donald trump has said he and his wife
melania
have coronavirus and have begun a period
of quarantine
they were both tested after one of mr
trump's most senior advisors hope hicks
found out that she had the virus the
white house doctor has said both the
president
and the first lady are well and that mr
trump will continue to carry out his
duties
while he self-isolates president trump
confirmed the news on twitter saying
that he and the first lady will begin
our quarantine and recovery process
immediately
and that they will get through this
together well this is the scene live in
washington
dc where it's a little after 4 30 in the
morning
we're going to be getting reaction from
there as the u.s wakes up to the news
that
donald and melania trump have contracted
covert 19.
well a short while ago our north america
editor john soppel explained how
president trump
could have contracted the virus it's
simultaneously
astonishing that the president who is so
well protected where testing happens so
much
could have contracted virus the virus
and
also not in the least bit surprising
given the ambivalent attitude
in the white house towards wearing face
masks and you talk about
this very close aid and confidant uh
hope hicks having contracted it
uh earlier in the week um there is film
of her
and four other people walking to the
marine one helicopter that cramped
helicopter that takes the president and
those people
from the white house to andrews air
force base none of them
are wearing masks at all and that sort
of underlines the problem that you can
have all the
protection you need but actually if you
haven't got the masks mitigating it
then that could be problematic and
probably is
how it's spread donald trump is 74 years
old
the last full medical report we had said
that he was obese
those are two comorbidities that go with
covid that said the physicians
report i thought was very upbeat in its
assessment although very early days of
course
because it says that he thinks that the
president
should be able to continue his work
uninterrupted
while he recuperates and so no
suggestion there that the president
needs to step aside
and that they need to invoke article 25
of the constitution
for the vice president to temporarily
take over but where this leads the
campaign
and you know those small questions like
that
who knows john sopola north america
editor
well before his positive test for covert
president trump spoke to fox news about
his close aid
hope hicks and her positive test
she did test positive i just heard about
this she tested positive
she's a hard worker a lot of masks she
wears masks a lot but she tested
positive then i just went out with a
test i'll see what you know because we
spent a lot of time in the first lady
just went out with a test
also well first lady
melania trump posted on twitter as well
following the news that she and the u.s
president had tested positive for
coronavirus
she said as too many americans have done
this year
the president and i are quarantining at
home after testing positive for covert
19.
we are feeling good she wrote and i have
postponed all upcoming engagements
please be sure you are staying safe and
we will all get through this together
and vice president mike pence tweeted
karen and i
send our love and prayers to our dear
friends president trump and the first
lady
we joined millions across america
praying for their full and swift
recovery
god bless you president trump and our
wonderful first lady melania
world leaders have also been tweeting
their reaction the indian prime minister
narendra modi said
wishing my friend president trump and
the first lady a quick recovery
and good health here in the uk prime
minister boris johnson who himself
contracted coronavirus earlier this year
said he sends his best wishes to
president trump and the first lady
hope they both have a speedy recovery
from coronavirus
he wrote and the director general of the
world health organization has sent
his best wishes to the president and the
first lady for a
full and speedy recovery
well we're joined now by professor
kimberly nalder of california state
university
director of the project for an informed
electorate
thank you very much professor for
joining us today i mean your reaction
to this news first of all surprised not
surprised
it's not surprising in in terms of
you know his exposure and his lack of
precautions in terms of the virus if you
think back to the
the convention that was held at on the
white house lawn
it was almost as if there was no covet
going on no one had mass they weren't
distancing
and that's been sort of the case with
many of his events so it's not
surprising that he has it but it's still
a shock because it has major
implications for our election
and for you know just what happens in
the country in the next coming months
i just want to pick up on that right
away actually because you referred to
his appearance from the white house lawn
to the republican convention but of
course there was quite a lot of
controversy controversy around that
wasn't there
because the white house as a federal
building isn't supposed to be used
for campaigning so how do you think the
president is going to handle that given
he can't campaign out and about in the
next couple of weeks and
and the election is just four weeks away
uh you know frankly he he doesn't he
loves laws all the time
right um especially when it comes to
something like
uh the hat act uh or several of the acts
so he's um you know he'll he'll be
forced to
to do campaign events from the white
house but
um i think you know he's not going to
suffer a lot of consequences for that
because it's understandable under these
conditions
do you think in the circumstances he
should be allowed to uh you know he
probably will as you say but do you
think there's an issue with that given
that he has covert 19
i think it seems it seems reasonable i
don't think that that he's going to
you know be brought up on charges and
and
taken to court over it right it's very
understandable in fact that's advisable
we
would certainly prefer that he do that
instead of go out and campaign like he
was planning to
in person bringing lots of people
together exposing more people to this
virus potentially
and what bearing do you think his
contracting the virus
is going to have on the vote on these
remaining few weeks i mean frankly
um how would it play out if he either
remains well
or if if he was to become ill
well one of the things that that is a
main appeal that he has for people
is is kind of brash uh combative
strong man style and if he
appears weak if he appears sick and you
know especially if he gets intubated or
you know he's
he's on a ventilator that sort of thing
i mean that would really undercut
that image of him even if it's
subconscious for people
so that would be a big concern for him
if he did get
you know especially sick um if he's well
i
imagine that he'll say see you know it's
not that big of a deal
and it will reinforce that message that
he's been pushing all along
okay uh professor kimberly nalder from
california state university thank you
very much
for your time today let's talk now to
laurie laird who's an american political
commentator and
uh economist she joins us now uh thank
you very much lori as well
for joining us on bbc news what's your
reaction to this we've had you know the
the president as um you know some would
say an out and out covert denier
he's perhaps been forced more recently
on a few occasions into
wearing masks but his it's not his his
natural way is it to wear a mask or to
socially distance
uh so what do you make of the fact that
he now has the virus and how
he's going to cope with it and the
bearing it might have on the election
well i think like so many of your guests
this comes as a
a shock but not a surprise we know that
donald trump is not
often wearing masks and i i was watching
his uh
his nomination of amy coney barrett last
weekend
on the on in the rose garden at the
white house nobody had a mask on it
it harked back to earlier days before
pre-covered days
he didn't have a mask judge barrett
didn't have a mask none of the assembled
guests
had a mask we know donald trump doesn't
like to wear a mask we know that he he's
mocked joe biden
for wearing a mask kind of you know
questioned his masculinity
so it isn't all that surprising i think
there are a couple of big questions
though
one is how sick will donald trump get so
many of your guests have mentioned that
he is in a high risk area
he is clinically obese he is over the
age of 70 and it's
sort of ironic donald trump has mocked
joe biden for being so elderly
donald trump's only three years younger
than joe biden he is
in a high risk area we know that his
cogniti was caught very quickly he is
probably
one of the most tested men in the world
could his condition
deteriorate that is a very big question
the other question is
who has he been in contact with the
president is in contact with so
very many people during the course of
the day economic advisors national
security advisors
campaign advisors it's not unlikely it's
not impossible that so many aides from
so many different bits of
ultimately that could include
people involved in the nomination
process of judge barrett people involved
in coming up
with a stimulus plan on the economic
side so how widely spread through the
west wing through the white house
could corona be