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The Situation Room

Trump, Battling COVID-19 at Walter Reed, Takes Photo Op Joyride with Secret Service Agents in SUV; Rep. Adam Schiff is Interviewed about Donald Trump. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired October 04, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of the Situation Room.

We begin tonight with a ride by the President of the United States, one that is calling into question what we know about it, his health and his judgment.

This was earlier tonight, the President waving to supporters from the back of his SUV after leaving his suite at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the hospital where he's being treated for COVID-19.

Of course, he wasn't alone in that vehicle, two people, presumably Secret Service agents were in the car with him. While we don't know what this means for their health. We did learn more details of the President's health from his doctor and those details were troubling.

His physician Dr. Sean Conley was upbeat about the President's condition. But what he said let our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta say the President of the United States may be sicker than his medical team is letting up.

And one striking detail, the President is now taking steroids. One that's recommended by the World Health Organization only for people suffering from the most severe cases of COVID and needs supplemental oxygen. Of course, he's also being treated with two other powerful drugs and experimental antibody cocktail, an Remdesivir, which has been shown to shorten recovery time for some coronavirus patients, but there are potentially side effects.

Let's get to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's outside Walter Reed right now for us.

Jeremy, you were standing there when the President made that unannounced surprise photo op appearance just a little while ago? How did it go down? How did the people outside the hospital react? What's the latest?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was a surreal scene. There have been dozens of the President's supporters who have been here outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center all day to show their support for the President. But it was a surprise to them as much as it was to us to see the presidential motorcade suddenly rolling down this street right in front of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

I mean, the President of the United States, we know that he is ill, he is extremely contagious, he has coronavirus. We know that he is on three powerful drugs now to try and get the President to recover from this virus. And yet here he was in this SUV rolling down the street. The President waving to his supporters who were here giving a few fist bumps.

And Wolf, it was signature Trump, you know, at a moment of weakness, at a moments where we know the President is in ill health. We heard his doctor's earlier today describing his condition the fact that his oxygenation levels dipped to below healthy levels, both yesterday and the day before. And so the President obviously here seizing control of the message to try and project this image of strength at a time, Wolf, where he is anything but that really going through the wringer with this virus.

BLITZER: The President's team of doctors, Jeremy, spoke to reporters earlier today, the second time in two days. What are they saying about the President's health right now? In which direction do they see his condition moving?

DIAMOND: Well, Wolf, we learn more details about the President's condition. We learned that he had a worryingly high fever on Friday and that his oxygen levels dipped below 94 percent prompting this visit to Walter Reed Hospital.

And while we did hear more details, Wolf, from the President's doctor, Dr. Sean Conley and the other physicians there today, we also still have a lot of questions that remain. I mean, Dr. Conley explained that he provided an upbeat assessment yesterday because he was trying to steer the course of the President's illness in a positive direction trying to reflect the upbeat view of the President's medical team.

[23:35:04]

But Wolf, that's withholding information from the American people about the health of a 74 year old president who is in a high risk category for this virus. And they continued to withhold more information today, even as they revealed that the President is not only on this antibody cocktail, he is also on the antiviral Remdesivir and he is also now on a steroid dexamethasone, which is indicated only typically, Wolf, for patients with severe symptoms of the coronavirus. They still withheld other critical information, for example, declining to say exactly how low the President's oxygen saturation levels went.

And also more critically, Wolf, declining to say what the President's lung CT and X-ray scans actually showed. Dr. Conley only saying that they found expected findings, which leads to the question of what those expected findings are. Does the President have pneumonia? Does he have any scarring on his lungs? Those are some of the critical questions that medical experts have raised in the wake of this briefing. But unfortunately, Wolf, we did not get the answers to those questions today.

BLITZER: Keyword, unfortunately. Thank you very much Jeremy Diamond over at Walter Reed.

It's been a few days since the world learned that President Trump is now diagnosed with coronavirus. And tonight there isn't much clarity on how his administration is alerting people who may have been exposed to the President while he was surely contagious.

Let's good to see it as Kaitlan Collins who's joining us from the White House right now.

Kaitlan, time is crucial in what's called contact tracing. What do we know about the White House efforts to try to curb the spread? So many of the President's aides and supporters have now also tested positive for COVID-19?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. You are seeing a growing number of people who have spent time in the President's vicinity in recent days now test positive for coronavirus. And, of course, what has been so critical about that is letting those people know whether or not they were exposed to someone who had tested positive. You can see how many people surrounding the President there have now tested positive for coronavirus.

And what the White House has been doing to contact trace, the medical unit here seems to be minimal or slow at best based on what we've heard from people who were at these events who had not heard anything from the White House through official channels. But even people, a cabinet secretary, we were told was being -- was struggling to get all the information about what was actually going on when the President was moved to Walter Reed on Friday.

But Wolf, going back to what happened this afternoon when the President took that ride with Secret Service agents, I want to let you know about a statement we just got from the White House defending that trip that the President took.

And this is what a White House spokesman saying that appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the President and all those supporting it, including PPE. They said this movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do.

Now they do not say who on the medical team cleared this movement, whether it was Dr. Sean Conley, the President's physician himself or another member of that team, given we know there are multiple people treating the President. But they're talking about PPE, you see the Secret Service agents, they're in the front seat, wearing a mask, a face shield and a gown over their clothing. The president of course, is in the backseat only wearing a cloth mask.

And this is a sealed vehicle obviously meant to protect the President from any kind of chemical attacked, but the windows are up. Typically, if you've been riding in a car lately with someone else, your windows have likely been down, the windows are rolled up there. So of course, given the President is positive and raised questions about whether or not he was endangering the people who are meant to protect him.

BLITZER: And they didn't even notify the traveling White House press corps, the pool of reporters who always have to be informed about the President's whereabouts, right?

COLLINS: That's right. They did not tell them. They actually had sent them back to the White House. They had been at Walter Reed earlier today for that briefing with the doctors that you were talking about with Jeremy.

And then they said they're going to be no more presidential movements. So the reporters made the drive back here to the White House. It's a good 30-minute drive, probably, to Walter Reed from where I'm standing right now. And so then the President makes this movement and we had no idea.

And Wolf, if you cover this White House, as of course you did, but if you don't, for viewers at home, if the President makes any movement, if he goes to get a pack of gum, reporters are there traveling with him because it's vital. You never know what could happen to the President. And it's important to have independent coverage, not just White House cameras or White House accounts of what's going on with the President. And some of those major movements ever in presidential history, there have been reporters there.

On 9-11 when Ronald Reagan was shot, those moments reporters were present. So it's important even if the President is only taking a short drive outside the White House, that reporters are there too. And tonight the White House did not inform us about that. We found out about it literally as it was happening, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. And that is totally, totally unacceptable. I speak as a journalist, but also as a former White House correspondent.

Kaitlan, thank you very much. We're going to get back to you.

Joining us now for more on the President's condition. Dr. Patrice Harris. She's the immediate past president of the American Medical Association, and Dr. James Phillips, he's Chief of Disaster Medicine at the George Washington University Hospital. He's also a non-military attending physician at Walter Reed. And I want to make clear he has not, repeat, not participated in the care of the President but has treated COVID in similar circumstances.

[23:40:14]

So Dr. Phillips, you tweeted that this photo op with the President driving by his supporters was, in your words political theater, unnecessary, and actually put the lives of Secret Service agents at risk. We just got a statement for the White House saying the trip was cleared by the medical team as safe to do, those are the words. So, do you buy that?

DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE AT GEORGE WASHINGTON HOSPITAL: That's not standard practice by any means. And I have a hard time believing that without undue influence based on their chain of command that those physicians would have cleared that.

When we take care of patients in the emergency department, on the thousands of hours I've spent on the inpatient wards and surgery, medicine and ICU, we don't let patients leave the hospital when they're sick unless they sign out against medical advice, offering some bit of protection to the medical staff in the hospital itself.

In the emergency department, if a patient wants to go smoke a cigarette, we can't let them leave the hospital premises to go do so. There's risk to the public and risks to the patient themselves. So the idea that this would be cleared without any medical indication is absurd.

The only the only reason why someone with COVID-19, severe COVID-19, causing hypoxia on multiple IV drugs should ever be leaving the hospital would be in an ambulance to be transferred to a higher level of care. There is no higher level of care than what our President is currently getting. He's even being treated by the premier military physicians in the world, being augmented by doctors from Johns Hopkins and potentially elsewhere. So why leave? What is the purpose of this?

And certainly, looking at the risks of the transmission of COVID-19. What we know is it being in enclosed spaces is dangerous masks are no masks, being inside a vehicle that is hermetically sealed, circulates virus inside and potentially puts people at risk.

BLITZER: Yes, it certainly does. And Dr. Harris, the President, now we've spent just a little bit more than 48 hours at the Walter Reed Medical Center. We learned that he's receiving some very sophisticated drugs or Remdesivir, this experimental antibody therapy, and now dexamethasone, a steroid. For someone to get all three of these at the same time, what does that tell you about his condition?

DR. PATRICE HARRIS, FORMER PRESIDENT, AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: Well, Wolf, good to be with you.

And certainly his physicians are treating him very aggressively. And just based on what we know, so far, the President is ill. And he has -- had a couple of instances where his oxygen saturation has been low enough to require supplemental oxygen.

And again, he's on all three of these medications. So, I agree with Dr. Phillips, that he is still quite ill. We know that during the course of this illness, a patient can feel just fine and suddenly take a turn for the worse. So, really, for the President's own health and safety, this visit outside of the hospital was quite risky today.

BLITZER: It certainly was, you know, Dr. Phillips, what do we know about these medications? They're all pretty sophisticated, experimental, some of them when it comes to pat possible side effects. What kind of effect could they have, for example, on his mental state of mind?

PHILLIPS: Now it's a question that has been asked a lot in social media and talked about amongst physicians. He has been given dexamethasone, which is a steroid and anti-inflammatory that helps to sort of suppress the immune system, just a touch. And it's been known to affect the outcomes of COVID-19, severe COVID-19 in a way that it helps you survive.

We use similar medications in the treatment of asthma, allergic conditions and rheumatologic conditions.

Now what we know is in a certain subset of patients, there are side effects. They can be as simple as water retention and poor sleep. But in some patients, they can induce things like manic behavior or mania and things like that.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not insinuating that any of that is happening, nor my insinuating that the President's judgment has been affected in any way. But there are certain side effects, particularly from the steroids that are possible, with remdesivir, you know, the side effects we do know some, but that profile has not been extremely well defined, because it's relatively new.

And to be quite honest with Regeneron, we have no good data to tell us what that is. Because it's so new and used on so few patients. What we know of the biochemistry, it shouldn't cause tremendous side effects. But that's why we do proper safety testing. Before even an emergency authorization can be granted by the FDA which it hasn't been in this case.

BLITZER: And as you know, Dr. Harris, the details are scarce, but the ones we have gotten are also confusing. The President Dr. Dr. Sean Conley mentioned chest scans and said there were," some expected findings but nothing of any major clinical concern."

[23:45:10]

What does that say to you? Because if I listened very closely that I'm not a physician, obviously, but you are. Tell us about that.

HARRIS: Well, Wolf, you know, the White House, physicians are certainly required to navigate a delicate balance, right? They certainly bear responsibility to the President, but they also bear responsibility to the public to be neutral and objective and transparent. And so does the President, the President is certainly as a patient entitled to his privacy, but as a public official, we need him to be open and transparent. The public again bouncing issues around his privacy and national security issues the public needs to know.

And I can tell you that patients can handle the truth. As a former public health director, the public can handle the truth. And they deserve that open, transparent, consistent and clear communication so that they know what's going on and have actually a sense of greater confidence with the truth rather than these non-answers and not having clear and open and transparent communication.

BLITZER: Dr. Harris, standby. Dr. Philip, standby. We have more developments unfolding.

As President Trump remains in the hospital. Top members of Congress, including the House Speaker say they haven't been briefed on his condition at all. Instead, they're relying on media reports.

Congressmen and Gang of Eight member, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, he's standing by live, we'll discuss when we come back.

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[23:50:39]

BLITZER: The President tonight surprising supporters waving from his motorcade during a very brief drive outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. But the photo op does little to make up for the lack of transparency from his medical team.

And it's not just the American people that don't have the answers today, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she still has not been briefed on the President's health even though after the vice president she's next in line of succession.

Democratic congressmen the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff is joining us right now.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, what was your reaction to seeing the President who was infected, seriously infected with coronavirus and is on all sorts of medications right now waving at a supporters from the back of that SUV?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF. (D) CALIFORNIA: Incredulous, Wolf. What on earth is he thinking? Why would you imagine it's a good idea to go for a photo op joyride when he is sick, when he's on experimental treatments?

And what's more, if he wasn't going to look after his own health? What about the people in that vehicle that hermetically sealed vehicle those Secret Service agents who are not in a position to say no to the president, it's irresponsible to them? And for what?

And then I just, you know, after he was explaining how much you've learned about the virus to go and do this, it's just unthinkable.

BLITZER: Yes, it was really, really amazing. You're a member of the so-called Gang of Eight, the top leadership in the House and the Senate Democrats and Republicans. I take it, you guys have not been briefed by the White House and any of this the President's condition? Is that so?

SCHIFF: We have not been briefed on it. And what's more, if four nations are looking at -- taking advantage of the President's potentially diminished capacity, we're not getting briefed on that either. Now, maybe that's not happening. Hopefully, that's not happening. But I would hope the administration would keep us in the loop.

Although I have to say, Wolf, the experience of the last several months where they have withheld or tried to muddy the waters in terms of the intelligence isn't encouraging in terms of their transparency.

BLITZER: Yes. I'm surprised that the Speaker of the House hasn't been briefed yet, either. Is that right?

SCHIFF: Well, you know, I don't know. I haven't spoken to Speaker about it. But I think as of this morning, that's what she was saying.

And, you know, the problem, Wolf, is if you had a responsible president, who had a diminished capacity, because he was taking serious medications, that President would be weighing what's in the best interest of the country? Is it in the best interest now for me to transfer authority to the vice president until I'm through this treatment, but we don't have that kind of President he's only ever looked out for himself. Which means that we could be potentially at risk. If the President's condition were to deteriorate, or the drugs, were impairing him.

And, you know, sadly, given the performance of his doctors in terms of being transparent with the public, it's hard to accept what we hear from the medical staff and certainly, you can't rely on what you hear from the White House staff.

BLITZER: Let me play a little clip of what the President posted about a minute long video on Twitter a couple hours or so ago. And in that video, he said this, let me play it for you, Congressman.

[23:55:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn't -- let's read the book school. And I get it, and I understand it.

And it's a very interesting thing. I'm going to be letting you know about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So seven months, eight months into this pandemic, he now says, I learned a lot about COVID. What did you think when you heard that?

SCHIFF: Wolf, he's had experts -- he's had access to the very best experts in the world. They've met with him, they've talked with him. He has been told over and over again, the importance of wearing a mask and socially distancing. He's been told when Clorox was not a legitimate treatment, he's been told not to push hydroxychloroquine, he doesn't listen to the experts.

And the fact that he would leave the hospital and go on that joy ride just as a further illustration that he still hasn't learned.

Now, look, I hope he makes a speedy and full recovery and the First Lady and all the administration and my Republican colleagues in the Senate, I wouldn't wish this nasty virus on anyone. But the hope that he will learn from this experience when he demonstrates yet again, by going on this joyride, that he has in today, it's an illusory hope at this point.

BLITZER: Yes. We all hope that he and everyone else who have gotten COVID over the past few days make a speedy recovery.

The timeline of the President's illness, though, Congressman is still unclear what questions would you like to be answered at this point?

SCHIFF: Well, I'd like to know when he got tested, when he knew he was negative, when he first suspected he was negative. What steps did it take to protect his own health? What steps would you take to protect the health of other people around him? Did he knowingly go off to meet with supporters, knowing that he would might be infectious because he'd been in contact with others who had been?

Why if he was on Fox and already had one positive test, did he not discuss that? You know, I just -- I think there's so many unanswered questions. And because contract tracing is so important to the health of other people around him, that a lot of those other people are also important government officials. We need the truth from the president. We need the truth from the White House. And that has always been in short supply.

BLITZER: Do you have any information and you're the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, that other nations' adversary specifically whether Russia or China, or Iran, North Korea, might be plotting to take advantage of the uncertainty what's going on in Washington right now?

SCHIFF: You know, Wolf, I have not been briefed on that. I would hope that if there is evidence of that kind, that the Gang of Eight would be immediately briefed on it.

Can I be confident of it? If it if it contradicts the President's preferred narrative, that he's got things under control? I really can't be confident of that, not with director Ratcliffe, who has shown too many times his willingness to, you know, bend to political pressure. So, I would hope so but I don't know that I can count on it.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Schiff, thank you so much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: New York City right now also seeing a spike of cases across nine neighborhoods. And now the mayor of New York is proposing new lockdowns that could start as early as this week. The coronavirus pandemic, it continues here in the United States non-stop. We have new developments. We'll be right back.

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