Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) Blames Trump
LEMON: So, here's our breaking news tonight. The President of the United States awaiting his COVID test results. Not sure if he is positive or negative at this moment for the coronavirus. His top aide Hope Hicks has tested positive. Sources say she is experiencing symptoms. Right now, no one closer to the president as far as working than Hope Hicks besides his family. So, listen, I want to get to Dr. Jonathan Reiner quickly. Jonathan -- Dr. Jonathan Reiner, it's interesting because, you know, we've been talking about getting these results within 15 minutes. If the president was negative, wouldn't they have come out? One would think, I should say, they would have come out and told us by now. So why the delay? What do you think is going on?</s>REINER: Either confirming either a negative or a positive result with the more definitive study, which takes about an hour and a half.</s>LEMON: Does it -- but they have known since --</s>REINER: I think they can come out --</s>LEMON: -- Wednesday and the president -- let's see, so the president was on Fox News at about 9 p.m. and he had heard about it before he went on Fox News. So that is, you know, an hour and at least 30 minutes ago. So that's maybe two hours. And it takes 15 minutes. Wouldn't by now they would have some idea about something?</s>REINER: Probably. But when they come out and either say the president is negative or the president is positive, they have to be sure about that. You know, we saw recently with -- I believe it was the governor of Ohio who tested positive and then they rechecked it and he was negative, and there was a lot of confusion. You can't have that with the President of the United States. If you tell the public the president is negative, he has to be negative. So, they may not be relying on the Abbot I.D. now test. They may want, you know, the full, you know, lab PCR exam for that. And that's what I'm assuming they're doing. They're confirming whatever test they've run. But don't forget, the president almost certainly would have been tested last night. If -- if she was positive last night, they would have tested the president last night. And they would have tested him again today. So, there are results which have -- which have been acquired. But if he was tested tonight, they're waiting for a confirmatory test. I know that with certainty.</s>LEMON: Listen, doctor, explain to -- I'm not a doctor. I can explain to you why this is so important, but I think it means more when it's coming from your lips, why this is so important for our viewers, for Americans and the world when you hear the President of the United States of America is awaiting his COVID test results and is not sure if he is positive or negative. Why is this so important?</s>REINER: OK. So, it's important, Don, on multiple levels. So, let's talk about the personal level for the president. It's important because he'd in the highest risk group. You know, he's over the age of 70, he's obese, and, you know, he has the highest risk of dying should he contract this virus. So, on a personal level, that's -- there are important consequences for him, should he acquire this virus. But on a national level, look, the president has been running these rallies since the beginning of the summer, both indoors and outdoors. Without social distancing and without universal masking for his attendees and, you know, I've become like a broken record coming on your show and others saying how irresponsible that is.</s>LEMON: Every day for eight months now we have been saying all that. But, sorry, go on, doctor.</s>REINER: And, you know, you know, we were talking today about, you know, Wisconsin and the plan to go into a state which has a 22 percent positivity rate. A state that has -- had their COVID mortality increase by 50 percent over the past couple of weeks and do a rally with unmasked people who believe the president. They believe him that this is not such a big deal. The -- imagine if the president had come out eight months ago and said this is a really big deal. And we're going to take care of each other. We're going to mask up. We're going to stay home if we get sick. We're not going to gather in big crowds and we're going to put our country back together. We'd be in an entirely different place now.</s>LEMON: Right.</s>REINER: But even with the virus surging through the summer, he didn't do that.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>REINER: Look, I have no schadenfreude about this. I want the president to be negative, but I want the public to understand that this virus is real. And if you go out in public you need to have a mask on.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>REINER: If you have a mask on, you will not get this virus.</s>LEMON: Well, listen, none of us should be. And again, we hope that the president and the first lady and everyone who's been around him we hope that they are OK, and, of course, Hope Hicks as well. Doctor, thank you very much. And just as the doctor was saying about -- about the president's schedule. This is what the president did this week -- thank you, doctor. We appreciate it.</s>REINER: Sure.</s>LEMON: I've got these guys. So, listen, he went to the debate on Ohio, that was on Tuesday. Then Minnesota, he went to that rally. Today we're told by Kaitlan Collins he went to a fund-raiser in New Jersey and she was told, that was inside, she was told that he was not wearing a mask. He is supposed to have two rallies in Wisconsin this week and then tomorrow he's supposed to have another rally in Florida. Now, listen, I don't know if this is the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. But on Friday, we just got the schedule, just came out, 10.42 from the president's schedule here. At 10.30, the president receives his intelligence briefing in the Oval Office. At 12.15, the president hosts a phone call on COVID-19 supportive vulnerable seniors with the White House at 2.40, fund- raiser at Trump International Hotel. Then he flies om Air Force One to Florida, then he has a campaign rally in Sanford, Florida, and then he flies on Air Force One back to D.C. So, the president obviously gets around. That is his business, to conduct the business of the country. And this is campaign season. So, he's in contact with a lot of people, and he has been in contact with a lot of people, and potentially in contact if he follows the schedule. But there is no doubt that this president should be self-quarantining at this point. I want to bring in someone now who has been standing by very patiently, and that is former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, who was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Congressman, thank you. I'm sure you understand how this goes. We've got some breaking news, so we have to get it on the air and we've got to do it thoroughly. But so, before we talk about, you know, voting in Texas, I've got to get your reaction to the president and this breaking news. He says he is still awaiting his coronavirus test after Hope Hicks tests positive. There is a serious risk of exposure to the president here. Give me your reaction to this breaking news story, please.</s>FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX): Look, I hope that Hope Hicks is OK. I hope that the president and his traveling party are OK, that they're not infected. I hope that he does not expose anyone else and follows the best public health guidance and medical guidance. I don't think he will. If past performance is a predictor of future performance then he's not going to. And, look, let's -- Don, let's remember, this guy is in large part responsible for the deaths of nearly 210,000 of our fellow Americans, nearly 16,000 of my fellow Texans, almost 600 of my fellow El Pasoens. We are 4 percent of the globe's population. We are 22 percent of the globe's active cases, almost a quarter of the deaths, and that's not by force of God or Mother Nature, but the miserable leadership of one man, Donald Trump, and every Republican senator who enables him, every Republican governor like Greg Abbot follows in his footsteps. He has cause this this to happen. And so, while we're concerned about him as we should be. He's the President of the United States. Let's also think about everyone who is sick right now, everyone who has lost a family member, all those who are struggling right now against this pandemic with no help, no strategy and no plan from the president.</s>LEMON: And I just want to point out because you know how some things are taken out of context and you were misquoted. Congressman O'Rourke did say in part. He is not saying the president is responsible for every death in this country. He is saying in part because of his -- what you deemed his lack of leadership on this subject, correct? On the pandemic.</s>O'ROURKE: Clearly.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>O'ROURKE: Absolutely. For him to know and tell Bob Woodward that eight months ago how deadly this virus and this pandemic is, for him to go out publicly and gather people without masks and to mock those who do wear masks and to ignore the best public health guidance and thereby infect our fellow Americans, many of whom would end up dying from COVID-19, yes, he bears responsibility for many of those deaths.</s>LEMON: OK. I need to stand you by. I'm sorry, Congressman. I have to get some breaking news right now. I want to go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins on our breaking news. As I understand, Kaitlan, the president is going to quarantine, is that correct?</s>COLLINS: Yes. This is notable because this is not something the president has done when anyone else around him has tested positive. Don, he just tweeted that he is still waiting on his test results, so is the first lady. And he says in the meantime we will begin our quarantine process after noting that Hope Hicks, of course, had tested positive. Don, I don't know exactly what this means, but it is telling that the president says they took a test tonight, they don't have the results still here almost at 11 o'clock, over an hour after the president first said they were waiting on the results. And we know the White House has the 15-minute tests at their disposal. It's what they use to test people every single day. Yet, the president says he's still waiting on his result and he's going to quarantine. And, of course, this comes just moments after you've just read his public schedule for tomorrow which had a fund- raiser and a roundtable and a public rally, of course, in Florida. And the president seems to be saying he is going to cancel that if he's going to be quarantining. But it just raises questions, Don, about whether or not the president got a rapid test tonight and what the result of that was. Because typically they would be able to say right away, yes, it was positive or, yes, it was negative. And as you noted, that still raises questions about whether or not he should be quarantining, but it's notable that right now he says he is going to go into this quarantine process because Hope Hicks tested positive, something he has not done in the past when other people who still work pretty closely with him have also tested positive.</s>LEMON: Our Kaitlan Collins reporting the breaking news. And, Kaitlan, stay with me just for a moment. Kaitlan just reported the news about the president tweeting tonight. Hope Hicks has been working so hard, without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for COVID- 19. Terrible. The first lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process. It's certainly a turn of events here, Kaitlan, when you hear from the President of the United States, when you go back and look at the public record of him and his handling of this virus. And the statements he's made about the virus. That it's going to go away. That it is a hoax. That he doesn't want to wear masks. That people should be opening up. That people's personal liberties were being taken away. Making fun of the former vice president about wearing masks and so on and so forth. And now he is in a position where he has to self- quarantine because he does not know if he is positive or negative at this moment for the coronavirus.</s>COLLINS: And Don, he says he doesn't know, but it really does raise questions about what he knows and if he's been tested and if he's gotten any results from the rapid test and has since taken the other test, which of course can take several hours. There's difference in those two tests. And we know that sometimes with the rapid test they can have false positives. They do not have a 100 percent accuracy rate. That's what medical experts have said. But it just really raises questions, because the president -- I cannot stress enough -- has never quarantined before when the person who handles his food and beverage tested positive, when his national security adviser tested positive, when the vice president's communications director tested positive, but now with Hope Hicks testing positive -- something that we should note was first reported by the media not announced by the White House then later confirmed by the president, he now says he's going to quarantine. So, it really does raise questions. And of course, this is crucial to public knowledge knowing the president's health and whether or not he's tested positive for the coronavirus. So, the White House has not committed yet to giving us the result of what the president the outcome of his test is going to be. But it's notable that he says he and the first lady are going to quarantine. And what that means for staff? Can they still come to the White House? Can they still come into the residents of the White House? Is he still going to go to this rally tomorrow? It sounds like a no, but it's raising a whole slew of questions about what's been transpiring in the last few hours to lead the president to make this decision.</s>LEMON: All right, Kaitlan, I want you to stand by. Kaitlan Collins with our breaking news. The first lady and the president of United States will begin their quarantine process after his top aide tests positive for the coronavirus. He and the first lady, according to him, they're awaiting the results of their tests. Dr. Jonathan Reiner is here as well as our Kaitlan. Is Kaitlan going to stay with us? She's going to get new reporting, right? Is she going to continue to report right now? OK, so we'll get back to Kaitlan. She's going to go and work on some reporting. I'll bring the doctor in. Doctor, so let's do some contact tracing. According to Kaitlan and our White House team, I think the vice president was in contact with the president and in the, I think in the West Wing or in the Oval Office as of two days ago. You see Jared Kushner. You see Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller all getting on to Marine One after the president gets on, no one wearing masks. They're getting into a confined space. A small confined space, and then going to Air Force One, which is a bigger confined space. You're saying everyone who has been in contact with Hope Hicks or in these situations should be quarantining right now?</s>REINER: Yes, everyone should be quarantining now and I'll go even further and say that the speaker of the House should be protected in isolation now, because it doesn't violate the rules of physics now for both the vice president and the President of the United States to get sick. And if the -- you know, the continuity of government requires that we have a clear leader here, and it's very possible that the president and the vice president can both become sick right now. So, I would limit activity for the speaker of House, make sure that she's really isolated and in a relatively sterile environment.</s>LEMON: What do you make of the president now saying that he and the first lady will now begin their quarantine process?</s>REINER: It's the right thing to do, and I applaud them for doing that. But let me just say that at least the initial test result for the president is back. You know, this hasn't been set off to quest and he's going to get it back in two to three days and wait for his doctor to call him. They have the initial test result. At some point this evening it would be irresponsible for the White House and the White House physician not to inform the public of the president's status tonight. Almost certainly the result, the molecular more sensitive test will come back very shortly if it's not already back to confirm the earlier test this evening, and the public should be told whether the president is positive or negative. It should be done tonight. The result will be available tonight. It won't take till the morning. This is not a send out. So, it means something if we don't hear about the president's status tonight.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>REINER: Because you would certainly tell the public he's negative.</s>LEMON: Yes. Say that one more time clearer for our viewers again.</s>REINER: They will have the president's COVID testing shortly, and with a confirmatory test, I'm sure. That result should be clearly communicated to the public tonight. I hope it's negative. And if it's negative, the public should be told that. The public deserves to know that. If he's positive, the public should know that as well.</s>LEMON: Doctor, I want you to stand by. I want our viewers to stand by as well.</s>REINER: Sure.</s>LEMON: Lots of breaking news. We're getting developments on the president, the situation that's happening at the White House right now. The president and first lady beginning a quarantine, their quarantine process after his top aide Hope Hicks tested positive for the coronavirus. She is at home now feeling the symptoms. We're understanding that she is fairly sick. But hopefully she will be OK and the president and the first lady as well. But at this hour, according to the President of the United States, he does not know if he's positive or negative for the coronavirus and he's awaiting a result of a test. We'll be right back.