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COVID-19 Spreads through Trump Administration; Fed Chair Calls for More Stimulus to Keep Recovery Going; U.S.: Unsafe Intercepts in Skies over the Black Sea; National Security Concerns as U.S. Military Officials Tested Positive for COVID-19; Eddie Van Halen Dies of Cancer; Michelle Obama Makes Closing Argument for Joe Biden; White House Under Fire for COVID Response One Night Before VP Debate. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired October 07, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the coronavirus spread to the Pentagon. All but one of the most senior U.S. military commanders are in quarantine, another senior aide to the president tests positive.

And Trump tells America, no financial help unless he is reelected. The president kills the stimulus bill in Congress and along with it tens of thousands of jobs, maybe more.

And Hurricane Delta just hours away from landfall, beach resorts in Mexico are packing up and heading out.

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VAUSE: Right now, no indication just how far the coronavirus has spread into the White House. We do know it has now breached the Pentagon, with senior military leaders from the Joint Chiefs, including the chairman, now self isolating after exposure to the virus.

We know many who work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are staying home because they are infected, are terrified of being infected or exposed in order to quarantine. Senior adviser Stephen Miller is the latest of more than a dozen senior aides who have tested positive. He, too, is now in quarantine.

Miller traveled with the president on Air Force One last week. And as CNN's Jim Acosta reports, none of this carnage has changed the president's position on the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the president's heath cloaked in secrecy, Mr. Trump's lead physician Dr. Sean Conley released a statement claiming the coronavirus patient and chief is doing just fine saying "The president reports no symptoms, overall he continues to do extremely well."

Back at the White House, Mr. Trump is throwing his weight around announcing he's ending talks with House Democrats over a new coronavirus relief bill, tweeting, "I've instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election. When immediately after I win we will pass a major stimulus bill.

Sources tell CNN there are still lingering concerns inside the White House about the president's health after he appeared to be having trouble breathing as he stood on the balcony following his return from Walter Reed Medical Center.

In a White House video, Mr. Trump downplayed the virus yet again.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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. But don't let it dominate your lives.

Get out there. Be careful.

ACOSTA: The president is still super spreading misinformation about the virus tweeting "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."

Twitter slapped a warning label on the tweet saying the post violated the Twitter rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.

The fact is more people in the U.S. have already died from coronavirus this year then from influenza during the past five flu seasons combined.

Aids to the president are making blatantly false claims as well and defending Mr. Trump insisting he was all alone when he removed his mask on the balcony.

HOGAN GIDLEY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN NTIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: The president is alone on the balcony, outside he takes his mask off.

ACOSTA: But that's not true. There are White House staff photographers and other aides nearby. The Trump campaign is also claiming the president is a leader on wearing masks.

GIDLEY: This president has led on the issue at every single turn. And right now is no different.

ACOSTA: But that's also false as Mr. Trump has mocked Democrat Joe Biden for using them. TRUMP: Every time you see him he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from it. He shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen.

ACOSTA: The president is sounding more desperate for a coronavirus vaccine. CNN has learned Mr. Trump has been pressuring some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies to speed up the development of a vaccine as he keeps promising Americans one is coming quickly.

TRUMP: We have the best medicines in the world. And they're all happened very shortly and they're all getting approved. And the vaccines are coming momentarily.

ACOSTA: But the virus is still taking its toll even at the Pentagon where the vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard has tested positive, forcing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military leaders to isolate at home.

As a defense official said in a statement, "Out of an abundance of caution all potential close contacts from these meetings are self- quarantining and have been tested this morning. No Pentagon contacts have exhibited symptoms and we have no additional positive test to report at this time."

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ACOSTA: As for the spread of COVID at the White House, more staffers including a third press aide are coming up positive.

Still a federal health official tells CNN West Wing aides have been rejecting help from the Centers for Disease Control to do contact tracing after a rash of positive test following the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, though the White House is dismissing the notion that the event was a super spreader.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Certainly several of the people who tested positive were at that event, but many of these individuals interact routinely on a daily basis, certainly when it comes to White House staff. So, there's no way to put a pinpoint on it.

ACOSTA: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just slammed the president's decision to pull the plug on the stimulus talks, saying clearly, the White House is in complete disarray.

The president moved to end stimulus talks and had an immediate effect on the financial markets, as the Dow posted a big drop, 375 points after the announcement, an indication that the president's decisions, which are coming as he is battling a deadly virus on intense medications, can have a major impact across the country -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

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VAUSE: Saskia Popescu is a senior infection prevention epidemiologist and she is joining us this hour from Tucson in Arizona. Welcome back, it's been a long time.

SASKIA POPESCU, SENIOR INFECTION PREVENTION EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: I'd like you to listen to more from the COVID carrying White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. Here she is being asked about the future masked gatherings at the Rose Garden and she is very noncommittal. Listen.

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KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: It was an event outside, some people wore masks, notably several photographers there wore masks. And they all tested positive.

So with any event, you take a certain amount of risk --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's interesting.

MCENANY: -- nominating a Supreme Court justice --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.

MCENANY: -- Article 2 Section 2 power that is an obligation of the president to do this and will continue to fulfill his constitutional duties.

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VAUSE: There is a lot there. I mean any event, there's a certain amount of risk but a lot you can do to minimize the risk that was not done.

Also, should you risk your health by attending a Rose Garden event?

And, on top of that, there is no 100 percent certainty that this was a superspreader event. But there's no 100 percent certainty that it was.

Given how contagious and dangerous this virus is, the sensible and right thing to do with to say, for now, no more gatherings at the Rose Garden.

POPESCU: I couldn't agree more. On top of that, the fact that they're not allowing the CDC to do contact tracing means there is no way to understand how far this is going to go and where it originated from. But it's very dangerous and almost negligent to say we are not going to halt events when we know that they are dangerous.

VAUSE: That's the thing. In any of these events, there is a logic here that you follow the path and trace it and work out, this is where it most likely happened. When you deny that, this is when it leads to a situation that we have in the White House, right? POPESCU: It almost seems like they don't want to know how bad it is and where it came from so they don't have to have any responsibility for it, which is a really discerning (sic) and very concerning from a public health standpoint to not acknowledge that there was an outbreak.

This clearly acted as an event that amplified transmission and to have no desire to understand what went wrong and how you can improve it is not a very good approach during a pandemic for the White House.

VAUSE: And as this virus continues to spread to the White House, listen to the deputy press secretary on CNN a little bit earlier. And the message he had despite everything we have been seeing in reality is that, hey, we have got this. Here he is.

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BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Obviously, we've been dealing with this for a number of months now and we know what to do. We are isolating when necessary, we have our hand sanitizer everywhere and we are distancing, we are going about the work of the American people, Kayleigh and others and Stephen working remotely.

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VAUSE: OK, so they may know what to do but the positive tests which are coming out each in every day seems to suggest that those guidelines are not being followed.

POPESCU: They can say they know what to do but unless they actually follow it, it is a moot point. so the reliance on testing and saying you have hand sanitizer is a very small percentage of what needs to truly happen. And they have proven that they are not following public health guidance.

VAUSE: What was interesting is that during the interview he talks about a lot of measures that were taken, the hand sanitizer. He did not talk about the importance of wearing a mask when it comes to transmission.

Hand washing is effective for stopping the virus from spreading from surface transmissions but it's the mask that stop the airborne transmission.

So out of those 2, which is more important when it comes to contagion?

POPESCU: We know how this disease is transmitted by droplets and aerosols and environmental transmission does occur. But it's much smaller of a percentage. So realistically, I'd rather have you invest in all of them. But if you're going to pick one, then masks for sure.

VAUSE: So hand sanitizers the wrong bet. Thanks for speaking with us and I appreciate it.

Stocks on Wall Street plummeted on Tuesday after President Trump ended negotiations for a new stimulus bill until after the election.

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VAUSE: All 3 indexes fell more than 1 percent with the Dow losing close to 400 points. The president's announcement also dealt a heavy blow to the airline industry, which could've received $25 billion and saved thousands of jobs with the package.

But airline shares saw some of their biggest losses on Tuesday. The U.S. president's move is having less of an impact in Asia, where markets have been mixed throughout the day. John Defterios is following the story for us from Abu Dhabi.

So along with the fall in the markets, here's more reporting from Bloomberg about the immediate impact. American Airlines and United Airlines holdings said they will start laying off a total of 32,000 workers, blaming expiring government aid.

While Disney is slashing 28,000, jobs, the fourth largest U.S. current share (ph) cutting 3,800, roughly 8 percent of its workforce. Incomes fell in August a little less than 3 percent because of the stimulus running out. So there will be no stimulus until after the election.

How much worse do these numbers get between now and then?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: We're already living on borrowed time. The package expired on September 30th and the market has been pretty patient, thinking Trump is being Trump here.

But it could knock the legs from underneath the recovery. This is the reality, retail sales are up in the last month by 1.2 percent. But they dive considerably from what we saw in May and June. You talk about corporate layoff, 75,000 jobs in one week alone last week because of the uncertainty.

And the airlines even said we are planning to furlough our workers but we need clear indications. So everybody thought by Friday we would have a deal.

This changes the game and what is most shocking from Trump is that this is not a poker game where you bluff or walk away from the table because there are so many lives dependent on the stimulus package.

If you look at the unemployment rate, which is just below 8 percent, we have 26 million Americans, one in 7 in the working population, taking unemployment benefits right now. That tells you a great deal, 26 million people.

And even in this case, Donald Trump was saying that I have a 1.6 trillion dollar package on the table. Nancy Pelosi said this not true. Let's look at the major players which is Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, Pelosi, the Democratic leader, and Mitch McConnell in the Senate.

The Republicans have wanted something all along much lower but did not start focusing on this until the end of August. The House passed the package at the end of June and the White House has been trying to play the honest broker here, putting something on the table for $1.6 trillion.

But as Nancy Pelosi was suggesting, it looks like a Hail Mary. You're not getting what you want and the Senate Republicans are not behind the White House. So we just leave the table. It's extraordinary and I cannot see how Donald Trump thinks this will help him on Election Day on November 3rd, all this bravado.

And the markets are taking it in stride but it doesn't seem like this is going to play out neatly going to the elections for the Republican Party.

VAUSE: With that in mind, we also had this warning just before the president decided to end the negotiations. It came from the chairman of the Federal Reserve about other factors. Listen to this.

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JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The outlook remains highly uncertain, in part, because it depends on controlling the spread and effects of the virus.

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VAUSE: In other, words the way they control the virus is still going to have a massive impact on the economy. That's not even under control and the stimulus not going through. It looks like there is an economic nightmare coming out in the months ahead.

DEFTERIOS: We don't even overplay it but this is the timeline people were looking for. You get the second stimulus package in October. And we are running late already. That carries you for 6 months, gives you line of sight with hopefully the vaccines coming onto the market by the end of the second quarter.

And then the second half of the year for the rest of the world, that gives corporations an opportunity to say, look, I see where the growth is coming, this stabilizes us for 6 months, we know how much money is in the package.

This is gone now, John. The other thing that people have overlooked in the U.S. is the unemployment benefits on a weekly basis were paying around on average $900 a week, that dropped to $300. So not only do we have the uncertainty with regards to the stimulus package itself.

But Americans on benefits, 26 million as I noted, are getting a lot less. This is a very fragile time. And the head of the central bank, a very centrist person, played it right down the middle during this whole debate and said, this is not the time to retreat and worse yet, walk off the table with your cards and say I'm not playing anymore.

VAUSE: Thank you for being with us, John Defterios, we'll talk to you next hour. Thank you.

[00:15:00] VAUSE: British prime minister Boris Johnson is speaking out about his own bout with COVID-19. In a speech, he denied the virus has robbed him of his mojo and he dismissed claims he is still suffering from the effects. CNN's Scott McLean has details.

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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: British prime minister Boris Johnson is one of the few people on Earth who knows what it's like to walk in President Trump's shoes right now, the world leader battling the coronavirus in full public view.

The coronavirus almost killed Boris Johnson. It also led plenty of his detractors to say that it robbed him of his mojo.

In an interview this weekend, the prime minister pushed back saying that it would be inappropriate for him to bring his usually buoyant style and energy to a public health crisis. And now, in a speech to his own Conservative Party, he called the assertion nonsense. Listen.

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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: And of course this is self- evident, driven by the kind of seditious propaganda you would expect from people who don't want this government to succeed.

And yet I have to admit, the reason I had such a nasty experience with the disease is that, although I was superficially in the pink of health when I caught it, I had a very common underlying condition, my friends. I was too fat.

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MCLEAN: Since then the prime minister said he has lost 26 pounds. He's also launched a government campaign to tackle obesity. He may also soon have to make some difficult decisions about how to respond to this country's coronavirus outbreak.

The U.K. is now recording more new cases of the virus per capita than the United States. Meanwhile, the Scottish first minister is set to announce her own new coronavirus restrictions Wednesday afternoon -- Scott McLean, CNN, London.

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VAUSE: Many major European cities are seeing renewed coronavirus restrictions as the number of countries battle a second wave. Italy's health minister wants masks to be required The mandate will likely begin this coming Friday.

In Paris, bars are now closed for the next 2 weeks and restaurants will have to follow new sanitary guidelines if they want to stay open. The city is under the maximum COVID alert.

In the German capital, bars, restaurants and stores will have to be shut down between 11 pm and 6 am beginning on Saturday. We will take a short break. When we come, back Hurricane Delta on a

collision course with Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. When we expect landfall, those details, in a moment.

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VAUSE: The 25th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is rapidly intensifying as it makes landfall in Mexico, still a ways to go, but Delta is now a category 4. That's the second strongest storm of the year in the Atlantic Basin.

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VAUSE: There is now new evidence that Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's most outspoken critic, was poisoned by a nerve agent. The global chemical weapons watchdog said, his blood samples contained a new variant of a toxin similar to Novichok, which is banned.

Navalny became sick on a flight in Russia in August and was airlifted to Germany for treatment. He blames the Russian president and Western governments are demanding answers from Moscow.

Russia denies any involvement, calling the allegations a conspiracy. Novichok is a Soviet era nerve toxin. It was used to poison a former Russian spy in England two years ago.

Russia and the U.S. have been testing each other in the skies over the Black Sea in recent months. Unsafe incidents have increased especially since tensions flared in Belarus. But the U.S. is vowing to continue operations in the region. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has access to a U.S. Navy surveillance (ph) flight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Navy on the move deep into what Russia considers its back yard. We're onboard a P-8 maritime warfare and surveillance plane in the Black Sea. It's a heavily militarized region and we're told Russian jets are in the air.

The crew spots one creeping up. It's an SU-27 fighter jet. It seems to be moving out of reach but suddenly our plane is buzzed, the encounter fast.

We catch the fighter just as it's pulling away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could be an unpredictable pilot. Maybe a new pilot or something like that so that can always be a challenge. We do keep on constant alert when we're being intercepted. PLEITGEN: The crew is tracking several other Russian jets nearby. Encounters like this one with Russian warplanes are not uncommon for U.S. military personnel flying in like places like the Black Sea. It's not, the U.S. military says they're becoming more common and also some of them are conducted in an unsafe manner.

In late August, two Russians interceptors nearly rammed a B-52 operating here in what the U.S. says was an unsafe intercept. Russia says it was operating according to international norms but there's no doubt Moscow is growing more brazen.

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PLEITGEN (voice-over): The P-8 flying straight into the lion's den, right off Russia's main Black Sea naval port, Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula.

The crew tracked 10 Russian military vessels nearby including this Kilo class submarine, before checking on a U.S. destroyer, the Roosevelt which was also being shadowed by a Russian warship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really it's a message to all potential adversaries and a -- a message to our allies and partners that we're -- we're here to support them, keep their freedom and prosperity open for the entire (inaudible) in Europe.

PLEITGEN: And that includes missions into difficult and contested areas like the Black Sea where Russia continues to try and grow its influence -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, in the Black Sea.

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VAUSE: Joe Biden appears to have delivered his closing argument of the election campaign and he went to a place associated with a time when division lead to civil war. The Democratic presidential nominee promised to heal the country's divisions of race, politics and economics at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

That was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, where Abraham Lincoln said a house divided against itself cannot stand.

The vice president did not name Donald Trump but said the country is in a dangerous place and needs to come together.

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JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Instead of treating each other's party as the opposition, we treat them as the enemy. This must end. We need to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country. A spirit of being able to work with one another.

I'm running as a proud Democrat but I will govern as an American president. I'll work with Democrats and Republicans. I'll work as hard for those who don't support me as those who do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Just weeks to go now before Election Day and more than 3 million ballots have already been cast. According to a CNN survey, some states are reporting record setting ballot requests and returns. We have more now from Pamela Brown.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Ohio, the line of voters stretched around entire city blocks as early voting gets underway today in more states.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it has rekindled a spirit of democracy in a lot of people. It has in me, because I've missed votes. But I'm not missing today.

BROWN (voice-over): This comes as Ohio's secretary of state issued a directive limiting drop boxes to one location, county board of elections offices, even though a court said he could expand it further.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To expand it beyond that, when it's not specifically called for in the law, it would be irresponsible at this point. It would really cause confusion.

BROWN (voice-over): In Indiana, early voting is also underway, as anxious voters, many wearing masks, braved long lines amid a deadly pandemic.

In Florida, the voter registration system went down Monday, amid a flood of applications ahead of the state's deadline. That prompted the secretary of state to reopen the system for a few more hours today.

A federal judge in Arizona extended the deadline there by two weeks, citing the impact of coronavirus on voter registration efforts.

But a victory for Republicans in South Carolina, after the Supreme Court reinstated the state's witness signature requirement on absentee ballots.

In many of these states, voters say they are not taking any chances with their ballot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think instead of 3 hours today, it might be 7 or 8 on November 3rd, so I wanted to get it done in the most convenient way possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I dropped off my ballot. I put it in the voter box, because I don't trust the U.S. Mail.

BROWN (voice-over): Election officials in both parties are pushing back on USPS postcards sent to all households, saying voters should, quote, "request your mail-in ballot at least 15 days before Election Day," which is inaccurate for many states. The office of Utah's Republican lieutenant governor is urging

residents to ignore the USPS voting instructions.

Missouri's secretary of state is saying similar in a tweet. Today, lawmakers say they are increasingly concerned about Americans' confidence in the U.S. voting system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans need accurate information about how to cast their ballot. Misinformation being spread in the leadup to this year's election is a disservice to voters and a danger to our democracy.

BROWN: In Texas, where the governor declared there can only be one ballot box per county, a group aligned with LeBron James has teamed up with Lyft to offer free rides up to $15 for people in Harris County, where there are millions of people, to go drop off ballots at that one ballot box -- Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.

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VAUSE: Just ahead, concerns over national security in the United States after seeing military leaders forced to quarantine because of exposure to the coronavirus.

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VAUSE: Well, Donald Trump is planning a national address from the White House, but the timing isn't entirely clear when. One official describes the executive mansion right now as chaotic. Many staffers are working from home. The president trying to call shots. At least three more people close to Donald Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus -- That was Tuesday -- including top aide Stephen Miller.

The White House physician says the president is doing extremely well.

There are new concerns about U.S. national security after a top military official tested positive for the coronavirus. CNN's Barbara Starr has the details, reporting from the Pentagon.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The entire U.S. joint chiefs of staff, except for one member, now quarantining, working from home after they were exposed to the coronavirus. The No. 2 at the U.S. Coast Guard was in the Pentagon last week for meetings and had a positive test on Monday after experiencing mild symptoms.

He had met with the joint chiefs, we're told, to discuss a number of matters. One of the meetings taking place in the tank, the classified meeting room here in the Pentagon. And that led to the joint chiefs being told to work at home.

The chairman, General Milley; the vice chairman, General Hyten; the heads of all the services, except for the Marine Corps; No. 2 at the Marine Corps sat in on that meeting. And also, General Paul Nakasone. Very interesting, because he is actually the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. He is the head of vital parts of U.S. military intelligence, working very closely on election security issues.

Now, we are also told, as of this time, all of them have tested negative. They are not positive they do not have the COVID virus. But it is likely that this will be a day-by-day situation, we're told, where their medical advisors will determine when it is safe for them to come back into their work place.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Miles Taylor served in the Trump White House. He resigned about a year ago. He was chief of staff to secretary of Homeland Security, among many other jobs. He is now a CNN contributor, and he joins us from Santa Fe in New Mexico.

Good to see you again.

MILES TAYLOR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey, good to see you, John. How are you?

VAUSE: I'm doing OK. Thanks. So far so good.

Now we have this virus, right? We don't have it here, thank you, but it has spread to the Pentagon. It's been through the White House. And the Executive Building seems almost deserted, because people are sick. They're terrified of getting sick, or they're being forced to quarantine.

Just tell me this. As a national security expert, is your assessment here right now, the military senior leaders in quarantine, as well, that there's no need for concern? Or should this be a time to stock up on canned goods and ammunition?

TAYLOR: John, it's somewhere in between. So we should be cautiously optimistic that the president and his team, they'll recover. But I think we have to be very concerned about the degree to which this has an effect in the executive branch of the U.S. government.

Now, I was saying this the night that Hope Hicks was diagnosed, right? She's a senior communications aide to the president. And while I was on CNN that night, I said, Look, if Hope Hicks has this, and she works in the West Wing, in proximity to some of the most important advisors to the president, we should be very alarmed about where this will go.

[00:35:08]

Now, sure enough, within hours of that diagnosis, Donald Trump himself was diagnosed. Now I believe we have no fewer than 18 people in the White House that have been diagnosed. And now, the big news tonight, John, of course, is that the individuals on the president's joint chiefs of staff, the senior military advisors to the president of the United States, this has now hit their ranks. And they're having to quarantine at home.

Now look, I can't get into the specifics, but in many cases, these individuals have the ability to continue to do their jobs, including the sensitive and classified aspects of their jobs, remotely. But the fact that this has spread to the president's top military brass is of enormous national security concern. It does not mean that the national security leadership of the United States has been taken out, by any means. So we've got to be careful about how we characterize this.

But again, this spread through the executive branch is disrupting the operations of the U.S. government. And it also calls into question the ability of the U.S. federal government to respond effectively, were there a crisis situation.

Now look, this is now accident. I think that's the most important part here, John. The way the White House handled this crisis and the lax security protocols at the White House have directly resulted in this outcome. And a lot of people have made jokes, but they're not jokes, about how, if you're anywhere in America right now, and you go to a local Starbucks or a Wal-Mart, you're forced to comply with protocols that are more stringent than the safety protocols that the White House has imposed.

So again, those lax protocols have resulted in something that went from a public crisis to a potential national security concern in a very short period of time.

VAUSE: Donald Trump is a -- you well know, he is an unpredictable, at times erratic president. But even in that context, what you have seen over the past 24 hours, do you believe his judgment is impaired in any way?

TAYLOR: Well, look, a lot of people have said this. I -- I just got a message a little while ago from someone who works in the White House, not terribly far from the president, who suggested that the steroids that the president is on might be affecting his judgment. Which feels like a pretty extreme thing to say. But again, they've got to give the president some of these drugs to make sure that his immune system is able to defeat this virus.

We also know -- and I'm not a doctor, but to be clear, we also know that some of those drugs can affect behavior and judgement. And we've seen from the president in the past 24 to 48 hours what feels like an inordinate number of tweets and some pretty aggressive social media activity.

Now, we've long seen that out of Donald Trump during this presidency, but the fact that someone close to him in his administration has reached out to me to say, you know, we feel like this is tipping over the edge, I think, is a bit concerning.

Now look, again, I'm going to defer to his doctors on that and the people that are closest to him. But these are the types of questions that we were asking as soon as the president was hospitalized, is will he be able to perform the functions of his office amidst this diagnosis appropriately? And if not, have they made the arrangements to make sure that the vice president is capable of doing so?

I think it is also concerning that we have the vice president tomorrow traveling across the country. He's already traveling across the country in the United States to participate in a debate, potentially exposing himself to a little bit higher risk, while the president himself is not fully back in the saddle.

VAUSE: And you raised this about, you know, this is preventable, essentially. And last month, for example, during an anniversary event for 9/11, many senior military leaders there were photographed without wearing face masks, among them General Milley.

You know, as someone who's worked in that environment, is this a bit like high school? There's a reward-punishment system for those who follow the president's lead and those who don't? This is about sort of sucking up to the boss, or is there more to it?

TAYLOR: Well, it is. I mean, look, the president's created a culture where he's -- he has directly talked down to staff who have worn protective measures. And that's something that one of my former colleagues, Olivia Troye, has spoken out about publicly. She said that the president has been -- had been very condescending towards people in the West Wing of the White House that followed CDC protocols and guidelines.

So he has absolutely created this culture where protecting yourself is frowned upon. But that's not just limited to the White House, John. I think the concern here is that attitude has been reflected nationwide, by the president diminishing and demeaning the CDC guidelines. You have seen Americans also show an unwillingness to follow those measures, put other people at risk. And it's resulted in the deaths of Americans.

Now we are seeing that, of course, as you note, in the most senior ranks of the U.S. military. The people that we rely upon to advise the president in crisis situations in times of warfare. We need those individual to protect themselves.

And the last thing I would note on that point, John, is that from the beginning, the White House should have been treating this as if it was a biological warfare threat to the country. So we remember here very well in the United States the anthrax attacks after 9/11. This is not necessarily as acute as those, but of course, the pandemic is more prolific.

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But the White House should have been treating this as a bio event. In other words, taking the extraordinary precautions to keep senior officials separate from each other and make sure that they're wearing those protective measures so that this does not spread and affect the senior leadership of the U.S. federal government.

Unfortunately, the White House did not do that, and we're seeing the repercussions of that, as we speak. VAUSE: One of the repercussions is that there's more cases of COVID-19 in what -- in the White House than New Zealand, Taiwan and Vietnam combined, which says a lot.

Miles, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

TAYLOR: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: We'll have more CNN NEWSROOM after a very short break.

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VAUSE: He was one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He shaped his generation, and the death of rock 'n' roll legend Eddie Van Halen sending shockwaves across the world.

Van Halen died, aged 65, Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He co-founded the iconic group Van Halen, known for its timeless hits, including "Jump," "Running with the Devil," and "Hot for Teacher."

A few years ago, I had a chance to sit down and talk with Van Halen, one of the true greats of rock 'n' roll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE VAN HALEN, GUITARIST: The way I grew up, I mean, even on the nine-day boat trip from home to New York, my father was in the band on the boat, and my brother and I also played piano during intermission. So we -- my whole life has been music. I could not imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. Van Halen was a legend. I can't believe I had the chance to talk with him, but I did. It was great.

I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT is up next.

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