vote this time around, it could tip the balance in a swing state like pennsylvania. >> all right, cecilia vega with us tonight. cecilia, thank you. and we should point out that cecilia and our team here will have much more on the crucial latino vote across this country. "america's future: the power of the latino vote" premieres tonight 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. streaming on abc news live. >>> and of course, one week from tonight, abc news will be live on the air on election night with our powerhouse political team, starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern right after "world news tonight." and who knows how long we will be here. that's one week from tonight. >>> of course, the coronavirus front and center in this election. tonight, the country is now averaging more than 73,000 new cases a day. the highest one-week average of new cases since the pandemic began. and tonight, dr. deborah birx troubled by one state in particular where she said she saw the least amount of mask wearing. here's abc's alex perez. >> reporter: tonight, the coronavirus spreading like wildfire. the country averaging more than 73,000

so, let's bring in cecilia vega with us live tonight. and cecilia, we just heard there in jon's piece, latinos make up the largest racial and ethnic minority voting bloc in this election. more latinos eligible to vote than ever before. >> reporter: david, listen to this. 32 million eligible latinos. the economy, health care, their top try yourties. this coronavirus has hit this community particularly hard and that is an issue that is driving them to the polls this time around, as well. back in 2016, about 30% of latinos voted for donald trump and he has been holding study with that number, but david, the big question right now is about turnout. fewer than half of all eligible latinos voted back in 2016, but we're already seeing about twice as many latinos vote early this time around as compared to four years ago. >> this is going to be fascinating to watch. and joe biden with a strong lead nationally among latino voters, leading by 30% in our latest poll, but there are many trump latino voters, as well. and your sources telling you tonig

abc's cecilia vega joins us from bethesda, maryland, with more. orning again. the doctor says president trump is resting comfortably, but he'll be here for the next few days. this was a remarkable sight yesterday when we saw president trump leave the residence of the white house to board marine one. he was wearing that mask. we know now he's experiencing as you said mild symptoms and has a fever, a cough, fatigue, chill. of course, he is being monitored at walter reed by some of the best experts in the world. he received that dose of remdesivir. that's the drug that is supposed to help shorten a hospital stay and doing that experimental antibody cocktail. he tweeted overnight that things are going well. but, you know, the big question right now, guys, is whether that rose garden event where he announced his supreme court pick last saturday ended up being a super spreader event? seven people we now know who were in attendance at that event since confirmed positive including his former adviser, his top aide, kellyanne conway. she says she's experienc

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega is tracking it all. od morning, cecilia. >> reporter: hey, george, good morning to you. with that comfortable lead in the polls, joe biden is off the campaign trail again today. in any other presidential election it would be pretty remarkable to not see a candidate this publicly for so long in as many days, but as you said, president trump, he's in this battle ground blitz overnight, president trump in the battleground of pennsylvania. >> pennsylvania, you got to get out and vote. you know, if we win pennsylvania we win the whole thing. >> reporter: it's a state he won by less than 1% in 2016, and one he needs to win again even though this time around he made the visit begrudgingly. >> before the plague came in, i had it made. i wasn't coming to erie. i mean, i have to be honest. there's no way i was coming. i didn't have to. >> reporter: the president had hoped to have the first lady with him. in her first public appearance since contracting the coronavirus, but the morning of the scheduled trip, she can

cecilia vega, one of the other quandaries for the president is, it seemed like since the convention, the president's strategy was to take down joe biden. that's what we saw at the debate. tough to do that when you're in the hospital, when the country is facing this health crisis. >> and they wanted to do that at these mega, in-person rallies. and some of the hot zones. the president had been planning to hold two rallies this weekend in wisconsin, in surprise of the task force calling that state a red zone. with the polls that you just mentioned, and this widening gap between trump and biden, they were really hoping to try to close that gap in the final weeks of the campaign with this mega travel blitz that the campaign has said they're going to stop all in-person venues and either cancel them or turn them into virtual events. it remains unclear how they're going to do that with the president at walter reed for the next few days. and on the biden side, we mentioned they've pulled negative ads. and the trump campaign is still running attack ads on facebook targeting joe biden right now

we want to go back to cecilia vega at walter reed with the latest. ident has been tweeting all morning from inside walter reed, mostly focused on his re-election campaign. on that drive-by, even a doctor here at walter reed is calling this reckless political theater. it was a stunt that violated cdc guidelines and unnecessarily put the health of secret service agents at risk. the president breaki gathered outside the hospital. he's there in the back seat wearing a mask and waving. others in the suv with him exposed. health experts say the president likely still contagious. overnight, the white house saying in a statement, appropriate precautions were taken including ppe. the movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do. but the administration's own cdc says any movement of a hospitalized covid patient outside their room should only be done for medically essential purposes. it follows a weekend of mixed messages and false statements from the president's medical team. on saturday white house dr. sean conley repeatedly dodging questions about w

cecilia vega, thanks very much. michael?> thank you, george. >>> let's get now to the very latest from the campaign trail. with just one week until the final votes, president trump hitting three states today that he won last time and joe biden heading to georgia which hasn't been won by a democrat since 1992. mary bruce is tracking it all for us this morning. good morning, mary. >> reporter: michael, good morning. this is a sign of confidence from the biden team. president trump won georgia by five points in 2016, but now biden sees this as potentially up for grabs. he is going on offense in these final days as he tries to stretch the electoral map while the president remains largely focused on those critical states that handed him the white house. one week to go and president trump is desperate to change the subject, but joe biden not letting up, hammering him on the pandemic. >> the bottom line is, donald trump is the worst possible president, the worst possible person, to try to lead us through this pandemic. i don't thin

cecilia vega, our senior white house correspondent also following the hearing along with us this morning. cecilia, somewhat of a political gamble here given that we will hear this drum beat over the affordable care act, whether or not coverage for pre-existing conditions for millions of americans could be at stake. we'll hear that every day between now and the election. president trump has made it clear he hopes this energizes a key part of his base. >> reporter: this is a bit of a head scratcher because he says republicans are giving democrats a great deal of time. he's basically saying they need to hurry up and do away with the theatrics and he wants them to focus on the stimulus, but you'll remember just a few days ago, he told his team that was negotiating on capitol hill to abruptly end negotiations and focus on approving his nominee to the supreme court there which we're now seeing today. look. the trump campaign and president trump himself are hoping that what we're seeing today and we'll see over the rest of the week will be a little bit of a reset for his campaign because he cer

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega with the latest. ning to you, cecilia. >> reporter: hey, this came as a surprise. we didn't know barron had covid until the first lady made this post online. the good news is that she says she and her son have since tested negative. when he was infected he had no symptoms. the revelation came in a blog post on the white house website. the first lady writing that in addition to her and her husband, their 14-year-old son barron also tested positive for the coronavirus saying, barron initially tested negative but, quote, my fear came true when he was tested again and it came up positive. luckily he is a strong teenager and exhibited no symptoms. she says she experienced body aches, a cough and headaches and felt extremely tired most of the time. mrs. trump says both she and barron have since tested negative. when asked how barron was doing, the president quickly pivoted to his supreme court pick. >> barron is fine. and amy is doing a fantastic job. we're heading out to iowa and we have a big rally, a lot

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega starts us off. ning, cecilia. >> reporter: george, good morning to you. the white house has become a hotbed of infection. as for president trump, his doctor says that he is showing no new symptoms and continues to improve. we haven't seen him since he left walter reed but he has been as active as ever on twitter. this morning, the covid outbreak spreading through the white house has reached the pentagon and now almost the entire joint chiefs of staff, including the military's most senior general mark milley and other top officers are in quarantine after being exposed to the coast guard's number two officer, admiral charles ray. it's unclear exactly how ray contracted the virus, but he did attend a white house event for gold star families a week and a half ago. the pentagon insists there is no change to the operational readiness or mission capability of the u.s. armed forces. former director of national intelligence james clapper says it puts the country at risk. >> this is an ideal time for adversari

president trump downplayed the pandemic in an arizona rally and senior white house correspondent cecilia vegatarts us off. good morning, cecilia. >> reporter: hey, george, good morning. president trump is on an aggressive swing through the key battleground states hoping for a last-minute surge and as you said he is downplaying the virus. he is also attacking dr. anthony fauci, but the big question this morning is whether this will appeal to anyone outside of his most loyal base. as the country faces a third coronavirus wave and more than 220,000 deaths, president trump on the trail saying voters are tired of hearing about the pandemic. >> people are pandemic'd out. you know that? >> reporter: the president on a swing through the battleground of arizona where cases are on the rise. the packed crowd mostly without masks. with polls showing a majority of americans unhappy with his handling of the virus, president trump now laser focused on a new target, the nation's leading infectious disease expert. >> people are tired of hearing fauci and all these idiots. >> reporter: on a call with his campa

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega is tracking this rapidly developing story. ng, cecilia. >> reporter: yeah, michael, good morning to you. the cdc rules say that an infected person should stay away from others for at least ten days after first experiencing symptoms and they also encourage people, especially those who are infected and contagious, to wear a mask. but president trump, he is not following these rules when he was in the hospital, he said he learned a lot from covid. now that he is out he is right back to downplaying the seriousness of this deadly virus. fresh off his release from walter reed, president trump walked off marine one and up the stairs to the white house residence. and then the president, who is still contagious, did something remarkable. he took off his mask, put it in his pocket and saluted. standing there maskless on the balcony staring into the distance for a full two minutes. a white house staff photographer right next to him and the president who is supposed to be in isolation then walked inside to a room full of people. it was a m

senior white house correspondent cecilia vega starts us off. od morning, cecilia. >> reporter: george, good morning to you. president trump wasn't wearing mask, neither were most of his sporters at that rally, even though several states are now seeing records for their highest daily coronavirus cases. president trump is now using his recovery as part of his re-election pitch. president trump fresh off his covid diagnosis throwing out masks to supporters in the battleground of florida. >> it's great to be back. >> reporter: bragging about just how great he feels. >> i feel so powerful. i'll walk into that audience. i'll walk in there. i'll kiss everyone in that audience. i'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and -- everybody. i'll just give you a big, fat kiss. >> reporter: that audience standing shoulder to shoulder and mostly maskless including the state's own governor. [ crowd chanting "usa" ] >> reporter: and as he left the white house and boarded air force one, the president also not wearing a mask. in a new letter white house dr. sean

i want to bring in cecilia vega.t's surprising to hear chris say he wasn't contacted by the white house. the white house also facing questions because the president went forward with that trip to b bedminster, new jersey after hicks tested positive. >> i had a physical reaction after hearing that chris christie had not been contact. that just raises serious, absolutely serious questions about the contact tracing methods that the white house has been using. and you mentioned it, that big trip to bedminster that the president took, even though he had been exposed, potentially 100-some-odd people. and they've been told to take precautions. but this is coming at a time when the polls show the majority of americans don't trust the president's handling of the coronavirus. he's frankly misspoken, mistruth after mistruth about how serious the virus is. he told bob woodward, he admitted to downplaying the severity of the virus, saying he didn't want to worry them. even though he knew exactly how dangerous this was at the time

. >>> and this morning on gma, abc news white house correspondent jon karl and cecilia vega are talkingeriences at the white house during the pandemic. >> what more can you tell uts what you have seen up close about how they handle the virus? >> when i go into the white house, you see signs as you enter telling you that you must socially distance, stay 6 feet apart, wear a mask. but i have ob served over and over again officials in that white house not social distancing. >> and viewers probably noticed that john oig wasn't directly in front of the white house and it is because we decided that it is not safe to be there. but to jon's point, we were seeing people without masks regularly, we were seeing people stopping to not social distancing. they stopped taking temperatures for people who were regular visitors. it just got to the point where our team made the call that it wasn't safe. >> you can hear more coming up on gma. it starts at 7:00. >>> vets at the oakland zoo are caring for a mountain lion cub badly burned in a fire near redding. they captured the injured animal on wednesday.

i want to bring in cecilia vega.re was debate over that whole family separation policy over the trump administration, those children who are now separated from their parents, over 500 children. president trump trying to continue to push it back on the obama administration and their immigration policy. >> yeah, that's been a go-to move on his front, but these 545 children, the reality is, are still, today separated from their parents. despite repeated efforts to locate their parents. and the reality is, this is a direct result of what many believe to be that failed policy by the trump administration to separate families at the border. this is a -- nothing short of a traves travesty. these families cannot be located right now. the president was asked, what is your plan to locate and reunite these families. he started talking about the smugglers who we believes are bringing the children to the border. he said he will have a plan. i don't know how you go about reuniting these families when for a long time they've been ru

our senior white house correspondent cecilia vega has those details for us. ning, cecilia. >> reporter: hi, robin. good morning. the president calls mar-a-lago his winter white house but this morning the new report suggesting that american taxpayers may have been footing a very hefty bill for all his trips there. since taking office president trump has made 300 trips to his own hotels and clubs like mar-a-lago and this morning, "the washington post" says those trips have given his private businesses a big boost to their bottom line. according to "the post," the businesses charge for everything from ballroom and golf cart rentals to candelabras, decorative palm trees and pricey bottles of booze all to the tune of more than $8 million. "the post" says taxpayers ended up footing the bill for at least $2.5 million. also this morning, "the new york times" reporting that while president trump used his reputation as a billionaire businessman to help propel him to the white house, as a businessman he failed to repay some $287 million in loans. the vast majority for a

let's go back to our senior white house correspondent cecilia vega. e but he is back out on the campaign trail again including this possible trip to capitol hill for the historic confirmation vote of judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. vice president mike pence center ground of north carolina. >> north carolina is trump country. ose contact with aides who tested at least five people in his inner circle contracting the coronavirus in recent days. his chief of staff marc short who was with the vice president on every campaign stop last week including friday night at a rally in ohio. short now in isolation and experiencing symptoms. pence's body man, a personal assistant who accompanies him virtually everywhere, a tly traveled with pence on air force taffers. wearing a mask as he headed for his rally, the vice president head of th>> why are you still chedule jam packedu have covid? with planned trips t south carolina and back to north carolina, but cdc guidelines call for a 14-day quarantine after exposure to the virus. a spokesman saying pence

our senior white house correspondent cecilia vega is in washington with more this morning. , cecilia. >> reporter: hi, michael. good morning to you. on top of all of that listen to this. there's this new report out by "usa today" that says the white house outbreak could potentially have exposed thousands of people to the virus through these rallies, events and meetings in recent days and yet here we are. the white house will still not say publicly when the president last had a negative test, and that is making it nearly impossible to trace his contacts. this morning the coronavirus outbreak on the grounds of the white house even worse than the trump administration has admitted. abc news obtained an internal memo sent wednesday to top officials at fema listing the total number of infected white house staffers and other contacts at 34. that's ten more than had been previously known. >> perhaps you recognize me. it's your favorite president. >> reporter: president trump supposed to be in isolation in the residence posting this new video to twitter filmed in the rose garden by a

i'm cecilia vega. >> i'm george stephanopoulos. >> and i am the michael strahan and get this, guy, it'st now ♪ >> he's always doing this. >> you know what else is great about halloween, the candy. want one? >> no thanks. candy is for kids. >> this just in, kids are taking over halloween. well, it's about time. >> does that mean we get to dress up in any costume we want? >> ooh, i know whey want to be. ♪ i need some hot stuff >> george, that's not a costume. >> sure, it is. >> i'm not going to let you have all the fun. check this out. the mandalorian. >> and i brought my little friend too. >> i got you guys both beat. >> wow, you're joe exotic. >> hello, kitty. >> you know what else, guy, since it's halloween and we're calling the shots i say we eat all the candy we want and no parents are going to tell us no. >> now you're talking to me. shower me with kisses. >> oh. >> i want a taste of the rainbow. bring on the skittles. >> oh, my gosh. >> all: happy halloween! >> can we eat it now? >> they are hired. no question about it. >> peddling candy to a 6-year-old. that's great. >> that was l

. >> cecilia vega, take on that point.ne of the headlines coming out of this debate, george, is going to be the remarkable split screen that we saw and the facial expressions that kamala harris had as vice president mike pence was talking. that really is going to be a big takeaway. i want to go back to this question of issues not being answered, because that is the other big headline out of this. and here's why it matters. because we have the two oldest presidential candidates in history running at the top of these tickets. and these issues that they -- that these two candidates, vice presidential candidates did not address, packing the supreme court, health care, the future of covid come january, february, 2021, are issues that these two people, they may very well have to address if something were to happen to the two people at the top of the ticket. >> cecilia, thank you. byron pitts, did you learn anything tonight? >> george, in a word, no. the candidates spent the most time talking about these three issues. foreign pol