Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Trump, Still Infected, Returns to the White House; Biden: Trump Is Responsible for Getting Coronavirus; COVID-19 Pandemic Worldwide; Trump, Still Infected, Returns to White House; Biden Pledges to Reassess U.S. Relations with Saudi Arabia; Venezuelan Leader Wishes Trump a Speedy Recovery; Delta Quickly Strengthens to Category 1 Hurricane; Trump Tweets 'Don't Be Afraid of COVID' on Day U.S. Deaths Pass 210,000. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired October 06, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause with breaking but not entirely surprising news.

Donald Trump, infected with the coronavirus and possibly contagious, left Walter Reed hospital Monday after three days, returning to the White House. A source told CNN Trump thought he looked weak staying in hospital.

So Monday night came what appeared to be a show of strength. He slowly and gingerly walked from Marine One across the South Lawn and then climbed the rarely used exterior stairs to the Truman Balcony.

With lighting (ph) in place, American flags behind him, the president removed his mask, gave a thumbs up, saluted military personnel. The moment would seem more at home in North Korea than the United States.

And it is also a continuation of what this president has done since the very outset of the pandemic, undermined the credibility and the message coming from his own health experts. In a video posted on Twitter, Trump urged Americans not to be afraid of COVID, get back out, there he said. Be careful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I knew there's a 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)

VAUSE: The president's personal physician authorized Trump's release, warning the president was not out of the woods. That seemed to be only straight answer from Dr. Sean Conley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Have you see any evidence of pneumonia or any inflammation in his lungs at all?

DR. SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: So we've done routine standard imaging. I'm just not at liberty to discuss.

QUESTION: So you're -- so you're actively not telling us what those lung scans showed, just to be clear.

CONLEY: So there are HIPAA rules and regulations that restrict me in sharing certain things for his safety and his own health and reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Trump is being treated with a cocktail of experimental drugs, not available to most Americans, including the antiviral remdesivir. He's also taking a powerful steroid. Experts say that could have side effects, including mood swings, aggression and confusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: We are in the grips of a madman and it's going to take a while to get out. We'll get back to normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative for COVID on Monday. He took a direct shot at the president during a town hall in Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don't matter, social distancing doesn't matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining me now is Dr. Robert Wachter of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

Doctor, thanks for being with us.

DR. ROBERT WACHTER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO: My pleasure.

VAUSE: We saw what I think Donald Trump believed to be this sort of triumphant return to the White House on Monday night. It's worth looking at again because he landed in Marine One, he walked across the White House lawn and then took the exterior stairs to the balcony. That's rarely done. And it was all lit and staged, takes the mask off. The hair is done, it's in place; the makeup is back on, he looks a bit like his old self.

Then you could see him gasping for air, fairly struggling for air. I'm asthmatic, I know what it's like when you have an asthma attack. It's hard to exhale, making inhalation a strain.

From a medical point of view, what did you make of it?

WACHTER: Well, it was a lot of pageantry and, yes, it looks to me like he was somewhat winded, which of course, is not his fault, he has a very serious illness. But he is minimizing it and he's trying his very best to show that he is strong and maybe he will get away with it.

But it's a little bit scary. He should still be in the hospital, in my judgment, and he's not out of the woods. Things could go very badly over the next few days.

VAUSE: You say trying to appear to look strong.

But is he strong at this point?

WACHTER: Well, he seems to be doing OK. Obviously, he was quite ill on Friday and they were minimizing his symptoms. They haven't really told us very much about what is going on there, engaged in a lot of happy talk where they tell us the good stuff and seem to be obfuscating on the bad stuff.

But he appears to have done better over the last two days, at least judging by the report of his doctors today, if it's to be believed. His vital signs were stable. His oxygen level seems reasonably good. So he is stable and doing well, compared to what could have been.

But the course of this illness can be very -- it's a very cagey bug. And you can be doing fine and then crash a day or two later. So he is not out of the woods and I personally think it is a little bit risky for him to be out of the hospital.

VAUSE: Not only was there that balcony scene but also the White House video statement from the president I, want you to listen to part of it. Here it is.

WACHTER: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just left Walter Reed Medical Center.

[00:05:00]

TRUMP: And it's really something very special, the doctor, the nurses, the first responders and I learned so much about coronavirus. And one thing that's for certain, don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it. You're going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Can you explain the level of care, the depths of experience of the medical team which would attend the president of the United States compared with the treatment African Americans or other minorities would have received during this pandemic?

WACHTER: Well, they're a very good -- it's a good hospital. They are a good, team and I think many patients around the country would receive equally good care, although not have access to at least one of the medicines that he had, there was no question that was because he was the president.

Many other patients in the United States, whether they are from minority groups or not -- do not have access to the kind of around the clock care and pampering that he got and certainly would not have access to all of the medications that he had.

They would not be able to get to the hospital via helicopter, would not have the kind of monitor he had. But I would say that, in terms of the care he got in Walter Reed, it's really not very different than you would get in most American hospitals.

And so that is not the issue. The issue is that he did have a medicine that no one else could have access to. It's experimental. And he is being incredibly cavalier about his situation right now and saying to people do not be worried about it, don't be afraid when almost 210,000 Americans have died of this.

We don't want them to hide under a chair but we do want them to be a least a little afraid, afraid enough to take reasonable precautions so they don't get it. And he is not saying that and he's certainly not role modeling that.

VAUSE: At the outset of the pandemic, there are a lot of mysteries about how people should be treated, there was a shortage of ventilators, not enough room in hospitals, people were left in the emergency room. So I guess, from one point of view, the president is fortunate it's happened now.

(CROSSTALK)

WACHTER: Yes, I think that's right. Certainly there have been people who have died in New York in March, people died because they simply -- there was not enough room, there were not enough ICU beds, not enough PPE. Health care workers have died.

I think the situation is more broadly distributed around the United States. We're seeing yet another surge and people are dying, the rate of cases is going up. But hospitals are not being overwhelmed the way they were in the very beginning.

VAUSE: Doctor, thanks for being with, us and we appreciate your time. Dr. Robert Wachter in San Francisco, thank you, sir. President Trump and his campaign have repeatedly knocked his

Democratic rival, Joe Biden, for wearing a face mask. But Biden has been consistent about taking COVID precautions and he urged President Trump to do the same.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I would hope that the president, having gone through what he went through -- and I'm glad he seems to be coming along pretty well -- would communicate the right lesson to the American people: masks matter. These masks matter. It matters they save lives and prevents the spread of the disease.

Social distancing, instead of talking about -- the only thing I heard, was one of the tweets saying that, you know, don't be so concerned about all this, essentially. There's a lot to be concerned about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Arlette Saenz has the very latest now from the Biden campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden campaigned here in the critical battleground state of Florida on the same day President Trump left Walter Reed hospital as he continues to battle coronavirus. The former vice president wishes President Trump a speedy recovery but he also had this message for the president. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I was glad to see the president speaking and recording videos over the weekend. Now that he's busy tweeting campaign messages, I would ask him to do this: listen to the scientists. Support masks.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: I hope the president's recovery is swift and successful. But our nation's COVID crisis is far, far from over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Joe Biden and President Trump are set to debate here again in Miami, Florida in just nine days. The president's campaign says he intends to debate Biden despite going through coronavirus at this moment. And Biden and his advisers have said that he will debate the president in less than two weeks if the health experts recommend that it's safe.

Now on Wednesday night, Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence will face off in their first and only vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah. We've learned that there will be Plexiglas dividing the two candidates as they are seated 12 feet apart, one of the many changes happening at this debate due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: This White House appears to be the epicenter of the outbreak, the first infection reported last Wednesday. Chairwoman of the Republican Party, Ronna McDaniel.

[00:10:00]

VAUSE: The next day came word White House communications aide Hope Hicks tested positive as well as the president and first lady, along with Republican senator Mike Lee of Utah.

By Friday the Republican senator from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, was added to the list. along with former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and Trump campaign might Bill Stepien.

Five more infections over the weekend, including Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson, the president of the University of Notre Dame, John Jenkins, three unidentified White House reporters and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. All attended the Rose Garden ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett's ceremony to the Supreme Court.

On Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tested positive as well as two of her aides. All this helps explain why a majority of Americans believe President Trump is not taking the risks of infecting others seriously.

In a new CNN poll, 63 percent say his handling the risks of those around him was irresponsible. Just 33 percent believe he has behaved responsibly. And there's also a credibility problem: 69 percent say they do not trust what the White House says about the president's current state of health.

Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic." he joins us from Los Angeles.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John.

VAUSE: Ron, good to see you. Let's start with the poll numbers. With almost 3 quarters of the country believing the White House is lying about the president's health, what are the consequences beyond this particular moment and this administration?

BROWNSTEIN: From the outset, I have not understood who he thinks he is talking to in the way that he has responded to this. The 3 biggest concerns that have come up in polling from the outset is that he did not take it seriously at the, start that he worries more about himself than the country and that he disregards the experts.

And then week after week, month after month, and especially in these last 96 hours or so, he goes out and he underlines, he buys a billboard to basically confirm those concerns on the part of the public.

A president who is facing 60 percent of the country saying he cares more about himself than the country, exposing Secret Service agents to an ego-driven drive-by outside of the hospital?

Or even tonight, kind of the strongman wannabe imagery of standing on the balcony like Il Duce but taking off the mask and once again saying you worry more about yourself. Sometimes I feel like his entire audience are the kinds of demonstrators who showed up with fatigues and Confederate flags and automatic weapons outside of state capitals in the spring to oppose lockdowns.

But the reality is that something like two thirds to three quarters of Americans support a national mask mandate, which is beyond what even Joe Biden is talking about. It is a performance that has been both destructive for the country and politically inexplicable.

VAUSE: This president has returned to a White House which seems to be in total meltdown. This reporting from Axios, that frustration and anxiety build among White House staffers, who say they went days with no internal communication from chief of staff Mark Meadows about protocols and procedures.

The little guidance that has been issued seems came about 15 minutes after Axios called for comment. And even then it was minimal.

So what happens if this outbreak (INAUDIBLE) a good number of the senior executive staff?

And who will believe any announcement that vice president Mike Pence has tested negative?

BROWNSTEIN: First of all, it is a little mysterious why the Biden campaign is blase about Kamala Harris appearing in the same room with him in 48 hours, given what we know not only about his exposure to the president but the way he has conducted his own rallies and the many questions about whether the president had -- when the last time he had tested negative, if at all, in recent point before that debate on Tuesday night.

I think they do not -- they have not earned the benefit of the doubt at this point, the Commission on Presidential Debates is reluctantly and late to the game acknowledging that they have to -- you can't really have the honor system involved when you're talk about President Trump.

There are real concerns about what this means for the upper levels of the government. And there's also the obvious symbolic resonance here, that what is happening in the White House is a miniaturization of what has happened to the country.

No plan, not taking it seriously from the outset, not following the common sense guidelines of health officials. This is what you get in a confined space like the White House. And this is also how you get to the point where you have over 7 million infections and over 200,000 people dead.

VAUSE: You mentioned the Il Duce moment on the balcony. And CNN is reporting that Trump made not one but two grand entrances to the White House. CNN's Kaitlan Collins explains why. Here is part of that report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You can see an official photographer and a camera crew, standing inside the White House, shooting the president.

[00:15:00]

COLLINS: And it's about four people within close proximity of the president who, of course, like we said, is not wearing a mask, despite just returning from the hospital after being diagnosed with coronavirus.

And this is part of this staged entrance that the president is making, where he wants to be back at the White House and be able to use this, apparently, you could guess, maybe in a campaign video.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You touched on this. This seemed to be a propaganda moment that would make the North Koreans blush.

BROWNSTEIN: Again, who does he think he is talking to by doing this?

He may wish that he had -- this is -- the moment tonight on the balcony was very similar to the moment in Lafayette Park a few weeks ago, a few months ago, when he used law enforcement personnel to clear away for him to have this dramatic, dear leader moment in front of the church.

He may wish he was a strongman in a one party state but he's not there yet. He still has to run a democracy. And the fact is that a majority of Americans consistently in polling going all the way back to impeachment say they think that he thinks that he is above the law.

I'm focusing on this group of well -- college educated white voters, something like two thirds to three quarters say their financial situation is excellent or good. And yet in the NBC Wall Street Journal poll this weekend, 57 percent of them said they were voting for Joe Biden.

It is precisely because of the behavior that we are seeing on a daily, if not hourly, basis in terms of contempt for the law, contempt for science, focusing on himself over the good of the country. It is not as if he -- again, I just ask my this question over and over, who do they think they are talking to by behaving this way, other than their core supporters who are already there? VAUSE: I want you to listen to Donald Trump talking to journalist Bollywood a couple of months ago, gives us an insight into how he felt about the virus back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": You are risking getting that of course, when you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that?

TRUMP: No, I'm not. I am not.

WOODWARD: Why?

TRUMP: I don't know. I'm just not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: News flash. He was wrong. Now he's had it.

Why make this grand display of removing the mask?

Why not accept the fact that anyone can get this virus?

It doesn't make sense to me.

BROWNSTEIN: There are 2 points. First, from the beginning, the original sin has been his belief that the best way to reelection for him was to project normalcy at all costs, at all points, no matter the cost in public health. That has guided his decisions from the outset, the reluctance to shut things down, the insistence on opening things up as quickly as possible.

The pressure on Republican governors to keep the economy running, to block local ordinances on masks, even the pressure on the Big 10 to start playing football again. The second point, he went out today, in his tweets, in his videos, in saying look, I had to go out there and be a leader. I could not cower in the White House. I had to go show people that I was on the front line with them.

That's fine. But you don't have to go out and do it in a way that magnifies the risks to them and yourself and models the wrong behavior for the country, even if you believe your job was to be out there. It did not require you to be out there in a way that was completely irresponsible, both in terms of your own behavior and how it influenced others.

Sixty percent in the CNN poll today said they disapproved of the way he is handling the coronavirus. That is the highest number of disapproval that CNN has ever had on this. And the share of voters who said that he's not taking this seriously enough in terms of those around him rose to 72 percent among women and two thirds of those college educated whites and perhaps most importantly, two thirds of seniors.

No Republican has lost seniors in a presidential race since George W. Bush in 2000. Donald Trump is at real risk of doing so, precisely because of the kind of behavior that he continues to do, day after day, hour after hour.

VAUSE: Also the messages sent to the 210,000 people who have died.

BROWNSTEIN: The callousness, the callousness is titanic.

VAUSE: Yes, to say the least. Ron, thank you. The next debate will be between Democratic vice presidential nominees

Senator Kamala Harris and vice president Mike Pence. CNN's special coverage begins Wednesday at 7 pm East Coast, midnight Thursday in London, 3 am in Abu Dhabi, 7 am in Hong Kong.

A short break. Next, how many people around the world actually have COVID-19?

The World Health Organization believes the official tally is way, way too low.

And COVID-19 delivers a blow to cafe culture in Paris. How France is fighting back against a new wave of infections.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

[00:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: The World Health Organization says one in 10 people around the world most likely have been infected with the coronavirus. That's about 770 million people; 20 times higher than the official count of 35 million by Johns Hopkins University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL RYAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: (INAUDIBLE) continues to see a surge in cases, with Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean regions showing an increase in cases and tests.

The situation in Africa and the Western Pacific is currently rather more positive. Our current best estimates tell us that about 10 percent of the global population may have been infected by this virus. This varies, depending on country, from urban to rural. It varies between different groups.

But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN news' data from Johns Hopkins University now reporting that data also confirms recent surges in parts of Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.

Across Europe, several countries have also seen increases in cases since last week of more than 50 percent in the U.K., Latvia, Poland, the Netherlands and Slovakia. The U.S. death toll is now at 210,000 and counting. The infection rate still soaring at an average of 43,000 cases a day.

For the past week, only a handful of states reported fewer cases than the week before. More than 20 saw a rise of at least 10 percent. New York, which was the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., is

again reporting some of the worst numbers nationwide. Schools in hardest hit areas of New York City will close starting Tuesday. Nonessential business will be allowed to stay open at least for now.

Meantime, France imposing new coronavirus restrictions on Paris where the COVID-19 alert level has risen to its highest possible point. Bars and cafes will be closed for 2 weeks. Restaurants will have to follow new guidelines.

The British government facing more scrutiny over tallying (ph) the pandemic, now trying to figure out why thousands of cases of COVID-19 have gone unreported. We begin with CNN's Scott McLean is reporting from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Last week, it looked like the U.K. was tamping down its resurgence of the coronavirus with relative ease. Daily new case counts were almost flat, weeks after the government enacted new restrictions on social gatherings and forced bars and restaurants to close early.

But by Friday, it became apparent that there was a problem, a technical problem, which meant that almost 16,000 new cases of the virus had not been counted over the previous 9 days.

Those who had tested positive were notified but their close contacts were not. The government has launched an investigation into exactly what went wrong. The latest daily case count is almost twice as high as it was a week ago.

This weekend, British prime minister Boris Johnson acknowledge public frustration over coronavirus restrictions.

[00:25:00]

MCLEAN: But warned that things will continue to be bumpy until Christmas, perhaps even beyond then. Scott McLean, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Melissa Bell in Paris, where fresh regulations will come into force from Tuesday as COVID-19 figures in the greater Paris region continue to worsen. Things like the incidence rate per 100,000 people. The number of people in ICUs being treated for COVID-19.

All of these figures have been worsening over the course of last couple of weeks. The greater Paris region has now entered the maximum alert category.

For now, restaurants have been told they can stay open, although fresh regulations will now apply. Authorities say new restrictions, like the cafes and bars being closed will last for two weeks until they can reassess whether the COVID-19 figures are finally being brought down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Restrictions in Auckland, New Zealand, will be lifted on Wednesday eight weeks after they were reimposed. No new cases have been reported in the city for 10 consecutive days but as CNN's Selena Wang tells us, the prime minister has a message: stay vigilant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELENA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People in New Zealand's largest city can return to school and work this week. They can also gather in groups of more than 100. Go to bars and restaurants without physically distancing themselves.

These are activities that are to imagine in much of the. World restrictions in Auckland had been in place since August, requiring people to stay at home except for essential activities.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there's a 95 percent probability that the cluster of cases in Auckland has been eliminated. But she warned against complacency, reminding businesses that they're still required to do display contact tracing cure codes (ph).

At a news conference announcing these developments, Ardern called New Zealand's elimination strategy a success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: As we come together again as a country in level 1, we can lead ourselves once again through pride that we managed to get to that position together. COVID will be with us for many months to come but we should still mark these milestones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WANG: New Zealand, a country of 5 million people, had nearly eliminated COVID-19. It reported just one imported COVID case on Monday and, in total, New Zealand has recorded only 25 COVID deaths. Ardern's success in containing COVID has helped put her ahead in the polls for New Zealand's elections later this month -- Selena Wang, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The only thing missing was a flight suit and an aircraft carrier. When we come back, Donald Trump's mission accomplished moment, out of hospital, back at the White House. Experts say, though, he cannot claim victory over the coronavirus.

Also the gulf between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on Saudi Arabia. What it means for the kingdom do Democrats win the election in November. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: Wherever you are around the world, thanks for staying with us. You are watching CNN. I'm John Vause.

[00:30:20]

And Donald Trump out of hospital and back at the White House, claiming victory over the coronavirus. Doctors authorized his release but did not give him a clean bill of health. The U.S. president spent the last three days at Walter Reed Medical Center.

On the Truman Balcony of the White House, Trump staged a dramatic moment, taking off his mask, all staged so he could run a campaign video. The president is telling Americans, Don't be afraid of COVID. Get back out there.

More now from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was less than 72 hours after the president was actually admitted to Walter Reed Hospital that he returned to the White House, where he dramatically climbed the steps of the White House and, facing live television cameras, took off his mask, standing there for several moments before turning to go back inside and then coming back out briefly, as he can let a camera crew that was waiting inside the White House shoot his return so he could then post a video on his Twitter feed, touting his time in the hospital and downplaying coronavirus overall, saying that it cannot dominate American life.

Of course, that comes as the president was on steroids and another drug that fewer than 10 people outside of clinical trials have gotten in the United States.

But he sought to really downplay his diagnosis even as he was just a few days into it. And his doctor earlier told reporters that he was not out of the woods yet when it came to coronavirus. They would be monitoring him closely while he was back at the White House.

He's also returning to a much different White House, where his daughter and senior advisor, Ivanka Trump, will not be there, because she's at home quarantining after coming into contact with people who tested positive. Because we are seeing this outbreak inside the West Wing grow, starting with Kayleigh McEnany, the press secretary, who had been briefing reporters for several days without a mask on and now has tested positive for coronavirus and is also working remotely, as are two of her aides in the press shop who also tested positive.

It's raising concerns about what life inside the West Wing is going to look like over the next several days and whether or not the president is actually going to stay quarantined or if he's going to try to break out of that a little bit early. Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, the coronavirus pandemic and the impact on the economy will mostly determine Donald Trump's fate for the next four years. But the election will have consequences for the U.S. relations around the globe. One of the widest foreign policy splits between the candidates is on Saudi Arabia.

CNN's Becky Anderson looks at what's at stake for the house of Saud.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Biden, poised to transform much of America's foreign policy in the Middle East if he wins in November.

In a news statement, the presidential hopeful vowing to reassess Washington's relationship with key ally Saudi Arabia over the gruesome murder of the Saudi journalist and then-U.S. resident, Jamal Khashoggi, two years ago by a hit squad allegedly with close ties to the highest levels of power in the kingdom.

Now, Biden vowing not to let those responsible get away with it, promising to end American support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, as he's done before.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Khashoggi was, in fact, murdered and dismembered, and I believe in the order of the crown prince. And I would make it very clear we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them.

ANDERSON: The Kingdom's powerful crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, has always denied the allegations.

MUHAMMAD BIN SALMAN, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE: It is a heinous crime that cannot be justified.

ANDERSON: The Trump administration going along with that, despite America's most powerful spy agencies clearly blaming the crown prince for being behind it.

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There's no direct evidence linking him to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

JAMES MATTIS, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have no smoking gun that the crown prince was involved.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have not concluded. Nobody's concluded. I don't know if anyone's going to be able to conclude that the crown prince did it.

ANDERSON: Mr. Trump putting it even more bluntly to journalist Bob Woodward, telling him that, on the crown prince, he quote, "saved his ass." UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what did you mean when you said you saved MBS's ass?

TRUMP: You'll have to figure that out yourself.

ANDERSON: Donald Trump making the kingdom his first stop overseas after becoming president. The reason clear.

TRUMP: Hundreds of millions of dollars of investments into the United States, and jobs, jobs, jobs.

ANDERSON: And it went both ways. Just before Khashoggi's killing, Muhammad bin Salman visited the United States, offering himself as a fresh face of progressive reform. But the murder souring public opinion. And, seeing many in Congress stonewall the kingdom.

[00:35:05]

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): There'll be a bipartisan tsunami building against Saudi Arabia here if they did, in fact, do this.

ANDERSON (on camera): That meant the Saudis have been able to achieve few of their goals in the U.S., leaving Mr. Trump's role primarily as air support for them in Washington. Why? Well, they aligned with many of his goals in the region. Better relations with Israel; billions of dollars to spend in America; and a key regional partner in Washington's unrelenting campaign of maximum pressure against Iran.

(voice-over): A campaign that Biden thinks has been a disaster. He wants to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal as a starting point for negotiations and hold the Saudis accountable for their actions.

BIDEN: Make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.

ANDERSON (on camera): And that all promises a dramatic shift in this region, if Joe Biden wins the White House, just weeks from now.

Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The embattled Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, has wished U.S. President Donald Trump a prompt and effective recovery from COVID-19. Maduro made the remarks during a televised address to the country, despite the strained relations between these two leaders.

CNN's Matt Rivers has more, reporting from Mexico City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, reactions from around the world continue to come in about President Trump's diagnosis, including from some unlikely places.

Over the weekend, we heard from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, who actually said that he hopes that President Trump has a swift recovery. Here's a little bit of what he had to say.

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We express our solidarity with the president of the United States, a bloody enemy of Venezuela, but we wish you health and life and that you regain your health and life, Mr. Donald Trump. And I hope all of this will lead you to be more thoughtful, more humane for the protection of the people of the United States, and to understand the peoples of the world.

RIVERS: Now of course, you expect Maduro to criticize Trump because President Trump does not believe that Maduro is the legitimate president of Venezuela and wants him to step down.

It's worth noting that Maduro has a terrible human rights record himself. He is dealing with a COVID crisis in his own country right now, one that experts pretty much universally agree that we can't rely on the numbers coming out of Venezuela in terms of painting the true picture of how serious the crisis is there.

And CNN actually recently reported that critics in the country are alleging that some people who are suspected of having the virus have actually been put by the government into forced quarantine under extremely inhuman conditions.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The Atlantic about to be hit by the 25th named storm this year. Hurricane season is far from over. When we come back, the very latest on where Hurricane Delta is expected to do its worst.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:12]

VAUSE: In less than a day, Tropical Storm Delta became Hurricane Delta, a Category 1 with winds around 120 kilometers an hour. Warnings are in effect for parts of Cuba and Mexico. Delta could hit the U.S. Gulf Coast later this week.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now with more. They just keep coming.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They do. And you know, less than another day from right now, John, we could go from a Category 1 to a major hurricane by this time tomorrow. So this is one of those storms that has everything it takes to rapidly intensify.

Very small stature in nature here when you take a look at the satellite depiction. Organized cluster of thunderstorms, a Category 1 system now. And we do have what is left of Gamma, part there off the Yucatan Peninsula.

But the concern with this particular storm system is exactly what's in advance of it here. Very warm waters and very much an environment that is conducive for rapid development into a major hurricane. And that's why the governments of Mexico and portions of western Cuba taking this very seriously.

We've got hurricane warnings in place from Cancun, points to the east there as you work your way across the peninsula on into western Cuba. And when you look at this region, sea surface temperatures into the middle 30s and an area of high pressure well to the east of Florida, kind of acts as the steering environment here, wanting to guide the storm just north and, potentially, bring it to shore as a major hurricane within the next, say, 24 to 36 hours, right around Cancun, Mexico.

But as it approaches this region, we kind of watch what's beyond this area of interest. And we know water temperatures in the western half of the Gulf are still very much supportive of a storm system that would maintain intensity while on the eastern half of the Gulf and especially as you close in on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. They are a little bit cooler, and we expect the system weaken on approach towards the U.S.

But as we set this in motion here, you'll notice a major hurricane making landfall somewhere around the Yucatan Peninsula. Again, going in from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.

Could reemerge back over the Gulf of Mexico here, come Wednesday evening, and then beyond this, we do expect a shift to the east. With that said, that cooler water near the coast is expected to weaken the storm system; could weaken it from a major hurricane down to a Category 2.

But really important to note, when you have a major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, especially for more than 24 hours, the ocean has a very long memory, in that the storm surge in advance of the system still remains very much significant, even if the system itself weakens.

Now, speaking of a weakening storm, that is what's left here with Gamma, working its way across the Yucatan Peninsula. It kind of rained itself out. But of course, another system on the heels of it, works its way in this direction.

And here, you kind of see the October perspective, John, of typically what we see as the prevailing track for the month of October, the tropical systems often impacting portions of Florida and the Eastern U.S. This time, we're looking along the Gulf Coast for landfall later this week.

VAUSE: Pedram, thank you. Pedram Javaheri. Appreciate it.

Unexplained pollution off Russia's far eastern coast appears to be highly toxic, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which says a highly soluble material is likely to blame for the dead sea life washing up on Russia's eastern shores.

The region's governors say their labs are not able to identify the substance. Last week, Greenpeace raised concerns over what it said looked to be an ecological disaster in the region.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Fifteen minutes of WORLD SPORT, and then I will be back with more news at the top of the hour. See you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[CNN TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS]

[00:45:00]

[WORLD SPORTS]