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Trump Back at White House Despite Still Having COVID-19; Polls Showing Who Don't Believe White House on Trump's Health; Biden Slams Trump on Twitter for Removing Mask; Trump, Don't be Afraid of COVID; Biden Pledges to Reassess U.S. Relations with Saudi Arabia; Rising Toll in Conflict Between Armenia and Azerbaijan; U.S. Stocks Market Rally; Tropical Storm Delta Strengthens into Hurricane; Prize in Medicine Awarded for Discovery of Hepatitis C; President Trump Back to the White House; No Confirmation Who Gave Trump a Green Light; FDA Won't Be Deterred by Politics; Joe Biden Send Wishes to Trump; U.K. Explains Unreported Data; Stricter Measures Imposed by French Government. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 06, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from and all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, an infectious U.S. president returns to the White House as he tells Americans not to be afraid of the virus that has killed more than 210,000 people in the west. The president's rival Joe Biden says Mr. Trump has only himself to blame for contracting the virus.
And the calls for a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan are doing little to stop the rapidly escalating border conflict.
Good to have you with us.
U.S. President Donald Trump is back at the White House despite still being contagious with the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, how many staffers are sick? How many of your staffs are sick?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you very much. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you might be a super-spreader, Mr. President?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: His return was carefully stage from the moment he walked past cameras at the Walter Reed Medical Center to disembarking from the Marine One presidential helicopter and walking to the White House balcony. He then took off his mask and gave cameras a thumbs up before entering the White House.
The president even came back outside for a reshoot of his entrance, still mask-less, and with others around him.
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta calls his behavior reckless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He is asymptomatic carrier of a potentially deadly disease that is very contagious, so this is -- this is just reckless to put people in this sort of situation. And again, we see him walk in in a few minutes in the residence. There are other people around. I really don't get this at all. This is, I mean, there is stuff that is just reckless, but at some point, it's becoming absurd.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The president also tweeted earlier that he was feeling good and told his supporters not to let COVID-19, quote, "dominate your life." But it's hard to understand why his doctors would allow the president to leave the hospital and then move around without a mask. Here is the White House physician attempt to explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What infection control measures are you taking? And how was it safe for him to drive around in a cloth mask yesterday? And how is he safe to return to the White House where there been so many cases? How's any of these safe?
SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: So, the president has been surrounded by medical and security staff for days wearing full PPE. And yesterday the U.S. Secret Service agents were in that same level of PPE for a very short period of time. We've worked with our infectious disease experts to make some recommendations for how to keep everything safe down at the White House for the president and those around him.
We are looking at where he's going to be able to carry out his duties, his office space. And I'll just say that it's in line with everything we've been doing upstairs for the last several days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has also tested positive for the virus. She is the latest person known to have tested positive after attending the super-spreader event at the Rose Garden.
Well President Trump knows how deadly this virus can be. CNN has obtained three new recordings from legendary journalist Bob Woodward's interviews with Mr. Trump. And in the tapes the president calls the coronavirus a killer if it gets you. Here is more of that conversation.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
BOB WOODWARD, AUTHOR, RAGE: Well, you are risking getting it, of course, the way you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that?
TRUMP: No, I'm not. I don't know why.
WOODWARD: You're not?
TRUMP: I'm not.
WOODWARD: Why?
TRUMP: I don't know. I'm just not.
WOODWARD: OK, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I've done -- by the way how about the oil deal I've made over the weekend that everybody said was impossible?
WOODWARD: That's interesting.
(END VOICE CLIP)
[03:05:02]
CHURCH: Joining me now is Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, chief political officer of Providence Health Systems. Thank you doctor for being with us, and of course for all that you do.
AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Always a pleasure, Rosemary.
CHURCH: President Trump's medical team says he may not be entirely out of the woods. And yet he was discharged from hospital Monday evening. And we saw him stage another photo op, taking off his mask, giving a thumbs up, saluting after climbing the stairs. What did you make of all of this? And how wise was it to let him return to the White House where there was already an outbreak?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Well, it's definitely feels, to be honest with you, grossly negligent. The fact that the White House can actually set up a hospital room, you know, in the White House is different than the average home. There are some tools now that let us take care of sicker patients in their home. The White House can do intensive care basically if they had to.
So, the fact that Trump moved his care to the White House from Walter Reed, you know, makes little difference, to be honest. What's more concerning is the fact that he is now minimizing the impact of the virus and telling other people not to worry about it. Taking off his mask, demonstrating that it's OK to be infected and infect other people. Because he's absolutely, right now, at risk for spreading what he has to everybody else in the White House. So that is the part that concerns me the most.
CHURCH: Yes, a very disturbing message. One of the reporters even shouted out are you a super-spreader, sir? So, let's take a look at the drugs the president is pumped up on right now, steroids, Remdesivir, an experimental antibody cocktail, just to name a few. Should he be in charge of the country on this combination of drugs? Do you think that's wise?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Well, it's really hard to say. I do know that there are, particularly dexamethasone, some side effects and hydroxybetamethasone, which is what the steroids are, that can actually cause people to get confused. And the older you are, the more likely you are to get confused by this kind of mind-altering drugs.
And so, I do hope that his physicians are watching for any sign of cognitive impact from the medication cocktails as well as from the disease itself. The disease itself can cause brain inflammation called encephalitis which can actually affect people's thinking. And so, I really hope that the doctors are paying close attention to his mental capacity.
CHURCH: And meantime, of course President Trump is saying not to be afraid of COVID-19. Apparently, dismissive of the fact that more than 210,000 Americans have lost their lives to this virus. It's worth mentioning of course he gets the very best medical care while others do not.
As a doctor, what's your reaction to him telling people not to fear the virus? Don't let it dominate your lives.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: So, again, I'm think the message is, honestly just awful. It's the same message that people get when they're saying you don't have to wear a mask. Right? So, we don't hear traffic. But we do stay safe by going to the corner and pushing the button and crossing at the light, standing at the crosswalk. Right? We don't hear it. But we learn how to live with it.
And that's what we need to do with coronavirus. If we wear a mask, if we socially distance, if we do the things that keep us safe, we don't have to fear coronavirus. But we do have to alter our lives a bit until we have an effective vaccine distributed everywhere. So that's not fear. That's rational.
CHURCH: Right. And President Trump won't let his doctors share information about the condition of his lungs. That is his right, of course or when he last had a negative COVID test. Talk to us about why that is important for us to know. Why are we not being told that information?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Well, to be honest with you, when he took off his mask today, getting back to the White House, showing that he really didn't care about the other people in the White House, and that he was going to infect them no matter what, you know, at risk for infecting them no matter what, it made me really think back to the timeline. That, if the president is getting tested every day, as he has said he
is getting tested every day, it is a real short time between having a positive test on Thursday and then needing steroids and all this experimental therapy on Friday. Right?
Usually, between the time you get the infection and the time the infection gets into the lungs and causes pneumonia and causes those severe side effects, it's usually five to seven days. It's not the next day. And so, I do actually wonder when he got infected and when his test turned positive. Because you would expect that to be at least a few days before having the deterioration he had.
CHURCH: Yes, still a lot of questions. Not many answers here. Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, always a pleasure to talk with you. Many thanks.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thank you.
[03:15:00]
CHURCH: A majority of Americans believe President Trump isn't taking the risks of infecting other seriously enough. In a new CNN poll, 63 percent said his handling of the risk to people around him was irresponsible. With just 33 percent saying he's behaved responsively. And a credibility problem is clear. Sixty-nine percent said they don't trust what the White House says about the president's health.
And while polls show a majority of Americans are critical of the president's COVID response, Democratic nominee Joe Biden is launching new attacks. He says Mr. Trump is responsible for contracting the virus because he fails to wear masks, and follow social distancing guidelines. His swipe at the president came during a town hall event in Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody that contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don't matter, social distance doesn't matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The Biden campaign also tweeted this meme with the caption masks matter, they save lives. Biden has been touting mask-wearing throughout his presidential campaign. This tweet was published after Mr. Trump was released from the hospital on Monday. Biden is also offering advice to the president.
CNN's Arlette Saenz has that part of the story from Miami.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Joe Biden campaign 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 Plexiglass dividing the 2 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.
CHURCH: Thanks for that report. Well, the Trump campaign official is faulting Joe Biden for his lack of coronavirus experience. Trump's campaign communications director says Biden doesn't have the firsthand experience fighting COVID-19 like the president. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN PERRINE, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: It's that experience of not only coronavirus, but being president of the United States. That's why you just see a different tone overall from him. And listen, he has experience as commander in chief. He has experience as a businessman. He has experience now fighting the coronavirus as an individual. Those firsthand experiences Joe Biden he doesn't have those.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, the next debate will be between Democratic vice- presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. CNN's special coverage begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the U.S. East Coast, that's midnight Thursday in London, 3 a.m. in Abu Dhabi and 7 a.m. in Hong Kong. Make sure you tune in.
So, with all eyes on the race for a coronavirus vaccine fresh reporting from the New York Times suggests that race could be getting political. No kidding. The newspaper reports the White House blocked new guidelines on a potential vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA told CNN the guidance remains under review. Dr. Anthony Fauci says the FDA will be following established procedures.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well it isn't over until it's over. The FDA is not actually said they're going to slow down. I mean, this is one of those things that the FDA has good reasons for doing what they are doing. They have career scientists who developed these kinds of models for what you need to do to assure safety, and to assure efficacy. And right now, this is what they said. And we'll see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, the FDA says it expects to see at least one company seek emergency authorization for a vaccine by the end of the year.
[03:15:03]
The head of the team that evaluates new vaccines says his staffs are focused on clinical data and not politics. Dr. Fauci says he is optimistic about a timeline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I think comfortably around November or December we'll know whether or not the vaccine is safe and effective. I'm actually and cautiously optimistic from what I've seen about preliminary data in phase one. That there is a very good chance we'll have a safe and effective vaccine. They've already started to produce doses way before we'll know whether the vaccine is safe and effective. So, by the time we get to the end of November, December, there should be some doses that are available for distribution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Fauci says priority for vaccines should be given to health workers and those with underlying conditions.
Well, the U.S. death toll from the virus is now at 210,000 and counting, with the infection rate still soaring at an average of 43,000 cases a day. Over the past week, only a handful of states reported fewer cases than the week before, while more than 20 saw a rise of at least 10 percent.
New York, the former epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. is again reporting some of the worst numbers in the country.
Details now from CNN's Nick Watt.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In nine New York City's at codes schools are closing down again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY): It's time for us to rewind.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WATT: In those same zip codes the mayor also wants nonessential stores, gyms, indoor dining closed again as test positivity rates rise now, too high for comfort. The governor will not go for that. Not yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALVATORE MUSSO, OWNER, LA STRADA PIZZERIA: Very sad. We expect to move forward by this, or we go behind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Also concern over New Jersey after that fund-raiser Thursday hosted by a likely infectious president. Case counts are rising again across the north east which was so recently a success story. These five states saw at least 50 percent more cases this past week compared to the week before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE BLASIO: This is a wakeup call to everyone in New York City to tighten up again, to do the things that worked. Look, we overcame the worst problem in the entire country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: New York state's governor says a lack of local enforcement is a big part of the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): You will see people die if we don't do more enforcement. The state is going to take over the enforcement oversight in all the hot spot clusters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Meanwhile, this morning, down in Miami-Dade County, another former hot spot, more than 22,000 kids returned to the classroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here to report happily that I've seen nothing but happy faces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: At one North Carolina school, all 3rd grade now quarantined after a teacher, Julie Davis tested positive. She later died. There will be plenty more pain ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: I am disturbed and concerned about the fact that our baseline of infections is still stuck at around 40,000 per day.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WATT: He has been saying that for weeks, and we've only gotten worse. Back-to-back days of 50,000 plus new cases nationwide, Friday and Saturday. First time we've seen that since mid-August.
Now President Trump tweets don't be afraid of COVID. Well, since his positive tests, since he was medevacked to one of the greatest hospitals on earth to receive treatment that very few other people can get, since then, more than 2,000 other Americans have died of COVID- 19. More than 200,000 Americans have died of COVID since this began. And we are far from done.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
CHURCH: And still ahead, the bars of Paris shut their doors. The French capital's nightlife closes down for two weeks. And restaurants in the cities see new measures in an attempt to fight a rise in COVID cases. We're live in Paris. That's next.
And the U.K. government pledges to investigate what went wrong after thousands of new coronavirus cases went and reported. The details on that story coming your way in just a moment.
[22:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Well, Downing Street has vowed to investigate how exactly the government failed to report nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases. The British health secretary has already faced scrutiny over the glitch. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says some of the data was lost, but that new case totals have now been updated.
CNN's Scott McLean is in London. He joins us now live. Good to see you, Scott. So, what's the fallout from all of this?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rosemary. So, the health secretary said yesterday that the issue is in the automated transfer of the files from the labs that actually do the testing to the government's counting system. The opposition health critic though yesterday suggested that the problem was in the size of the Excel Spreadsheet being used to actually housed that data.
The good news is that of all these almost 16,000 people who did test positive, they were all notified that they had the virus on time but because they were never counted, they were never transferred into the contact tracing system. So that means that other close contacts were actually notified that they may have been exposed to the virus.
And so, if you think that each one of these cases potentially had maybe three close contacts on average, we are talking about almost 50,000 people who were never notified. The government for its part says it started its process of notifying those people over the weekend, but for many of those cases it's already been more than a week since that positive test came back from their contact and perhaps even longer than that, that they may have been exposed.
And so, it's almost not even useful at this point for a lot of these cases to do that contact tracing. So how does this change the overall picture in the U.K.? These 16,000 missing cases? Well, they seem to obscure the fact that the U.K. now has more new cases being reported per capita than the United States.
But the health secretary said yesterday, well, it doesn't really change the government calculus. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: The chief medical officer has analyzed that our assessment of the disease and its impact has not substantially changed as the result of these data. And the JBC has confirmed that this has not impacted the basis on which decisions about local actions were taken last week. Nevertheless, this is a serious issue which is being investigated fully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: So, the JBC being the Joint Biosecurity Center which is the government's group of experts and analysts that's helping them sort out what's what when it comes to this coronavirus pandemic. Yesterday, the house secretary also acknowledged the rising number of hospitalizations, that there are more than five times more people in British hospitals because of COVID-19 today than they were just a month ago.
Now a few weeks ago, you'll remember, Rosemary, three weeks ago the U.K. started bringing a whole host of new restrictions to try to tamp down the second wave of the virus. Yesterday, though the prime minister said well, the government may still need a few days, maybe a week to figure out whether those measures are actually working.
CHURCH: So, Scott, does the government plan to bring in any new measures?
MCLEAN: Yes. That's a good question, because they already have restrictions on the size of social gatherings to six people. They have already forced restaurants and bars to close early.
[03:25:02]
And there are questions about what more they can do without really eating into or affecting, I should say, the economy or the potential to keep schools open, which has really been the government's priority.
And so, the government has tried its best to make sure that they don't have to resort to really what would be a blunt instrument in a second national lockdown, but the prime minister has also made clear that if the data shows it, that he will not hat hesitate to bring in more draconian measures, stricter measures to try to tamp down this coronavirus.
CHURCH: All right. Scott McLean, joining us there live. Many thanks. Well, in the French capital, bars have now closed for two weeks in an
effort to combat a spike in new coronavirus cases. Restaurants in Paris can remain open but they face a set of strict new rules. Among them, limits on the size of groups dining together and new mask requirements.
So, let's bring in CNN's Melissa Bell. She joins us live from Paris. Good to see you, Melissa. So how are restaurants responding to these new rules they'll have to follow and how is the city of Paris coping with all of this?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the restauranteurs with some sense of relief, Rosemary, simply because the fear had been that the restaurants would be made to close as well. So, yes, smaller table sizes, no more than six people at a table. Things like ensuring that people are using the contact tracing app, so that if anyone is found to be positive, they can go through who might have been in the restaurant as well. People will be asked also to keep their masks on until the first course is served.
So, a whole series of regulations that will make dining in restaurants perhaps likely less easygoing and pleasant than it was but they were necessary if they were to stay open. As for the bars and cafes from today, entirely close. A whole set of further regulations as well, Rosemary.
For instance, university students are not allowed to have party anymore. Students only 50 percent of the classes can attend lectures, a reminder that it is the young who have been driving the second wave. And that they are trying to keep it under control. And again, for the time being, these extra measures that will make Paris slightly less what it was for the next couple of weeks, necessary, say authorities, as those COVID 19 figures especially in cities like the greater Paris region, but also in Marseille continue to worsen at a national level.
Yesterday, another historic record set in terms of the positivity rate, 8.7 percent to give you an idea, Rosemary, of how fast things are moving here. It was just 7.8 percent a week ago.
CHURCH: Incredible. Melissa Bell, joining us live from Paris. Many thanks.
And still to come --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this point I think the President of the United States is the most dangerous person in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The anguished words of a woman who lost her father to COVID- 19. She's calling out President Trump for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. More of what she is saying. That's next.
And the U.S. Postal Service admits it's struggling to deliver the mail on time, so what happens when there is a flood of mail-in ballots for the presidential election? That story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: More on our breaking news story this hour. U.S. President Donald Trump staged a departure from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday. Attempting to convert his COVID-19 infection into a show of strength. He posed for a mask-less photo op on the White House balcony and told his followers that the virus was nothing to fear.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins has the details.
(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 climb the steps to the White House. And facing live television cameras. He took off his mask. Staying there for several moments before turning to go back inside and then coming back out briefly as he led the camera crew that was waiting inside the White House shoot his return. So he could then post the video on his Twitter feed. Touting his time in the hospital and downplaying coronavirus (inaudible) saying it cannot dominate American life.
Of course that comes as the president was on steroids and another drug. Fewer than 10 people outside of clinical trials have gone in the United States, but he sought to really downplay his diagnosis, even as just a few days into it, 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 is also returning to a much different White House where his daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump will not be there, because she is at home quarantining after coming into contact with people who tested positive, because we are seeing this outbreak inside the West Wing grows 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 she is also working remotely as her two of her aides in the press shop who also tested positive.
It's raising concern about how 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 quarantine or if he's going to try to break out of that a little bit early.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN political analyst, Toluse Olorunnipa, he is also the White House reporter for the Washington Post. Great to have you with us.
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALSYT, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Great to be here.
CHURCH: So, medical experts across the country and indeed the world are scratching their heads as they watch President Trump's response to his own COVID-19 infection. And then he's rather bizarre stage return to the White House. And now we learned he plans to participate in the next presidential debate with rival Joe Biden. What is your political reading of all of this?
OLORUNNIPA: Well, it is clear the president was determined to make it seem like things are getting back to normal at the White House. He did not want to be cooped up within the hospital. He did not want to be stuck behind the doors of the hospital as the campaign is in it's very the last stages. So, he decided to check himself out of the hospital, go back to the White House with his dramatic return, and start campaigning right away.
He went on video and essentially said that he thinks he is immune from the virus. That people should not be afraid of it. And he's looking forward to getting back out on the campaign trail and getting back out to debate his rival Joe Biden.
CHURCH: A new CNN polling shows that most Americans says Donald Trump acted irresponsibly with his own COVID infection, and they distrust the White House information regarding his health. Most Americans also think his diagnosis will not change the way he deals with this pandemic. What impact would you expect all this to have on the presidential race?
OLORUNNIPA: Well, the president's own diagnosis with coronavirus means that this issue continues to be the number one issue that is covered here and it continues to be the number one topic on the mind of voters as they cast their ballots and the fact that they gave President Trump such low marks when it comes to how he handles the coronavirus, how trustworthy his administration is.
It means it's going to be very difficult for the president to spin this as a positive thing or to spin it as a political benefit. It's part of the reason the president has an uphill battle in the upcoming election to try to convince voters to get him four more years when they know that he cannot keep himself safe from the virus or they don't trust that he'll keep them and their family safe from the virus.
CHURCH: Right. And these polls also show that Trump's overall job approval rating is at 40 percent with a 57 percent disapproval rating. That is very high. What do these numbers tell you with the presidential election less than a month away?
[03:35:06]
OLORUNNIPA: It shows the president has not done enough to change his fortunes. He has been in the low forties for quite a long time. The fact that he is at 57 percent, his approval which is near his all-time high shows that he has not done very much to convince American voters to change their minds about him right now.
People have very low opinions of how he has handled his job as president. They are living through the worst pandemic in the century. An employer remains high people are worried about trying to send their kids to school. Trying to get back to work. And they don't trust him to do that job well. And his numbers have remain low as a result of that and they seem to be getting lower.
And his disapproval numbers which are just are astronomical for a president trying to be reelected just keep continue to go higher and higher. And it's a sign that his handling of this virus is hindering of this era of American politics is not helping him as he faces reelection in a month.
CHURCH: Right. And Joe Biden had taken down his negative campaign while President Trump was in the hospital as a weight of respect. But now we see this on Biden's Twitter account. Using the image of the president, taking off his mask on his return to the White House Monday and comparing that image to Biden putting his on with the message that reads masks matter. They save lives. What does this signal to you?
OLORUNNIPA: They realized in the Joe Biden camp that contrasting Joe Biden's vision for the coronavirus with President Trump is a strong position for them. They want to be able to show that Joe Biden will be a different kind of president in the middle of a pandemic than President Trump has been.
And this is a clear example. They show him wearing a mask. President comes back to the White House, he immediately took off his mask in front of the cameras. Not modeling good public health behavior, and Joe Biden has been wearing a mask to try to show the public that is the right thing to do.
And so I imagine they will continue to push out those images to contrast what Joe Biden is doing with what President Trump is doing. And the race is back on. There is no more sort of a piecemeal approach in approaching this. Instead they are going to attack one another holistically and try to focus on the hardest argument that they can make against each other and for Joe Biden it's on the coronavirus.
CHURCH: Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate. It
OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, President Trump says he learned a lot about COVID-19 after being admitted to Walter Reed. Now that he is discharged, he is back to downplaying how serious the deadly fires can be. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just left Walter Reed Medical Center. And it's really something very special. The doctors the nurses, the first responders. And I learned so much about coronavirus. And one thing that is for certain, don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it. You are going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And what President Trump fails to mention here is that not everyone has access to top-notch health care like he does. More than 210,000 people have died in the U.S. from the coronavirus. Kristin Urquiza's father was one of them. She says, he died because he trusted President Trump's advice and didn't wear a mask. Here is more of what she told CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIN URQUIZA, LOST HIS FATHER TO CORONAVIRUS: At this point I think that the president of the United States is the most dangerous person in the world. He is continuing to spread misinformation about this virus. Not only through his words, but through his actions. By taking off his mask when returning to the White House he is signaling to his people and to his supporters that it is the strong person's will to go forward with the viruses as is and everybody will be fine. But that simply is putting people at risk for contracting this deadly disease and it is appalling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: COVID and the economy will determine Donald Trump's fate for the next four years. But the election will have big consequences for U.S. relations around the globe. And one of the widest foreign policy splits between the candidates is on Saudi Arabia.
CNN's Becky Anderson looks at what is at stake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden, poised to transform much of America's foreign policy in the Middle East if he wins in November. In a new 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.
[03:40:12]
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 has done before.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 Mohammad Bin Salman has always denied the allegations.
MOHAMMAD BIN SALMAN, CROWNED PRINCE, SAUDI ARABIA: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no direct evidence linking him to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no smoking guns that the crown prince was involved.
TRUMP: They have not concluded. Nobody has concluded. I don't know if anyone is 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's from the crown prince he quotes, saved his ass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean when you said you saved MBS's ass?
TRUMP: You will 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 billions of dollars of investments into the United States in jobs. Jobs. Jobs.
ANDERSON: And it went both ways. Just before Khashoggi killing, Mohammad 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be a bipartisan tsunami building against Saudi Arabia here, if they did in fact do this.
ANDERSON: That meant 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? While they are 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.
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: 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)
CHURCH: And still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of attacking civilians as the fighting alarms world powers, the growing urgency to avoid a wider conflict. That is ahead.
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[03:45:00]
CHURCH: Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of new missile and rocket attacks against civilians on Monday. This as the latest conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh escalates. The region is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan but an ethnic Armenian majority governs there. The U.S., France, Russia and NATO are calling for an immediate ceasefire.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is following the conflict for us and reports on the spiraling crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has gone so much further than many expected. Neither diplomacy nor exhaustion nor civil casualty seems to slow the war between Armenians and Azerbaijan now over a week old. This video from the Armenian side we can't verify shows the impact and skylight over Nagorno-Karabakh the ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan's borders at the heart of the fighting. Civilians here shelter in a church crypt.
When the sirens sounds, we go here she says. We had been living in fright and fear for many years and this cannot be resolved in any way. Azerbaijan said its large cities were hit by Armenian shells. Here the aftermath in (inaudible), one of two attacks alleged over the weekend. Armenia denied it was them. And the breakaway Armenian republic said it would only target the military in Azerbaijan's cities.
Armenian images showed these artillery active Friday, but this is now so far from a few days of isolated clashes this commonly bladed the past decades of this conflict, with Azerbaijan parading what it said were abandoned Armenian positions here and claiming it is also captured some territory.
A sign that (inaudible) well resource operations is moving swiftly. President Ilham Aliyev demanded Sunday, Armenia withdraw, apologize to Azerbaijan and admit Nagorno-Karabakh is not part of Armenia. Azerbaijan has denied this sophisticated attacks, including drone strikes brandish daily in defense ministry videos as supported by Turkey.
Despite Ankara's forces (inaudible) backing for their campaign. Ankara has also denied sending Syrian mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan -- as France's Presidents Emmanuel Macron has claimed saying it was a red line. These videos growing in number, which CNN has not independently verified appear to show Syrians on the Azerbaijan front line.
The big question, as fighting continues, what is Russia's redline? Power grab on Moscow is a close ally to Armenia than Azerbaijan, yet has pushed diplomacy so far and failed. Vladimir Putin pictures the weekend with his security cabinet virtually meeting, will he tolerate Turkey pushing for his allies defeat? Yet support for Azerbaijan's military (inaudible) was visible Sunday
in Baku. And Armenians here in the capital of (inaudible) who, Russian supplies to the Nagorno-Karabakh. Decades of enmity within a week now a spiraling ugly war. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to convince the world that his COVID-19 diagnosis is no big deal. And that strategy appears to be working on investors who welcomed the news that Mr. Trump would be leaving the hospital before his return to the White House.
The DOW finish 466 points higher on Monday, its best day since July. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ also closed higher in their best performance in nearly a month. And here's a quick look at how U.S. stock futures are trading right now. Just a down slightly there.
So, let's turn to CNN's John Defterios. He joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, John. So, we saw the markets bounce back brushing off concerns about the health of President Trump. But he is not out of the woods yet. That is according to his medical team. Does that not matter to the markets?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: It doesn't seem like it, right, Rosemary. Good enough to get home, i.e. The White House sends a signal to buy on Wall Street. That was the case on Monday, although we see that dampening down as we speak here right now. As you suggested a three month high for the DOW industrials. But this is not unusual if you go back to 1919 and the research done by (inaudible) in the United States.
[03:50:02]
It suggested takes about four days for the initial shock of something happening to the president and for the market to regain its balance. That is exactly what happened, despite all the theatrics around it and that (inaudible) is kind of hovering over Asia as well, Rosemary.
With gains of a quarter a third of 1 percent up to three quarters of 1 percent, but I noticed here and this is why U.S. Futures have come up for their high for the day in negative territory now. European markets are weaker with both London and Zurich down about a half of 1 percent. But we see the oil again holding on to the gains here if we take a look within international benchmark above $41 a barrel.
It was the stellar performer on Monday with gains of 5 to 6 percent. Partially because we have a strike in Norway hitting the oil and gas fields there. And also a tropical storm called delta off the Gulf Coast. That means that they're shutting in oil and gas production there and this is having an influence on the market.
But quite extraordinary because of the ups and downs and misinformation coming from the White House. Wall Street took it in stride, basically, suggesting smoother sailing ahead going into the election. Rosemary? CHURCH: And John, the U.S. stimulus bill is still being debated well
after the September 30th deadline. Is the market viewed that the deal is imminent here?
DEFTERIOS: Yes. I don't want to be cute but it is baked into Wall Street's price right now, they think they have to get a deal done, because of the calamitous of it. It didn't take place. Let's put it that way, but there is why differences between the U.S. House Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Republicans who do not want to spend as much. And you have the White House kind of squeezed in between looking for a compromise, even if it's not a big wide reaching bill. Here is the chief of staff to the president, Mark Meadows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARK MEADOWS, (R-NC): Well, I do think that there is a potential for a deal, as long as politics do not get in the way again. Even if a large comprehensive bill is not possible because of a few things that are out there, and there is still the major differences, let's go ahead and pass a number of the things that we can agree upon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: So perhaps they can get a deal done. But Rosemary, think about all the companies or the sectors, and the local governments, the state governments that are dependent on that stimulus package. This is not a political debate, but a financial one and that's why many are hoping this deal gets done by Friday, or I think (inaudible) on Wall Street will change quite radically.
CHURCH: Yes. Absolutely. A lot of people out there need some help too. So, John Defterios, many thanks as always.
Well, over the course of one day, tropical storm Delta formed in the Caribbean and strengthened into a category one hurricane. We are tracking the rapidly intensifying storm. That is next.
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CHURCH: Hurricane Delta is now on track to impact the central Gulf Coast of the U.S. later this week. The system which first formed as a tropical storm in the Caribbean early Monday rapidly strengthened into a category one hurricane.
So let's turn to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, he joins us now, tracking the storm. SO, Pedram, great to see you. What are you seeing there?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Rosemary, you know with a storm like this like Delta we are seeing a very compact storm system that often signals to us that it's a system that can intensify rather quickly. As you noted, that's exactly what happened in the past 24 hours and the concern is moving forward in the next 24 hours. We could see this is a major hurricane category three by this time tomorrow.
[03:55:10]
So, here's what we are looking at. There is also a remnant system. This is a tropical, post tropical system gamma. That's parked there, just north of the Yucatan peninsula. But Delta, the most concerning of these storms right now. Just sitting south of the Cayman Islands at this hour. Again, as a strong category one system. But you will notice around portions of the Yucatan channel we do have hurricane warnings that include Cancun, areas around (inaudible), Playa del Carmen, Tulum, all of these regions underneath the hurricane warning while western Cuba, the government officials there have prompted a tropical storm warning and we are seeing the system migrate a little farther towards the west.
So, the concern is now landfall sometime within the next 24 hours as a major hurricane again. So, expect us to skip a category one. Maybe go straight to a category three within the next 24 hours with these very warm sea surface temperatures of about 30 degrees Celsius. Initial landfall would be within 24 hours, and then the system reemerges back over the Gulf of Mexico.
And a couple of variabilities here I could really shift the system whether it be for the west or to the east. Now, we do think the potential for it is to migrate farther towards the west which would keep it over kind of a yellow contours which are indicative of warmer waters.
Now, if it does go off towards the east, the blue contours, that it is indicative of cooler waters, which would not allow the system to strengthen as rapidly, but the concern again moving forward is for a landfall as early as Friday morning to as late as Saturday afternoon around portions of the state of St. Louisiana, Alabama or Mississippi.
If you think this has happened a lot this season, well, this is our 25th named storm of the season. Eight of them have entered the Gulf of Mexico. Six of them have threatened the state of Louisiana. Three of them have made landfall across the state of Louisiana. And the model guidance at this point does put Louisiana in the crosshairs of this, Rosemary. So, watch this very carefully, as a dangerous storm approaches later this week.
CHURCH: And we appreciate you keeping a very close eye on that. Pedram Javaheri, many thanks as always.
So, this year's Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology has been awarded to three scientists whose work led to the discovery of the hepatitis c virus. U.S. Scientist Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice along with British scientist Michael Houghton will share the $1 million prize money. The Nobel foundation says its discovery has led to new tests and medicines that have saved millions of lives.
And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more news in just one moment.
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