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No Clear Picture Of President's Health As Questions Loom After Medical Team Briefing; Schumer: Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Should be Delayed; President's Illness Causing Ripple Effects on Both Campaigns; World Leaders Send Best Wishes for Trump's Recovery. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired October 04, 2020 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:59:46]
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Now Fred, yesterday college football fans were seen in stands all across the country, up to 20,000 fans were in attendance for the number 4 Georgia Bulldogs win over number 7 Auburn in Athens, Georgia. They were required to wear masks while entering the stadium and within concourse areas, but they could remove them once they got to their seats, according to the school.
And there were nearly 8,000 fans in Dallas, Fred where SMU, Kansas police were forced to clear out the student section in the middle of their upset win over number 25 Memphis. The school telling CNN that the students repeatedly ignored requests to wear masks and maintain social distance.
Fred, we've seen sports open back up in stages from sports without no fans to sports with some fans. And now we're seeing more fans, loud and rowdy. Some of the visuals from games yesterday gave the perception that there's not even a pandemic happening anymore, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: I was going to say, those pictures look like the word is not out, there's a pandemic, there's this thing called COVID-19, and it's killing people.
All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much.
Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin this hour with an attempt at clean up on the messaging of the president's condition in his battle with COVID-19. Today, yet another briefing from his medical team igniting more questions and confusion, few were answers.
The president's doctors maintain President Trump is doing well, but his medical team is now admitting that he has experienced two episode of low oxygen that required an oxygen supplement and a steroid. This after doctors sidestepped questions about the president's oxygen problems on Saturday.
They also say the president has received a second dose of Remdesivir, a five-day treatment that was just approved for emergency use in May. And despite the president's troubling symptoms, his doctors say he could be back at the White House as soon as tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: Today he feels well. He's been up and around. Our plan for today is to have him to eat and drink, be up out of bed as much as possible, to be mobile.
And if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early tomorrow, to the White House where he can continue his treatment course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. With the growing contradictions and mysteries on the President's health, there are now major questions about the credibility of the story that we're being told about the president by his staff as well as that of the medical team.
We have a team of correspondents covering these developments. Boris Sanchez is at the White House. Let's begin with Jeremy Diamond at Walter Reed Medical Center.
And Jeremy we hear a lot of activity outside, because there are a lot of supporters that continue to, you know, show up there outside Walter Reed. But tell us more about this medical team that was trying to set the record straight, only to throw in more confusion.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, this has really just not been a model of transparency in terms of what we have been hearing from the White House as well as from the president's medical team, which is being led by the president's White House physician Dr. Sean Conley.
Dr. Conley yesterday, you know, he danced around this question of whether or not the president had received supplemental oxygen at any point. And after it was widely reported yesterday by many outlets including CNN that the president had indeed received supplemental oxygen on Friday before arriving here at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Dr. Conley today finally coming forth and saying that yes indeed the president received supplemental oxygen on Friday.
He shared some more information about the president's condition, making clear that the president's fever was very high on Friday before he left for Walter Reed, that he received supplemental oxygen because his oxygen levels dipped below 94 percent, and that it happened not only on Friday, but also yesterday at some point, though he could not say for some reason whether the president had once again received supplemental oxygen.
But there is this over all question and he was asked directly, you know, who we were to believe? We know that the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows yesterday offered some contradictory information after that rosy picture from the medical team, saying that the president's condition was very serious and that there was no clear path yet to a full recovery.
Listen to Dr. Conley address the fact that he was so optimistic in his assessments just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CONLEY: So I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, his course of illness has had. I didn't want to give any information that might be steer the course of illness in another direction. And in doing so, you know, came off that we were trying to hide something. That wasn't necessarily true, and so here you have it. He is -- the fact of the matter is that he is doing really well.
Now he is --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:04:46]
DIAMOND: And so you hear there Dr. Conley essentially admitting to the fact he was hiding information yesterday about the president's health, couching it in this notion of an upbeat attitude as if that would have some kind of impact on whether or not the president gets better or not. It doesn't but it does have an impact on the confidence of the American people in terms of what they're hearing from these doctors and from this medical team.
And so it's clear, Fredricka, that there are still a lot of questions even though they provide some more details, many questions remain. They refused to say exactly what was going on with the president's lungs and the lung scans that he received and learning the fact today that he is on this new steroid dexamethasone indicates that there are some serious concerns about the president's prognosis and it is an indication that the president's condition may have worsened over the last 24 hours or so, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Ok. Jeremy, thanks.
Boris, you're at the White House now. The White House chief of staff has, you know, been giving statements that contradicted what the medical team, you know, had said earlier in the day. And that mixed messaging, you know, is not going over well with the president and that, you know, clearly the president wants a message that he's strong, that he's well, that you know, no one should be concerned at all about his condition.
But tell us more about, you know, this struggle of messaging involving his own people.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A struggle it certainly is, Fred because you're getting these contradictory messages that Jeremy just laid out from the White House medical just yesterday, struggling to answer basic questions. And then today clarifying that they were not completely transparent with the messages that they sent just yesterday. The president apparently furious though, not at his medical team, at Mark Meadows, the chief of staff for giving comments about the president's health that revealed the level of concern, and saying that the next few days are going to be crucial in ensuring that President Trump recovers from COVID 19.
Obviously we didn't hear that today from the president's doctors who suggesting he may be leaving Walter Reed Medical Center tomorrow. Apparently the president believes that Meadows is hurting the credibility of his medical team even though they have contradicted themselves and struggled as I just noted, to answer basic questions.
We should note a source also telling CNN that the president met with Dr. Conley before yesterday's briefing. We're still working to confirm if they met before today's briefing. But the source made clear that the doctors would not reveal any information that President Trump himself didn't approve of, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much, at the White House. Appreciate them.
All right. So much to discuss now.
Dr. Matthew Heinz is a hospitalist and internist with Tucson Medical Center. Julian Zelizer is a historian and professor at Princeton University and a CNN political analyst. And Astead Herndon is a national politics reporter with "The New York Times" also a CNN political analyst.
Good to see all of you, gentlemen.
So Dr. Heinz, you first. I want you to listen to a little bit more from the president's team of doctors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CONLEY: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, his course of illness has had. I didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. And in doing so, you know, came off as if we were trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true. So he is -- the fact of the matter is that he is doing really well. That he is responding, and as the team said, if everything continues to go well, we're going to start discharge and back to the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So Dr. Heinz, your thoughts about that. Is that the role of the president's, you know, physician to try to spin a message that everything is going great even at the risk of people feeling like you're hiding something?
DR. MATTHEW HEINZ, HOSPITALIST AND INTERNIST, TUCSON MEDICAL CENTER: No, absolutely not. And I'm sure that these are excellent physicians, but when called upon to do, I guess, public relations or political spin like this, they're going to fail, because they're not really good at it. And they shouldn't be, because political spin often involves lying and withholding truths about what's going on with our president which the American people must be told, it's not very confidence- inspiring.
And you can't apologize for withholding information from yesterday's briefing by then walking away from the microphone when asked a very simple question about are there pulmonary findings on the radiographic studies, on his CT scans. This is very -- it's not confidence inspiring and it's just not what the people deserve.
WHITFIELD: Confidence-inspiring, I mean isn't that perhaps the objective that this doctor wanted to have especially in saying hey, as early as tomorrow the president could be discharged.
DR. HEINZ: I think that's what they're trying to reflect but low look when you look at the list of things going on -- low blood oxygen, high fevers, feeling short of breath, hospitalization, experimental antibody treatment that I can't get for my patients, initiation of Remdesivir therapy, and then now dexamethasone therapy, which has been studied really only in seriously and more critically ill patients.
[14:10:01]
DR. HEINZ: That paints a little bit of a different picture as compared to what we're hearing from the gentleman at the microphone and it's really distressing.
WHITFIELD: Julian, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll from Friday and Saturday finding that 72 percent are Trump has not taken the risk of contracting coronavirus seriously enough. And the same share 72 percent saying he did not take the appropriate precautions when it came to his own personal health.
I mean this is not the first time that the president, you know, hasn't, you know, handled news of illness, you know, in public well. But with a month, you know, to the close of election day, you know, since people have already started their early voting, what does this tell you about the trust in the president in the handling of coronavirus and his responsibility with truth?
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think for many Americans, trust is incredibly low and there is a credibility gap that statements like we just heard from the doctor only compound. And I think it's more than what does the president's team do when the president is ill, or how did the president handle his own inner circle with the pandemic, it relates to the bigger question of pandemic policy.
And due to personal failures and personal resistance to basic measures reflect in the administration, it hasn't taken this seriously enough at the national level and that is very damaging.
WHITFIELD: Astead, again information from this new polling. There's a 50/50 split over whether Trump, you know, will or will not be able to effectively handle his duties as president if there's a military or national security crisis. You've heard some of the analysts who say right now, this is a national security crisis, this pandemic, and that the president is being hospitalized?
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think what that public opinion represents is the kind of political challenges that this has presented. There are obviously the personal health concerns and that is kind of one question here.
Another question is does this incident reflect a White House and administration that has not taken the coronavirus seriously and that Americans have previously said they did not believe that their response to the pandemic as adequate and organized.
If this incident reinspires those feelings of most of the public about the White House's larger response to the pandemic or maybe some feeling that things that were good enough for the President are not good enough measures for those to be taken for the American people. I think that that creates some separate political challenges for this White House.
This public opinion poll that you're talking about speaks to an immediate crisis. There is -- we don't know if that's going to come. We should not speculate that that is going to come, but what we do know is that as election day, the formal election day, gets closer and closer, Americans will be rendering their verdict on an administration that it was already wrapped up in the coronavirus response, and this has just focused more attention to that.
WHITFIELD: And then Julian, you know, this president's predecessor, not all of them have been honest about their medical conditions or hospitalizations, et cetera but why is this difference?
ZELIZER: Well, just because in the past presidents like Woodrow Wilson or FDR hid illnesses or had their illnesses hidden doesn't mean that's what we expect today. We're in a current age where much greater transparency is expected. And so I think that's the biggest difference.
We're actually in the election already, even though it's not election day. People are voting. And finally we are in a crisis, the pandemic is a crisis equal to any war we've been in. And so we have as citizens a right to know what's the status of the president who is the leader, the commander-in-chief in a public health battle as well.
So I think all of that makes it different, and is why many people want straight answers and honesty.
WHITFIELD: And Dr. Heinz, you know, how important is it to know when the president's last negative coronavirus test was? Because the president has been boasting for a very long time, you know, I get tested every day, but for the second day in a row, when that question has been asked of his doctors about well, when was the last negative test, I mean it's important to know, is it not?
DR. HEINZ: Well, it sure is. And remember that these tests are imperfect. They can have anywhere from a 20 percent to 25 percent chance being falsely negative, but it sounds to me like they are not going to reveal that information for fear that that will when applied to the timeline make it clear that the president or his team I mean knowingly endangered not only his donors and supporters at an event and the staff in the White House and the West Wing and countless others. And that kind of reckless endangerment is exactly what we see leads to these super spreader events.
[14:15:00]
WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Matthew Heinz, thank you so much.
Julian and Astead, stand by and I'm going to talk to you again after this short break.
Still ahead, conflict of interest? The president's physicians double as military commanders under the president's direct command. So is following orders contributing to this lack of transparency on President Trump's health.
Plus swift U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings under threat as multiple senators are also now diagnosed with COVID-19. Now, the top Democrat in the Senate is calling for a delay.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Trump's medical team perhaps in a very difficult position. They are not only doctors, but they are also members of the U.S. military. They report to their commander in chief who is currently in their care.
Rear Admiral John Kirby is joining us now from Washington. Admiral Kirby, good to see you.
[14:19:56]
WHITFIELD: So, you know, this is a prickly situation perhaps, right. You have spoken to the American people and to the press while on active duty. So if the commander in chief tells you what to say is that how it goes even if you are in his medical care, but these doctors, I mean they've got titles, they're commander, they're colonel, you know, they're captain, they're lieutenant colonel.
ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Certainly. Look as a doctor in particular, you do have obligations about the kind of detail that you can get into when you're talking about a patient's care, no matter who that patient is. And I understand that. I'm certainly not in the medical community but I understand those concerns.
They report to the commander in chief, Fred, but they work for the American people. The taxpayers from their salaries, from the hospital, they work for the American people and they can never forget that.
And it's been disappointing to see, particularly today when Commander Conley said well, I was trying to reflect the upbeat nature of the team. That is not the job. The job is to be as transparent and as honest as you can at that podium when you mount that podium, whatever your profession is. WHITFIELD: And so now this potentially erodes the trust of this commander Conley, this Dr. Conley and the rest of the team. Is that worrisome to you?
KIRBY: It very much is worrisome. I mean he's now had two press conferences here in as many days and has only caused more questions to be asked, not less. Only caused more confusion, not less. And has come off as being disingenuous. If not, you know, not completely trustworthy.
And that's not a good place for us to be as the American people. It's not a good place for the president to be, that the credibility of his care now is being questioned by people in real time.
So it's not a good situation and they intend to keep doing these briefings, I would strongly encourage him, you know, to get some public relations assistance and help and be as open and as transparent as they can be.
WHITFIELD: I was going to ask you that. Is this a moment in which they need to be thinking their approach. Because this isn't going over well. You know, their approach to this, I mean obviously you want the medical perspective here but perhaps conducting this press conference is just not their thing.
And who then would be brought in because I mean the White House has a credibility problem, too.
KIRBY: Well, yes. I mean that's a whole other kettle of fish, Fred, but I mean there's plenty of Navy public affairs professionals, in the Pentagon. That was what I did for a long time I mean there's lots of good, strong Navy spokesmen that can come and give them a hand.
But they have to be willing to take it and the president also has to be willing allow them to be more transparent. It seems to me like Commander Conley is under pressure from the president to spin this in a certain way and so the president also needs to be (INAUDIBLE) and be willing to let people that are speaking for him particularly when we're talking about health matters, speak in a truthful, honest, transparent way.
WHITFIELD: But it's also very clear and people have said it those who work around the president, he likes to produce, he likes to craft, you know, these moments down to, you know, what flags are draped behind someone to the scripting. I mean we heard one of the doctors yesterday, it was clear that he was taking a quote that the president wanted him to convey in that, I feel so good, I'm ready to walk out of here right now.
KIRBY: Right. But this isn't a show, Fred. I mean this is the real thing. This is a serious disease and it's a pandemic affecting the whole world. This is not the time for showmanship. This is a time for honesty.
WHITFIELD: Rear Admiral John Kirby, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
KIRBY: My pleasure.
WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead with the president and multiple Republican senators diagnosed now with COVID-19, Democrats are calling for U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings to be delayed.
[14:23:44]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is slamming a plan by Republican leaders in the senate to move forward with the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Amy Coney Barrett after three Republican senators were diagnosed with coronavirus last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Even though he's said it's not safe for the Senate to meet in session, but it's ok to have the hearings. And the idea of having virtual hearings, where no one is with the witness, for the highest court in the land for a life appointment that would have such effect on people's lives makes no sense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: McConnell office has said the hearing is scheduled to go ahead on October 12. Back with me now is history Julian Zelizer and "New York Times" reporter Astead Herndon.
All right. So Julian, you first. Is it hypocritical for Mitch McConnel to want to go, you know, forward with virtual, you know, hearings or this just, you know, politicking on each side?
ZELIZER: I think many feel it's already hypocritical to go through with this when he wouldn't go through with Merrick Garland but to force this through and to push this through in this moment when members of the Judiciary Committee are diagnosed with COVID where there's questions of who else is exposed. I don't if (AUDIO GAP) the right word but it's is certainly not the right decision.
There's no rush. He can wait. This is about politics in terms of just trying to move this through before the election is over.
WHITFIELD: So Astead realistically, what's it going to take I mean as Democrats, as Schumer says, you know, put the brakes on this?
HERNDON: Well, I think it's not only about politics. This is about power. It's been clear from Mitch McConnell that this is the priority not only because they see this as a chance to secure a lasting Supreme Court majority. And also because they think this is their chance to kind of wrest the topic of -- to put the Supreme Court ahead of the election and overtake the coronavirus is their idea.
[14:30:08]
What will it take to slow that trend? Frankly, it will take even bigger outbreak among Republican senators to the point where folks could not continue physically to go ahead. And that's not something that we're wishing on people or expecting, but I think that's the kind of level it would take to stop what we know is Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party's top priority right now, which is securing that key conservative majority --
WHITFIELD: But, Astead, it does feel like -- it seems like it would be a huge interruption when you've got two who would be on the Judiciary Committee who have tested positive. I mean, it depends on how they handle -- how their bodies are handling coronavirus. I mean, if they're actually -- if they have the stamina, if they are actually able to participate even virtually. And if they can't be part of the judiciary hearings, that alone seems like that would be putting the brakes on this process.
HERNDON: Yes. I just think, obviously, the health of the senators is the first concern and will be something that if it's to be a downturn, it would slow the process. Also, we do not have a kind of full understanding of Senate testing and even other members of the Judiciary Committee. I'm thinking of folks like Chuck Grassley who have not come forward, I believe, at this time to say they have had a negative test, even though they were a part of those meetings. I mean, I think that that is going to be the concern.
If that outbreak grows or if it worsens, then, yes, Republicans will be forced to slow down the hearing. But I think Mitch McConnell has kind of given us the signs. If it is anything short of that, he will go ahead and that is the priority.
WHITFIELD: All right. And talking about the president testing positive, being treated at Walter Reed now and there remains confusion over the timeline of when the president actually was diagnosed, he was in Cleveland with his advisers on Tuesday for that debate. And, of course, that's raising the possibility of people who could have been exposed. Yes this is what Ohio Governor Mike DeWine told CNN's Jake Tapper this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Does it bother you that the president and his team put your citizens at risk?
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Well, I think it's important what the president has done. The president went to a hospital. That could not have been an easy thing for him to do. I'm sure he didn't want to go to the hospital and made the right decision.
TAPPER: Yes. And I just don't understand the reluctance to state the obvious, which is President Trump has been mocking people who wear masks. And now, there are a lot of Republicans who won't wear masks.
DEWINE: Look, do I wish the president had worn a mask all the time? Of course, you know, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So there is that on top of the fact, Astead, that officials in Ohio, in Minnesota and New Jersey all saying, unless something has changed in the last few minutes, all saying that they have not heard from the White House on any kind of contact tracing, any kind of CDC efforts to assist based on, you know, concerns that would come from the president's visits so close -- in such proximity to his positive diagnosis.
HERNDON: That is why the timeline is so important. We do not have a full scope of when the White House knew about the president's positive coronavirus test. We don't know what they did in the meantime. That timeline made clear who was at risk. Was it just folks in Ohio or New Jersey? Did they put people who work at the White House at risk? If they have a positive -- was there a positive test at the time of the debate? They are not answering the critical question of when that last negative test was. And that does not allow us to have a full understanding.
It is also a bad modeling of what we are asking the American people to do in this moment. If this was a positive test for you or I, there will be expectations of how we behave and who we alert. That is not something that the White House has done this far and that is in line with its previous kind of casting off of the most basic mitigation measures that we as a country have had to take on as this pandemic has persisted.
WHITFIELD: And, I mean, Julian, we know that the president has a real aversion to anything he thinks is a sign of weakness. And so he has -- had these pictures taken of him in the hospital in this presidential suite working area. He's got a sport coat, he's got a white shirt on while he is being treated for COVID. And now, we understand that his son, Donald Trump Jr., is using the president's hospitalization images like this to help fund-raise for the campaign.
ZELIZER: I mean, I don't think this is going to help very much the credibility for the White House is already strained. So that's why all these questions keep emerging about what is going on. So I don't think a photo is really going to help. And then to incorporate it into fundraising is only going to undermine any effort to make this believable.
[14:35:01]
So I think it would be helpful if the president actually didn't see it as a sign of weakness. It's a health issue. And the more he could get to that place, the more we would be in a better place nationally in terms of our policies. So, I think, in some ways, that's part of the problem right there.
WHITFIELD: And we do understand that some -- people who are at a recent fundraiser, that one in New Jersey, are receiving that they did not -- they were not informed or have yet to be informed about testing, even informed that Hope Hicks had tested positive and the president would show up knowing that, so lots of different ways to look at this whole fundraising effort.
Astead Herndon, Julian Zelizer, thank you both so much.
ZELIZER: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: So, as President Trump battles COVID-19, his campaign is still maintaining its attacks on Joe Biden, calling his mask a prop is appropriate. How the Biden campaign is responding, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:40:00]
WHITFIELD: Election day, less than a month away with early voting already underway in so many states. And we're just now three days from the only vice presidential debate. And Instead of talking about topics to be discussed, how to safely conduct a debate is top of mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: We're in a campaign. We have a month to go. We see Joe Biden and Kamala Harris out there campaigning. Certainly, they're not asking for a remote debate. Vice President Pence is following the debate for the vice presidential candidates on Wednesday. He'll be hitting the trail --
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC ANCHOR: So you have no concerns --
MILLER: No concerns at all. The vice president takes very serious all of these measures.
TODD: Okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me with a closer look, CNN's M.J. Lee.
So, M.J., Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris is already there in Utah. Vice President Pence will arrive in Salt Lake City tomorrow. So, how much has this issue of the president having COVID, how has this changed the dynamics of the debate, the setup of it?
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, as President Trump gets treatment for COVID-19 at Walter Reed, the Biden campaign is continuing with its normal campaign activities. And as you say, next week, the big event to watch is this vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris. This is going to be the first time that the two candidates face off on the debate stage.
And what CNN can report is that there were concerns raised by the Biden campaign to the President Debate Commission about the spacing between the two candidates, and there were ongoing discussions and negotiations. And, essentially, what the Biden campaign says was that the seven feet that Pence and Harris were initially supposed to be apart seated to do this debate next week, that that just was not enough space.
And so, what they ultimately decided is that now, they will be seated 12 feet apart instead of the seven feet. I should note, 12 feet, that's about the same distance that President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, that's how far apart they were standing at their first debate.
So, clearly, even though the vice president, Mike Pence, has been tested now multiple times and has tested negative, including earlier today, it is clear the fact that he's somebody with close proximity to both the president and others at the White House, that has raised some concerns with the Biden campaign.
WHITFIELD: So M.J., has Harris said anything about her concerns about the proximity?
LEE: Well, clearly Harris -- I think the concerns that they had about the debate and the spacing, that has now been resolved. I think there are ongoing sort of questions, you know, a bit of a balancing act too about the Biden campaign and sort of how they're going to talk about sort of issues of politics out on the campaign trail. And I think Biden himself has made clear that he gets the sensitivity around all of this right now.
We heard them talk yesterday about how he is reticent right now to attack President Trump while he is getting treatment. Let's take a listen to what he had to say about that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Fundamentally differently. And I'm an old bit of a spot here because I don't want to be attacking the president and the first lady now because they're -- they now have contracted coronavirus. And Jill and I pray for their quick and full recovery.
For so long, Washington left our states, cities and transit agencies to bid against one another. If that's not the president's responsibility, what the heck is his responsibility? Not my fault. I have no responsibility. Go to your mayor, your governor, your employer. It's unconscionable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: So, Biden doesn't have any public events today. We are here in Wilmington, Delaware. That is where he is spending the day. But tomorrow, he is supposed to be traveling to Florida. One thing that the Biden campaign had said is he is going to be tested more frequently now for COVID-19 and that they are going to be releasing those results.
Remember, he said that he was tested twice on Friday for COVID-19. Both of those tests, he said, came back negative. And yesterday, he told reporters that he is going to be tested again this morning, though we have not heard back from the campaign yet on the results of that test yet. Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right. M.J. Lee, thank you so much for that. Again, the Biden campaign is saying they're going to pull back on those negative ads, but that's not the message that is coming from the White House on Trump's reelection campaign. Thanks so much.
All right, straight ahead, international reaction continues to pour in, as President Trump battles COVID-19. We're live in London, next.
But, first, online language classes are more popular than ever because of the pandemic. And in today's Staying Well, how becoming fluent in a second language or more can have benefits for your brain.
[14:45:02]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHY JONES, RETIRED PROFESSOR: There are so benefits to learning another language.
It's wonderful to do during the pandemic. I have my class now, which is semi-private with a friend who is in Vancouver. And our teacher is -- lives in Tijuana. And the three of us meet once a week and all three of us really look forward to that.
TAMAR GOLLAN, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR, U.C. SAN DIEGO: There have been a number of studies that have come out in the last ten years or so showing that bilinguals tend to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about four or five years later than people who know just one language.
The benefits of bilingualism seem to be that you can function for longer. We used to think of the brain as being kind of set after a certain amount of development and pretty early in childhood that you wouldn't have any growth or any new neurons. We're pretty sure now that that's not right.
JONES: I didn't really think about whether it was good for my brain or not. I just did it because it was something that I wanted. But I do believe that, with your brain, it's kind of a case of use it or lose it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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[14:50:00]
WHITFIELD: World leaders are sending their best wishes for President Trump's recovery since he tested positive for COVID-19, but the uncertainty around his health is also being met with unease.
Phil Black is lie for us in London. So, Phil, good to see you. What is the tenor of the international reaction this afternoon?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, from governments, from leaders around the world, it is a sincere concern but also cautious hope and optimism that we have the best medical care in the world, President Trump will recover. That was the message from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today. Around the world, President Trump's illness, its potential consequences, they are still very much front page news. Here in the U.K., much of the reporting has focused on some of the messy messaging, some of those apparent contradictions between some of the official statements on President Trump's condition.
Here is an example from the Sunday Express in the U.K. Its front page boldly asks a question being asked everywhere at the moment, really, just how ill is President Trump. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. And so, you the U.K. went through something very similar with Boris Johnson in the spring, you know, how is this affecting the view from London in terms of skepticism and, you know, what to believe?
BLACK: Yes. So it has been noted here that there are some similarities in the language being used to describe President Trump's condition and the language that was used to describe Boris Johnson while he was unwell earlier in the year. For much of his illness, we were told that he was experiencing mild symptoms, in good spirits, still working, still in charge.
That changed fairly dramatically once he was moved to a hospital as a precaution, we were told at that time. But then within hours of that, he was admitted to the intensive care unit, where he stayed for three nights. And it was only much later that Johnson himself admitted that his condition at that time was much more serious than had been conveyed publicly. In his own words, he said, it could have gone either way.
So, you're right, that experience has inspired some powerful skepticism here, I think, particularly when it comes to any early prediction that suggests someone who is going too quickly and comfortably recover from this disease. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. Phil Black in London, thanks so much.
All right, more unanswered questions as President Trump's physician, so there's even more confusion on the health of the president. CNN's live team coverage, next.
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[14:55:00]
WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.
The positive COVID-19 result for the highest profile Air Force One passenger is raising wider concerns among aviation experts. They fear it means the virus potentially spreads more easily inside aircraft cabins. Here is Pete Muntean.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Air Force One is a symbol of presidential power around the world. Now, the question is whether or not how key it was to spreading this virus through the White House and to key members of the administration, including the president. We know from administration officials that Hope Hicks got on board Air Force One on Wednesday night flying back from the president's rally in Duluth and began showing coronavirus symptoms on board and was put in a separate cabin. Air Force One is different than most airplanes that you and I fly on. A large floor plan of, about 4,000 square feet, says the White House, where the president's cabin in the nose, a conference room over the wings and reporters in the back.
But what's so interesting here is that those who study the spread of the virus, especially in the confined space of an airplane, say there's no way that Hicks could have been truly separated from everybody else on board, and those who have flown on Air Force One say there's no way that the president could not have known about this. Here is what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I traveled on Air Force One. It is a larger plane than others, but it is not a huge space. The notion that Hope Hicks would be quarantined on Air Force One and that the president wouldn't be made aware of that situation is really suspect to me.
At the same time, White House physician staff travels on Air Force One. They would ostensibly update the White House chief of staff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: Researchers stress to me that flying on an airplane right now is relatively safe so long as you are wearing a mask. Commercial airlines have mandated that. Apparently, no such mandate on Air Force One.
We have seen Hicks and the president both boarding the airplane without wearing a mask, which brings into question a whole another lay of the story, whether those who operate Air Force One could have been in endangered. That could create a whole new security risk. The 89th airlift wing out of Joint Base Andrews says it's following CDC guidelines.
