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White House Sows Confusion about Trump's Condition; Source Tells Reporters the President's Vitals Over Last 24 Hours were Concerning; Next 48 Hours will be Critical. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 03, 2020 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:03]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

Right now, the U.S. President hospitalized with the same disease that has killed more than 200,000 Americans. President Trump's doctors today speaking to reporters at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, but some of what they had to say was clearly not crystal clear. And some these doctors now say was clearly wrong.

The President's personal physician, Dr. Sean Conley, making the announcement late this morning that the President was actually infected 72 hours ago. Dr. Conley has since corrected himself on that in writing and a source familiar with the President's health tells CNN that the next two days for the President will be critical and that President Trump who is 74 years old and sick with COVID right now is quote, "still not on a clear path to a full recovery." Close quote.

As for the President himself, these words today posted to his Twitter account, praise for the men and women treating him at Walter Reed calling them amazing and he says quote, "With their help, I am feeling well."

Joining us now, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta; CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash; and CNN Chief -- not chief, yet, one of these days maybe, our White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, you have some new reporting about White House advisers, what they've been saying, and the last minute push, for example, to get the President yesterday, actually to leave the White House and head over to Walter Reed.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, it's been a whirlwind 24 hours over here, and we're still trying to learn when the President last tested negative for COVID-19, meaning, when could have the onset of the symptoms have started. But we're also learning more about what was behind that push to get the President to go to Walter Reed. It's about 24 hours now since he first went over there and was admitted to the hospital.

And my colleague, Kevin Liptak and I are now reporting that actually, there was a push to get the President to actually board Marine One as it was sitting on the South Lawn yesterday for such an extended period of time, because we are told by sources that the President was reluctant to be hospitalized despite the fact that he was developing symptoms related to COVID-19 and had already taken experimental drugs.

But of course, in the end, he is there now and his advisers convinced him to go because they believed it would be basically more prudent to monitor the President while he is there.

But Wolf, we still have a lot of questions about his condition, and one of the main reasons that that seems to be is that the President himself doesn't want his own aides being too forthcoming with reporters about his vitals and what's going on because he wants to project a more optimistic image than what's actually going on behind the scenes, and that could be part of the reason why you saw that briefing that was so strange with Dr. Conley, the White House physician earlier today, where he refused to answer basic questions like whether or not the President had been put on oxygen this week, something that we have since learned he actually did.

But Wolf, it is creating a question about the credibility of the White House at a time when it truly matters the most.

BLITZER: Standby. Sanjay, given the information that has been released by the President's medical team earlier in the day, what are your biggest questions right now about his actual condition?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it was very hard to make sense of what that briefing was really conveying, because, you know, obviously, the doctors were told, probably not to be completely forthright about things, you know, really bending themselves into pretzels to do these non-denial denials about the oxygen therapy, as Kaitlan was just talking about.

I think there's a few big areas, there's a lot of questions, but I think, you know, this is a respiratory virus. One of the big concerns is that it affects the lungs. Kind of remarkably, they told us about his kidney function, liver function, and things like that, but did not answer the question about did he have imaging of his lungs, chest x- ray or CT scan or something like that. That would be important to know if he is developing a viral pneumonia.

I'm not surprised he required oxygen. It is a respiratory virus. But now I think the question is, how serious is this? Has there been significant impact on his lungs? How much inflammation is in his body overall? There are blood tests to test for that, because you want to make sure that the inflammation is not getting to a dangerous level.

And then the question that Kaitlan, you know, raised about when was his last negative test? And that's not just a political entry 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 answers to. BLITZER: Well, when we heard Dr. Sean Conley, Sanjay at that briefing

earlier today over at the Bethesda Hospital say the President is fever free. That's encouraging, but go into an analysis and tell us what that means.

[18:05:08]

GUPTA: Well, you know, so first of all, if someone has a fever, you know, when you think about the sort of timeline again, of infection, that is a response that the body mounts to try and fight off the infection.

You can sort of guess that you're into this infection at that point. This isn't something that just happened, you know, just recently. You're probably sort of now in, you know, a few days into this.

Fever free with medications or without medications is really important. You can obviously bring down people's fever with anti- inflammatory medications. But I think the impression he was trying to give to your question, Wolf is that he is, you know, he is recovering.

He had a fever. He is now fever free for 24 hours. So he is on the mend.

I don't know that we can say that because was it artificial? Meaning that it was because of medicines? We know he is taking aspirin, for example, that can reduce fever. But that's what you read into it and I think that's what Dr. Conley was trying to convey.

BLITZER: Yes, he is trying to put an upbeat posture, but we don't know if he is fever free because of the medicines he is taking, or naturally, it's just come down without medication.

Dana, the White House is doing its best to assure Americans that the President is fine. But a source familiar with his condition told reporters earlier and let me quote right now, "The President's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We're still not on a clear path to a full recovery." Is there any political upside to not being transparent and direct at this point? Because you get one -- you get two very different pictures of the condition of the President based on these two different briefings?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, there is no political upside. Zero. Not just upside, it is detrimental, not just to not be transparent at this point, but it would be nice to have at least some legitimate information. But more importantly, to have such mixed messages that we've been reporting on all day long and that is kind of the height of it, the zenith of the confusion what you just put on the screen.

It's not only very disturbing and concerning that a senior administration official would say that the President is not on the road to recovery and used such dire terms. It is in direct contradiction to the message and sort of the vibe that the President's doctor was trying to get out there when he came out earlier today. And look, I mean, this is a nation very, very concerned and the idea

that there's chaos -- the chaos is very typical for this presidency, is continuing into this genuinely, inherently chaotic time shouldn't be surprising, but it certainly doesn't make it any easier. Your question was political and it certainly doesn't benefit him politically.

BLITZER: You're absolutely right. You know, Gloria, the President's doctor, he came out. He attempted to clarify the timeline of when the President actually first tested positive. But how important is it for the White House to have the public's trust at a critical moment like this?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, well, it's hugely important. I mean, obviously, this White House has had a trust deficit. More than 60 percent of the American people don't believe a thing the President says. And then you have his doctor out there spinning -- spinning science, spinning medicine -- and either and then, you know, five minutes later, you have a senior person on the White House staff saying something quite different.

So they either look like they're trying to have a cover up, or they look incompetent. Neither of those choices, Wolf, are very good. And maybe, you know, maybe there's some thought, as Donald Trump said, when he didn't tell the public about coronavirus and how it could spread on February 7, maybe there was some thought that oh, you know -- and this is the President talking -- I don't want to panic the public. But just the opposite occurs.

When you don't know the truth, the public panics, and that's what's going on. And so my sense is that the doctor out there was Dr. Conley was playing to an audience of one, and that's the President of the United States, and he didn't want to look weak, and he didn't want to look sick. And as Kaitlan reported just a few moments ago, he didn't want to go to the hospital. But the truth is, that is where he is, and we ought to know why.

BLITZER: Yes, as they say, as our all of our mothers used to say, honesty is clearly the best policy. Kaitlan, it's not just the President, multiple members of his team have now contracted the virus. Tell us who else has been infected at this point because some of his closest, closest associates are now dealing with coronavirus.

COLLINS: Wolf, it's kind of astounding to see just how many people that were involved in debate prep with the President have now tested positive. We're all understandably have been looking at this event a week ago here at the White House, that Supreme Court nominee celebration, but the debate prep with the President, you are seeing more and more officials who were present for that inside, of course, for several hours not wearing masks, where they were very close to the President.

[18:10:21]

COLLINS: And now we've got multiple people, the latest being Chris Christie, who have tested positive that were doing debate prep with the President. And of course, as Dana has known, Chris Christie was working intimately with the President for a debate prep. He was closely involved with this, but also the President's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, Hope Hicks, several other people who were also in the room are now testing positive. And that means every other person is rushing to get tested.

But Wolf, what we reported in this latest piece that we just published for CNN, there are so many officials who have been around the President or have been in this orbit around these people who have tested positive who have not received any instructions from the White House Medical Office about what they should be doing.

Instead, they are learning about these developments from us, from the media, from these press reports about who is testing positive and what the details are. So the contact tracing may be happening within the White House for people like Hope Hicks and whoever she interacted with, but it's certainly not happening outside the White House and people are struggling to get real information from the White House.

So they're not only questioning the President's status and what's happening with his health, but also their own and how vulnerable they could be and who they were exposed to. Those are questions that have not been answered for those people either. So they are really facing this credibility crisis at such a crucial time. And of course, the White House needs to be direct and they need to be clear about this because people want answers.

BLITZER: Yes, people too want answers and Sanjay, I made a list of some of the President's closest associates and friends who have now tested positive for coronavirus. In addition to the President and the First Lady, I'll read a few of these names: Bill Stepien, Hope Hicks, Governor Chris Christie, Kellyanne Conway, Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, Reverend John Jenkins, the Notre Dame -- University of Notre Dame President who was at that ceremony for the Supreme Court nominee last Saturday; three senators, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

It's very alarming how this has spread to these associates, Sanjay and the fear is, and I've heard this from White House officials and others, this may not be the end. It could continue for the next several days.

GUPTA: Yes, I think very likely, Wolf. I mean, if we're talking about the Rose Garden event, I guess that was a week ago. So you know, what you find is that, first of all, for people who can get tested, right? There's a lot of people who just simply still can't get the test, so they may not know whether or not they've contracted the virus.

And for the people who can, you know, it's usually five or six days of sort of the average, so this is sort of the time when a lot of tests would probably come back positive, but incubation period can be longer, up to a couple of weeks.

So it becomes really challenging, you know, and for people who are concerned, like, let's say, you now know you came in contact with someone who has COVID. You should quarantine yourself for 14 days, hopefully you can get tested. But even with a negative test, that doesn't necessarily mean you're free and clear, because you know, again, the test may not show positive for days to come.

BLITZER: Shouldn't the Vice President quarantine himself for 14 days? He was involved in a lot of these meetings, Gloria, let me get your thoughts on that.

BORGER: Yes, my thought is, yes, I really -- I can understand. I know what the Vice President's doctor has said, which is that he wasn't in close enough contact with the President. But if you look at those pictures in the Rose Garden from a week ago, Wolf, and we were all covering this together. You saw those people sitting together. We don't know where the Vice President got this.

We don't know whether even though he has tested negative again today, we don't know whether that's going to change tomorrow. He is out there campaigning. You know, you have to think of continuity of government here and it seems to me to be absurd that he is going to have a debate this coming week, in the middle of all of this and I think there are questions out there as Sanjay is saying whether he could be contagious.

BLITZER: Sanjay, I want to show that -- put that picture of the Rose Garden, everybody in the Rose Garden up. There you see it right there. You see where we're Senator Mike Lee is circled and you see right in front of him is the Vice President of the United States, neither of them wearing masks at this point.

Mike Pence is supposed to be doing a debate with the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris. There is Mike Pence right there, right in front of Mike Lee who has been confirmed with coronavirus.

Sanjay, the theory is or at least the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is if you've been in close touch with someone who has coronavirus, you quarantine for at least 14 days, right?

GUPTA: Yes, that's right. I mean -- so and what does close contact mean, right? That's unmasked within six feet of somebody and for longer than 15 minutes. So its distance and its duration, and its unmasked.

[18:15:13]

GUPTA: And, you know looking at that image that you're showing, Wolf, I mean, it looks like that does fit the criteria. And again, you quarantine irrespective of a test. A lot of people say, well, I got tested the next day or a few days later, and it was negative, I'm good to go.

That's not the case. The reason you quarantine for 14 days is because you could still have the virus, you know, incubating.

BLITZER: Dana, you want to make a point? Dana, go ahead.

BASH: Yes, yes. I didn't mean to interrupt you, Sanjay, I thought you were finishing your thought. On that, you know, we were looking at a picture outside and not only were people sitting close together there. There was also a reception inside in the Diplomatic Room of the White House, inside, where people were not wearing masks and people like senators and the widow of Justice Antonin Scalia and his family and others.

And, you know, I'm not sure if they have been contacted by the White House, but people you would think would be contacted as part of so- called contact tracing from Rudy Giuliani to Chris Christie, never were. And that the expectation was that they just saw it on the news.

Well, that's exactly how they found out -- from the news.

And that is not the way it is supposed to go down in any part of society right now, particularly at the White House when it's coming from the President of the United States, and maybe it's in keeping with the level of seriousness that they have taken this virus and that is not very high.

BLITZER: There you see the picture inside the Oval Office, the President and the First Lady receiving everyone. Nobody is wearing masks, including the kids of the Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. A very, very, very worrisome -- Gloria, you wanted to make a point.

BORGER: Well, yes, I was going to say something. Apparently, many of those people took quick tests and then were told you can remove your mask. That's fine. And, you know, the doctor here can talk to us about that, because it's not fine. You know, get a quick test, you're negative, that's great. But that doesn't mean you should take your mask off and then start shaking people's hands.

BLITZER: Yes, if they're going to do that vice presidential debate Wednesday night in Utah, my recommendation would be not that they care what my recommendation would be, is maybe they put the Democratic vice presidential nominee in a separate studio, as opposed to the Republican vice presidential nominee, the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence put them remote if you will, not in the same room, potentially. You got to be very, very careful, right?

BASH: So far, the accommodation has been to move them a little bit farther away --

BLITZER: Instead of seven feet away, they're going to move them 12 feet away, but they are going to be there next to each other in a closed -- in an enclosed environment for an hour and a half. Both of them talking loudly. Maybe it's better to put them in separate studios away from each other, just to err on the side of caution.

That would be my recommendation, but maybe they don't care about my recommendation, for what it's worth.

Everybody standby. We have much more ahead including an in depth look at the event that many experts believe could be behind the rash of cases. That White House reception last weekend for the U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. We will have much more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:39]

BLITZER: An alarming number of people close to President Trump or his inner circle just in the past day or so, they are to, I should say have now tested positive for the coronavirus. Lawmakers, White House advisers, a University President, and they all have something very, very much in common. Here's our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice over): What you're looking at is the origins of a likely super spreader event. At least eight people, including President Donald Trump himself are now infected, and that is among those who have had the ability to actually get tested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA (on camera): You can't see the virus, but what is happening during a super spreading event.

ERIN BROMAGE, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: You know, it's a very rough analogy. But if we think of a campfire and say that that's a person who is infected and releasing virus, it's not like it's the ring around the person that is actually going to be the risk. It's those that are on the side where more of the virus is being projected either through big talking, or through the breeze, the air that's blowing it there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA (voice over): But it was also these moments that caught CNN medical analyst, Erin Bromage's eye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROMAGE: When the event finished, when they're all coming up and hugging and shaking hands and saying congratulations. That's where if I was a betting person, I would be putting my money on of where this occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA (voice over): We know that the safety protocol for the event was to test anyone in close proximity to the President, but it wasn't required for everyone attending the ceremony. And it clearly wasn't foolproof.

Again, take a look here where the people who were diagnosed as positive were sitting, not next to each other, which leads us to again look at what happened right before and right after.

Former White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, closely leaning in to speak with Attorney General William Barr. Notre Dame President, Father John Jenkins, closely talking to a group of people with no mask.

Lots of people closely interacting with their guard down. It can be difficult to pinpoint these super spreader events.

This one ceremony though, is giving us a look at the anatomy of how it happens all the time. Not just here, but anytime people aggregate together in large groups in the middle of a pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROMAGE: There's no doubt that there has been transmission at the protests, the political rallies. It's just a fact that the virus doesn't discriminate. Just because we haven't documented it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It's just that we've got an event now that is very visible, well-documented, well-tested, and we're seeing the outcome from it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:25:17]

BLITZER: And Dr. Gupta is joining us now live. Sanjay, how key is it for us to know the date, for example of the President's last negative coronavirus test. Tell us why that's so important right now?

GUPTA: Well, part of the importance is for him to get a get an idea of where he may be in the course of his illness. Wolf, the idea that someone would test positive and immediately start having symptoms like this after, you know, supposed exposure right then is very unlikely.

After you get exposed, it takes a while for the virus to sort of buildup in the body to get to a detectable level.

So if we look at the timeline, typically, you know, you get an idea now, when someone may have been exposed, and then you sort of fast forward five or six days, that's typically when they're going to develop symptoms.

But right in that period, that orange line at the bottom, Wolf, that's critical. In the few days before you start to develop symptoms, so in the President's case, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever it may have been, that's when he was likely most infectious and that's going to be key going back and looking at this contact tracing, you know, trying to figure out who may have been exposed to the President.

So to try and figure out people exposed and also to figure out his own timeline, in terms of his own disease and how it's going to progress.

BLITZER: You know, what's so worrisome, Sanjay, is that and it was a great piece you put forward -- that Rose Garden, everybody there, very few, if any people wearing masks. They are all hugging each other. They're talking. They're breathing, and so many of them now have actually come down with coronavirus.

And we don't know where they went from the Rose Garden. They went to their families, their staffs. They went out and met with people, indeed, not only in Washington, but all over. They went to their hometowns. This thing could really spread as a result of that, right?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, that's what these super spreader events are all about. I mean, if you start to do the math on this, a single person spreading it to somebody else, to people, maybe then spreading it pretty quickly, you can have a significant outbreak and it can emanate from one single location. We've seen that in many places around the country and around the world.

So that's the real concern here, and I think what was important, you know, it's outside, right? A lot of people say, well, it's outside, it's fine. It is better that it is outside, but it's not fine.

The basic rules of physical distancing, of masking of how close you are, I mean, of how long you spend next to somebody, all of that still matters. And as you know, Erin Bromage was talking about, think of it sort of like smoke in the air, kind of still day, maybe that aerosol just sort of lingers and is potentially infecting more and more people.

And then Wolf, I think the very important point you bring up, every time you have an event like this, oftentimes, there's pre-events, right, people get together ahead of time. They may get together after the event as well. That's all part of this and could lead to additional spread.

BLITZER: Back to the screen now. There is Bill Barr, the Attorney General of the United States. You saw him very close to Kellyanne Conway, just a few seconds ago, and she has coronavirus right now. Don't you think Bill Barr, the Attorney General of the United States should be in quarantine as a result of his participation in that event alone?

GUPTA: He looked very close -- it looks like he's had a contact with someone with COVID. You know, I'd love to look at the entire tape and sort of understand it and I'm sure that's what a lot of the content tracers are going to do.

But again, it's a question of -- they were obviously very close. I don't know how long they stood like that. You want to put some definition around it. It was a prolonged amount of time. They're obviously within six feet of each other.

And so you know, I think that's what the contact tracers look at. That counts as a close contact. That doesn't.

Likely, he is going to be tested. But again, the testing, if it's positive, that tells you a lot. You have it probably.

You know, it's not a perfect test, but you likely have the virus. If it's negative, you don't really know for sure. You just don't -- it could be that you're negative as of now. You could still develop a positive test over the next couple of weeks.

BLITZER: And I don't know where these people have been. But you'd think they would appreciate the importance of simply putting on a mask in a situation like that to be on the safe side. But clearly they didn't.

Sanjay, standby. We've got more to discuss. That's coming up.

A lot of questions emerging right now about the President's current medical condition. A source tells CNN, the next 48 hours for the President are critical. We're taking a closer look at how doctors are treating the President. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:09]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The President of the United States hospitalized with coronavirus taking experimental drugs. And yesterday as one source tells CNN needing supplemental oxygen while still at the White House, but still so many questions about when he first tested positive and how long he will need to remain at the Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

Joining us now CNN Medical Analyst Infectious Disease Specialist, Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. James Phillips, Assistant Professor at George Washington University Hospital.

Dr. Phillips, the President's physician Dr. Sean Conley, he failed to offer basic critical information about the President's vital signs, completely dodged questions about supplemental oxygen. What information would you like to have right now so that all of us would have a better appreciation of the President's condition?

[18:35:00]

DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, PHYSICIAN AND ASST. PROF. AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Well, thanks for having me, Wolf. It's certainly disappointing to see the disparity in the information that we've gotten today, both from the medical side and from this information coming from the White House itself.

Now, the information that we received was helpful to a degree because it explains some of the process, the medications and even some of the lab values that have returned for the President thus far. But what we don't know are the results of chest X-rays, certain labs that may have some prognostic value in determining if a patient is going to do poorly or do better.

And so those informations could also reveal whether or not a patient requires anticoagulation, something like heparin, if a value called D- dimer is high. I don't think we're going to get that information and I'll tell you why. I think it's important to remember that the President is also a patient and he does have a right to some privacy, as irksome as that can be to those of us who understand the implications of this for the entire United States.

But there's also profound national security issues that have to be thought about, because there's intelligence agencies all over the world right now analyzing every second of video, and every piece of information coming out of Walter Reed and the White House, which could give us some indication as to actions they might take.

BLITZER: And Dr. Walensky, even and we all hope the President recovers quickly, but there could be some long-term ramifications we've seen with other coronavirus patients even weeks and months down the road. Tell us about that.

ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good evening, Wolf. Yes, I think we need to focus first on the next couple of weeks and see how the President does, how his condition evolves, whether he develops a more progressive pneumonia or progressive inflammation. There are a lot of long-term conditions. Certainly, this disease has been associated with cardiovascular incidents, has been associated with heart attacks, with strokes, with skin manifestations, kidney manifestations and many others.

There are some people who just really feel foggy for weeks to months afterwards. They're just not thinking clearly and so a lot of neurologic manifestations as well. So I think we have to first get out of the acute first next two weeks or so and then we really need to monitor for those longer term manifestations.

BLITZER: Yes. Those could be very, very serious, especially someone 74 years old with some underlying conditions like being overweight.

Dr. Phillips, the President is getting some experimental therapies, including this monoclonal antibody treatment that has not yet been approved for the general use, not even for emergency use. What does it tell you that they would be letting the President try this kind of experimental treatment?

PHILLIPS: Yes. It's interesting and actually it brings up more questions than answers. We have this information that the President's had fevers and maybe some shortness of breath, maybe some hypoxia requiring oxygen temporarily. And unless the President has a really fulminant case of COVID-19, in which his symptoms were developed much more rapidly than the average. We have to suspect that the President's been sicker longer than what we know.

And so the question is how long have the doctors known that because I don't know how long it takes to get a dose of this medication from its manufacturer. The manufacturers have already come out and said that they supplied it, that didn't come from the doctors. And so perhaps there's more information to be gleaned there.

But the fact that this has only been tested, Regeneron, in particular, about 275 patients prior to being given to the President who most certainly agreed to get it through informed consent. That tells us that they were pulling out all the stops and whether or not that's just because he's the President or because they saw some abnormalities that we should be worried about. I don't know the answer to that.

BLITZER: What does it say to you, Dr. Walensky, that he's taking this experimental antibody cocktail. He apparently got that done while he was still at the White House. And now that he's at the Bethesda Hospital, he's getting a remdesivir another drug. WALENSKY: Yes. So, I think you could justify using or not using this

monoclonal antibody cocktail in this situation. We certainly don't have all the details.

What we do know from the pharmaceutical press release, we don't even have the data from it yet, but what we do know from that press release is that it works best if you give it early in the disease course. And it looked like it was safe, it looked like it decreased the duration of the disease and it looked like it decreased the burden of virus.

So with all of those indications, I could imagine that compassionate use for this drug would have to be done quickly, because it works best if you give it early. Once people get admitted, then the authorization for remdesivir is that would actually be appropriate admitted patients. Now this authorization says right remdesivir could and should be used.

[18:40:02]

Generally, it's often safe for people who have oxygen requirement, so that's been under discussion as whether the President had oxygen requirement. But the flow of the of the course of what he's received is actually appropriate, given that he would get the Regeneron monoclonal antibody in this situation under some compassionate use. It certainly isn't authorized.

I want to make one other statement about contact tracing, which I think is really important. There's been a lot of discussion about senators, about campaign staffers and others who have been close to the President. My understanding is that there are about 300 other essential workers who work in the White House, people who work in the facilities, who work on the grounds and these are probably more vulnerable persons than maybe even some of the senators that we've been talking about in terms of the communities from which they come. And in terms of the people who they live with their ability to really quarantine at home.

And I just want to make sure that we're remembering those people as potential contacts for this president.

BLITZER: Very important, indeed. Dr. Walensky, thank you very much. Dr. Phillips, thanks to you as well.

Before the announcement that President Trump has indeed contacted COVID-19, he made a phone call to one of his favorite television networks. Up next, we're going to take a closer look at what we could learn from that conversation, considering what we know now. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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[18:45:32]

BLITZER: Just hours before revealing he tested positive for coronavirus, President Trump on Thursday night called into Fox News and he was asked about his aide, Hope Hicks, who earlier that day tested positive for COVID after being in very close contact with the President and his team. Take a listen to what the President said Thursday night.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She did test positive, I just heard about this. She tested positive. She's a hard worker. Lot of masks, she wears masks a lot but she tested positive. Then I just went out with a test. I'll see - because we spent a lot of time, and the first lady just went out with a test also.

I just went for a test and we'll see what happens, I mean, who knows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Who knows. Let's discuss with our Chief Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter. Brian, just heard some of the President's final public remarks about coronavirus before ...

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BLITZER: ... he revealed a few hours later that his COVID diagnosis was positive. What insight does that give us?

STELTER: And that's exactly what this was. It was the President's final interview, final public statement before announcing his virus diagnosis. He called his friend, Sean Hannity. They talked about coronavirus, almost like it was an aside, Wolf, like it was the least important thing in the world. But he did say he was off for a test and he was waiting for the results.

This matters because of these two competing timelines. If you believe what Dr. Conley said on the record in front of cameras, that the diagnose was on Wednesday, then the President was lying on Sean Hannity's show. If you believe the cleanup statement that says the diagnosis on Thursday evening, then it might make sense that Trump was waiting for the answers from the test result.

But it just goes to show the President is out there on Hannity show talking to a friend. He has not called any program since and that's notable. He could call into his friends at Fox if he wanted to, but so far the White House or the President choosing not to do that at this point in time.

BLITZER: When it comes to the President's health right now, Brian, we have sources undercutting the White House's own physician. Why is the White House right now on a critically important day like today having such a hard time keeping its story straight?

STELTER: (Inaudible) ...

BLITZER: Hold on a moment, Brian. I think we're having some audio problems. Go ahead and try it again. I think we lost Brian, but we will continue this conversation for sure down the road. Apologize to our viewers. You could join Brian tomorrow morning, by the way on RELIABLE SOURCES, his Sunday morning program 11 am Eastern. It's an excellent, excellent program.

President Trump has long blamed China for the spread of the coronavirus. So what's China saying now about the United States' President and the fact that he has COVID-19? We're going to Beijing. You're going to be fascinated about what the Chinese regime is saying when we come back.

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[18:52:58]

BLITZER: President Trump has long blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic. Inside China, news of President Trump's illness has been met with both sympathy and criticism. The Chinese President Xi Jinping sent well wishes to President Trump, wishing him and First Lady, Melania, a speedy recovery.

Our CNN Correspondent, David Culver, is joining us now live from Shanghai. David, tell us more, first of all, about the reaction to the President's illness. What are the folks over there in China saying?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, from the diplomatic side and you've seen that even from the top President Xi Jinping himself. You're seeing a much more refined, even compassionate response. He and his wife extending their well wishes. You have others putting forward their wishes for a speedy recovery, thoughts and prayers.

However, compare that, Wolf, with what we are seeing in some state media as well as Chinese social media and it's far more critical. In state media, the editor of one of these state-controlled tabloids here, Global Times, he put out a tweet within hours of the diagnosis for President Trump saying, look, this is essentially the price paid for the gamble of downplaying COVID-19. And he said that this will have an impact on the U.S. election.

That is playing in, Wolf, to this rising nationalism here that we're seeing and that's all coupled with life coming back to normal here. I mean, I'm here in Shanghai travel from Beijing just a few days ago, in what was the start of Golden Week. You have millions of people who are traveling for this holiday, a celebratory mood here that marks the founding of the People's Republic of China as well as the Mid-Autumn Festival and yet people are traveling in what is a bubble of safety and security.

So it seems where daily reported cases are in the single digits, sometimes maybe up to 20, but really no more than that and people more and more breathing easy that the virus has passed. So it's a strange juxtaposition from what we're seeing here and what we're seeing now in the U.S. that obviously goes, Wolf, all the way up to the top.

BLITZER: Yes, it speaks volumes. What the folks in China did and other Asian countries; South Korea, Taiwan or whatever they did it right. Clearly, we didn't do it right here in the United States and we're paying a huge price right now.

[18:55:09] I just checked yesterday, according to the Johns Hopkins University,

54,441 Americans got COVID, confirmed with COVID-19 and 906 Americans died from this virus just yesterday. David Culver, thank you very much for that report.

The next 48 hours are said to be critical in President Trump's fight against COVID-19. Our own Jim Acosta is over at the White House. John Harwood is over at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Dr. Sanjay Gupta standing by with his medical expertise. We have a lot of news coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.