mark esper. dr. esper served in the u.s. army on active duty and served as an army infantry officer earning award such at the department of defense medal for distinguished public service in the combat infantry badge. after a a career on both the public and private sector, dr. esper became the 23rd secretary of the army on june 19, 2017. just a little over two years later on july 23, 2019, he became the 27th secretary of defense in our nation's history. the number two person in our military's chain of command. i would like to think of the -- like to thank the secretary for providing these remarks for the summit here today. we are grateful for his commitment to military families, and making it a priority as secretary of defense let's hear what he has to say. >> >> hello. i am secretary of defense mark esper, and it's an honor to join you for this year's military family caucus summit. thank you to your founders and cochairs, congresswoman cathy mcmorris rodgers and congressman sanford bishop, for hosting this important event. f

mike pompeo and mark esper are on a swing through asia, tryg to build an effective u.s.erweight to china. joining me now, barbara, with a week to go before the election, this feels like squeezing in a trip right at the end. is it that a port -- that important for them? >> they have played down the timing because of their regular strategic costs, and this one was delayed because of covidnd now they say they have found a time the works and are seizing on it. but they are seizing on it partly bause india's china policy is seen as a natural counterbalance and isolating china has been a policy focus of the trump administration and the campaign for recent months.r it is working sure. this is a live issue for india remember the flareup they had earlier this year, the deadlyey flareup ad on the border with china. equally, they don't want to be seen as a frontline state against china. they have to work withhina. while they will be welcoming to the americans, they are wary of being in a tug-of-war between the u.s. and beijing. >> barbara, keeping and i on the u.s. election, what a

secretary of state mike pompeo and defense secretary mark esper will visit new delhi tomorrow for the third edition of two plus two ministerial dialogue. on the docket discussions of the ongoing tensions between india and china and strategic security talks on deemening the u.s.-indian military alliance. for a look ahead we turn to nbc's matt bradley in paris. >> reporter: hey, guys it's not just india. we saw a tweet this frrning month mike pompeo. he said wheels up for his trip all around asia. this is a two plus two kind of trip that means the plus two for pompeo is defense secretary mark esper. he will be traveling with the secretary of state and meeting his counterparts as well, not just in india but in four countries, the mald yves lanka, india and indonesia. basically doing a tour around the bay of bengal. what's the point one week before the presidential elections why try to chalk up a foreign policy victory this late in the game? the president is trying to burnish his anti-china credentials, trying to show that if nothing else he has shown america is going to be stabbndi up ag

doctor mark esper's graduate of the u.s. military academy and saw combat in the gulf war with the 100 first airborne, screaming eagles, the only air assault division of the u.s. army and later commanded a rifle company and an airborne battalion combat team. after leaving active duty this highly decorated veteran chose to join us here at the heritage foundation and serve as our chief of staff while continuing his military service in the national guard and the army reserve. he eventually left heritage and became a senior staffer about the senate foreign relations and senate government affairs committee. he also was a policy director for the house armed services committee and the first national security advisor for former senate majority leader bill fritz. he also served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense under president george w. bush. later, he was working on number of private-sector positions positions, including chief operating officer and executive vice president at the industries association, executive vice presid

mike pompeo and the president at national security adviser back from europe, mark esper traveling to north africa and is expected in the next few days. esper has not cut his trip short. 31 days before an election is not a good time to have the president's campaign manager sidelined but donald trump remains commander-in-chief. officials say there are no plans to transfer power to the vice president. the pentagon spokesman issued the following statement, quote, there has been no change to dod other levels, the military is ready to defend the country and interest, no change in the capability of our armed forces, national command and control structure is in no way affected by this announcement. the president hosted the pentagon truck -- top brass to honor families, none of the senior military officials at the ceremony contracted coronavirus, including the chairman, joint chiefs of staff, there are 400 nuclear missiles on the ground in north dakota, wyoming and montana to remain on alert. todd: thank you, lucas tomlinson at the pentagon. it didn't take long after donald trump announced a p

. >> we haven't heard from mark esper, were waiting on the defense secretary mark esper, i don't believe there was an event where he was involved in the white house but he is being tested, i do have to see what his is but otherwise the cabinet is basically covid free as of this point. >> certainly this is all being closely watched around the world. edward lawrence, thank you very much for the live report keeping us up-to-date, please come back if you hear anything new. the selloff of fuel by president trump's coronavirus diagnosis largely has been slowly down but i mentioned this at the top of the show, the nasdaq, think about the tech, a lot of the stocks has been the biggest stars for the year, they are the ones getting hit and as you can see solidly in the red is appl , alphabet, amazon, netflix, these are our stars, netflix has taken the biggest hit about 4% to the downside but the sector has been hot in the whole economy and focus let's bring in alion economic advisor mohammed, i want to start with the president positive tested the effect on the market, there seems to be concern abo

election secretary of state mike pompei own defense secretary mark esper has flown to india to meet with their counterparts it's almost as if they're running against the clock rolling out as much of their age policy in case their boss president donald trump loses the election india has signed a military agreement with the u.s. to share sensitive satellite information and the 2 will participate in naval exercises next month those are war games along with australia and japan all members of the quad a partnership of india pacific democracies. joining us is korea mohan of the german marshall fund for more agreement pump aoe and the esper are in india but this is as much about china isn't it. absolutely so this meeting comes in the backdrop of chinese aggression at india's border region which shows no signs of abating it also comes in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that is leading to a lot of questions in india about economic dependence on china the role of china in international organizations so china is definitely a factor but let's not forget that this meeting is also a culmination

election secretary of state mike pompei own defense secretary mark esper has flown to india to meet with their counterparts it's almost as if they're running against the clock rolling out as much of their asia policy in case their boss president donald trump loses the election india has signed a military agreement with the u.s. to share sensitive satellite information and the 2 will participate in naval exercises next month those are war games along with australia and japan all members of the quad a partnership of india pacific democracies. joining us is guerilla mohan of the german marshall fund for more grima pump a.o. and esper are in india but this is as much about china isn't it. absolutely so this meeting comes in the backdrop of chinese aggression at india's border region which shows no signs of abating it also comes in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that is leading to a lot of questions in india about economic dependence on china the role of china in international organizations because china is definitely a factor but let's not forget that this meeting is also a culminati

as the campaign nears its close, us secretary of state, mike pompeo and us defence secretary mark esperasia trying to build an effective, us—led counterweight to china. they've started their trip in india. joining me now is the bbc state department correspondent barbara plett usher. whether just a week to go whetherjust a week to go before the election, this feels like squeezing any trip right at the very end. is that important? officials have played on the timing because the us has regular security and strategic talks with close allies like india and this one was delayed because of covid and they say they have wound a time that works for both of them so they are seizing on it. —— time. there are also seizing on it partly because india is imported by china policy, a natural counter, balance to china in south asia and china isolating china has been the main foreign policy focus of the trump administration and the campaign for this month so it is important, pressure. we do not know specifically what will come out of this meeting, but it is a live issue for india as well because, remember,

defense secretary mark expert esper gave prerecorded marks.heo took apart event, looking at issues important to military families. good morning everyone. together weand cochaired the

defense secretary mark esper continues the trip to north africa but is expected back soon.nth before the election clearly not a good time to have his president and to campaign manager sideline but tonight president trump remains the commander in chief and senior u.s. officials tell me there's no plan to transfer power to the vice president and the pentagon spokesperson issued the following statement. "there's notions, the u.s. military stance to defend the country and interest and no change to the readiness and capability of the armed forces, national command-and-control structure talking about nuclear weapons. corrections around the globe was swift once it was revealed president trump in the first lady tested positive for covid with friends and foes weighing in. boris johnson, kim jong un, weyden. >> i think we want to send her messages to the president and the first lady. i've done that as you can imagine. >speak of the present host of te pentagon's top brass of the white house last sunday for a gold star family memorial service at the white house. we've told none of the

he and defense secretary mark esper were both at the white house for an event last weekend. >>> as the administration navigates this crisis, vice president mike pence is preparing to debate senator kamala harris tomorrow night, now agreeing to plexiglass barriers after pence aides repeatedly mocked the harris team for wanting an additional level of safety. joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host peter alexander. nbc's mike memoli in salt lake city ahead of the vice presidential debate. robert gibbs, former press secretary to president obama, and dr. vin gupta, pulmonologist and global health policy expert at the university of washington medical center. peter alexander, you heard from chief of staff mark meadows this morning. what is the latest on the president's condition? because we haven't heard from the doctors in two days except for a brief statement. and the schedule, because there was some suggestion from meadows that he might even be wanting to go into the oval office, conceivably. that raises a lot of questions. you have to walk from the reside

secretary pompeo and defense havetary mark esper will meetings. says the talkso are likely to include discussions on how free nations can work together to handle threats from china. the vatican is staying notably silent after pope francis appeared to back same-sex civil unions. the comments made during an interview for a new documentary reportedly took even the most senior levels of the catholic church by surprise. pope'ses per -- spokesperson has not returned emails or calls looking for clarification on the comments. many are wondering if they indicate an official change in church policy. global news 24 hours a day, on-air, and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. vonnie: it is 1:00 p.m. in new york, 6:00 p.m. in london, and 1:00 a.m. in hong kong. i'm vonnie quinn. welcome to bloomberg markets. here are the top stories we are following on the bloomberg and from around the world. house speaker nancy pelosi says a stimulus deal could be close at h

advisor robert o'brien, vice president mike pence, secretary of state mike pompeo, defense secretary mark esperhief of staff mark meadows. the united states continues to monitor for unusual activity from state actors, so far there have been many acts of public support including one in israel, in tel aviv, where a billboard went up saying god bless you, donald and melania. something to keep an eye on moving forward is the possibility of cyber attacks. we know that every day countries like china and iran try to launch cyber attacks against u.s. infrastructure and this could be a target if any group or country decides to take advantage of the current situation. todd. todd: trey, thank you very much. so just how serious should the u.s. be treating national security while the president battles coronavirus? former cia station chief dan hoffman joins me live. dan, what are we on the lookout for? >> well, for sure our adversaries and i would add our ally as well are mounting a full court press right now to track the president's health, to track our democratic process, contingency planning and if needed

secretary pompeo and defense secretary mark esper will

india getting ready to welcome secretary of state mike pompeo and defense secretary mike hunter mark espereat to more with their indian counterparts on the growing tensions with china. in israel one of prime minister's benjamin netanyahu ministers acknowledging the u.s. may sell f35 warplanes despite israel's objections. cutter reportedly submitting a request for the plane a few weeks ago israel is currently the only middle east country has the jets. in the vatican pope francis announcing he will elevate the archbishop of washington, d.c. to the cardinal rank next month. he will be the first black african american cardinal. that is a look at some stories from around the globe. coming up, how tech entrepreneur elon musk made space history ♪ ♪ oh humans. listen to what every strain... every twist-oof- and every backache is telling you: you cannot do this. pain says you can't. advil says you can. jon: political news out of washington senator susan collins of maine says shy will vote no in support of amy coney barrett. for supreme court, opposing a nomination just before the election murkowski

election secretary of state mike pompei own defense secretary mark esper has flown to india to meet with their counterparts it's almost as if they're running against the clock rolling out as much of their age policy in case their boss president donald trump loses the election india has signed a military agreement with the u.s. to share sensitive satellite information and the 2 will participate in naval exercises next month those are war games along with australia and japan all members of the quad a partnership of india pacific democracies. joining us is korea mohan of the german marshall fund for more agreement pump ale and esper are in india but this is as much about china isn't it absolutely so this meeting comes in the backdrop of chinese aggression at india's border region which shows no signs of abating it also comes in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that is leading to a lot of questions in india about economic dependence on china the role of china in international organization so china is definitely a factor but let's not forget that this meeting is also a culmination of al

welcome to the heritage foundation for conversation with secretary of defense mark esper on the criticalpic

mike pompeo and defense secretary mark esper met with on officials in new delhi ways to cooperate onandemic response as well as changes in the indo pacific region. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am ritika gupta. this is bloomberg. ♪ david: this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. time for stock of the hour. we are taking a look at caterpillar. shares of the machinery company are down, even though the company did better in the third quarter. joining us to explain his abigail doolittle. abigail: it is it interesting reaction to have a stop down and one of the worst tracks on the day for the dow industrials and the s&p 500, even though they beat. however, although the company is cautiously optimistic, they are not providing a 2020 one guidance or outlook. investors not liking that. when we dig beneath the surface on the quarter, it helps to explain why they are not offering outlook. this has to do with the decline in machinery sales down 20% in september. t

defense secretary mark esper argues this will reassure allies about russia and improve strategic flexibilityism with three former national security advisers calling the decision a blow to nato, unacceptable and big mistake. >> we're going to give a place that's already worth hundreds of millions of dollars. we're going to leave it and build another one when there's nothing wrong with this one. >> doesn't make sense. >> makes zero sense to me. >> reporter: lieutenant general ben hodges commanded u.s. army forces in europe from 2014 to 2017 and recently testified to congress about the president's plan. >> this is in effect a gift to the kremlin, we plan to reduce by over 30% all of our capability in germany. to me, that sends a terrible signal. >> reporter: american soldiers have been living and training in places like this across germany for decades but president trump's directive to slash troop numbers here and vice president biden's number to reverse that decision means that the future of a base like this is not just caught off in international geopolitics but u.s. presidential election as

and mark esper.would have fired both already, one official said, if not for the political headaches of acting before november 3rd. it's another norm dismantled and another advantage to russia, which has long benefitted from trump's america, one where alliances and values are shredded. "the washington post" writes this that trump has been a gift to putin. we're back with tim o'brien and former senator claire mccaskill. claire, for all of the sort of angst that trump creates among national security officials and alumni, this decapitation of the country's defense department, premier intelligence agency, that hasn't been corrupt bid mr. raf cliff and top law enforcement agency seems the most alarming and aggressive. my question to you is what stops him from doing this even if he loses? >> well, nothing. but it would be very short lived because clearly anybody that he fires or tries to hire, i do not see the senate confirming anyone to a trump administration in the last two months of the year. that just d

the official say mark esper could be on his way out.not clear if he would be fired or leave on his own. jillian: let's go to week seven in the nfl. the cardinals hand the seahawks their first loss in an overtime thriller. a field goal with 20 seconds left right there gives arizona the 37-34 win. cowboy's quarterback leaving the game with a concussion after a brutal hit. the linebacker who hit him was ejected. washington wins, 25-3. not good there. the patriots benching quarterback cam newton after three interceptions. the 49ers blew out the patriots, 33-6 in the battle of the unbeatens, the steelers held off a rally by the titans. >> it's a 45-yard attempt. it's high, no good. jillian: pittsburgh wins, 27-2 27-24. the falcons scoring by accident against the lions, giving detroit the final play and winning, 23-22. todd: there was the dallas on-side kick and then that, poor falcons. jillian: the browns beat the bengals which change -- the last few minutes of that game were exciting. todd: did you see the catch? joe biden flip-flops on ene

of the election, he will replace the fbi director christopher wray, as well the pentagon chief mark esper will likely be out. bret. >> bret: john roberts traveling with the president in pennsylvania. john, thanks. joe biden is once again trying to clarify his positions on issues such as energy policy and free college. the democratic nominee spoke with voters and reporters this afternoon in chester, pennsylvania. correspondent peter doocy reports tonight from wilmington, delaware. >> the closing days of the biden campaign look a lot different than the closing days of the trump campaign. >> we are going to be traveling, continue to travel, but the big difference between us and the reason white looks like we are not traveling, we are not putting on super-spreader's. >> in pennsylvania biden continues trying to calm the nerves of energy concerned voters. >> i'm not shutting down oilfields. i'm not eliminating fracking. i'm investing in clean energy, we are going to make sure that we don't continue to subsidize the oil companies. >> but that's not what he promised during the primaries. >> i gu

that the president also plans to replace the cia director, gina haspel, and the defense secretary, mark esper. let's discuss this further with axios white house reporter alaina treen. thank you for making time for us on such short notice. what more can you tell us about the president's plans if he should win another term? >> well, joshua, the president's already going through who he wants to remove. the list is a lot longer than these three agency heads, but it is not -- it's not normal for someone to get rid of these types of people in these roles, intelligence roles, law enforcement roles, of course, with the transition comes a turnover of people in the cabinet. to fire, to plan to fire and replace, the cia director, the fbi director, and the defense secretary, is a lot at once. but the president has long despised, particularly when it comes to fbi director christopher wray and cia director gina haspel, he desp e despises both of them and it's kind of despised -- they're despised within trump world as well. so these are people that the president has wanted to replace for a long time but has

house is that the president plans to fire gina haskell at the cia, christopher wray, as well as mark esperal security. they'll be doing this immediately. there's a great deal of distrust among -- about those three for different reasons and then after that, there's going to be an overall review of who's going to stay and who isn't. now, one name that has been in the news a lot attorney general general barr. he's not immediately on the chopping block. the president obviously is frustrated, he suggested that on air. but barr appears not to be part of the first three that would be shown the door should president trump win re-election. kasie? >> do you have any -- i mean, the christopher wray stuff has been pretty well documented but as far as the other two officials, i mean, what's driving that? >> well, with haspel there's a concern she's slow walking some of the intelligence releases, so haspel came in, she wasn't a partisan person. she becomes the first female cia director. gets senate confirmed but there's some suspicion about her inside the west wing. almost as though she were cultivating

secretaries of state and defense both in india seeking to boost military cooperation the my pumpin mark esper are expected to sign an agreement expanding information information sharing for military satellites and a stop in india as part of a 5 day asia trip aimed at strengthening strategic ties to counter u.s. chinese him from. the challenge of defeating the pen demick that came from also fed into our robust discussions about the chinese communist party. our leaders and our citizens see with increasing clarity that the c.c.p. is no friend to democracy the rule of law transparency in order freedom of navigation the foundation of a free and open and prosperous indo-pacific i'm glad to say that the united states navy are taking steps to strengthen our cooperation against all manner of threats and not just those opposed by the chinese communist party. well let's cross or curse one of this program who's in the indian camp of new delhi for some is clearly very much a new tree beneficial. absolutely nick said this was the 3rd time the u.s. secretary of state of defense have come to india to take pa

and also expects to replace cia director gina haspel and defense secretary mark esper. not to mention in the axios reporting, his disappointment, if you will, with bill barr over at the department of justice. does he fire them, if he doesn't win re-election? >> well, look, he might just out of frustration. he certainly made very clear that he's angry at members of his own administration for not be bending to his will when it comes to using the tools of government to help re-elect him in the last few days. he's mad at christopher wray for contradicting his sort of false assertions of widespread voter fraud. he's mad at bill barr for not prosecuting barack obama, hillary clinton, and joe biden. you know, he's mad at the intelligence community for saying that the russians are out there trying once again to influence this election on president trump's behalf. and i think that, you know, what you see here is somebody who's heading into the last week of the campaign, the polls show he's losing and he doesn't have the capacity he thought he had in terms of using the federal go

pompei has pledged us support for india against threats from china from pay and defense secretary mark esper are in india seeking to boost military cooperation as part of a $5.00 day asia trip and aimed at strengthening strategic ties in the face of a growing chinese influence in the region. the challenge of defeating the pandemic that came from will also fit into a robust discussions about the chinese communist party. our leaders and our citizens see with increasing clarity that the c.c.p. is no friend to democracy the rule of law transparency in order freedom of navigation the foundation of a free and open and prosperous indo-pacific i'm glad to say that the united states and india are taking steps to strengthen our cooperation against all manner of threats and not just those opposed by the chinese communist party. we're live with . a different relationship between india. and this time around they managed to sign the 4th and final of what's called these foundational foundation defense agreements between the 2 countries this one which allows the sharing of high end when the tree technology

director and mark esper.l against direct for wray has had a disappointing tenure leading f.b.i. at a time when the organization has been in crisis due to poll ittyization into the previous administration. he has ignored the pleas of rank and file agents and -- the official went further saying it is not personal, it is about insuring there will be public trust in the f.b.i. now, trace, fox news also spoke with the f.b.i. about this report and they say that director wray is just under seven years to go in his term and keeping his head down and focusing on the work of the f.b.i. what about joe biden mistaking president trump for george bush? >> this is interesting. gaffes aren't anything new to joe biden. he is off the campaign trail today. his campaign is down playing the gaffe from yesterday's virtual concert appearance where biden seems to confuse president trump with former president george w. bush before correcting himself. watch. >> four more years of george -- we'll find ourselves in a position where if t

secretary of state mike pompeo and defense secretary mark esper meet with top indian officials in newals say they talked about ways to cooperate on pandemic response, as well as challenges in the indo pacific region. president trump is mistakenly telling mailing voters having second thoughts they can change their votes in most states. the president tweeted that google searches for can i change my vote have been trending upwards. only a handful of states allow voters to change their ballots after submitting them, and the practice is not common. in the u.k., prime minister boris johnson faces a revolt from more than 50 of his own conservative members of parliament. they are demanding a clear route out of lockdown for parts of northern britain that helped give him a majority in the last election. while makers told johnson his strategy was disproportionately imaging the economies of northern regions -- disproportionately damaging the economies of northern regions. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than

and -- and mark esper, the defense secretary, mike pompeo, secretary of state, and i were all tryingor ten different meetings with the president to do that. and one such conversation i had with him and that was the point where he made the clearest statement that i heard. that describes a quid pro quo. >> and you have said if you were a republican senator, you would have voted to convict? >> on that basis, yes. >> mr. scott of florida. not guilty. >> reporter: on february 5th, senators voted, 48-52, on the abuse of power charge. and 47-53 on obstruction of congress. far below the necessary threshold for removing the president. >> my faith is at the heart of who i am. >> reporter: senator mitt romney was the only republican to break ranks, and vet to convict on abuse of power. still, the president was acquitted. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> reporter: the day after the president's acquittal. >> this is what the end result is. >> he acted like someone who was further emboldened. everything we have seen of him since. >> take that home. maybe we'll frame

defense secretary mark esper is not slated to cut short his trip overseas. if senior u.s.d to me that there's no plans to transfer power to the vice president and tonight president trump remains the commander in chief of pentagon spokesman and issuing the statement. this there is no change and we stand ready to defend our country and interest, no change to the capability of our armed forces, national command and control structure is in no way affected by this. reaction from around the globe was swift and once it was revealed to president trump and the first lady had tested positive with covid with friends and foes alike weighing in. kim jong un of north korea wished president trump a quick recovery along with german chancellor. >> i like to use the opportunity to issue u.s. president donald trump and his wife a very full and speedy recovery as quick as possible from the covid-19 infections. >> we all want to send our best wishes to the president and the first lady. i've done that this morning as you can imagine. >> shannon>> walter reed nationl center has a storied history

there's also whispers this morning about defense secretary mark esper poe h potentially alo losing hisows told me when i asked him that. futures indicate a decline of better than 250 of points. we are looking at a decline of about 2%, 250 points lower on the dow, the nasdaq down 87, the s&p right now down 30 points. this after all three major indices posted losses on the week last week after days of wild swings over stimulus and a rise in the number of covid cases. the worst performer was the nasdaq, down better than 1%. peter navarro is here to talk all things economy including the new plan for arizona and the discussion over fracking. and it's a very special morning this morning, join us in the 8:00 a.m. hour where we'll go live along fox and friends on our of sister net york, i'll be previewing my new book, the cost, which hits shelves tomorrow. don't miss that, it's coming up. "mornings with maria" is live right now. european markets this morning are lower, take a look. italy and france among countries imposing new lockdown orders of after a surge in coronavirus cases. the fq100 is

the official also says defense secretary mark esper could be on his way out.or leave on his own. and this just in. an excerpt from former president barack obama's new book details the fight to pass obamacare. the new yorker plusing a part from a promised land reading, quote: unsurprisingly, given the atmosphere, the group of three g.o.p. senators who had been invited to participate in bipartisan talks with former senator matt baucus down to two chuck grassley and olympic i can't snowe. the moderate from my team. the rest of it says the white house repeatly called them every few weeks to take their temperature. keep you updated there. week 7 in the nfl. the cardinals hand russell wilson and seahawks first loss in overtime thriller. gives arizona the 37-34 win. cowboys quarterback andy dalton leaves the game with a concussion after a brutal hit. the linebacker who hit him was ejected. washington won 25-3. the patriots benching quarterback cam newton after 3 interceptions. blue out the patriots. browns qb baker mayfield throwing five towards including this game w

services secretary, negative, yvonne cattrall, mark meadows, the chief of staff, negative, secretary of state, mike pompeo, negative, the defense secretary, mike esper, negative, bill barr, the attorney general, that was known yesterday, negative, the widespread contact tracing to get to the bottom of anyone who was 50 feet with the president of the united states rather traveling or yesterday when he was in bedminster new jersey, we are going to talk to joe pisco a little later, he was at the new jersey event and we get different reports, others say he was very energized and very engaged in very within very funny. but joe was there so he will know, we will be going to him in the next hour, actually very, very soon. one thing we are following on this, how widespread the impact, nancy pelosi said something interesting concerning stimulus, this is change the dynamic in other words the president's condition testing positive for the virus, might change the dynamic on this, whether that means improving the odds of both people coming together getting something passed, but we are monitoring that as well, i mentioned on the outset what this might do to the j

defense sececretary mark esper d minister of natioional defensest in washingtonn on wewednesday. >> wegree north korea's nunuclear and ballistic missile programs remain a serious threat to the security and stabibilityf the r region and the world. >> esper stressed the need for close cooperation between the two countries to address the security threat from pyongyang. so stressedd their reliance woud remamain strong in thehe face oy security problems. esper also said try lateral cooperation with japan was on the agenda. soe said seoul would keep working with tokyo and washington on matters of regional security. >>> state media in north korea say leader kim jong-un has paid a visit to an area devastated by recent extreme weather. the working party newspaper said on thursday that kim inspected efforts in one of the areas hit hard by the typhoons this summer. the report says kim praised party members sent from pyongyang to build new houses in the area. it also says kim vowed to deal strictly with examples of substandard reconstruction work in the area. the visit comes days after kim deliver

defense secretary mark esper isrgin allies to boost their defense budgets saying there could be no freeiders. >> we expect all allies to invest more in defense, at least 2% of gdp as the floor. we expect them to stand shoulder to shoulder with the united states in confronting chinese bad behavior and russian aggression. therean be no free riders to our common security. >> esper delivered a speech on tuesday at a think tank in washington. he said nine nato allies are meeting the commitment of 2%. this compares to five countries in 2016. esper stressed the u.s. expects all allies beyond nato as well to spend more on defense. the trump administration is also calling on allies to shoulder more of the cost of hosting u.s. forces. the japanese and u.s. governments will start working level talks later this month on how much japan will shoulder in the next fiscal year and beyond. full-fledged negotiations are expected following next month's u.s. presidential elections. observers say the prospects of the talks may be swayed by its outcome. >>> >>> the united states and russia indicated they are