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Report: Trump Tested Positive 3 Days Before Debate with Biden; 11 Shot, 3 Students Killed after Teen Opens Fire in Michigan School. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 01, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Wednesday, December 1. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar. And we do begin with breaking news.

[05:58:59]

Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus three days before his first debate against Joe Biden on September 29, 2020. This stunning revelation is in a new book by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that was obtained by "The Guardian."

A positive test the country never knew about, a positive test before he ultimately admitted to the nation that he did have COVID. Days before attending event after event after event with vulnerable people.

Now, there was a subsequent negative test. But this still raises all kinds of questions about honesty, about timing, and about why the White House chose to trust one test rather than another.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Now as for the debate, according to "The Guardian," Meadows writes that he knew that each candidate was required to test negative for the virus within 72 hours of the start time, but he said nothing was going to stop Trump from going out there.

Now, CNN has not confirmed this independently, but "The Guardian" says it has obtained this book. We have, though, reached out to all parties involved, and we are waiting to hear back.

BERMAN: So this is the timeline, as we know it, and it includes these new claims.

On Saturday, the 26th, Trump hosted the Rose Garden event for Amy Coney Barrett. This was, of course, as she became a Supreme Court justice. No masks, no social distancing, in what is suspected and later was called by Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, to be a super- spreader event. Many who attended that event would later test positive.

That is when, according to this new book, according to Mark Meadows, the president first tested positive. Then later, he did have a negative test, according to Meadows in this new report.

The very next day, despite the positive test, Trump attended an indoor event with Gold Star military families.

Two days later, on Tuesday the 29th, Chris Wallace at FOX says Trump was not tested at the debate, because he arrived late; and they allowed him on-stage because they were relying on the honor system. Later that week, on Thursday the 1st, Trump officially tested positive, according to his doctor. And then on Friday the 2nd, he went to the hospital in the evening.

KEILAR: Joining us now is the co-author of "Politico Playbook" and CNN political analyst Rachel Bade; and CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, Dr. Jonathan Reiner.

And I want to start with you, Doctor. Because we learn also, from what "The Guardian" is reporting about Mark Meadows' book, that Trump was actually symptomatic, right, throughout this whole process. As early as September 26th, he was a little tired. They suspected he had a little cold. And this went on for days, obviously, until we found out many days later that he was positive.

What revelations, what questions do these revelations raise for you?

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, Brianna, we knew last year, several of us last year were saying that the president had to be positive at the debate or before the debate. Because when he tested -- when it was announced that he tested positive two days after the debate, he was already quite sick and then was hospitalized the next day.

And typically, it takes about a week after someone tests positive for them to become ill enough to be hospitalized.

But this revelation, I mean, really the big story to me is that the White House knew that the president was positive on Saturday, three days before the -- before the debate.

They did a second test with an antigen test, which is -- which is significantly less sensitive than the rapid molecular PCR test that the White House was using at the time, which tested -- in which the president tested positive.

So what this tells me is that the White House team, the president, his entire senior staff, were willing to endanger anyone and everyone in order to advance the president's electoral chances. They were not going to retest him before the debate, because they knew he was already positive.

And the big picture is that they were willing to endanger the life of Joe Biden and his team by having the president attend that event positive.

BERMAN: Not to mention --

REINER: They were willing --

BERMAN: Not to mention the Gold Star families and everyone else that the president came -- the former president came in contact with over those days, right?

REINER: Right. And also one other thing. The president's physician, Sean Conley, knew that he was positive. And if there was a conflicting test, you would never -- you would never rely on an antigen test to be the -- the confirmatory test. You would always do a PCR test.

So Dr. Conley knew that the president was positive. He should have prevented the debate from going forward. And if he had any honor, he would have resigned rather than let that go forward.

BERMAN: Just to be clear --

REINER: Yet he kept that secret.

BERMAN: What we know, if Meadows is to be believed, if Meadows' reporting is accurate, he had a positive test. We don't know exactly what kind of test it was. Meadows refers to it as an "old-style test." That was positive.

Then later that day, according to Meadows, he took a negative test, the Binax test, which is an antigen test. They chose to go just to rely on the negative test and go with the negative test and base all of their actions, all of the people that Trump came in contact with after that, off of that negative test, according to Meadows.

I want to play some sound from Sean Conley, the White House physician, that we have. This was after the president had already been hospitalized, Rachel. And this is where you see him being, as I would call it, squirrely about the timing of the various tests. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us when he had his last negative test? Was it Thursday? Was it Wednesday? Do you remember when he had his last negative test?

DR. SEAN CONLEY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: I don't want to go backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Rachel, maybe the reason he didn't want to go backwards is because he knew the truth there, and there's all kinds of questions about honesty here.

RACHEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, honesty. I mean, look, there are going to be a lot of questions about intentional deception here. The White House was very, obviously, desperate to make it look like Trump did not have COVID and were willing to do anything to sort of keep him on the trail and keep him out there, looking. Because they were worried it would hurt him in his own reelection bid.

And so putting, you know, the lives of Gold Star families and, you know, the future president on the line there was something he was clearing willing to risk. My question is now what sort of accountability will we see on this? I

mean, on Capitol Hill, they've been focused on January 6th. There is an independent select committee that has been studying the White House response to COVID. Does this come up there?

And I also think the timing on this, this story coming out, is interesting. Just yesterday, we learned that Mark Meadows was going to be cooperating slightly with the January 6th Committee, which is not exactly a headline he wanted, but he was concerned about going to jail. And so is making a sort of small attempt to do this.

This is something that won't play well with Trump. Part of me wonders did this come out today specifically to try to sort of cake over that story line, because obviously, this is going to be something people are going to want to follow up on.

It's really irresponsible, and I think people will want more answers about what happened in those 42 hours -- 48 hours after they got this result.

KEILAR: You know, Rachel, I also wonder how far beyond the White House this goes. For instance, Ronna Romney McDaniel at the RNC had met with Donald Trump on the 25th of September. She clearly at some point -- I mean, presumably, was symptomatic. Because we didn't learn that she was positive for COVID until after we learned Trump was.

And yet, if you go back and look at the reporting, she had tested positive a couple days before.

I mean, you can't imagine that she would have tested positive and that she or the RNC would not have alerted the White House that the president had been exposed to her.

So now there's this question of how many people around the president, allies of his, including these senators, who we found out were positive on the 2nd. Chris Christie, who was hospitalized on, I think, the 3rd. How -- how broadly were people just staying mum about what was going on here?

BADE: I mean, look, it shows culpability all around. Not just with the president, not just with the chief of staff -- former chief of staff, Mark Meadows. But as you mentioned, what did the RNC know? What did her staff her? What did Chris Christie know?

I mean, a lot of people were exposed to this at this super-spreader event. And so a lot of people could have spoken out more publicly after telling the White House and saying they did nothing. And they chose not to.

So obviously, there's going to be a lot of questions that are going to be answered here about who knew what when and accountability.

BERMAN: Dr. Reiner, if you can, talk about the science here. Again, the fact that there was a positive test. We don't know exactly what kind. But then the negative test with this Binax antigen test. What should have happened then? Right? REINER: Right. So what we know is that the White House for months was

using, as one of their primary tests, the Abbott ID Now rapid molecular, very sensitive test with about a 15-minute response time.

But what the book says is that, as the president was -- was about to liftoff from the White House, that test came back. It would take about 15 minutes to result. That test came back positive.

That test should have been -- and now it's possible that maybe they had tested him with an antigen test. Regardless of which test came back positive, the president should have been retested immediately with a laboratory-performed PCR test.

And mind you, when he tested positive five days later that Thursday, they -- that's exactly what they did. They sent a PCR test to Walter Reed to confirm that the president was positive.

So they needed to confirm that the president was positive with a PCR test after that first test, regardless of which test it was. Instead, they relied on the Abbott Binax Now test.

Now, the Binax Now test is very, very reliable when it returns a positive test. But it's well-known that, with lower levels of -- of virus earlier in the disease, that test can be -- can have a false negative. That's not how you confirm it.

In any event, if you had conflicting tests, you would need a third confirmatory test, either that day or the next day.

Now, they knew the debate was coming up on Tuesday. And it's clear that they did not want another test which would confirm that the president was positive.

Now, the same day that he tested positive was the Amy Coney Barrett announcement. Seven people were infected. The president, Mrs. Trump, two senators, Chris Christie. There were -- there were seven people who were infected at that event, almost certainly as a consequence of meeting the president.

[06:10:23]

That event did not require masks if the attendees tested negative. What they didn't know is that the host of that event, the president of the United States, was going to infect them.

There were an outdoor event, and it was also -- there were also two indoor events that day, meet and greets, inside, which obviously raises the risk of infection to a much greater degree.

So the president himself was the super-spreader event. And the president himself likely infected Ronna McDaniel the day before, when he met with her on the 25th.

So now three days later, at the time of the debate with 77-year-old Joe Biden, the president of the United States has active COVID. And the White House knew it. And if -- if the story is correct, then the White House physician knew it. And the White House physician never should have allowed the president to debate.

And that is something that many people would resign over, rather than allow that to go forward. His responsibility was to be the president's physician, not the president's enabler.

KEILAR: Yes. Let's not forget that doctor had taken an oath himself. I think it's a very good point that you raise.

We're going to keep focusing on this. I know this was over a year ago, but this is a person who is still very much the central nervous system of the GOP. And we're talking about a stunning disregard for human life. From as you mentioned, Joe Biden, to these Gold Star families who had already suffered enough loss, to all of the people he came into contact with, including his own staff and his own family members and his own child -- his own children.

Dr. Reiner, Rachel Bade, I want to thank both of you.

BADE: Thank you.

REINER: A pleasure.

BERMAN: So we're getting new information about the chaotic scene at this mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan. Police say a 15- year-old sophomore opened fire, killing three students, wounding eight others, including a teacher.

KEILAR: There's some chilling classroom video that shows students barricading themselves as the shooter walks through the hallways. Some of the kids did manage to escape through a window.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is on the scene there in Oxford, Michigan, with more. Shimon, what can you tell us?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, police saying that this shooting lasted five minutes. They say that it was the quick reaction by responding officers and forcing the alleged 15-year-old shooter to surrender, to put his gun down, that saved lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): A 15-year-old boy is in police custody this morning, suspected of shooting and killing three students and injuring eight others at Oxford High School in Michigan.

SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Preliminary investigation revealed that the weapon used in the shooting was purchased November 26, four days ago, by the boy's father.

PROKUPECZ: Authorities say they received more than a hundred 911 calls about the incident.

UNDERSHERIFF MICHAEL MCCABE, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: The deputies took a suspect into custody within five minutes of the original 911 call. They recovered a handgun from the suspect. PROKUPECZ: Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Madisyn Baldwin were killed

in the shooting, according to the Oakland County sheriff, all under the age of 17.

BOUCHARD: Another eight people were injured, seven students and one teacher.

PROKUPECZ: At least three of the injured are in critical condition.

BOUCHARD: This touches us all personally and deeply and will for a long time. This wound will never go away.

PROKUPECZ: An Oxford High freshman took these videos while on lockdown during the shooting in his sign language class.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff's office. It's safe to come out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said it's safe to come out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not willing to take that risk right now.

PROKUPECZ: The students then evacuate, climbing through a window.

Aiden Page says he was in the classroom when his teacher took quick action to protect the students sitting inside.

AIDEN PAGE, OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: We heard two gunshots. And then, after that, my teacher ran into the room, locked it. We barricaded. And then we covered the windows and hid.

The very first thing in my head was, this is actually happening? I'm going to text my family, say I love them, just in case if I were to die.

PROKUPECZ: Governor Gretchen Whitmer emotional while speaking about the shooting.

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): I think this is every parent's worst nightmare.

[06:15:03]

PROKUPECZ: She also called for efforts to end gun violence.

WHITMER: This is a uniquely American problem that we need to address. At this juncture, I think we need to focus on the community, the

families, supporting all the first responders, including the incredible people at our hospitals that are working so hard to save the lives of those who are fighting for their lives right now.

PROKUPECZ: President Biden weighed in on the incident while on a visit in Minnesota.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As we learn the full details, my heart goes out to the families enduring the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one. PROKUPECZ: Meantime in Michigan, the Oxford community is in mourning,

stunned by the tragedy that ended three young lives far too soon.

ELLA GILLING, OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR: They didn't deserve to die tonight. And just everybody who went through it. We're all family, a community. And I think we need to really go through this together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PROKUPECZ: And sadly, guys, this morning a 14-year-old girl who authorities say was on a ventilator, she continues to fight to survive, continues to fight for her life. As we wait word from prosecutors on whether they're going to charge the alleged shooter, that 15-year-old, as an adult.

KEILAR: All right, Shimon. We'll be awaiting that information. Shimon Prokupecz, live for us in Michigan.

Up next, stricter coronavirus testing being weighed for all U.S. travelers. We'll talk about what the Biden administration is considering.

BERMAN: Colorful emojis, the trash in the GOP. That's a quote from a Republican. The Republican Party dealing with its own infighting. Kevin McCarthy's message of unity, a mess.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:48]

BERMAN: New this morning, we're expecting an announcement from the Biden administration on new measures to deal with the Omicron COVID variant. The administration is considering stricter testing for all travelers arriving in the United States.

CNN's Athena Jones live at Newark International Airport.

These would be major changes. Travelers, even before they leave to come to the United States, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. That's right.

This is all part of trying to make international travel as safe as possible. And it's stepped up surveillance for COVID and, of course, for the Omicron variant specifically.

This is the sort of thing that CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky telegraphed to reporters on Tuesday. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: The CDC is evaluating how to make international travel as safe as possible, including pre-departure testing closer to the time of flight, and considerations around additional post-arrival testing and self-quarantine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so to that end, top government officials have been discussing several measures that are under consideration, including requiring everyone who enters the U.S. to be tested for COVID-19 a day before their flight; and having all travelers, including U.S. citizens and permanent residents, to be tested again after returning home, regardless of their vaccination status.

Now, no final decision has been made, so we don't know exactly what the new regulations will be. But these are the things under consideration.

Currently, travelers are required to test three days before their departure to the U.S. So this moves up that timeline quite a bit. Again, in an effort to make sure that international travel can be as safe as possible -- John.

BERMAN: And Athena, I guess a number of airports, four major airports, I understand, will be doing their own screening for the variant? What's going on here?

JONES: That's right. We're at one of those airports right now, John. This is Newark International Airport. I'll show you the setup they have here, express check, to do this enhanced screening for international arrivals, this is going on not just here in Newark International Airport, but also in John F. Kennedy International Airport in San Francisco and Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson.

Again, part of trying to keep up -- step up surveillance for this Omicron variant.

This system is going to allow increased testing of COVID for specific international arrivals and increase the CDC's capacity to identify these cases and, of course, to trace them later. They're going to be working with state and local health authorities to keep track of all of this to enhance, you know, surveillance and really keep an eye out for travelers from anywhere that could be coming into the U.S. with COVID-19 and particularly with this Omicron variant.

Of course, this is a week of changes to travel rules. Just on Monday, the U.S. banned travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries, after the Omicron variant was detected there -- John.

BERMAN: There are those who think increased testing is something the United States could and should have been doing all along already.

Athena Jones, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Now, there are three critical questions when it comes to Omicron. How transmissible is it? Is it more severe than other versions of COVID? And how effective are vaccines against it?

We know that important data is now coming from South Africa. And joining us now from South Africa is a doctor who is treating patients sickened by Omicron. Dr. Mvuyisi Mzukwa, who is with us. He is the vice chair of the South African Medical Association.

Doctor, can you tell us what you are seeing here in terms of transmissibility and severity when you're seeing patients?

DR. MVUYISI MZUKWA, VICE CHAIR, SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: Good morning to you. Thank you for having someone on your program.

What is happening, what we see on the ground is that we're seeing younger patients, and we're seeing minor cases of Omicron. But also, we -- what we have noted is that the people that are being hospitalized are largely unvaccinated. About 90 percent of those are unvaccinated.

But there is a very few number of people who are getting admitted, because our healthcare system is not under pressure. There is not that widespread in our provinces.

Obviously, we're still getting that information as to the -- the spread of this Omicron in the -- in the country. But it is not what it is touted to be out there.

The South African government has not put the country under any federal restrictions. Like I said, there is nothing much that we see beyond what we have seen with the Delta variant.

KEILAR: So let me ask you about that. Because as we spoke yesterday with one of your colleagues, Dr. Coetzee (ph), she was talking about hospitalizations that have gone up. She mentioned the mild cases, right, that you were seeing, as well.

But we are seeing that admissions to hospitals, which are -- you know, that's not a great indicator; that's a pretty bad indicator -- are off four times in the Gauteng province, really, the epicenter of this, which is not where you are. But across the country, you're also seeing that broadly as a trend, up 63 percent here in the last month with hospitalizations.

What do you think about that?

MZUKWA: Well, even in Gauteng where this variant is concentrated, we have not seen that much hospitalization. All we see is that those patients that do get admitted are patients who are not vaccinated.

But if you compare the other provinces, the other eight provinces, there is no height there. For example, the Eastern Cape is still sitting at 25 cases per day. There's nothing much, you know, in terms of, you know, transmissibility that is beyond what we have seen with Delta.

We're getting statistics from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in South Africa. And that's a reliable institute that we have, you know, that is coordinating information regarding the Omicron and -- and the whole COVID-19 epidemic in the country.

KEILAR: Well, look, thank you so much for being with us. We're very much looking to you and other doctors there in South Africa as you experience the first of these cases, as we try to figure out, really, what's happening here. Doctor Mzukwa, thank you.

MZUKWA: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: The infighting in the Republican Party hitting a fever pitch, as CNN reports the far-right members of the caucus -- conference, I should say, are ignoring Kevin McCarthy's plea to stop the insults.

BERMAN: Controversial TV doctor Mehmet Oz wants a new title. He wants to be a senator from Pennsylvania. Two questions this morning: Does he live there and what are his chances?

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