>> i would say the white house correspondent association and the white house pool the 13 member collection of journalists they follow the president at the white house and with the president whenever he travels outside of the white house. they are on the plane. that is a tradition that is unique around the world when it comes to heads of state and how they're covered. it's an american tradition. any foreign summit no delegation runs as deep as the americans. that's the power and the importance of the free press and independent press to the democracy. and we would be we don't want to roll that back. we're trying to find ways to do that safely. that means testing and wearing masks and social distancing. that we can in our cramped work space. that pool maybe able to maintain the integrity of that pool throughout the crisis and intend to do that. once the coronavirus is over for generations to come. that is the bedrock of what we do. make sure that there's eyes on the president when ever he leaves the white house at all times. if something happens, that can be all sorts of things. there are eye

white house. they don't deserve your coverage. what would you say to that? >> i would say that either the white house correspondence association and particularly the white house pool, which i mentioned was this 13-member collection of journalists, they follow the president -- they're at the white house, they are there with the president whenever he travels outside of the white house, they're on a plane with him on air force one. that is a tradition that is unique around the world when it comes to heads of state and how they're covered by the press corps. you look at any barn summit, no delegation rolls quite as deep as the americans', and that speaks to the power and performance of a free press, an independent press to our democracy, and we would be -- we don't want to roll that back. we are trying to find ways to do that safely. that means testing, that means wearing masks, that means social distancing to the extent that we can, in our cramped work spaces, but from our standpoint, that pool may be able to maintain the integrity of that pool throughout this crisis, and we intend to do that once this coronavirus is over and for

there has been a lot of transparency from the white house correspondents' association. e group that represents the members of the white house press core. the president of the association is zeke miller, a reporter for the ap, with me now. zeke, you said on friday three reporters in the press core that have tested positive for covid-19. these test results came in work white house on different days, developed symptoms at different times. what can you tell us about these three positive cases? >> right now i have been in contact with all of them. they seem to be doing okay, having mild symptoms. we are gratified they don't seem to be having a very difficult course of this disease at the moment. they got -- we don't know where they got the virus and how they were exposed to it. but we know that all three of them were at the -- on the white house complex last weekend where there seem to be a number of people and white house staff and associates who tested positive around the white house at that time. >> right. increasing signals that the supreme court announcement was possibly

throughout this pandemic, the white house correspondents association and members of the media taking more precautions and this reaffirms this point saying make sure if you don't have to work at the white house don't work at the white house right now. quote, we cannot stress enough the importance of mask wearing, social distancing and common sense at the white house complex. >> brian, i used to cover the white house. one of the things that people are surprised is how close the quarters are. not just for the reporters. we are talking about very small areas that make it very difficult to socially distance and you have to take as many precautions as possible and i talk about the press offices. there are people sitting there chock a block at desks. like a classroom feel. >> definitely. that's why it was a mistake for kayleigh mcenany to hold a press conference yesterday. would we know right now if news did not leak? there's murkiness about that. the fact that there's a white house staffer who sits with the press who's a confirmed positive, this speaks to how many other cases there might be

see for yourself, at carvana.com. >>> the white house correspondents association is now responding to the breaking news about press secretary mcenany and two of her staffers testing positive. this is the statement the association tweeted out -- we wish kayleigh, the president and others well who are struggling with the virus. we strongly encourage or members to continue following cdc guidance on mask wearing and distancing, especially when at the white house and urge journalists to seek testing if they were potentially exposed. olivia is the washington correspondent for the new york magazine. what is your thoughts? >> i'm glad i haven't been there. i was dismayed by the statement. i'm a member of the association. i think it is the association's job to defend journalists, and those at the white house who do not wear masks, they put each other as risk, as we're seeing, and they also put reporters at risk. it was yesterday that kayleigh mcenany was talking to reporters without a mask on, and now we know she's positive and possibly has exposed reporters and others around her. so i think i

also three journalists who work out of the white house per a white house announcement earlier this evening. white house correspondents associationust sent a letter to its members announcing among other things that the white house has just committed to testing all journalists who have traveled on air force one over the course of the last week. according to the correspondents' association, that testing will happen at the white house on monday morning. joining us now is dr. jennifer pena, who has a unique perspective on these events. she served in the white house medical unit in the obama administration. she was the white house physician assigned to vice president pence. she resigned in 2018. thank you for your time tonight. >> it's an honor to be on. thank you, rachel. >> is there a protocol established for when a president should be hospitalized at an outside facility? i've never worked in the white house, and i've spent very little time there. but it's always been my impression that the white house medical unit can handle a lot. so that's part of why i felt worried that the president was moved off white house grounds and into wa

let's speak now to anita kumar, she's the white house correspondent & associate editor at politico.hy was it four weeks. anita, thank you for joining was it four weeks. anita, thank you forjoining us. why was it important to donald trump to vote early? well, he wanted to go to florida. he was in florida for a number of rallies. it's a huge state for him. he must win that state to win the presidency. so he wanted to do that. he also wanted to do it in person. he also wanted to do it in person. he wanted to do exactly what you heard him say which is show people that it heard him say which is show people thatitis heard him say which is show people that it is ok to go to the polls in person, that it's safe, it's better than voting by mail, which as you know, he has been talking about for several months now, that voting by mail can lead to fraud, so he really wa nted mail can lead to fraud, so he really wanted to do that and do that in person. donald trump is swinging through four states today, in contrast, joe biden is really concentrating his energies in one location. what does that te

white house reporter michael sheer has tested positive. he has told axios today his wife has now tested positive as well. the white house correspondent's association says there are two other white house journalist who is have tested positive besides mike sheer from "the times." washington, d.c. has just recorded the largest spike in new cases that the district has seen since early june. and it's not known exactly if the infections at the white house and the president's immediate circle are responsible for the overall spike in d.c., but the sheer numbers indicate that's a real possibility. and you know, i don't know exactly what consequences or subsequent behaviors we would expect to derive from a circumstance in the white house that is this nutty and this bad. i don't know what would be the right or expected or normal response to something this insane. but i didn't expect the response would be this. the vice president now tonight mocking democratic vice presidential kamala harris and the commission on presidential debates for wanting to institute some additional covid protection protocols for tomorrow night's vice presidential debate. i mean, for

i want to ask brian stelter what the white house correspondents association, the association that represents the reporters covering the white house, what they're saying. >> right, the association is out with a statement wishing kayleigh mcenany and the president swift recovery. i am hearing from reporters that are quite angry, think the association should have spoken more forcefully and call this what it is. it is outrageous. i don't want to kick somebody when they're down or sick, but her conduct was outrageous. it is more evidence of a cover up, more evidence of denialism at the white house until you start coughing and can't deny it any more. i think the idea she's an essential worker is an insult to truck drivers, delivery workers, grocery clerks that are essential workers. we know that kayleigh mcenany can work from home like other press aides. once again, the white house is more and more paralyzed by the virus. the question comes now about wednesday, about the vice presidential debate. how can the vice presidential debate go on? how can vice president pence go to the debate, supposed to

you've covered in white house for some time, were head of the white house correspondents association. i can't count the number of times during the last four years where we have heard of some advisers to the president, always unnamed, saying they've been privately encouraging him to take a different tact, to moderate, to show more empathy, et cetera. we heard that again following the president's covid diagnosis. of course, the president emerges, goes back to his old line, this is nothing, forget the masks, et cetera. is anyone telling him to moderate at this point and should we just buckle down and the say the next four weeks will be like the last four years? >> jim, can the answer be yes to both questions? >> yes. >> i think that is what's going on. there are people inside the white house trying to guide the president to a better place for himself, for the staff and for the country, but there's also wide recognition that he is the president and it's going to be the way he wants it to be and there's not the strongest push back is not at the top. so we're not seeing the chief of staff s

white house press corp. have tested positive for covid-19. that's according to a statement from the white house correspondent association.the journalists had traveled with the president to a campaign event on saturday in pennsylvania. while another covered last week's rose garden event introducing the president's supreme court nominee. the association has asked anyone who was at the at the time to monitor their health for any changes. meanwhile president trump's covid-19 leading to changes to joe biden strategy, will continue in-person events but pulling negative events. hillary vaughn is on that for us live from wilmington, delaware this afternoon. hey, hillary. reporter: hi, sandra, well, biden's vp nominee kamala harris is on the ground in utah getting ready for the first vice presidential debate, but fox news is learning there are going to be some major changes made to the setup. harris and vice president mike pence will be seated 12 feet apart, double the distance of typical social distancing which is usually 6 feet. >> that's great to be here. i'm honored to be here. i will be here for the next few days preparing f

white house reporters have been impacted, jeff. there are at least three who have tested positive. this according to the white house correspondents association. i know you are there all the time. give me a sense of what the protocol is like right now. do you feel safe doing your job? do you think now we'll see changes given that the head guy at the white house is in the hospital suffering from covid? >> well, i mean it's -- i can't speak to what the white house is going to do. the protocols we've been following within the press corps have been robust. everyone -- nearly everyone in the press corps wears a mask all the time at the white house. i don't think it's a surprise to anyone that i do. the people in the pool get tested every day but that's only 1 people. the rest of the reporters and the rest of the people who come onto the complex are not getting temperature checks when they walk in. there was a time earlier in the pandemic when everyone that came on to the white house grounds had their temperatures taken. inexplicably they stopped doing that this summer which, again, is a risk not only to all of us who go in but to the president of

we're also joined by reuters white hohouse correspondent jeff mason, the former president off the whwhite house correspondents association we welcome you both to democracy now! jeff mason, let's begin with you. you are covering joe biden. you were the white house correspondent president in the beginning of trump's. can you talk about, would we know almost any of this on thursday if it had not been a reporter at bloomberg news reported that hope hicks had tested posositive for covid-19?? great questioion. wewe would not havave known it n we did. it ended up beingng confirmed by otheher news organanizations, inclcluding my own. that l led to a trickle of news about essentially president trump. he came on fox news news later that evening and also confirm that hope had gotten sick. and at that time,e, said he had been tested and also sort of gave an indication he wasn't sure if hehe had it and whetethe would need to go into quarantine. it is hard in retrospect to know what -- if he still would have gone on fox in that case. eventually, they would've had to say he had the disease. outfor sure, it started from good reporting f

the white house correspondents association putting out a statement saying that they weren't told aboutkind of created a reaction. what about this move, the president wanting to do a hat tip to the people outside? >> well, i think there are a couple of things here. one, or we've been hearing from the sources that the president is feeling cooped up in the hospital. he wants to get out as soon as possible. but if you look at some of those images, some of those secret service agents, you know, the president of the united states has coronavirus which is extremely contagious. he is in a closed-off, sealed-off vehicle right now putting u.s. secret service agents at risk. i think that that's not something that we should lose sight of right now. there is certainly an interest in getting out and waving to those supporters, and then there's also the very real situation that he's dealing with and the risk that he poses to other people right now. bret: marc, your thoughts about how this has all gone in the past -- well, since we saw him leave the south lawn of the white house in marine one on frida

the white house correspondents association putting out a statement saying that they weren't told aboutt kind of created a reaction. what about this move, the president wanting to do a hat tip to the people outside? >> well, i think there are a couple of things here. one, or we've been hearing from the sources that the president is feeling cooped up in the hospital. he wants to get out as soon as possible. but if you look at some of those images, some of those secret service agents, you know, the president of the united states has coronavirus which is extremely contagious. he is in a closed-off, sealed-off vehicle right now putting u.s. secret service agents at risk. i think that that's not something that we should lose sight of right now. there is certainly an interest in getting out and waving to those supporters, and then there's also the very real situation that he's dealing with and the risk that he poses to other people right now. bret: marc, your thoughts about how this has all gone in the past -- well, since we saw him leave the south lawn of the white house in marine one on fri

the white house correspondents' association -- never overwhelmed by humility -- said it was, quote, outrageoushe president to have left the hospital even briefly amid a health crisis without a protective pool present to insure the american people know where their president is and how he is doing. my goodness, how arch can they be. the president told the world where he was about to go in a video posted to twitter yesterday. this is what he said. >> i also think we're going to pay a little surprise to some the great patriots that we have out on the street, and they've been out there for a long time, and they've got trump flags, and they love our country. so i'm not telling anybody but you with, but i'm about to make a little surprise visit. so perhaps i'll get there before you get to see me, but i just -- when i look at the enthusiasm, and we have enthusiasm like probably nobody's ever had or people that love the job we're doing. we have more enthusiasm than maybe anybody. lou: well, the pool of network reporters could have just listened to the president, that's all they had to do, but they had

he is a white house correspondent for reuters, has been in a position a long time, former president of the white house correspondents association. and, he talked about the contrast, today at the white house, versus even a few weeks ago. take a listen. >> in terms of being sort of behind the scenes, alex, i can tell you that there has been a change in the last week, being inside the white house, number one, there are fewer people there is a ghost town, because so many people were exposed and have been affected by the separate but number two, the people who are coming to work at the white house in addition to reporters like myself have started wearing masks inside their offices and that was not the case before this outbreak, and before the president got covered 19 himself. >> it was interesting alex, a few weeks back when president trump visited california, i was chosen to be one of the pool reporters representing the state, and, the white house press folks asked me to wear a mask. the other reporter said that we all needed to wear masks. but, most of them did not. i saw hope hicks standing a few feet from me, she was not in a ma

who believes that donald trump would never have run but for that i think it was 2011 white house correspondent associationner. >> i was at that dinner when the former president barack obama was making some fun of donald trump who was sitting at the table, by the way, right next to my table over there. you can see it was for him. >> there you go. >> an unpluzant moment indeed. michael smerconish, thank you very much. >>> there's more news we're following in the situation room. after a race like no other it all ends here. join us for special live coverage the way only cnn can bring it to you from the first votes to the critical count. understand what's happening in your state and indeed across the country. election night in america, our special coverage starts tuesday, november 3rd, 4:00 p.m. eastern. it's going to be a long night. >>> coming up as new cases of the coronavirus surge across the country one state seeing a daily high in new cases is already running low on icu beds. and that's putting so many more patients at risk. we'll be right back. 1 in 2 kids is underhydrated. wabba wabba! all new, plant p

we've also learned the white house correspondents' association says three journalists, including one who was at that saturday outdoor event for judge barrett -- there was also an interior reception -- these three journalists have all tested positive. the trump presidential campaign is clearly on hold. the biden campaign has, out of courtesy, suspended all negative ads about the president. earlier today, biden offered these thoughts during a campaign stop in michigan. >> my wife jill and i pray that they'll make a quick and full recovery. this is not a matter of politics. it's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. >> here for our leadoff discussion on this friday night, robert costa, national political reporter with "the washington post," also happens to be moderator of "washington week" on pbs. jonathan karl, chief white house correspondent over at abc 7 news. we get to talk to him periodically. in his capacity as an author, he has written the recent book "front row at the trump show." annie karni, white house reporter for "the new york times." an

thursday night featuring alexi mccammen, political reporter for axios, anita kumar, white house correspondent, associate editor over at politico, and frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director for counter intelligence, notably the author of the upcoming book "the fbi way, inside the bureau's code of excellence." good evening and welcome to you all. anita, i'd like to begin with you. given your beat, the white house has initiated so many cases of this virus you can now look at the white house component of d.c.'s overall numbers. they're responsible for a localized spike within the district of columbia. we have a presidential doctor who we have to say in fairness may be co-opted, telling the world and the president he's cleared as of saturday, a whole bunch of doctors agree the quarantine should last 20 days following a positive finding. what is going on inside that 18-acre complex that you cover? >> well, what's going on is most staffers are not happy with what's going on. they are trying to figure out, you know, if they have contracted coronavirus. and that's really the bulk of what's going on. ther

journalists who have been working at white house pool events over the last week have also tested positive we're awaiting word from the white house correspondents association on whether there is more you also have two lower level aides working in the press office who report to kayleigh mcenany, and then you have the plain clothes guard who accompanies the president at all times. he is married to an aide to jeb bush there's a lot of concern -- to jared kushner. we reached out to kushner's office his wife, ivanka trump said she tested negative today but is working at home out of an abundance of caution there are others who have had covid exposure as well, like the attorney general william barr who said he tested negative but is now in isolation because of that exposure that he has had. there are many officials in this boat one of them is not the vice president mike pence who is currently on his way to utah for a vice presidential debate that will happen later this week. but shep, earlier today i had the opportunity to speak with jo head of the domestic policy council and member of the white house task force. based on the way the white house an outbreak of th

and i would add to that that just today the white house correspondents association announced three journalists around the white house over the last few days, they too have tested positive. the white house part of the contract tracing did a lot of testing for the reporters in the pool and around the president over the last few days, they did that this morning. we kept learning throughout the day, another one, another one, another one, had tested positive so there are a lot of people in confined spaces where the masks are not necessarily worn for the most part and we're going to continue to see the ripple effects of that and it is just -- you think about the humility that some people have taken and in their approach to this pandemic because there is no cure and people are affected differently. we've seen more than 200,000 americans killed that point and it has not been until the president himself contracts the coronavirus that you start to see people at the white house more than most actually wearing the masks yesterday and today. so that is just sort of startling. and everybody is hoping that t

white house? >> white house correspondents association we wants people in a public pool and our mandate is to be therecover the president at the white house. the numbers are extremely lower and if you are going to be in proximity to the president or covering him where there is potential, typically one of the rapid testings in the morning and otherwise to social the distance, the press briefing room and offices of reporters are very tight and cramped spaces but everyone is doing the best they can. rick: there is no coronavirus testing regime at the us capitol, no one tested, us capitol police, journalists, they are not given tests. nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell ruled out testing earlier this year. ironically house minority leader kevin mccarthy and senate minority leader chuck schumer pushing for testing. there are those who say they should have it and those who say they shouldn't, maybe there are changes now. >> it might. an event as high profile as donald trump getting the virus, definitely sounding off alarm bells in the capital. something a lot of members asked for, that made more sense with tes

living inside, the white house doesn't seem to be a safe place to work right now for the journalists who cover the trump administration. today the white house correspondents association told the press corps to, quote, avoid working from the white house grounds entirely if it can be avoided. >> wow. >> to better protect themselves from contracting covid and spreading it to their families. just remarkable at any time. but even more so given that the white house press corps now has to telework to avoid a covid outbreak less than four weeks out from a national election. joining us on that front is our friend, phil rucker, white house bureau chief for "the washington post." thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to ask you about a lot of things that happened today, including the video the president just put out claiming he had discovered a cure for covid and some of these other strange things. just in the last couple of minutes we got late breaking news that the assistant commandant of the marine corps has tested positive for covid. we know he was one of the very senior military leaders who had gone into quarantine after potential exposure. that was

white house correspondent geoff bennett back with us as well. to be clear, small group in the west wing driveway because the white house correspondents associationed people to stay out of the white house if you can, because of the coronavirus pandemic particularly today, as we now know that several white house people, at least hope hicks, the president and first lady tested positive. >> reporter: it's a small footprint for those of us in the white house, even more so today with that diagnosis of president trump and the first lady. i think what we heard from mark meadows, the white house chief of staff, is almost as important as what he didn't say. he said he would not go into what treatment, if any, the president is receiving. you could make the argument that this white house, the chief of staff has an obligation to tell the american people precisely what treatment the president is receiving if, in fact, he is getting one as the president self-isolates in the residence now with coronavirus. he didn't engage on the treatment issue. he also didn't really engage on the timeline issue. as you mentioned, hallie, mark meadows saying they got word of h

either exactly what the plan is and situation is we're getting communication from the white house correspondence association within the past couple seconds put out a statement publicly indicating that there are three members of the press core who have now tested positive for covid-19 today. they're saying as of this moment, three white house journalists tested positive for covid-19 they're identifying each of those people with contact tracing. there are details here in the white house statement from the press association to exactly where and which events those individuals attended so there is some concern now within the press staff that the press staff may have been exposed to this virus, as well this does affect everybody on down the hire ark key, as well. >> it was our understanding, we had a report one journalist had been affected or tested positive and a white house staffer that works with journalists tested positive do we know anything about that that was from the white house press association. do we know anything more about that staffer >> we don't know anything about the staffer. what they are descri

the white house correspondents association has been keeping people apprised of that.ree journalists have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last week or so. basically during this latest white house outbreak. one of those reports i think he said his wife is also guarded, as well. yeah. yes a friend and a terrific colleague. also guarded, as well. yeah. yes a friend and a terrific colleaguem there much evidence of contact tracing that you see, jeff? in terms of co nta ct tracing that you see, jeff? in terms of contact tracing the answer that question is no. the white house has not been routinely reaching to people who were at for example that saturday event when the president nominated judge amy comey barrett to the supreme court for top that applies tojournalists the supreme court for top that applies to journalists as well as others that were in that audience was up in general the contract do not co nta ct was up in general the contract do not contact tracing is not been robust. i know you want to talk about the campaign because you follow the president and wh

barrett, three reporters have tested positive for coronavirus and the president of the white house correspondents associationt need to be in the white house if your job doesn't require you should not go. two us senators at that ceremony also tested positive, the president of notre dame university, even that rose garden event which was held outdoors in i we secure place seems to have been the epicenter of maybe not a superspreader event but a minispreader event. >> that's the problem. we don't know whether it was a superspreader event, we know so far the eight people who attended that event have come down with a virus. they've tested positive for covid-19. that attests to the a romance and strength of this virus and the need to exercise extreme caution. opening up in areas where the virus rate is low is a good idea, i don't think sending the economy paralyzes the country but when you have a spike or see an event like that white house event where you have clearly spread, you have to exercise caution. i believe lockdowns in areas like that where you see a second spike or outbreak are absolutely essential. until

earlier, i spoke to anita kumar, white house correspondent and associate editor at politico.ded to vote early in florida. well, he wanted to go to florida. he was in florida for a number of rallies. florida is a huge state for him. he must win that state, most people believe, to win the presidency. so, he wanted to do that. he also wanted to do it in person. he wanted to do exactly what you heard him say, which is show people that it's 0k to go to the polls in person, that it's safe, it's better than voting by mail, which as you know he's been talking about, you know, for several months now that voting by mail can lead to fraud. so, he really wanted to do that and do it in person. donald trump is swinging through four states today. in contrast, joe biden is really concentrating his energies in one location. what does that tell us about these campaigns? well, president trump is doing what he did in 2016, which is these last few weeks, you know, after he got back on the trail after coronavirus, he's doing, you know, these rallies multiple times a day, two, three, four rallies a

political white house correspondent associate editor anita joins us now.oys, man, this really -- putting the president's health aside that we all hope for. the scrambles this campaign, how do both campaigns what do they do? how does the president's campaign adapt from here when the candidate is laid up in a hospital room? >> it's a great question. i've been talking to people for the last two days about that and the answer is they haven't quite figured it out. the big, you know, decision they have to make here is if the president quickly recovers, and can he be back on the campaign trail in the couple of weeks clearly they're hoping that will be the case and then he can resume his activity for last weeks of the election and some saying that's not possible so trying to figure out what to do. you know, some of that is that they are, you know, right now they're canceling postponing a lot of events that he was supposed to do. he was going to a number was states next few days. they're talking about possibly sending surrogates or making them virtual events. ofnl

joining us now, white house correspondent and associate editor for politico, anita kumar. anita, good morning! it's great to have you here on "way too early." let's talk about this swing state polling. it's narrower than the national polling, clearly, and we all know this is where the race is going to be fought. it seems like the president is in slightly better shape than he was three weeks ago. it's hard to imagine how much worse it could have gotten than that week of the first debate, which was disastrous for him, by all measures. and of course, then his hospitalization for covid-19. these final days, because of the pandemic and so much early voting, it seems like, perhaps, any changes between now and tuesday may have a lesser impact than they would have had otherwise, but we always know something seems to happen at this period almost every single time to at least affect the contours of this kind of a race. >> yeah, you're exactly right. i mean, the president's team feels a little bit more confident than they were feeling, you know, a couple weeks ago. they kind of felt

let's bring in iowa knee that kumar, mutt coe's white house correspondent -- politico 's white house correspondent and associateon coronavirus relief package that would provide funds to exband unemployment benefits -- expand unemployment benefits, another round of the paycheck protection program, financial aid to schools and funding for testing and contact tracing. speaker pelosi and treasury secretary steve mnuchin, as you know, they're currently in talks. so if the two don't come up with anything different, can the peeker afford to turn down the -- is the speaker afford to ton down the current deal? >> i don't think it's likely it's going the pass the house anyway because she -- house speaker nancy pelosi's already said time and time again she's not going to be willing to go for that. this is pretty much the same bill, the same proposal they had earlier, and she's already rejected that. she said it just doesn't go far enough and doesn't address a lot of the needs. is so i think it's unlikely to get past the senate. arthel: a so expond on some of the bobss. >> there are so many, and it changes every day. reall

that was from the white house correspondents association yesterday.im in west virginia on the line for those who say they do trust the information that has been released so far on the president's health. go ahead. caller: first, i am an independent. i vote democrat and a vote republican. the red flag that went up for me was "the new york times." "the new york times" and "the washington post," they are democratic newspapers. host: i do not think i mentioned "the new york times." but it does say the american people need the truth. caller: are there any facts in that? is it facts or speculation? host: do you want me to read it? caller: hold on. when they came out with the freedom of the press, it was because they were getting killed. they were burning the presses. now you can put anything in the newspaper that you want with no facts and you can be political. donald trump and his family should have worn masks during that debate, i am being upfront. i am voting for donald trump. i cannot send another democrat, i cannot vote for another democrat to send to

learned three journalists that work at the white house have also tested positive according to the white house core spon dan -- corresponde correspondent's association. hope hicks tested positive showing symptoms wednesday night. mike lee is infected and the president of notre dame university. they both attended a white house ceremony last saturday announcing the supreme court nomination of amy coney barrett. at the event, as you can see here, there was no social distancing, very few masks being worn. because that was followed by a stream of campaign trips and the debate on tuesday, the list of people the president and first lady were in contact with is daunting. frankly, so, too, is the number of people largely kept in the dark including the president's own task force according to cnn chief medical consprrespondent sanjay gupta. the last 24 hours makes it lard to report on what is actually going on. with that in mind, we don't want to get ahead of the facts we know without losing sight of the implications of this moment. we'll be joined by the best medical experts around and some of the best thinkers about politics and history including david garri

abc news white house correspondent rachel scott, associated press washington bureau chief julie pace,hicago mayor rahm emanuel a lonnie chang, a fellow at stanford's hoover institution. got to start with that eric trump interview. i want to ask you, lonnie, we have a new abc news/"washington post" poll that shows a 12-point national lead for joe biden. it's the latest in a series of polls that show the same thing. the battle ground state polls showing a significant edge for biden. did eric sound like somebody who thinks they're losing? >> no. he definitely did not sound like someone who thinks they're losing. the big question is what is going to be the narrative this last 20 some odd days in this campaign that's going to help change the dynamic for the trump campaign. if the public polling is to be believed nationally, as well as the battle ground states, they have a lot of ground to make up. every day the trump campaign is fighting about covid and the covid response and questions about the president's health status, those are not good days for that campaign. if they're talking about

the whca, the white house correspond ent's association has strongly encouraged that only those in the press pool be here. there aren't other reporters hanging around. there are no events to cover. certainly it's a different feeling west wing. it is basically a ghost town. as i said, we have not seen the president. there are very few staffers out and about, in part because so many of them have either contracted the coronavirus and are isolating at home or others are in quarantine, maybe not sick themselves but have been exposed. it has an eerie, almost ghost town-like feel to it. >> jonathan, has he tested negative? to get into my grocery store in my town, i have my temperature checked and i have to attest to being -- not having tested positive for coronavirus in the last 14 days. so he couldn't in his condition go into my grocery store but he's going to host an event there at the white house? >> nicolle, we simply don't know. they have not said if he's tested negative or not. i can tell you that i did. the press pool receives a rapid test every day that we're here. i tested negative t

e yamicindor, white house correspondent for pbs newshour and today we learned winner of the national association of black journalistward for journalist of the year. congratulations.and dan balz, c correspondent for "the washington post." so glad to have you all here on this important fvedayng. let's begin with a quick listen to the closing arguments on theh pandemic was killedearly 230,00 americans ands case numbers spike here is what they're saying. >> if you vote for biden, its me no kids in school. no graduations. no wdings. no television. no cas. >> i'm not going to shut down the economy. i'm not going to shut down the country. but i am going to shut down the virus. >> covidovid, covid. by the way, on november 4 you won't hear about it anymore. >> dr. fauci called last week for a mask mandate. this isn't a political statement. it's patriotic duty, for god's sake. robert: kristen, when you're talkesg to your sou at the whe house, do they believe the president's argument on the pandemic i breaking through or are swing voters, women in the suburbs, not convinced? kristen: bob, thanks for having

, author of the "end of white politics" and msnbc analyst, pbs news white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst and associaterofessor at oregon health and science university. thank you all for being here. dr. chu, what is most shocking to you watching the video? the fact that the president left the hospital where he's supposed to be in quarantine or the fact that there are other people in that car? >> all very upsetting. i mean, this is evidence that his behaviors, his treatment course is not being directed by his doctors. there's no doctor that would say now is the time for a joyride around the hospital. he should remain put. he should remain in isolation. and it makes me sick to see him in close quarters with the others in that car who, as dr. phillips said, need to go into quarantine right now. and i'll also say, when we put patients on high dose steroids like that, we monitor them very closely because there's a host of side effects including impact on their mental health and decision making. you can see dill leer yum or psychosis. you're generally not yourself. i've been on a course of steroids for asthm

the director of the polling institute at monmouth university and anita kumar the white house correspondent and associateof did either candidate land any knockout blows in this debate? —— anita. candidate land any knockout blows in this debate? -- anita. well, it was a real debate. there were some punches and guidelines but, as you just discussed, it is so close to the election that itjust doesn't matter at this point. it would have been better if president trump had some of those punches six months ago. patrick, it was quite refreshing because it was calming. you could hear what both men were saying. it was definitely calmer. but i look at it, as a pollster, did it move the needle at all. how many people who are going to vote have already voted? this is a debate where donald trump really needed to lay out something that was different about him or something that undermined the comfort level that a lot of these swing voters feel about joe biden. he just lot of these swing voters feel about joe biden. hejust didn't lot of these swing voters feel about joe biden. he just didn't do that. anita, do you see th

with us we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt. former white house adviser for policy at the university of pennsylvania, dr. ezekiel emanuel is with us. and dr. vin gupta, a pulmonologist and great to have you. the white house is giving out contradictory information. we have learned that the president is given dexamethasone, used to treat severely ill covid-19 patients. some health experts say that's a red flag right there. while the drug can reduce the risk of death, it can cause harm to those with less severe symptoms. dexamethasone is the third drug the president has taken since being hospitalized on friday. he's also taken the antiviral drug remdesivir and an experimental antibody cocktail by regeneron. sean conley said that the president has experienced two episodes where his oxygen saturation levels dipped. one of those instances was on friday when the president was running a fever and he was given supplemental oxygen. speaking to reporters on saturday, dr. conley repeatedly evaded que

with joe, willie and me, we will fly away with white house reporter for the "associate press" jonathan lemire, shanna thomas, and chief white house correspondentes," a great book. >> and let me just say, we are completely one with those who were deeply offended, shocked and stunned and saddened that people talked about the fly after such an important debate last night. it minimized actually the remarkable performance of both candidates, but really, a couple of quick updates. i picked up on the twitter last night, the fly soon after that event got a deal from netflix, and an update this morning, yeah, the fly checked into walter reed hospital this morning so, yeah, our thoughts and prayers are with the fly. now, let's go ahead and move on to the debate. i don't want to see that. really, just -- >> yeah. >> pale. >> how much whatever you want to call it do you think you get from donald trump for having a fly on his head during the debate? >> he hung in there with it. let's give him that. the fly was there for like two, three minutes, just dialed in. yeah. >> the fly was dialed in. so anyway, so mika, first of all, what was your take on the debat