kaitlan, thank you. kaitlan's going to go do some more reporting for us and then she's going to get back to us. here we are with the breaking news about hope hicks and the president and the first lady now getting covid tests. hope hicks is now a top aide to the president. very close. has now tested positive for the coronavirus. is, according to sources, at home and also feeling the symptoms of coronavirus. according to our dr. reiner here, the -- it's 48 hours before you start feeling the symptoms that you are the most contiguous. my question is now, i'm sure the biden folks are asking if they should be thinking about whether the former vice president joe biden had any potential exposure. that he may have been exposed. i know the podiums were far apart, but they were in the same room, air conditioning, duration, swirling around, yelling at each other for 90 minutes with, you know, the air swirling there. that is not good. so what do you make of that, dr. reiner and. >> yeah, so you're probably most conti

i want to bring kaitlan collins in. kaitlan, let me ask you this. this is -- this is an updated daily guidance and press schedule for friday, october 2nd, 2020. this is from the white house. it is indicating, here, that at 10:00 a.m., the president is still going to have in-house call time. and at 12:15 p.m., the president hosts a call on covid-19 support to vulnerable seniors. now, he was supposed to go to florida. he was supposed to do different events. that is not on this schedule. it says closed press after the 12:15 event but it seems he is still trying to get some work in tomorrow. >> yeah. and it will be interesting to see if they continue to put things like that on the president's schedule, moving forward. notice, it says it's closed press. there is a bit of irony that it is a call on covid-19 support for vulnerable seniors. and that is the only thing that is going to remain on the president's schedule, and that reminds me of what's at the end of the doctor's letter from the president's physician, that says he is going to continue to fulfill

kaitlan collins is out front. kaitlan, so just explain to me what happened here. i sort of did it. please do it again and lay out the timing as you understand it. >> the first video is remarkable. seeing the president come up those stairs and then take his mask off as he saluted marine one. but erin, we saw him go inside and not put that mask back on. and now we're learning a little bit more about what he's doing. you see as the president is going inside those doors and then he comes back out, still without a mask on, apparently to reshoot his entrance into the white house because my colleague alan malloy looked at this closely and you can see an official photographer and a camera crew standing inside the white house shooting the president. and it's about four people within close proximity of the president who of course like we said is not wearing a mask despite just returning from the hospital after being diagnosed with coronavirus. and this is part of this staged entrance that the president is making where he wants to be back at the white house and be able to use this, apparently

and cnn white house correspondent, kaitlan collins. kaitlan, i want to start with you. there was all sorts of talk about before the debate about what president trump's style would be, if he was going to listen to his advisers or do anything differently? what's the feedback last night and today? do they think that he accomplished what he had to? >> i think that was the donald trump that they had hoped to see at the first debate. and really for the last several months of this election. because the president was more restrained than he was the first debate. of course, the bar was incredibly low for that, given that it was pretty much incoherent at the first debate, but i think the president's advisers walked away believing that the president did a much more effective job of painting joe biden as this career politician who didn't get anything done during his time in office, which was the president's original line of attack several months ago. the question, though, of course, is whether or not it's too late for the president to be making that argument to the voters that he n

right to cnn's kaitlan collins our white house correspondent with more. kaitlan, what do you know?seeing the repercussions this is having not just on the white house, but on the biden campaign, because we're now told there's a report frer voice of america, the white house correspondent, who was supposed to travel with the biden campaign tomorrow. he's in wilmington tonight. they were tested as apparently is the protocol and the biden campaign has asked him not to travel with him tomorrow after learning he was the pool reporter on attempir force one e trip to minnesota yesterday which is the trip that hope was on. so he's been asked not to come despite testing negative because he was on that trip. we should remind our viewers the reporters who travel on air force one, they are tested, you get on the plane. the reporters keep their mask on because you never know, and that is the precaution we have decided to take. but the reporter worse not told by the white house hope hicks tested positive. instead that made it way from the public to the media reporting it in and of itself, not any

kaitlan collins, thank you so much. we'll see you in the next hour as well. >>> joining us now to discuss the president's health is dr. daniel varga. he is chief executive at hackensack health. thank you for joining us. sean conley, the president's physician, said in a memo that the president is cleared to attend public engagements tomorrow. he did not indicate what data he used to make that assessment. the president refused to answer the question about whether or not he has tested negative when sean hannity asked him several times. the president just wouldn't answer. what would you need to know to sign off on the president going back on the campaign trail, or even, frankly, meeting with other people in a room? >> so there's really two issues yet to take into consideration, jake. the first is the well-being of the patient. so if the patient is still symptomatic, feeling bad, et cetera, it's not a good idea to resume normal activities. when we advise, for example, front line caregivers, we first and foremost look and say

gee lockhart, kaitlan collins, jessica dean, dr.rings et. >>> it all ends here, from the first votes to the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country. our special coverage starts tuesday, november 3rd, 4:00 p.m. eastern. >>> this just in, the u.s. senate has completed a key procedural vote that effectively guarantees just amy coney barrett's confirmation to the supreme court tomorrow. all but two republican senators voted to break a democratic filibuster against her nomination. judge barrett is now expected to fill the ninth seat on the court, barely a week before the election. >>> still ahead, the president downplaying concerns about the spike in coronavirus infections, but new cases aren't the only trend heading in the wrong direction right now. next how states are leading the charge to curb the spread. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -audrey's expecting... -twins! ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan.

kaitlan, stand by.e'll be getting back to you, i'm sure, before we go off the air on this program tonight. before i go off the air. we are going to continue on but with our live coverage. if it's not me, it'll be someone else here on cnn. so this is our breaking news. the president and the first lady, in quarantine, tonight. awaiting the results of a coronavirus test. after top aide, hope hicks, tests positive for the virus. we'll be right back. we've often wondered what keeps the world running. economics? algorithms? magic? turns out, it's you. doing your thing. dreaming dreams. building new worlds. it's why we built our workspace technology. to help you do your best work and to see what you can become. you're made for bigger things. and to see and a majority of americans. say the vote for the next supreme court justice should wait till after the election. but instead of letting our voices be heard, trump and mcconnell are rushing it through and taking a short cut to the highest court in the land. ther

kaitlan, thank you. gloria borger, okay. so confusing and even more so now of this statement, you know, anonymous -- or a person familiar with the president's health. >> right. >> this only muddies the water, especially since dr. conley was -- >> the water got -- >> -- in good spirits. >> well, the water got muddied by the doctor. now it's muddied even more. and before we started all of this, i think we started out by saying what we needed to do was clarify the timeline. if dr. conley was speaking the truth, we don't know the answer, we know that there is now a 36-hour discrepancy. and one question that i have, if he was diagnosed the morning after the debate, why didn't anybody reach out to the biden people and say, you know what, we have a problem here and you guys need to know this. the biden folks say that they learned about the president's health like everybody else did. nobody was reached out. so you have -- reached out to. so not only do you have that. not only do you have a president endangering the lives of supporte

kaitlan collins is with us, and, kaitlan, this is something aides were preparing for?er: they knew the president wanted to go to the oval office yesterday, so they started getting it ready, and he is there now being briefed on stimulus talks, and the hurricane, hurricane delta, we're told by a deputy press secretary. what is not clear is who is briefing the president on both of those matters and whether or not it's in person. if it's a hurricane, you would have to think the fema administrator is involved, and whether or not it's virtual, we still don't know answers to simple questions like that. though earlier the chief of staff mark meadows was talking about the protective gear they had prepared in case the president did come into the west wing. but, jake, you have to look at how strange things have been in the west wing this week, more so than they've ever been in the donald trump presidency, because so many people are not either in the west wing because they've tested positive for the coronavirus, or they're at home quarantining because they came into contact with s

kaitlan, listen, we got the news earlie earlier. telling us about hope hicks that she had tested positive and trying to figure out what's going to happen from there. she was in close contact with the president. the president, then, admitting that he had heard about it and that he and the first lady had been tested and they were awaiting their test results. now, we are learning that the president of the united states and the first lady have, both, now tested positive for coronavirus. again, so many unknowns. we don't know what is going to happen tomorrow when the sun comes up in washington. >> which is going to be in just a few hours, don. but we have also learned more about how this has transpired and there are going to be a lot of things the white house has to answer for because what we have just learned from sources i have been speaking with over the last hour or so is that there was a small group of officials inside the white house that, thursday morning, knew that hope hicks was ill. and that she had tested positive for coronavi

kaitlan. the ever-ready kaitlan collins and john avlon.h. >> take care. >> 31 states seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases. nine states reporting record numbers of hospitalizations. here we go, again. what this next wave of infections means for your state and for the election. that's next. he used to have gum problems. now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinically-proven ingredients and his gum problems have vanished. (crowd applauding) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. it's our sharpest ever, and while some other companies would charge more for something new, we don't. because why be like everyone else? harry's. not the same. such as high blood pressure,ve pdiabetes, and asthma.s because why be like everyone else? this administration and senate republicans want to overturn laws requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. they're rushing a lifetime appointment to the supreme court to change the law through the courts. 70% of americans want to k

back with us, kaitlan collins. kaitlan, describe the scene.ere social distancing? >> reporter: this is probably the first time at a white house event where you've actually seen the chairs are spaced out on the lawn. this is not what it looked like at the republican convention or other events we've been at out here. there are also people wearing masks. it seems like most people are though we should note we have seen a few people not wearing one. moist of the attendees standing behind me are wearing them. that is something the white house said was going to be required but we were still questionable about whether or not they'd actually keep them on because at other events you've seen people come in in a mask and not keep it on while they're here. the chairs, there's about 200 of them. they're a little bit spaced out, but there are about 200 chairs out here. on the other side you've got a band playing. you can see the pageantry behind me as they're getting ready to have this swearing in for amy coney barrett. seeing this event, seeing amy coney ba

kaitlan collins, let's go to you.w if you had a chance to get a response from the white house or not, but what's your take on it all? >> reporter: we haven't heard from them yet, obviously, since you just broke this, jake, but they have been waiting for this news to come out. i think some of them will be relieved that it's not someone new that's criticizing the administration, someone who worked here. they knew miles taylor was a critic of theirs since he revealed his criticism and endorsed joe biden around the republican convention, but he was someone who was top aide to kirsten nielsen. other top aides, people like john kelly, he knows chad wolf, the acting secretary now, but i do think the white house thought this could be a top military general or someone of that nature that was going to come out just a few days before the election, and miles taylor someone they are familiar with. they do know he has been critical of what the president has said and has revealed things the president has said about immigration polic

and then the question that kaitlan, you know, raised about, when was his last negative test? and that's not just a political intrigue question, that really starts to play into what can we expect in terms of his course of illness, where does he lie on the course of illness? basic questions we don't have the answer to. >> when we heard dr. sean conley, sanjay, at that briefing earlier today at the bethesda hospital, say that the president is fever free, that's encouraging, but go into an analysis and tell us what that mean means. >> so, first of all, if someone has a fever, when you think about the sort of timeline of infection, that is a response that the body mounts to try to fight off the infection. you can sort of guess that you're into this infection at this point. this isn't something that just happened, just recently. you're probably now a few days into this. fever-free with medications, without medications is really important. you can obviously bring down people's fever with anti-inflammatory medications. but the impression you're trying to give is that he's recovering,

. >> let's bring in cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins and maggie haberman. she's a white house correspondent for "the new york times." and the pandemic, as it should have been, was the first question at this debate last night. and mike pence was the leader of the coronavirus task force, so it took on even added importance. and this is where, i think, perhaps, senator harris got in some of her cleanest hits. let's listen. >> the american people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. and here's the thing, on january 28th, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. they were informed that it is lethal in consequence, that it is airborne, that it will affect young people, and that it would be contracted, because it is airborne. and they knew what was happening and they didn't tell you. >> that was interesting to hear that. that was a choice of the way to go after the pandemic. she didn't talk about the outbreak inside the white house. she talked abou

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cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins is there. actually before we get to the president exactly himself, we have a bit of new information coming in this morning. chris christie, the former governor of new jersey who spent a week in the icu fighting covid-19 speaking for the first time this morning. with a message that is just such a stark difference than that of the president of the united states. chris christie was at the super spreader event for amy comey barrett. he was in the debate prep sessions where many people we now know have become sick. this is what chris christie says this morning, kaitlan. >> we need to be telling people that there is no downside to you wearing masks. leaders all across the politics, sports, the media should be saying to people, put your masks on and be safe until we get a vaccination. i let my guard down. i made a mistake. i was wrong and i'm fortunate to be sitting here this morning in good health. >> we need to be telling people there is no downside to wearing masks. put your masks on. kaitlan, such

. >> and kaitlan collins is with us as well. our white house correspondent kaitlan, we got this little memo from the white house physician, dr. sean conley. but there really aren't a whole lot of specifics there. and we do know that the president, he's been silent at least so far today. he isn't even tweeting, kaitlan. 16 hours ago was his last tweet when he posted "i tested positive for covid-19. we will begin our quarantine, a recovery process immediately. we will get through this together." since then, more than 16 hours haven't heard from him, haven't seen him. and certainly it's significant that he's not even tweeting. >> reporter: it is very uncharacteristic for the president to not be tweeting or anything. and of course now we're waiting for him to come up to marine one. it's been almost exactly 24 hours since we've seen the president. what we really have got to talk about here is the fact that we have not heard from the president's doctor in a briefing in a session where he can actually take questions from reporters. yet

so, listen, kaitlan.t before we went on the air, tonight, joe biden's campaign announcing that they broke their own august fundraising record. raised a whopping $383 million, in september. does the trump campaign have that kind of money, right now? >> well, we actually don't know because they haven't released their september fundraising numbers, yet. and it's probably going to be a few days given what the biden campaign just released. we saw this in august, where the biden campaign way outraised the trump campaign. they did it during a news cycle, i believe, when they actually did tell us how much they raised. and this dwarves what the biden campaign even raised in august. i now believe the biden campaign and dnc have something like over $400 million on hand to spend. that's a lot of money. i don't even know if there is enough tv ads that you can buy with all of that money. and so, we will see what the trump campaign has raised. and one thing they pointed to in recent weeks is saying hillary clinton outra

kaitlan collins reports for us now.l continue to tout his handling of the virus despite the evidence and the facts and the facts that virtually every poll tells us the vast majority of americans think otherwise. >> reporter: president trump tonight will hold his third rally in three days, this time in iowa. a state he won comfortably four years ago but is now locked in a dead heat with joe biden. >> you damn well better vote for me! >> trump and biden won't meet on the debate stage tomorrow night but head-to-head in dueling town halls on different networks. biden will take questions in philadelphia while trump's town hall in miami was contingent on him testing negative for coronavirus using an independent test done by the national institutes of health and reviewed by dr. anthony fauci and his deputy. both doctors confirming all evidence indicates that the president is not infectious for anyone else. side effects from the president's illness appeared to linger today as he addressed the economic club of new york. >> i end

kaitlan, thank you very, very much. let's continue the discussions with martin luther king iii, global sense right leader. we have yet to hear a clear denouncement of white supremacy from the white house. you dedicated your life to fighting human rights. why do you think the president and white house, for that matter, renews to unequivocally denounce white supremacy. >> the only thing any of us can come to the conclusion of is that is who he is. he told us who he is. people close to him have told us who he is in relation to issues of race. we cannot mandate anything in terms of what he does. what we can do is, you know, our government, preamble talks about we the people. we the people must come together. so many far more people in the country who did not embrace this. the bigger question is why are so many persons embracing him with an attitude that refuses to denounce racism and homo phobia and so many tragic things in our society. i think that is the biggest question that should be perplexing in 2020. we can, we must,

what does the white house feel that it got out of this, kaitlan? >> well, it's not just qanon, it's also what the president said about s.e.a.l. team 6 and the death of osama bin laden, when he was asked, why is he retweeting these insane conspiracy theories, trying to say basically that sblosama bin lad laden's death was a hoax and then obama and biden ordered s.e.a.l. team 6 killed. and last time, he says he just puts it out there to let other people to decide for themselves. it's the president of the united states, amplifying a conspiracy to his over 80 million followers on twitter and of course, he knows what he's doing, just like he knows what he's doing when he's not disavowing qanon and says he doesn't know what they are, but identifying something about them being against pedophilia. but i think if you were changing the channels last night and looking at these two town halls, of course the candidates were not on the same stage, but you could see such a difference in the way that they conducted themselves. and going from watching the president

kaitlan collins, to you. what do you expect the white house response will be to this and just mark the moment. i mean, this in and of itself is a statement of where we are which is it is unsafe to be near the president of the united states. >> yeah, the medical experts, i believe, will say this is a wise decision. we had heard back and forth over whether or not that should be held in person in just a week from today, but notably what the statement does not say is that the trump campaign or biden campaign has agreed to t it's hard to say that the president's advisers are going to be enthusiastic about this because there had been some talk about this beforehand or after -- in the aftermath of that first debate and it was not something that the president's advisers wanted to see and they noticeably have not said a word about this since the statement came out from the organizers of the debate, that it is going to be held virtually because of course the trump campaign's argument has been that the president is stro

kaitlan collins, thank you so much. appreciate it. >>> vice president biden may be leading in the polls, but the campaign warns supporters, trump can still win this race. they are telling supporters to campaign like we're trailing, but joe biden isn't even on the campaign trail today. what's the strategy? >> reporter: no, jake, joe biden is back in wilmington, delaware, keeping a little lighter schedule at the beginning of this week as he is preparing for that next match-up against president trump. biden is expected to be working with his advisers in the coming days as he prepares for that now second presidential debate against the president. biden is a meticulous preparer for these types of debates. essentially the biden campaign is planning their strategy for the debate this time will pay off as he prepares to face off against the president. one thing the biden campaign is waiting to hear about is whether the commission on presidential debates will make any changes to the debate rules. that is something that was talke

kaitl kaitlan, i guess it's not surprising but it's still shocking. nothing seems to have changed even though the president has now seen up close how dangerous this virus is. >> reporter: yeah, jake, there were a few days where white house aides seemed unsettled now but it seems like things are slipping back into their old pattern with the president going back on the campaign trail. you already pointed out the states he has this week on his agenda, starting today in florida. the campaign aides say they expect to get back to those two or three a day that we saw in the midterms and in 2016 the president's first time running. they're not going to continue the practice of letting people inside. most have been outdoors, although there have been a couple indoors pretty crowded and without masks. but even the rallies the president is holding outdoors, there is little social distancing, and although they encourage people to wear a mask, you don't see that many people wearing a mask when you're actually there seeing him, jake. it doesn't seem that the presiden

i want to bring in kaitlan collins. the it it's hard to believe that he would be coming back to the white house without a setup. he is president, but he also is a human being. no doctor -- no decent doctor would recommend that a patient -- we've had heard this from doctors today -- leave the hospital at this point in time, considering what the president's condition is. it's hard to imagine that contingency has not been set up. do we know anything about that? >> reporter: no, that's still to be determined. of course, we do no they have medical options at the white house. they're not they level as they are at walter reed. that was the justification to take him there a friday. there's still a lot of unanswered questions, brianna, from the president's doctors. he announced this about 20 minutes before the president's doctor is supposed to be briefing reporters. they still have not said when his last negative test was. the they haven't revealed any lung damage or pulmonary issues that may have shown up. so they have left a l

kaitlan, pennsylvania. key battleground state.st-win for the president and he's railed about false claims of voter fraud there. this is one of the reasons why he wants his justice seated, asap, in case of more decisions like this on or around election day, am i correct? >> yeah, you are correct. we are seeing what a difference it would be if amy coney barrett was already on the supreme court, in this decision. because, of course, it would take five justices for them to grant a stay here. she was not there to be that other vote for them. and so, that's why we are seeing this proceed where they can have these ballots come in, three days after election day. if it's clearly, they say, not something that was done at the last minute. basically, saying that you can have ballots come in. look at the date they were mailed and whatnot, and still have them come in those three days after the election. and this is a win for democrats. this is not something the white house or the trump campaign or republicans wanted to see be able to happen. an

kaitlan collins joins us now. er erie, pennsylvania, tonight. kaitlan, good evening to you. thank you so much for joining. here's what some of president trump had to say at a rally in pennsylvania tonight. here it is. >> before the plague came in, i had it made. i wasn't coming to erie. i mean, i have to be honest, there was no way i was coming. i didn't have to. i would have called you, said, hey, erie, you know, if you have a chance, get out and vote. we had this thing won. we were so far up. we had the greatest economy ever. greatest jobs. greatest everything. and then we got hit with the plague. and i had to go back to work. hel hello, erie, may i please have your vote? and in conclusion, we'll make this a little shorter. it's, like, 40 degrees. i don't want to loose anybody. you got to go vote. going to go a little shorter because you got to go vote have what kind of a closing message is that, kaitlan? >> reporter: well, it's one to a state we should note he's down to joe biden significantly in pennsylvania. of course, this is a state the president car ridded ery of cou

cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house. you couldn't help but be, you know, caught off guard. and it made us all come to attention when we heard 72 hours. this timeline now is not making any sense. and was that an error that the doctor made? or is this revealing about when indeed they had a positive test of covid for the president. >> it would be really concerning if the president's doctor had an error with the president's timeline of when he diagnosed. we're going to side with the doctor who said it's been 72 hours since he was diagnosed and 48 hours since he started the experimental treatment, the antibody cocktail we were talking about yesterday. both of those are before we even knew the president tested positive for coronavirus because that's only about 36 hours since we found that out, fred. that was about 1:00 a.m. early friday morning, obviously. it was right after we had gone off the air briefly when the president tweeted he had tested positive for coronavirus. so this calls every single thing the white house has said into question. if he was diagnosed with coronavirus

. >> cnn's kaitlan collins has more from the white house now. >> reporter: yeah, laura and christine, we haven't seen the president on our own since monday when he returned back to the white house, and since then, it's just been these edited videos that have been produced by the president's political aides but he did phone into fox news last night where he refused to answer three pretty direct questions about when or whether or not he had last tested negative for coronavirus. that would be since that positive test and could potentially give some kind of indication of where he's at right now in his diagnosis, but the president did not answer that question and said he would be tested today. said he didn't see a reason to test a lot, and even seemed to try to cast doubt on the idea that he was ever infected at all with coronavirus, though of course we know he was. we have spoken to his doctors about this. the president very much did have coronavirus, but this comes as the president is really trying to put his own spin on his health by saying things like he's no longer contagious, somethi

let's turn, right away, to cnn's white house correspondents, plural, jeremy diamond and kaitlan collins. and also, our very own chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. so, doctor, good evening to everyone. doctor, i'm going to start with you. so, tonight, we are learning the president has had trouble breathing. he's had a fever since this morning, fatigue. again, we -- it would be great to get some official notice from the white house. routine update so that the american people can find out how their president is doing. but what does all this say about his condition? and the care that he might need? >> well, you know, i -- i had heard about the fever and the -- and the fatigue, in particular. i did not know, specifically, about the difficulty breathing. that would add another level of concern, obviously. you know, it -- it was one of these things. like, throughout the day, we heard different things. first, we heard he was doing well. then, there were mild symptoms. then, we did hear about the fever and the fatigue. we also heard that he was getting this very experimental, althoug

let's begin today with cnn's kaitlan collins. president trump clearly playing a defensive role today, trying to hold onto states he flipped. >> reporter: you can see the priorities in the last several days for joe biden, and for president trump with these three stops he's making. he's actually not even coming back to the white house tonight and is instead overnighting in las vegas before making more stops tomorrow. of course, he is starting in michigan. that's been a priority of the campaigns, and it's notable to see how the president really is trying to hang onto these states where he enjoyed a good lead at other times in the race, certainly in 2016, and now they are desperately trying to make sure the president holds onto his base there, but also, of course, those middle of the road voters that he had in 2016 that they are trying to make sure that he gets again in 2020. of course, the question is, what's the closing message the president is offering to these voters in the final days on the trail, and does this final stretch whe

let's go to cnn's white house correspondent kaitlan collins. kaitlan, this whole nation has had to adjust to virtual reality, millions of children learning online but president trump calling a virtual debate unacceptable. doing so, by the way, while he was on the phone with one of his favorite channels. why is it unacceptable? >> he made it pretty clear in that interview that one of the reasons he doesn't like that idea is they could mute him easily, which is something a lot of people talked about, jake, after that last debate where it was constant interruption, basically, from the president. so that's one of the reasons. i think another reason they were not consulted before hand. the president found out moments before it was officially announced. jake, if these two candidates appeared virtually, it would be joe biden and donald trump appear on the computer screens. it would basically be impossible for viewers not to view that through the lens of the ongoing pandemic. that is something the president and the trump campaign have tried to shift vo

cnn's kaitlan collins is traveling with the president in the villages in florida. the president is about to hold a rally in the villages. it's a retirement community. this is a demographic and must-win state for the president. we know that seniors are far more susceptible to coronavirus than any other demographic. are you seeing there steps being taken to protect seniors gathering in a crowd during a pandemic? are they requiring masks? are they doing anything? >> reporter: no, jake. this actually looks a lot like the president's normal rallies he's been holding for the last several weeks. when we were coming in, we did see a lot of people wearing masks, they were all filing in, but now we're here, and we should note it's outdoors and we're on a really big piece of land because we're by thevil the villages at the polo field. there are a lot of people bunched together and not wearing masks while they're out here. there are a lot who are but certainly a lot who are not. it certainly does mirai lror a of the president's rallies. that's a concern here, because even the

kaitlan, the president denying what the doctors are el ttellin. jared kushner saying trump was in charge, not the doctors. and they're claiming credit for ending the pandemic. >> yeah. and when jared kushner made those comments, only 40,000 americans had died. we've seen where we have come now, just a short time later. be the president is defying what his administration guidelines say by holding rallies but ignoring what his doctors say, as well. something he has insisted and it's never been accurate, there are more cases because there is more testing. his testing coordinator said that is not the case. it's because there are actually more cases. that is in addition to disputing what the chief of staff said about being able to control the pandemic. of course, it culminated with that press release from the white house, touting ending the pandemic as one of the president's accomplishments in his first term in office. and they later acknowledged that was a poorly worded statement. it wasn't just poorly worded, it was inaccurate. if you look at the num

kaitlan collins is at ft. bragg in north carolina. jessica dean is in north carolina. kaitlan, trump mocking biden today for following, well, trump's own cdc guidelines. >> reporter: that's right. and erin, we've known these two candidates had very different messages on the coronavirus, but nowhere was it more obvious than at these events in florida today. seeing the president mock joe biden saying that it's not that he's holding small events because of the pandemic, but that people don't want to come to his events according to the president. of course, he's got thousands of people in front of him in florida, a lot of them not wearing a mask. today, before they left to go to that rally, the president's chief of staff was asked, when you go to these events, when the vice president goes to these events after coming into someone later that tests positive, you're not following your own administration's guidelines. here is how he answered that question, erin? >> i can tell you that i'm following the guidelines and a number of us are following the guidelines. for all of you

let's go to white house correspondent kaitlan collins. thank you, very much, for burning the midnight oil with us, kaitlan. the idea of the ever-expanding number of people who are testing positive seem to share, in common, having been at that rose garden ceremony or with the president, immediately thereafter. >> yeah. it's that rose garden ceremony for amy coney barrett. or a lot of this also has to do it seems with that debate prep. whether going to cleveland with the president or prepping him because it is an enormous amount of republican senior officials we are seeing test positive for coronavirus. i'm not sure anything like this has ever happened in modern history. where the president, who is up for re-election in just about 30 days, has tested positive for coronavirus and, of course, is out of commission for at least the next several days. and now, his campaign manager has, as well. i don't think we've ever seen a situation where something has affected, both, the president and his campaign manager, in this way. just such a short peri

first, let's go to the white house and cnn's kaitlan collins. the message from the president's doctors a bit clearer than a day ago but yet there's still a lot of information we don't have. we're several days into this is diagnosis. why is there still a lack of clarity coming out of the white house? >> basically because they know there's an audience of one they're trying to please when they come out to these press conferences. that's something we knew yesterday when asked whether or not the president was given supplemental oxygen. they confirmed it today as they spoke to reporters and he this were asked about these mixed messages. one difference between yesterday and today is dr. conley was willing to admit on the record that the president has now gotten that oxygen. of course, that only came after cnn and several other outlets reported on that already. what they were saying in this upbeat tone the chance the president could possibly be discharged as soon as tomorrow, they were seeing that -- what the medical experts have looked at, them saying

cuss now with maggie hager man, and cnn correspondent kaitlan collins. it is striking, the campaign sees in the president's infection potential for a come back script. the issue is their plan says show empathy, show you have a greater understanding of the pain this caused the country. the president's script is a little different. >> that's right, john. the president's script includes trying to say and show that he isn't really sick. by every account of everyone i have spoken to at the white house and around it, he is still sick. he is clearly doing better, but he's on a drug cocktail that includes steroids that can suppress your symptoms when you are really sick. i spoke to a bunch of folks this morning, reported earlier that the president and advisers are discussing, have been since last night, some kind of nationwide address. it would likely have to be in prime time. not clear if it will happen or not, but he is very eager to show he is back and nothing hurt him. that is at odds with telling people yes, i learned a lot about this, i understand it, i un

we'll go to cnn's kaitlan collins. first, the confirmation of amy coney barrett, phil mattingly is joining us. >> reporter: amy coney barrett is sworn in as an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states of america. it is a corner stone achievement for the trump administration and mitch mcconnell. the republican leader ushered in over the course of the last 3.5 years more than 320 judicial nomination including three supreme court justices. those three supreme court justices tilted the court. amy coney barrett have been confirmed by the united states, all republicans except for susan collins and kamala harris came off the campaign trail for the democrats to vote no. collins making clear she's voting no on procedurals and process grounds. all is left for amy coney barrett to be seated in the court and to be sworn in. >> i want to go to kaitlan collins at the white house. what are you learning about what's taking place at the white house? >> reporter: they are eager to celebrate that confirmation. they wan

let's go right to cnn's kaitlan collins. let's go to unanswered questions about the president's condition, and this note typically is not very detailed. >> reporter: no, it's really short. we also have not heard from dr. conley where we did the last three days where he wasn't giving a ton of information but he was taking questions. it doesn't look like a brief from that will materialize because we haven't gotten an indication from the white house. now that the president is back, he is projecting this idea that he's recovered from coronavirus, but of course he still very much has it and his doctor noted yesterday he is not out of the woods yet, jake, though he is acting like he is back on the campaign trail, tweeting that he's looking forward to debating joe biden in just nine days. what that's going to look like is a whole other question and what tests they want him to take before that debate and going to miami, if that happens. what we do know is that the president is back in the white house and it's being kind of run by a

cnn's kaitlan collins is at the white house. kaitlan, president trump today once again repeating this complete lie that the country is rounding the corner on the pandemic. i wish we were. we are not. >> reporter: no, jake, we're not even close. and the president has only got eight days left to make this final pitch to voters, and it really couldn't be worse timing for the president who for months has predicted that by the time we got to the election, the numbers would not look the way they are now. he said they would go down, and we are seeing them go back up. i do want to note as the president is making these three stops in pennsylvania today, he pushed back on what mark meadows told you yesterday when it comes to being able to control the pandemic, and instead the president praised his efforts so far. >> no, not at all. quite the opposite. absolutely the opposite. we've done an incredible job. we're doing a great job. we are absolutely rounding the corner. >> reporter: so once again saying we are rounding the corner, jake, tho

kaitlan collins, sara sidner both join me now. good evening to both of you. kaitlan, i should have said when i started at the top about what's going on behind the wall, i should have said oh, to be a fly on the wall at the white house. i got that right in the middle and i said i missed an opportunity. so, we haven't seen the president. we don't know his test results now or his past ones because there's the ongoing cover up. he is acting i radically. and tonight he is refusing to answer if he has been tested again. >> reporter: yeah, and don he was even asked three times in a friendly interview with sean hannity has he been tested since he was tested last thursday and tested positive. the president purposefully was not answering any of those questions and later said he would get tested tomorrow and said he doesn't believe there's a reason to test all the time. he even tried to imply he was potentially never infected with coronavirus, though of course we know his doctors have said otherwise. don, during his interview with sean hannity, you heard the president s

a little scene setter from kaitlan collins live at the white house. i am correct that masks are required this time. what does it look like because they didn't light the seats. are people closely seated? are they observing the mask rule? what's the deal, kaitlan? >> reporter: most people are wearing masks, chris. it's actually something we have not seen on the south lawn in this way before. you think of the republican convention when there were hundreds of people, over 1,000 people out here in chairs that were tightly packed together. and these chairs are actually distanced. you are seeing most people wearing masks though we've seen a few people not wearing them. and who's here? you know, several republican senators, members of this administration, allies of this administration, cabinet officials as well who are here on the front row that we just saw come in, people like elaine chao. so you are seeing different measures taken than were taken exactly one month ago today at that event in the rose garden when the president was announcing that he was picki

cnn's kaitlan collins is joining us with the very latest. what are you learning, kaitlan? >> reporter: you're seeing the president rap up his rally in florida. he's going to georgia next. he's pushing on this message that he's doubling down on now, insisting we're rounding the corner when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, even though as you noted, we're seeing surges at record highs in many states. that's something the white house has been telling us the last several months, that the president is being tested every single day, is not true. president trump and joe biden battling in battleground states today one night after going head to head but not face to face in town halls. >> i didn't watch sleepy joe last night. i just wanted to see what he looked like. >> reporter: president trump making his pitch to seniors as polls show biden is leading nationwide with voters 65 and older. >> seniors will be the first in line for the vaccine. we are rounding the turn. i say that all the time. some of the media doesn't like hearing it, but i say it all the time, we're rounding th

our kaitlan collins reporting for us. thank you very much. let's get more on the biden campaign's fight for florida at this hour. the former vice president is holding an event in tampa. so who are the voters biden is trying to reach in this key battleground state? >> well, wolf, joe biden will be here in tampa in just a short while. this is part of the i-4 corridor area, which is home to a booming population that includes a wide swath of voters with biden trying to appeal to older voter, young voters, latinos, as he is trying to make greater inroads in this state. now earlier in the day, biden started his campaigning in broward county, a democratic stronghold in the state. the idea there is trying to drive up some of that democratic turnout heading into election day. and biden talked about just how important florida is in this election, telling supporters and reporters here that if he were to win, that would mean the election is over. take a listen. >> this election is the most important one you ever voted in, whether it's your first or ten,

kaitlan collins, tamara keith, appreciate the insights. let's continue with a doctor who knows what it's like to work in the west wing, dr. pena, former physician to vice president pence. thank you are for your time today. you can take us inside a white house many people don't understand. when you hear this morning, let's listen, mark meadows said the president is itching. he's confined in the residence in his coronavirus isolation. he winston to get back to the oval office. a lot of the senior staff also has coronavirus and they are not there. they are put ting these isolatin carts together. >> we've got a number of safety protocols with full ppe, masks, goggles and the like for any direct interaction with the president in those areas. we continue to have a number of areas where we have disinfectants for hard surfaces and the like. >> if you were still working in the white house, would you advise the president it is safe to leave the residence and go to the oval office? >> no, i would not, john. thank you for having me. it's truly an hono

white house correspondent kaitlan collins joins us live. prime time appearances on fox news, to say i feel great, i'll be on the campaign trail soon but still not a detailed set of records or briefing to answer questions from the white house doctors about whether this is actually safe. >> no. i keep repeating myself, john. we have not seen the president's doctor in person since monday. he has not taken our questions since then either. we have relied only on very brief updates that he is issuing through the white house press office that are scant on details and that was the one yesterday where he said the president would be cleared, for engagements starting tomorrow. that's in contrast to what he said monday as the president left walter reed medical center, he thought they wanted to monitor the president over the weekend, this saturday and this sunday. and finally on monday he said is the day he would believe the president was in the clear, if his conditions stayed the same or only improved from there. it is not clear why it changed. haven't