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President and Melania Trump Test Positive for COVID-19; Live Coverage of White House Chief of Staff Mike Meadows Press Conference; Interview with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired October 02, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The White House's doctors are open and transparent with the American people about the state of the illness, the effect on both the president and the first lady.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: John Avlon, there were supposed to be three more debates: two more presidential debates next week, a vice presidential debate. What happens now to all of those?
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's obviously the big question, There's no reason, it appears, for the vice presidential debate not to go forward. Both Pence and Senator Harris have gotten a clean bill of health to date, assuming that stays in place with additional precautions -- I don't seen any common-sense reasons why that should --
HARLOW: Oh --
SCIUTTO: Oh, goodness.
HARLOW: -- looks like we lost John. So Sabrina, let me toss that question to you while we work to get John Avlon back.
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. I think that as of now of course, there are questions over the next presidential debates for now, as John was pointing out. It does not look like this will impact the vice presidential debate because of both Vice President Pence and Senator Kamala Harris -- as of now -- testing negatively for COVID.
But it'll be an open-ended question as to whether there are more precautions that are put in place, in part because I was inside the debate hall on Tuesday night, and the Trump family, when they took their seats, they did immediately remove their masks even though it was a requirement inside the venue that all attendees keep their masks on.
There was a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic who appeared to approach guests of the Trump family to remind them to put those masks on, and that doctor was turned away, seemed to be frustrated but didn't want to comment to the press.
So you know, there are guidelines that have not necessarily been followed or enforced, that perhaps the debate, the commission will have to look at much more seriously. But a lot of this also depends, of course, on the president's health, whether, you know, his symptoms worsen, what it looks like a couple of weeks down the road, will they maybe have to do this virtually given what has happened --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
SIDDIQUI: -- I think there's just a great deal of uncertainty right now about the path forward.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Listen, flouted -- the rules flouted, but also deliberately undermined by the president including on the debate stage.
John Avlon, you are back from technical difficulties.
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this about transparency because we only know about this because, going back to the beginning, Hope Hicks, her infection was leaked. There was no announcement of that, and that led to a chain of events where we learned more.
And there's precedent for this. When the president had that unexplained visit to Walter Reed a number of months ago, there was a less than fulsome sharing of information from the White House.
AVLON: Yes.
SCIUTTO: What do we need to know, going forward, to ensure we get the best information about the health of the commander in chief?
AVLON: We need to see a much higher degree of transparency than we have ever seen from this White House. Because this goes to the heart of the presidency, national security. And we know they've been reluctant to be anything resembling transparent in the past. We know that they have not been adequately responsible when it comes to mask- wearing. All that's got to change because this is much more than politics even though it's 30 days out from an election.
Hopefully this is a mild case, we all wish the president well. But the kind of denialism that's characterized this response has got to stop.
HARLOW: John Avlon, what do you think happens to the confirmation process and the hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court? Because Lindsey Graham, chair of Judiciary, was saying this morning it is of utmost importance and the timeline matters a lot here. What now?
AVLON: Well, it matters to Republicans politically because they want to rush her confirmation through before the election. There's absolutely no reason that has to happen before the election, that's a political decision they've made. However, given that there does not -- given what we know now and the
major players seem to not be impacted by COVID to date -- again, there's a long ingestion (sic) period -- I don't see why they would stop that. It'll impact certainly the presidential debates, but I don't know that it'll affect the --
HARLOW: Yes.
AVLON: -- confirmation process --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Well remember, Congress doesn't have a testing plan or strategy, it's not like they get tested every day before they go --
AVLON: Yes, because (ph) --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- into those hearings.
AVLON: They've got to ratchet up the sense of responsibility. They've been living in denial for fear of offending the president politically for too long. This is a wake-up call.
SCIUTTO: Tim Naftali, the president, the White House is at a minimum distracted by this, or at least focused on it -- and understandably so. Historically, has that ever happened from a national security standpoint, right? Because the U.S., as always, has a lot of adversaries who watch for signs of weakness. They already sensed weakness in America's sluggish response to the outbreak. Right now, historically, is America in greater danger today than it was 24 hours ago?
NAFTALI: Well, the country is certainly in greater danger than it was 24 hours ago. Unfortunately, we have had stricken commanders in chief not -- more than just once in our history. Woodrow Wilson, as I mentioned earlier, was sick during the Paris Peace Accords. Franklin Roosevelt had congestive heart failure and was dying during the 1944 campaign, and was even sicker after his re-election.
[10:35:28]
Ronald Reagan had colon surgery -- he had surgery for cancer in his colon. And that was the time when he was making very, very tough decisions, ultimately ill-fated decisions about what to do with Iran and whether to pay money to Iran or to give -- to sell weapons to Iran in order to get hostages released from Lebanon.
So we have unfortunately had a problem of presidential disability during crises before, and it's never been a good thing for our country.
HARLOW: Sabrina, there's also the chance that this is a wake-up call for America, and that people who believed that they couldn't easily contract it or didn't have to wear a mask, et cetera, now will see the president and the first lady with it and may act and think differently. There's a possibility of that.
SIDDIQUI: Absolutely. And part of that was because the president himself has, as we have reported many times before, sent mixed messages about the virus, he has downplayed the severity of the virus, he has said that the country is turning a corner and that the virus is behind us, contradicting, on many occasions, public health officials.
Of course we already have talked about refusing on many occasions to wear a mask, and suggesting that masks are not effective.
He resumed both indoor and outdoor rallies that did not have really much social distancing in place, where attendees weren't wearing masks. So I think a lot of that is also going to have to change, and perhaps there will be a different message coming out of the White House.
We're still waiting to see how they're going to respond. Of course, we have not heard from the president -- this is a breaking news story, and we'll see if and when he is in a position to address the American public.
And I think a lot of people are going to be waiting to see if perhaps we hear something different from the president now that he has contracted the virus, even though more than 200,000 people have died, more than 7 million people in the country have contracted the virus. And so, you know, a lot of people I think are very much aware that the virus is real. But this is a turning point, I think, since when we first started to talk about the coronavirus in March, and certainly with respect to the White House and its position.
HARLOW: Thank you all very much for being here today. Sabrina, John, Tim Naftali and thank you for the history on that, Tim, we appreciate it, very helpful.
[10:37:49]
So we did just get word that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is going to make a statement shortly. You'll see it live, right here when it happens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: When the commander in chief is ill, the nation's adversaries are watching and looking to take advantage. North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, you name it.
We're joined now by Democratic senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy. He's of course a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, thanks for taking the time this morning.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Yes, thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: You heard the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, say that the coronavirus snuck up on the president. Did the outbreak sneak up on him? MURPHY: Of course it didn't sneak up on him. First of all, let me
just say the obvious. We are pulling for the president, the first lady and anyone in the White House who has contracted this disease. It's insidious, it's deadly and especially for someone of Trump's age, it can come with complications.
But of course it didn't sneak up on the president. Since the spring, there have been a number of people inside the White House that have contracted coronavirus. They have of course refused to engage in the basic processes that would stop the spread, whether it be social distancing or mask-wearing, they've done that outside of the White House, they've not worn masks inside the White House reportedly and --
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: Senator, a moment -- you mentioned, the White House, here's the president's chief of staff.
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: -- we had a great jobs report this morning, unemployment down below eight percent. And the economy continues to be robust in its V-shaped recovery. And unfortunately, that's not what everybody's focused on this morning.
As all of you know, the president and the first lady tested positive for COVID-19. They remain in good spirits. The president does have mild symptoms, and as we look to try to make sure that not only his health and safety and welfare is good, we continue to look at that for all of the American people.
He continues to be not only in good spirits, but very energetic. We've talked a number of times this morning. I got the five or six things that he had tasked me to do, like I do every single morning. And he is certainly wanting to make sure that we stay engaged.
I think the other thing that is critically important, the doctors continue to monitor both his health and the health of the first lady. We'll continue to do that. They'll be glad to provide some updates later today as we look at this.
[10:45:10]
But I think the -- the great thing about this president is not only is he staying committed to working very hard on behalf of the American people. His first question to me this morning was, how is the economy doing, how are the stimulus talks going on Capitol Hill?
A number of us in the core team of the White House continue to get tested on a daily basis like we are -- like we have been. And as we look to that, we're very excited about making sure that not only that the health and safety of the president and the first lady is addressed, but certainly that we address this battle together as a nation, together.
And the American people can rest assured that we have a president that is not only on the job, will remain on the job and I'm optimistic that he'll have a very quick and speedy recovery. (CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mark, how would you describe his symptoms and is he taking hydroxychloroquine?
MEADOWS: Well, I'm not going to get into any particular treatment that he may or may not have. He has mild symptoms. As we look at that, the doctor will continue to provide expertise in the residence. He's in the residence now, and in true fashion he's probably critiquing the way that I'm answering these questions.
And I can tell you that a number of us will be reporting back to him on the task at hand.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What day and time -- would you just clear this up? What day and time did you find out that Hope Hicks had tested positive and did you sit on it until after the president went out to his fundraiser in New Jersey?
MEADOWS: Actually, as we look at this, I'm not going to get into the tick-tock. I can tell you in terms of Hope Hicks, we discovered that right as the Marine One was taking off yesterday. We actually pulled some of the people that had been traveling and in close contact. The reason why it was reported out, just frankly, is that we had already started the contact tracing just prior to that even.
as you know, last night, even in the early hours of this morning, the minute we got a confirmatory test on the president, we felt like it was important to get the news out there at that time. And so that's why we sent out the tweet late -- or actually early this morning.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- tests regularly on the president's --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- additional precautions, Mr. Meadows? Are you going to ask staff members to take additional precautions and --
(CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: You know, we --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- why aren't you wearing a mask right now?
MEADOWS: Yes, so I've obviously been tested. We're hopefully more than six feet away and if there's any concern there from a guidance standpoint, we have protocols in place. And we -- you know, when early --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are --
MEADOWS: -- early on, when we first started to tackle the COVID-19 battle, we actually did two different things in the White House, a number of contingencies as we look at not only additional testing but certainly mitigating the risks for social distancing in private meetings and the like.
But I think it goes to the broader question is, is even with a lot of the mitigating factors, Jim (ph), what you have is a virus that is contagious, that certainly continues to be -- regardless of whatever protocol we have -- that it has the ability to affect everybody. As you know, the president -- we keep a pretty wide circle, all of you that have interacted with him know that.
And so even with that wide circle around the president, we find that he's having to deal with this -- like so many millions of other Americans and people around the world have had to do.
(CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: I can tell you that what we're doing is focusing on the therapeutics, the vaccines, continuing to do that. And that doesn't change.
(CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- president's health?
(CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: Go ahead, go.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- ask really quickly, the officials who were on the flight with the president on Wednesday, including Kushner, Scavino -- I think Stephen Miller was there, are they all quarantining? Have they been tested?
MEADOWS: We've tested all of our core staff, and I can tell you that you know, Mr. Kushner, Mr. Scavino, myself, a number of us have been tested, have come back with negative results.
[10:50:07]
And yet at the same time, I fully expect that as this virus continues to go on, other people in the White House will certainly have a positive test result. And we've got the mitigation plan in place to make sure that the government not only continues to move forward, but the work of the American people continues to move forward.
And so even as recent as this morning a little after 8:00, the president was giving me a number of things to make sure that I get done, and I'm sure that I will actually have those do-outs, have to be back to him later today. (CROSSTALK)
MEADOWS: I've got to wrap. I mainly -- so I'm not going to ask you -- so I wanted to come out and give an update to all of you so that -- show the courtesy of giving an update. We'll have future updates, I'll be glad to do that. But any other specifics at this point would be --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: You just heard the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, there. Notable too that it was him who came out by the way, Jim, to address, not the press secretary --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: -- Kayleigh McEnany.
He said the president has mild symptoms. He would not, Jim, answer the question about is the president being treated with anything at this point, hydroxychloroquine, anything else.
SCIUTTO: And also notable that the president himself did not deliver those comments.
We will stay on top of it, and we'll be right back after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:55:12]
SCIUTTO: Back with us now, Democratic senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Just first there, if you can, reaction to the president's chief of staff confirming the president now has symptoms of a COVID infection?
MURPHY: Yes, I wish he was a little bit more detailed about those symptoms, but it is good news that the president is awake and alert, that's important for our adversaries around the world to hear.
I will say though that it was disturbing to see Mark Meadows doing that briefing, having been in close contact with the president, and not wearing a mask. He says he had tested negative, but often those positive results don't show up for several days, and so it just doesn't appear to me that the White House has gotten the message. They seem to still be playing way too fast and loose with CDC guidelines, and that's a really, really dangerous message to send to the country.
SCIUTTO: Our adversaries, this country's adversaries are very aware of internal challenges -- right? -- as they might affect the attention of the commander in chief, the White House, et cetera. How do North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, others -- is it possible they sense vulnerability in this and seek to take advantage?
MURPHY: Well, and that is certainly something you worry about when you hear that the president has been incapacitated, which is why I think it's important for this White House to be fully transparent about the president's condition. This idea that they're going to get away with just saying he has mild symptoms when we know this virus can be deadly and incapacitating for someone of the president's age and medical condition, just isn't enough.
In particular, I think about Iran. You know, there are recent reports suggesting that Iran is not done with its campaign of retribution against the United States for the killing of Qasem Soleimani. And we know that rocket attacks on U.S. forces inside Iraq have increased.
And so when you're thinking about the potential threats that come with a president that might not be in a position to make good decisions, Iranian behavior is at the top of the list.
So again, I think important for Meadows to make clear that the president is still in control. But I think they need to be much clearer about what's going on up in that residence.
SCIUTTO: Understood. And they have not been fulsome in their sharing of information about the president's health in the past.
I want to talk about Russia because yesterday, we're days away from the U.S. election. You tweeted this public comment, and you were briefed on the intelligence here. That there is evidence of a giant -- quoting from you -- "multiyear effort to help Trump in 2020 by Russia." What can you tell us about that?
MURPHY: Well, what I can tell you is that it's much bigger and bolder and smarter than it was in 2016. the Russians have learned and they are now trying to use U.S. persons and fake websites in order to proffer a narrative that helps President Trump's re-election. And I also think that you have to be, you know, much more serious about the Russian threat given todays' news.
If President Trump can't be out there on the campaign trail for the next two weeks, then he is going to rely on his surrogates. And unfortunately, one of his surrogates is Vladimir Putin. So you are likely going to see this campaign ramped up by Russia over the next few weeks to try to substitute for the president's absence on the campaign trail.
And my worry is that the intel agencies are not being clear with the American people about the size of the Russian operation and their clear desire to try to elect President Trump to a second term.
SCIUTTO: So intel agencies playing this down to the detriment of the security of the election. We also know that surrogates of the president met with a known Russian intelligence agent in Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician. Are you saying that Americans are aiding and abetting?
MURPHY: Well, I didn't say that, but H.R. McMaster, the former national security advisor, did. He in fact said the president was aiding and abetting Russia's efforts. And you know, we found out that there was a Russian agent who was
actively intermingling with the president's inner circle, and it was buried in a Treasury sanctions announcement. The intel agencies want to make you believe that well, you know, the Russians are for Trump but the Chinese and the Iranians, they're for Biden.
Well, that's not true. We don't know exactly what the Iranians and the Chinese are doing; we know exactly what the Russians are doing, and we know exactly what they want. And the intel agencies have to stop doing Trump's political bidding and have their clients, the American people, first.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Very quickly before we go, should voters -- the American people -- be concerned that the president's diagnosis here is at all a threat to the election, the sanctity of the election, the safety of the election?
MURPHY: Well, I hope that not to be the case. And for today, I'm going to trust Mark Meadows' information that the president, while having mild symptoms, is still awake and alert and able to run the country.
But we know we can't trust this White House, and so that's why we have to demand that we hear from the president's doctors, that we get more information to know whether we have to be in a situation to think about alternatives.
[11:00:04]
SCIUTTO: Senator Chris Murphy, thanks so much for joining this morning.
MURPHY: Thanks, Jim.
