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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

President Trump Tests Positive for Coronavirus. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 02, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our breaking news. The U.S. President and first lady have both tested positive for coronavirus. Mr. Trump tweeted that just hours ago. Came after we learned that one of his top aides, Hope Hicks tested positive. We believe that occurred Thursday -- Thursday morning. Hicks and other White House aides have been traveling with the President spending time in small and close spaces all while refusing to wear masks.

For months, Mr. Trump has downplayed the seriousness of the virus is regarding his own test force's recommendations, to social distance, to wear a mask. Obviously, this could all have big implications for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. It could also have health implications given that they were standing on a debate stage those days ago. The president mocked Biden, in fact for frequently wearing a mask at that debate. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, I have a mask right here. I'll put a mask on, you know, when I need it. I don't wear a mask like him. Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Mr. Trump may have been contagious even then. We don't know. It's possible he was already positive. We are told that they were tested ahead of the debate. Unclear at this point exactly when they were tested. CNN political correspondent Arlette Saenz, chief medical correspondent, after Sanjay Gupta, and CNN political analyst, Ron Brownstein join me now.

So Arlette, is there any word from the Biden campaign. Obviously, the President tweeted this at 1 a.m. Any word on them and any word on whether or not this affects their willingness to participate in any debates if those debates were to even still, take place?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we're still awaiting to hear for a response from the Biden campaign to this news that the President and the first lady tested positive for coronavirus. But we did learn that late last night the Biden campaign asked a radio correspondent who was set to travel as the radio pool reporter with Biden to Michigan today, they asked him not to join that trip after he informed them that he was actually on Air Force One when the President traveled to Minnesota yesterday.

The Biden campaign made the decision when they knew about Hope Hicks having coronavirus, that decision came before we knew about the President having coronavirus.

[04:35:00]

But it does show the precautions that they're taking right now who these positivity tests. And you know, Joe Biden --

COOPER: So that was a flight Thursday night?

SAENZ: No, so the President -- or the former vice president is flying to Michigan today.

COOPER: I see.

SAENZ: There was a radio correspondent who was set to travel today and they asked him not to do so. But, you know, we had Joe Biden and President Trump standing on the debate stage at their podiums, socially distanced. And one big question will be, will Biden be getting a coronavirus test? The campaign has told us in the past that he is getting tested weekly for that.

COOPER: There's no doubt he's going to get --

SAENZ: And so now with this news about the President --

COOPER: I mean, obviously, he has to get a test.

SAENZ: Right. But how soon he's going to get it?

COOPER: Right.

SAENZ: You know, had they learned last night about it, maybe he could take that precaution or were they waiting today. He also has this trip to Michigan. Is this going to impact that trip at all? Builder all questions that we have for the Biden campaign morning.

COOPER: Ron Brownstein, do you believe the White House is going to give the American public a full and transparent accounting of the timeline of the past few days. And I'll the President -- and their decision making. Why they would have allowed the President after Hope Hicks had tests positive on a Thursday morning, and White House -- some White House staff actually decide not to go with the President to New Jersey because they had been with Hope Hicks, that this President still went to New Jersey and thought it was appropriate to meet in a private fundraiser with donors?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, there was a study, Anderson, out this week from Cornell University that said the single biggest source of disinformation on the pandemic was the President. And this, I think, will continue in that tradition. I think it's highly unlikely that we will get full accounting from the President. I think because, you know, it underscores the cost of the way he has been approaching this.

Obviously, you know, you wish him the best as a person, and of course, the first lady. But the reality is, is that he has not only disparaged the science and mocked mask wearing. You know, this has filtered down to enormous pressure on Republican governors who project the sense of normalcy that the President wants and believes helped him for reelection. And we've seen Republican governors override local mask mandates from Democratic mayors. Force them to open, you know, facilities, restaurants and bars.

We're afraid all of that kind of flows directly, schools in some cases over the objections of local officials being forced open. All of that flows directly from his attitude. And so now he's in the situation where 32 days before the election he has provided an incredibly tangible, you know, concrete, graspable piece of evidence about the implications and the costs of treating this so cavalierly. And focusing so much on projecting normalcy at all costs whatever the public health implications.

COOPER: Yes, Sanjay, the, you know, we're still trying to figure out the timeline. And obviously, we're not going to know really until, you know, I mean, if White House ends up being transparent and when there's more reporting, to try to figure out -- to kind of do our own contact tracing as much as possible.

But if we were told both candidates had been tested ahead of the debate, I don't know if they were -- I assume they were supposed to be tested the day of the debate. I know the Biden campaign takes testing very seriously. When I did a Town Hall with Vice President Biden, I had to get a test and it had to be that day. So it had to be current. I imagine that's what it was the day of the debate.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, my guess is as well. And also people that would come in contact. You know, have sort of close contact with the President and former Vice President as well. So presumably a lot of people that were getting tested as part of that whole debate.

A couple of things to keep in mind. Still you know, these tests do have a false negative rate. We talk about the Abbott test, which is this point of care, you know location based testing. You know, some of the studies have shown that, you know, it has 80 percent sensitivity, which means 20 percent of the time it might tell you you're negative when, in fact, you're not. That is what we call false negative.

COOPER: Is that a nasal swab test?

GUPTA: That would be a nasal swab test, yes. I mean, there are saliva based tests as well, but this is a nasal swab test. That's the one that the White House is been using for some time. I assume that's the one that they still use. There's also antigen based tests which are, you know, don't require it to be sent to a lab or require machine or anything. But regardless you have to assume because there is a false negative test, and you have to assume that you might test negative on one day and then test positive next day.

[04:40:00]

Or listening to your comments with Juliette Kayyem a little earlier, it sounded like what she was saying -- I'm not sure this was based on her reporting -- that Hope Hicks tested negative on Wednesday, this is the day after now, and then tested positive later that day.

COOPER: I haven't heard that anywhere else.

GUPTA: Later that day, yes, so if that was -- if Juliette is right on that, it would mean Wednesday morning, she tested negative, developed symptoms and then tested positive. And that would be Wednesday night. So that puts the timeline up even earlier if that's the case. But regardless, Wednesday night, Thursday morning, at that point people who had close contact with Hope Hicks regardless of what a test may have shown for the President or anybody else, at that point they needed to be guaranteed. They didn't need to be going out and potentially being at events where you could potentially spread the virus.

COOPER: Yes, and it just want to say, we do not know exactly when Hope Hicks -- whether there was an earlier test. Juliette Kayyem was the first person I heard who said that and we don't have that on our own.

Ron Brownstein, what do you think happened just in terms of debate in terms of the -- I mean obviously, this makes it difficult if not impossible for the next two weeks for the President to campaign, I would assume --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

COOPER: -- if he's being responsible.

BROWNSTEIN: Part you know, from what Sanjay was saying before about the, you know, the timeline of when you're sort of in the clear. Even if it doesn't get bad in terms of symptoms for the President, it is very hard to imagine next debate happening in two weeks. Although, if he recovers, obviously, I think there will be at least one more before the election. Don't forget, 60 percent of the Americans in polling from the beginning have said that the President did not take this seriously enough at the outset. I think that's one of his biggest vulnerabilities in this election. And now he has kind of put that right back in the headlines for these final weeks of the campaign.

COOPER: Why would you have any -- I mean, if you were the Biden campaign in this case or anybody who works with the President, I mean, the family of the President sat there without masks violating the actual rules of the venue. Why would you have a debate if folks were willing to violate --

BROWNSTEIN: By some accounts, by at least one eyewitness account, they were asked by staff at the Cleveland Clinic. It wasn't doesn't just like Case Western University administrative personnel. The Cleveland Clinic staff asked them to put on masks and they refused. So the Vice President would have a good reason to be leery or to at the least demand more responsiveness and respect for the protocols that the public health officials are demanding.

Yes, Ron Brownstein, appreciate it. Thanks very much. Arlette Saenz, Sanjay, of course.

A quick break. When we come back, how President Trump's diagnosis has already impact stock markets around the world. Breaking news coverage continues in a moment.

[04:45:00]

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COOPER: Stock markets around the world are reacting to news that President Trump has contracted coronavirus. Especially here in the U.S. The U.S. futures plunged ahead of Friday's opening.

I want to bring in CNN's Selina Wang in Hong Kong. Selina, any change in the American President's health obviously a world market event. What's the latest?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, markets really dislike uncertainty. And this positive test not only raises doubt about leadership of the world's largest economy but also raises the possibility that this virus has spread to others in the highest levels of U.S. leadership.

You mentioned there U.S. stock futures plunging. You also have markets in Asia and Europe reacting negatively to this. Dow futures had earlier dropped more than 400 points. They've now pared back some of losses. S&P futures also down more than one percent and some of those haven assets surging.

But markets really are reacting, Anderson, to what you had said earlier about how this could potentially be a game changer. It throws chaos into Trump's reelection campaign. It means cancelling of in- person events as well as potentially that upcoming debate with Joe Biden. Some analysts say that this selloff could last potentially for several days. But it, of course, depends on the direction of his health in the upcoming days.

If Trump goes into ICU, that means a lot of stock market volatility. No surprise there. If he's asymptomatic, that means that the risk here is going to be limited. Of course, given Trump's age as well his weight, that does puts him into the highest risk category. But investors may also take some comfort in the fact that other global leaders including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson have contracted the virus and recovered.

COOPER: Yes, Selina Wang in Hong Kong. Appreciate it, thanks very much.

Ahead more on the breaking news. President testing positive. What is his level of risk as Selina referenced? We'll discuss that. [04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So I'm sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful resolute desk, the great resolute desk, I think wearing a facemask as greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don't know, somehow, I don't see it for myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We're following now as the President in April talking about not wearing a mask. We're following breaking news that the President has tested positive for coronavirus as well as the first lady. He's 74 years old. That's obviously a concern for anybody who's tested positive.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. Is there anything the President and his doctors can do to try to offset those risk factors? We that there are initially treatment options, or steps they can take, or the risk factors are just baked in?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Those risk factors are certainly baked in, Anderson. It will be interesting to see, and we may not be told this, but it would be interesting to see if they give him remdesivir and if they give him convalescent plasma. Those are really sort of the two treatments that you would start with if an illness warrants that.

Those are both things that require IVs. And so we've heard, you know, for sort of anyone else, you would put them in the hospital to do that. It would be interesting to know, do they plan on doing procedures that are usually hospital procedures in the White House? I mean that could be possible.

But really what you want to do is keep someone as sort of hydrated and as comfortable as possible. There's really not much that you really do for people with COVID in the beginning. I mean people just sort of convalesce and recover at home. Sort of that next step would be remdesivir and/or convalescent plasma.

COOPER: And so the President can, you know, continue to make calls, he can do calls -- I'm sure he will do calls into, you know, various "Fox News" programs throughout the day. But he does have to stay physically isolated from other people. Yes?

COHEN: Well right, absolutely. I mean he is absolutely supposed to be isolated. And I'm using that word on purpose. Quarantine is what you do when you've been exposed to someone who has COVID and you're not sure if you do. But you quarantine yourself so that you don't get anyone else sick in case you're infected.

Now that we know he's infected, technically he is isolated. And he is not supposed to be near anyone. Of course, then it's tricky to take care of someone with COVID. I mean the person who is feeding you, and taking care of you really, really needs to protect themselves. And we certainly hope that that is the case here. But yes, he' is supposed to be away from other people so that he doesn't get other people sick.

COOPER: And just in terms of his schedule moving forward, we're showing on the screen, who should be quarantined 14 days after last contact with an infected person. I mean if -- you know, let's hope for the best and the President, you know, has an easy time of it, doesn't get a lot of symptoms and has a mild case or a very minimal case, he still, I assume, has to stay isolated for what, two weeks?

COHEN: Yes, that would be right. Because even if he isn't very sick, even if he had no symptoms you would want to see him isolated for two weeks. Again, to protect other people. And so it's -- you know, it's important that that happen. Of course he can get on the phone. Of course he could be on a computer but he should not be near other people for two weeks.

[04:55:00]

COOPER: The same obviously, the first lady and the President could be isolated in the same area or they could be separate, it's really up to them. There's no prohibition if they were to be isolated together?

COHEN: That's right. That's right. And sometimes that happens where they sort, you know, of pod people with COVID together in a hospital setting or a nursing home setting or a home setting. So, yes, that would be possible that they could be put together or you could put them separate. I mean sort of whatever really is their preference and also, of course, whatever kind of staff is available to take care of them.

COOPER: Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

The President of the United States testing positive for the virus. Beyond the medical risks that he now faces, let's take a look at national security risk that country faces and what it means for the campaigns. I'm Anderson Cooper, coverage continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COOPER: Good morning, I'm Anderson Cooper in New York. Bombshell announcement from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or really from Twitter is where it came from. Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus.

The President tweeted just before 1 a.m. Eastern time.

Tonight FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We'll begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this together.

Despite what Mr. Trump said, technically the couple are in isolation. The White House doctor says the Trumps are doing well. Although no specifics on whether they actually are having any symptoms. The President will carry out duties without disruption according to the White House doctor.

The first indication something was wrong came last night when we learned that top aide Hope Hicks had tested positive for COVID-19. That was learned by reporters not something that the White House announced.

She'd been traveling with the President all week including to Tuesday's debate in Ohio. The President talked about her diagnosis on "Fox News" last night before the announcement that he himself was positive.

[05:00:00]