this preview, she speaks wh an equal justice initiative founder, lawyer brian stevenson, working to heal the nation's wrongs. he remembers a childhood experience with hate after jumping into a pool. >>t took me a minute before i realizedop that were going crazy. they were shouting to their etchildren tout of the pool. there was one little boy left and the man stched the boy up by the arm. i was so stunned by it i turn to the maand set, what' wrong? and the man looked at mend said, you are wrong -- it was the first time in moment of such complete joy and happiness had been savaged by something so evil. judy: tt is tell me more with

kelly corrigan tonight on pbs at 9:00, 8:00 central. you to sign up for a veryinvite special town hall tomorrow evening. our student reporting labs have engaged teams of first-time voters in conversations about in they are participating this election, including misinformation, along with intergenerational conversations on civics and democracy. the town hall s startseaming live on tuesday at 7:00 eastern on our website. repbs.org/newshour, wou can go now to sign up. so, please do. nand that is tshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join uonline and again tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you. please stay safe and we will see >> major funding for the pbsho newsur haseen provided by -- >> cfo.

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andpo with the ongoing s of these institutions. this program was made by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. t[captioning performed by national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "cook's country," yamakes julia the ultimate grilled jerk chicken, kadam reveals his top pic for grill bruss, and christie shows bridget a new recipe for smoked chicken wings on the grill. that's all right here on "cook's country."