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No Trump Briefing Today as Joint Chiefs of Staff Begin Quarantine; Interview with Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Interview with Former White House Staff. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired October 06, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST, NEWSROOM: It is the top of the hour, I am Brianna Keilar and President Trump's doctor says his patient, quote, "continues to do extremely well," and he says that Trump does not report any symptoms of COVID.

Now, that statement came just hours after the president left Walter Reed Hospital and returned to the White House following a brief stay for COVID treatment. Sources tell CNN that nervousness is on the rise among the few residential staff remaining as the still-infected president continues to publicly downplay both his experience and the ongoing threat to Americans.

TEXT: Donald J. Trump: Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the vaccine, die from the flu. Are we going to close down our country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with COVID, in most populations far less lethal!

KEILAR: And on Twitter, the president pointed to the upcoming flu season, saying the U.S. will have to learn to live with COVID just like it has with the flu, falsely claiming that COVID is far less lethal in most populations. Twitter has actually now labeled this tweet as misleading.

CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins is with us now. And, Kaitlan, it's worth pointing out that yes, the doctor issued a report but he has not been the most transparent in press briefings on the president's health. Tell us more about this statement.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No. And, Brianna, it doesn't appear he's actually giving any kind of briefing today where he will take questions, which is something he's done for the last three days. So it's notable that they've stopped those now that the president is back at the White House.

And hopefully they'll bring them back because this is a pretty short statement, but he does say no symptoms for the president today. He said that his vitals remain stable over the last day or so, since he's been checking on the president and since he last updated us yesterday afternoon. But of course, a lot of questions still remain to be desired,

especially given comments that the president has made, really downplay coronavirus, wrongly comparing it to the flu. The way that the president has been approaching this is not the way that aides have been saying the president is approaching this, talking about how he's going to use this experience when he's back on the campaign trail because he's been through this, he knows what people are going through.

That's not really the way that the president has been talking about it since he returned to the White House last night, when he claimed in a video that he feels like he's immune to it. Of course, that's because the president is also on steroids and an antibody cocktail that isn't afforded to a lot of Americans here in the United States, given of course he is the president and he does deserve a different level of care than what you see most people get.

But the questions from the doctor's statement, it's still pretty brief. It does come as -- it's notable, the vice president's doctor also put out a statement that's a little bit more detailed because it talks about how something we didn't know before, that the vice president is getting those daily rapid tests but then he's also intermittently getting those tests, the ones that take a little bit longer to get the results and have a higher accuracy rate.

It's not clear if the president is going to be receiving those, how many tests the president is going to get before he's cleared to be back in public. But he did tweet today, Brianna, that he is looking forward to debating Joe Biden in Miami, and that's just nine days away from now.

KEILAR: Yes, very much in question. We'll see. Kaitlan, thank you so much for that update.

And we also have some breaking news at the Pentagon, where the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several members of senior leadership are now quarantining after being exposed to this virus. Let's go live now to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Tell us what happened.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, what had happened is yesterday, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray, tested positive for COVID after experiencing mild symptoms. He however had been in contact -- recent contact -- with top Pentagon leadership as recently as Friday for a top-level meeting here at the Pentagon.

So that has now triggered the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff -- except for one, who was not here -- basically working from home, working from alternative locations.

Let's just go through the list. It is the Pentagon leadership, there's no way around it. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley; Vice Chairman General John Hyten, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Staff of the Army General James McConville, Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Charles Brown, head of Space Operations, head of the National Guard, the number-two general at the Marine Corps.

And General Paul Nakasone, not a member of the Joint Chiefs -- however in one of the most critical jobs in the U.S. military. He's the commanding general of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, one of the most vital intelligence agencies, very involved in monitoring election security at this time of year.

Now, we are told all of them so far -- thankfully -- have tested negative. None are experiencing symptoms. When will they be able to come back to work in the building, in their regular offices? We are told that will be up to medical authorities in the military to decide on a day-to-day basis.

Command and control of the military, everything remains as is, we are told. General Milley, the chairman, he has completely secure communications in his house. He can reach out 24 hours a day anywhere in the world.

[14:05:03]

But is this what you really want to see? What the military has learned, once again, what they already know and they have known for months, one positive test and it can have a ripple effect across a significant population -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Indeed, they have learned that. Barbara, thank you so much. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

It's still not clear how many cases of COVID-19 are connected to last month's Supreme Court nomination event in the Rose Garden, and we may never know because we've now learned that the White House has declined the assistance of the CDC in contact tracing to help find out who has been affected.

I want to bring in Kathleen Sebelius, she served as Health and Human Services secretary under President Obama. Secretary, thank you for being with us.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, FORMER HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Good to be with you, Brianna.

KEILAR: When you hear about this, the White House refusing the CDC's offer to help contact trace, is there any good reason to do that?

SEBELIUS: Absolutely none. Every step along the way, this has been a White House refusing to follow the science. So the science would say wear a mask, don't put people in close proximity. They paid no attention to that.

When they finally had to admit -- reluctantly -- an outbreak including the president of the United States and the first lady, they still have not said definitively when was the president's last negative test because that starts a clock according to the science.

The president is supposed to be isolated -- isolated, nobody anywhere around him, nobody -- a knock on the door, food delivered to the door. He should not be around family members, he should not be around staff. Instead, he got in a car with Secret Service men, putting them and their families' lives at risk.

He's back at the White House, there are 90 residents, managers at the White House, there are White House reporters, there is staff there. If he will isolate, it might keep them safe and secure. But so far there's no indication.

And to refuse to contact trace, which means that every single person who was there should be quarantining at this point if they came within six feet of one of the multiple people who have been found positive. And they should be turning over their contacts so they can be notified.

No one knows off the top of their head who has a cancer survivor in their family, who has a vulnerable senior in their family, who has a special needs child, who is dealing with health situations and underlying conditions. This is dangerous, it's immoral and it absolutely does not follow the science.

KEILAR: You -- it seemed like there was no lesson learned, or there was no reality that came to him from getting COVID himself. In fact, now he is telling people not to let it dominate their lives, and he's very much downplaying the effect of it. Is he now outright pushing herd immunity in your view?

SEBELIUS: Well, I have no idea what the president is pushing, I've never quite understood this. But he's been delivering misinformation since January to the American public, and now he is claiming to be all knowledgeable about COVID since he indeed has been found positive, following none of the science, suggesting that this is the same as having the average flu.

The flu, every year, kills somewhere between 35 and 50,000 people depending on how serious the cases are. Most of them elderly, most of them with underlying health conditions. We have 210,000 Americans dead, we have over 7 million people infected. And right now, Brianna, in the last month since mid-August, cases have increased by 25 percent.

We are at a very dangerous period in the United States with the flu virus now hitting rural communities in states where it hasn't presented before, where people have limited hospital access.

The president has more hospital care, more drugs available, more doctors available than any other human being in the United States, and yet he refuses to tell people the truth and refuses to take it seriously.

This is not about him, it's about taking the health and security of the American public seriously, taking the health and security of the staff who work for him seriously, taking reporters' health seriously. And he refuses to do any of it.

KEILAR: Are you worried that his actions may result in deaths that could otherwise be preventable? SEBELIUS: Absolutely. I think that saying to the American public,

don't worry about this, don't let it rule their lives is exactly the opposite message that we should be sending.

[14:10:00]

People are dying to get outside again and be with their loved ones, they're eager to send their kids back to school, they're anxious to get back to their old lives. They have been sacrificing a lot. And unfortunately, way too many Americans have actually had to bury a loved one without holding his or her hand, without being able to be at the bedside, the most tragic situation of all. We've had frontline workers die.

To say to people, don't worry about this, don't let it rule your lives at a point where we know the cold weather is about to kick in and people are going to go back inside, is enormously dangerous. And yes, risks people's lives each and every day.

We need people to wear masks, to socially distance, to wash their hands regularly and certainly to follow the guidelines. If you test positive, isolate yourself from everybody else for 10 days. If you are proximate to somebody who tests positive, you are supposed to quarantine for 14 days and test periodically to make sure you don't end up as positive.

A test is not clearly a shield from this virus, as the White House outbreak indicates. A test gives you a moment in time, reading on what your health is. Twenty-four hours later, you may well be positive and have shared it with lots and lots of people.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean (ph), we --

(CROSSTALK)

SEBELIUS: That outbreak at the White House, Brianna, is larger than the entire country of Australia is experiencing right now. I mean, this is outrageous.

KEILAR: And we're seeing that with the testing that you mentioned, the press secretary is an example of that very thing you mentioned. Tests negative until --

SEBELIUS: Exactly.

KEILAR: -- she tests positive.

So the president, Secretary, is calling pharmaceutical CEOs who are involved in looking for a coronavirus vaccine, they're involved in these trials that are under way right now. And he's pressuring them to get it out faster. Do you have confidence that those companies and the FDA can resist his pressure?

SEBELIUS: Well, I have enormous confidence in the wonderful professional men and women at the Food and Drug Administration. They are the gold standard of efficacy and safety -- does it work and will it hurt you? -- that has always been the American standard and I believe that they will stick to those standards.

I was, you know, encouraged by the leading heads of pharmaceutical companies involved in the trials, Moderna and others, who have said, we will not rush a vaccine. The leader of Moderna actually stepped up and said there will not be a vaccine available until sometime in 2021.

Trying to calm down people's fears, what they know, what the pharmaceutical manufacturers know very well is that if people don't trust this vaccine, if they believe this is some sort of political, you know, rabbit out of a hat trick and it's being pushed out so the president somehow can up his poll numbers, Americans will not be vaccinated. And we will continue to have this disease ravage our country, ravage our economy.

So they are very wise to say, we will follow all the safety guidelines, we will not prematurely release a vaccine. And I trust the Food and Drug Administration to do exactly the same, not to grant a political, you know, go forward because the president wants it to happen in the next four weeks, but to make sure that we can assure the American public that we have a safe, secure vaccine and then encourage people to step up and be vaccinated.

KEILAR: Secretary, thank you for talking with us today.

SEBELIUS: Good to be with you.

KEILAR: Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Up next, the risks to the staff at the White House: I'm going to speak to a former usher about what should be done to protect them.

Plus, long lines for early voting in Ohio and Indiana today as a new CNN national poll shows Joe Biden taking a 16-point lead.

[14:14:11]

And later, Michelle Obama delivers a scathing rebuke of President Trump's efforts to stoke racial tensions ahead of the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: More than 200,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S., but the president -- who is still recovering from his own infection -- said Americans should not be afraid. Try telling that to those currently working inside of the White House who have daily direct contact with the first family.

Sources within the Oval tell CNN that employees are afraid. They're nervous and panicked. Chris Emery is a former White House usher -- he worked in the East Wing -- and he's also the author of "White House Usher: Stories from the Inside."

Chris, thanks for being with us. You have an experience that so few people have. And so I know that you have a better sense of what could be going on in here. Do you think the president is endangering the staff with his return? CHRISTOPHER EMERY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE USHER: Well, I hope not. And I have to believe that they're taking serious precautions, I would hope. I don't have any insight unfortunately. I hadn't seen anybody form the resident staff since President Bush's funeral.

But I can tell you, the ushers are probably working very hard in conjunction with both the West Wing staff and the East Wing staff to ensure proper measures are taken.

[14:20:00]

What that may mean, it could mean something as simple as you know, meals are left upstairs in the private kitchen, butlers aren't having to interact with the president. You know, the housekeeping staff may be changing their routine -- instead of the daily cleaning, maybe it's you know, once a week. I don't know, but those are the things I would do.

KEILAR: So --

EMERY: And then of course -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

KEILAR: Sorry, go on. Of course, you said?

EMERY: Well, of course there's other staff too, it's not just the ushers which have complete access to the first family, but the butlers who handle all their needs as far as meals and refreshments and things like that.

But there's a physical plan there that has to be maintained. You know, there's the HVAC, the plumbing, the electricians, the things that keep this 132-room historic mansion operating. And they need access to the private quarters. it could be for the wellbeing of the first family, it could be a safety measure.

But -- so hopefully they're wearing the proper coverings and gloves and masks and everything, and only you know, spending very little time up there in the private quarters. But I hope that's the case. Because I worry -- you know, I worked with these guys, they're family. And these are just average Americans, OK? These aren't people that can have experimental drugs, these aren't people that --

KEILAR: Yes.

EMERY: -- can see the doctors of their choice. I mean, these are average Americans that go home and I'm sure their families are just -- have to be worried to death.

KEILAR: And OK. So the other thing is, I mean, look, all of those things you talk about sound very reasonable and we hope that's what they're doing: leaving food in the private kitchen, sort of changing some of that face-to-face interaction, which would be key in this instance.

But part of being a staff member in the residence is discretion, right? Whether you are the carpenter or you are the pastry chef, discretion. So if folks there do have these concerns, we're not going to hear from them. It's not like they come out publicly and say this. Do they have an outlet to get those concerns met?

EMERY: I hope so. I'm sure the ushers' office is dealing with everybody one-on-one. But you're absolutely right. And even retired executive residence staff don't discuss things that took place in the White House.

You know, you mentioned I wrote a book, my book is about how the White House works, it's not anything to do with what the family told me or any of those types of things. It's just an amazing operation and it's been really the same way for almost 200 years.

KEILAR: Yes. Well, look, we know that it is an honor to serve in the residence and on the staff. You certainly communicate that here today. So let's just hope that they are getting that reciprocated, and that their health is being considered. Chris Emery, thank you so much for being with us.

EMERY: Thank you, good luck.

[14:22:59]

KEILAR: Facebook has taken down President Trump's blatantly false claim that the flu is deadlier than coronavirus, but there is nothing stopping Fox News from spinning this. An in-depth look at the propaganda machine, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As the coronavirus killed more than 200,000 Americans, President Trump pretended that it was no big deal. But then it landed him in the hospital on supplemental oxygen, pumped full of steroids and a cocktail of aggressive medications, grimacing while he breathed with obvious effort as he arrived home at the White House last night.

That no-big-deal of a coronavirus showed that the White House and its inadequate precautions were just an opportunity waiting to be seized. But the president, supported by helicopter transport and the best medicine that your taxpayer dollars can buy, is still unencumbered by science or fact. And now he's trying to sell his infection as the sacrifice of a true leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there's danger to it but I had to do it. I stood out front, I led. Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did. And I know there's a risk, there's a danger, but that's OK. And now I'm better and maybe I'm immune, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Leading people off a cliff is technically leading, but it's also stupid and deadly. So where did he come up with this brilliant argument? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: This is like when the general gets wounded by the invisible enemy, goes and gets patched up and then gets right back to the front line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Except Trump hasn't assumed the risk that he is demanding Americans take. He's not fighting on your battlefield. To put this into terms that he would understand, he's doing what we refer to in golf as sandbagging. He's evening the odds against the game and he's lying. He's surrounding himself by people who get rapid coronavirus tests before they get to see him, and yet he still got it.

He's not personally willing to take on the risk of sitting in a classroom full of fifth graders or in a factory, side by side with coworkers, or behind the cash register at a grocery store. He's not standing in a crowded bar or the buffet line at a restaurant. He stood far away from the crowds that he wanted gathered so that he could absorb their adulation as they stood chock-a-block, talking and shouting and breathing all over one another.

He's mocked masks, which the CDC calls the key weapon that we have to fight the virus. The president's behavior was an open door to the virus.

[14:30:00]