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Global Markets Rattled After Trump's Positive COVID-19 Test; Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) Is Interviewed About The Implementation On A Testing Regime In The W.H.; WH: Trump Has "Mild Symptoms" After Positive COVID-19 Test. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 02, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: A favorite talking point of the President is going to look a lot different now because having one more of a basement campaign, especially given Biden's testing negative today is going to look significantly smarter in the eyes of a lot of American voters, John.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Jonathan Martin, Jeff Zeleny, appreciate the reporting and insights on the uncertain of this -- uncertainty of this campaign, 32 days to go. Gentlemen, thank you both.

When we come back, markets don't like uncertainty. The President of the United States testing positive coronavirus, well, that's uncertainty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: This important development just into CNN, the President of the United States now bowing out of the one event that was on his schedule this morning after he announced he had tested positive for COVID-19.

[12:35:06]

The President was supposed to participate in a midday call with senior citizens to talk to them about options available to help protect the elderly, from COVID-19. Instead, we are now told the President will not participate in that call. We know the White House Chief of Staff said he has mild symptoms. The Vice President will fill in for the President. We'll try to get more information on that.

The President's positive test overnight rattled markets, not just here in North America, but around the world. Adding to the uncertainty this morning was a weaker than expected September jobs report. You can look right now, though, at the big board. And you see the markets have recovered a little bit there, just down 38 points. That's was down a lot more earlier.

CNN's Julia Chatterley is watching this for us and joins us now live. Julia, markets don't like uncertainty, although the big board right now seems OK. JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Markets don't like uncertainty, John, great to be with you. And when you get a news like that in the President, it doesn't get more uncertain than that. And that was the panic that we saw. Things have stabilized for a few reasons. The first thing of course, hearing that the President has mild symptoms, I think gave people reassurance, then you've got the negative readings from the Vice President Mike Pence, you got Steven Mnuchin as well with his negative reading. And I think that helped things too.

Just in the last 10 minutes or so, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has come out and said there will be imminent aid coming for some of the airlines. Remember, we've had the likes of United and American Airlines announcing layoffs to the tune of 30,000 people this week. If they've got aid coming, that's good. And that's why you were a bit surprised there by what we've seen in the markets. And that's what's really turned things around, I think.

What this news did, of course too, was overshadow the reading that we got on the jobs market, the final jobs market reading before the presidential election. And the truth is, this is the highest unemployment rate we've ever seen for a President going into an election. That's the bottom line. Even as we saw jobs added again in September, we've got an unemployment rate now, below 8 percent. That belies the challenges beneath. The pace of these job gains continues to slow. We've got a piling up of those that are permanent job losses rather than temporary.

The basic fact is, John, this market is challenged. It's still a jobs crisis. The question is, as we head into this presidential election, do voters hold the President accountable, if not for COVID for the response and the impact on the jobs market, which still lost over 10 million jobs?

KING: Thirty-two days, so we start to figure that out. Julia Chatterley, appreciate the important update there.

When we come back, it's not just the President. The Republican senators today announcing he has tested positive for COVID-19. We'll go to Capitol Hill for reaction to that and the President's coronavirus test.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:42:31]

KING: The fallout from the President's positive COVID-19 test extends up to Capitol Hill. Members of Congress who have met with the President or top aides, now getting tested themselves. CNN's Phil Mattingly is live on Capitol Hill tracking this challenge for us. And Phil, it's a big one.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. It's one that I think lawmakers maybe have gotten a little bit complacent on over the course of the last couple of months. There hadn't been a lot of positive tests as there were perhaps earlier on in the midst of the pandemic. And now there has been a positive test on Capitol Hill following the President's and his wife's positive test.

Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who is at the White House on Saturday for the announcement of the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, who met in person on Capitol Hill on Tuesday with the Supreme Court nominee who throughout the course of this week has been at Senate Judiciary hearings and at closed Senate Republican lunches, announced on Twitter that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

He said when he was at the White House on Saturday, he tested maybe negative but started feeling symptoms that reminded him of allergies on Thursday and decided to get a test because of that. And it came back positive. I think what you're seeing and what I've heard really, John, over the course of the last 12 to 15 hours is just the kind of sheer panic amongst some aides, because they don't know how to trace things back, right? There's no contact tracing on Capitol Hill that's really in full effect. There's no testing on Capitol Hill.

Take Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she said this morning that she took a test out of an abundance of caution because she met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for 90 minutes in person on Wednesday, that same morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had met with President Trump in the Oval Office. The fact that the Speaker didn't have an automatic test to take, the fact that she didn't have a rapid response test, she's still waiting at least as of 20 minutes ago to get a response to her test, to get a result from the test just underscores right now that lawmakers are very unsettled. And I think their aides are as well.

Throughout the course of last night and this morning, lawmakers who took Air Force One with the President up to Duluth for the rally, have taken tests, to try to figure out whether or not they can go to the Senate -- to the House floor and vote. I think it's kind of across the board right now. And the bottom line, I think from here on Capitol Hill is really twofold. One, they don't have a handle on things and they've kind of been playing a high wire act without widespread testing on the Hill not just for members but for staff for the people who work here for the Capitol Police.

And two, I think there's real questions right now. The House is operating as if businesses as usual. They've had House floor votes throughout the course of the day. Some of the members who were on Air Force One with the President have actually voted. And then the Senate too, obviously there's a pretty darn big hearing scheduled October 12th to start. That is the confirmation hearing of Amy Coney Barrett, one of the members of that Committee, Senator Mike Lee has tested positive. He said he would be back to support her nomination.

[12:45:02]

But we've already had Democrats just about two minutes ago, John, put out a statement. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, saying that no hearing scheduled can be set until they know the full extent of what's going on right now on Capitol Hill related to COVID. Obviously, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham have said they are full steam ahead on those hearings.

But just keep an eye on that. It's something that's going to start coming up as people really try and get their heads around the scope of this problem, not just over the White House but here on Capitol Hill.

KING: Every question seems to be get another question. Phil Mattingly, live on Capitol Hill appreciate the court reporting there. And joining us now is someone who knows quite firsthand about this challenge, Congressman Rodney Davis.

Congressman, you can speak firsthand to this. You tested positive back in August for COVID.

Let's pick up, let me start to pick up where Phil just left off. Do you feel that the House, that the Capitol in general, the House and the Senate the Congress, has the right protocols in place? Or should this -- should the President's positive test now and the scrambled it's undergoing on Capitol Hill right now today, should that give everyone, should that be the final circuit breaker we need a better more rigorous testing regime right here on Capitol Hill?

REP. RODNEY DAVIS (R-IL): Even before my own personal COVID diagnosis, John, I was asking the Speaker and sending letters to Speaker Pelosi from my Committee that I run, the Committee on House Administration asking her to work with us to implement a testing regime on Capitol Hill. The answer is we don't have one here. And it's not just about members of Congress, because Speaker Pelosi got a test today. It's about the people who work here, members of the media, folks that are protecting this Capitol Complex, our Capitol Police Officers, those who are cleaning the complex. They don't have the same access. And I'm calling on Speaker Pelosi to work with us to finally implement a testing regime.

KING: Most of us don't know, haven't gone through what you have gone through. One of my brothers said COVID back several months ago, he said it was the worst two weeks of his life. Talk us through it, talk us through this.

DAVIS: Well, luckily, I didn't have the same experience as you brother. I was pretty asymptomatic. I've been taking my temperature and doing my best to follow the guidelines throughout this pandemic. My wife is a nurse. She made me take my temperature every day with the same thermometer. And August 5th, I had a high temperature according to what I was used to, and to rule out COVID since I had public events that day, my wife and I went to a rapid scan facility in my district that my constituents utilize.

And surprisingly, I came back positive. But here's the key to, John, you know, my wife who was around me for those days before I knew I was diagnosed very closely, also my staffers who I traveled with via vehicle enclosed vehicles very closely, none of them tested positive. So we can't automatically assume if somebody's just around a positive case, that they're automatically going to get it. And that's why we need a testing regime here on Capitol Hill to make sure that people rule out positive cases.

KING: Help me as somebody who's been through this yourself and somebody who is a member of the United States Congress, what is their transparency challenge now for the President of the United States? What does the public deserves to know about his condition A, because he's the President and B, because we're 32 days to an election?

DAVIS: Well, I think the President's very transparent on a lot of issues that he talks about. And the fact that he announced his diagnosis last night, I think is a good thing. I know that as we move forward, you're going to see the President. Hopefully, I hope he and the First Lady and the staffers who are infected have the same experience I did. I certainly hope it's not like your brothers. And we're going to know what type of experience the President has, because that's what happens here in this country and in the United States of America.

KING: My brother is fine. I appreciate the good thoughts. But he did say he got knocked down as you know what for two very tough weeks. And I know many, many Americans are going through this. Congressman Davis, grateful for your insights on this day, best of luck, Sir, in the days ahead and I hope they listen to you when you push for the better testing protocols up on Capitol Hill.

[12:49:05]

When we come back, the President of the United States is a COVID-19 patient and guess what, that gets the world's attention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: President Trump Of course not the first world leader to contract the Coronavirus. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, became seriously ill after contracting COVID. Brazil's President, Jair Bolsonaro, had a mild case of it, Bolsonaro among several Latin American leaders who contracted COVID, including the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala, and Bolivia.

Both President Trump and Brazil's Bolsonaro have publicly downplayed the impact of the virus. You can see from the chart right there. Both Brazil and the United States, despite those comments by their leaders, been hit particularly hard. Others like the U.K. and Honduras have fared better so far. Our correspondents around the world beginning with Nic Robertson, bring us some of the world reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I'm Nic Robertson in London, where the British Prime Minister has sent his best wishes to the President and First Lady for a speedy recovery. And he of course, Boris Johnson, has experienced COVID-19 himself falling ill late March, a week in hospital three days in ICU.

The big takeaways in the U.K. from all of that were the spin from his back office, Number 10 Downing Street saying he was reading ministerial papers. And then the next day the nation found out that he was actually going into ICU, so playing up that he seemed to be doing better than he actually was. Then a surge of support for the Prime Minister the country worried when he went into the ICU but a surge in popularity. But that fell away after the Prime Minister got out of hospital. And then the big difficulty for the Prime Minister getting out of hospital, it still took him two weeks of rest and recuperation before he could really get back on the job properly.

[12:55:30]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew Chance in Moscow where Vladimir Putin has sent President Trump a telegram, wishing him and the First Lady a speedy recovery. Putin says there quote, inherent vitality, good spirits, and optimism will help them cope with what he called the dangerous virus. But it's more than just those qualities that the Russian leader has depended on to defend himself against COVID-19.

Unlike Trump, Putin has spent the pandemic in a virtual bubble usually speaking to officials by video conference, canceling or foreign trips, according to the Kremlin. And working mainly from his residence outside Moscow, were disinfected tunnels that spray visitors down as they pass through have been installed. Russia has also approved a COVID-19 vaccine with which several senior Russian officials say they've already been vaccinated despite incomplete human trials.

The Kremlin says Putin may soon be vaccinated himself for club of world leaders with COVID-19 seems to be one the Russian President is at pains not to join.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: One question when the President of the United States has a positive diagnosis like this, in this case, President Trump and COVID- 19 is what are the national security implications? Let's discuss that now with the former House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Mike Rogers.

Mr. Chairman, good to see you today. Just take us inside, you're familiar, they call it chatter. What happens around the world, especially among nations like Russia, like China, like Iran that are trying to gain every bit of information they can about the United States, not in a friendly way. What happens in a moment like this?

MIKE ROGERS (R), FORMER HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: Well, every one of our adversary leaders, and it's not just the big nation states, you'll see this in groups like the Taliban and al-Qaeda and others around the country -- around the world, who we're going to evaluate. So they all have operations that try to find weaknesses into their adversaries, and we would be back in the United States.

And so you know, that there's these calculations going through, are there things that we can get away with today that we couldn't yesterday? Are there things we can get away with next week that we couldn't today? The good news is, John, we -- there is procedures for our national security to have continuity. And that to me is really important. And it's important for our adversaries to understand that we have a continuity plan in the United States. And I'm sure they're trying to adhere to it at the White House. And I would not try to take advantage of the news for any mischievous acts around the world. North Korea comes to mind.

KING: North Korea comes to mind, Iran comes to mind. I want you to listen, this is Senator Chris Murphy on CNN earlier today suggesting what you did, some people around the world might think, OK, the President's sick, is there an opening?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): There are recent reports suggesting that Iran is not done with its campaign of retribution against the United States for the killing of Qassem 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 the President that might not be in a position to make good decisions, Iranian behavior is at the top of the list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I assume you would agree Iranian behavior is at least near the top of the list. The White House says the President has mild symptoms. But do you worry somebody out there might decide this is a chance to poke?

MURPHY: Oh, absolutely. And the one reason that Iran didn't rise above North Korea, is because Iran has already escalated, excuse me, bad activity going into this. So they'll just, I think, continue down the same path. And I think our national security structure has a pretty good view of what they've been doing and what their options are going in the near future.

North Korea could, this is going to be a time that they decide they could test either missile system or nuclear test or, and they're very fond of causing some skirmish with their Southern South Korean, in their terms, adversaries along this kind of line. And so any of those kinds of activities would worry me a lot, because we always want to make sure we have a way to mitigate and then put them back in the box.

And so, you know, some confusion is not great. The good news is I do think that the national security infrastructure has a way to cope with this and people will buckle down. And again, it's important that everyone gets tested. I wish them all well. I hope they have a speedy recovery. It's good for America. It's good for the world. But it is really important we send the right message to our adversaries that we are ready and standing by and they should not take advantage of the news that we got today.

[13:00:04]

KING: Chairman Rogers very much appreciate the important insights there. I want to thank you for watching today. Thank you for your patience throughout all this breaking news.

[12:30:00]