Infected Trump Invites Thousands To White House, Two Weeks After Super Spreader Event In Rose Garden; White House To Say When Trump Last Tested Negative; Influential COVID Model Predicts Almost 395,000 Deaths By February
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me on Fredricka Whitfield. All right, we began at the White House right now. Guests are lining up outside the White House side by side as you see right there, many not even wearing masks arriving for what could become a potential super spreader event. Next, our President Trump still possibly contagious from coronavirus is holding his first public events since testing positive nine days ago. We know the President has invited 2000 people and is expected to speak to supporters from the White House balcony. The last large gathering held on White House grounds is now considered to be a super spreader event. At least 20 people in President Trump's inner circle have tested positive for the virus since that Rose Garden event to announce Amy Comey Barrett as Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee. And that includes among those who tested positive, the president of course, First Lady advisors, the press secretary and two U.S. senators. And on top of that the President and his doctors refused to say whether he has tested negative in the last 24 hours or what his numbers might be. And they continued to remain evasive about his overall condition.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have been retested. And I haven't even found out numbers or anything yet, but I've been retested. And I know I'm at either the bottom of the scale or free.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Let's start at the White House. CNN's Sarah Westwood is there. So Sarah, we're just an hour away from this scheduled event that is possibly putting so much and so many at risk. What do we know about who the people are who are lined up and how this event will be carried out?</s>SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, we're expecting this to be a large bustling event this afternoon on the South Lawn. And we are not seeing from the images so far, a lot of mask squaring among the crowd that's filtering in. Those people also are not expected to be tested before they gather for the President's speech. Although the White House did announce a slate of precautions that they say they are taking. They are requiring that attendees wear masks while on the White House complex. And they're saying that the attendees will get screened through temperature checks in a brief questionnaire about COVID. But that mask wearing requirement is clearly not being enforced totally in the White House today because we spotted National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien in the briefing room earlier today giving it to her not wearing a mask despite the fact that not every six inches on the wall in the briefing room. There are signs reminding people to socially distance and wear their masks. We're seeing the images of attendees, they appear to be from conservative groups. They appear to be packed in tightly as they wait in line and get on to the South Lawn there. The event is just under an hour from now. White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah told reporters here at the White House earlier this morning at this is expected to be a brief appearance for President Trump. They're not expecting a long speech from him. It all seems to be part of this effort from the president to project the sense of normalcy, the sense of back to normal that he has been trying to put forward all week through releasing Twitter videos and doing a number of interviews with friendly news outlets. But we are still awaiting the results of the President's most recent COVID test. And that's really important because we do not know how to get into the speech today whether the President is still positive for coronavirus, whether he's still contagious. We haven't heard from the President's position in a while. So, there's not a lot of transparency into the President's condition right now. He did give an update on himself last night in one of those interviews. He said he was no longer taking any medication to treat the virus. And he revealed for the first time that a lung scan taken at some point during his treatment revealed that there was some congestion in his chest. That's not something that we knew before. Despite all of that the President is hitting the campaign trail this week. He will start with a rally in Florida on Monday, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Do we know anything about what's scheduled, you know, that the format that's scheduled for Monday?</s>WESTWOOD: On Monday we are expecting that rally to be in an airport hangar. So typically, when the President does a rally like that all or most of it will be outside. There have been encouragement for attendees to wear masks at these rallies but it's not required. It's not always enforced at those rallies. So, there could be some potentially shocking images of people packed in closely at this rally just a week after the President was hospitalized, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: And again, as you underscore what we're already starting to see with the many people who are lined up right there for the South Lawn on the White House event, many people are not wearing masks. And one more question for you, do you know -- do we know, you know, what they'll be doing? I mean, they just -- are they going to be sitting there on the South Lawn? Are they just going to have an opportunity to mingle while the president, you know, has his brief moment? Whatever brief means, you know, on the balcony?</s>WESTWOOD: You've heard the White House hasn't said a lot about the format for the event and about the structure out there on the South Lawn, but from the images that we are seeing people are milling about closely in a crowd that you might expect to see in any normal campaign event. We're not seeing a lot of attempts at social distancing so far. Now that could come into play because remember, the South Lawn is a very large outdoor space. It's much larger than the Rose Garden, so there is more room for social distancing but again, the White House not providing a lot of insight into the steps that they are taking to keep people spaced apart.</s>WHITFIELD: Right. More room but it also means it seems like it calls for more personal discipline in which to adhere to six feet or, you know, spacing between them and of course, the masks. All right, Sarah Westwood, thank you so much. Appreciate that. All right, and this just into CNN, the latest forecast of an influential coronavirus model from the University of Washington projects, almost 395,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths by February. That's about 180,000 more lives lost beyond the current U.S. death toll of almost 214,000. Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi is a professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine. Good to see you, Dr. Obi, you, me. So, what are your thoughts? When you look at these images of the many people who are lined up who will be on the South Lawn at the White House, many of whom don't appear to be wearing masks. Some are. And also, many of whom seem to be in close proximity. What are your thoughts, concerns, observations?</s>DR. GIGI EL-BAYOUMI, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, as someone who took care of hospitalized COVID patients, I can tell you that it's irresponsible. And ultimately, it's sad, because the President got top of the line treatment, has top of the line doctors, has access to excellent care. But I don't know about the people who are sitting in the south lawn, especially people who are older. Especially people who are overweight, people who have chronic medical conditions. And you realize according to this study that you just quoted, or the projection that you just quoted, if 95 percent of Americans wore masks between now and February 1st, we could cut that number of deaths, projected deaths from 200,000. To about 120,000. You could save 80,000 lives. So it's no joke. And I think it's irresponsible. And sadly, people will learn lessons when it's too late.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. You know, and they -- I guess there's a feeling that this event right here could potentially be a super spreader. Just because you have a lot of people convening in close proximity, many of whom are not taking, you know, the precautions, you know, but the president is trying to send a message and has been for some time, but particularly after being diagnosed with coronavirus that, look, look at me, you know I -- I'm virus free. In fact, he's willing to say I don't have it, and it wasn't a big deal and don't let it consume your lives. Don't be afraid. And now he's got this event where he's saying, hey, welcome to the property. And we don't know what he's going to say. But how worrisome are those actions, you know, is that, you know, jargon to you?</s>EL-BAYOUMI: Well, first of all, he's not out of the woods yet. We don't know enough about his inflammatory status. And if what he's saying is correct, and that he stopped all the medications, including the steroids, there could be a rebound. That's number one. Number two, life may be going back to normal for him. But I can guarantee you that anybody who has COVID whether it's younger people who have some of the long-haul symptoms or hospitalized patients who might die or have other complications. Did you know that 50 percent of people who have -- had COVID have some kind of cardiac involvement? So, we really don't know if things are back to normal. And again, even if things were normal for him, doesn't mean that things are back to normal for the rest of the country.</s>WHITFIELD: And quickly. He says he's virus free. What and how do you determine whether someone is virus free?</s>EL-BAYOUMI: Well, first of all, you do a test of viral load, much like we do an HIV testing. So, what's the viral load that's important and furthermore, when he says he's immune, that may be because he's tested positive from the antibodies that he received as part of his overall treatment.</s>EL-BAYOUMI: I just want to say one thing, because this reminds me of some of the rhetoric around HIV, I'm old enough to have been on the front lines when HIV devastated the country in the world. It's the same argument that people did not use or did use for not using condoms. And I heard Stephen Colbert, the other night say, well, the pregnancy test was negative in the morning, that means that we don't need to use the condom. It's the same kind of logic of the tests being negative, that doesn't matter if you test negative and are exposed right to a virus. And then finally, just to add, the super spreader events are also just because you're outside doesn't mean that you are free from being exposed to the virus, especially because when you're outside, you're probably speaking more loudly, right? And so instead of six feet, it may be more like 10 feet that you have to distance yourself. So, lots of factors but the bottom line is this is highly irresponsible. And unfortunately, I predict that people are going to lose their lives as a result of participating in this event.</s>WHITFIELD: Right, completely unnecessary to be exposed based on all that we do know about behaviors and how to protect ourselves. Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi, thank you so much. Appreciate that. So, the President's decision to hold this White House event as the pandemic worsens, is drawing fire from his competitor, Joe Biden. CNN's Jessica Dean joining us now from Pennsylvania. So, Jessica, how is the Democratic nominee responding?</s>JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, yesterday we heard from the Biden campaign, they called it stunningly reckless. They said President Trump is living in an alternate reality. Joe Biden has made President Trump's response to the COVID pandemic central to his campaign. And while he was on the campaign trail yesterday, we really heard his sharpest rebuke yet of President Trump since his diagnosis with COVID-19. Take a listen.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis for the stabilized destabilizing effect is having on our government is unconscionable. He didn't take the necessary precautions to protect himself or others. And the longer Donald Trump is president, the more reckless he gets. How can we trust him to protect this country?</s>DEAN: And you heard the honking in the background there, Joe Biden has taken two holding driving events where people can gather together but stay in their cars. The Biden campaign has constantly and continues to seek that sharp contrast between themselves between, Joe Biden and President Trump is President Trump goes on now to host an event at the White House. And also the Democratic National Committee doing what it can to draw attention to Trump's response as well. They're going to be driving around a billboard truck in Washington, D.C. as that happens today with coronavirus pandemic statistics on this side. So again, drawing attention to what the Trump administration has been doing in response to COVID, how they've been handling it and the President's behavior versus how Joe Biden would handle it and how he has been handling it, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica Dean, thank you so much in Erie, Pennsylvania. All right, coming up a major ruling on voting in Pennsylvania just 24 days before the election, a Federal judge denying a request to make ballot drop boxes in the state unconstitutional. So where does -- what does it all mean rather and what impact will it have on the selection of former assistant U.S. Attorney joining us live. Plus, stimulus controversy. Why several Republican senators are upset with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.