JUDY WOODRUFF: With
President Trump's return
to the White House,

let's turn now to one his
reelection campaign's senior
adviser, Steve Cortes.

Steve Cortes, welcome
to the "NewsHour."

So, we heard the president's
doctors today say he
is not out of the woods

yet. They are watching him
very closely. They say they
know he is still contagious.

Given that, why is it a
good idea for him to go
back to the White House?

STEVE CORTES, Trump
2020 Campaign Senior
Adviser: Well, listen,

I'm not going to speak to
the medical side of things.

That is obviously
up to his team.

But we know that they
approved of this, and I
trust in their judgment.

Dr. Conley is not only a
man of science, but he's
also a Naval officer,

an incredible patriot who served
this country in Afghanistan.
So, between his -- both his

patriotic service and his
professional credentials,
I'm going to defer to them.

Of course, the president
prefers to be in the
White House. I think

most patients of any kind
prefer to be at home.

But he's not doing this without
the approval and cooperation
of his medical staff.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It's
understandable he'd
want to be back there.

But, as you know, again, he's
still contagious. We already
have at the White House

not just the president. You
have the press secretary,
you have to press aides,

you have other -- others on the
staff who have tested positive.

And there's going to
have to be a duplicative,

secure area around the president
because he's contagious.

It just -- it just calls
into question why, and
whether this is being done
for political reasons.

STEVE CORTES: Well, listen, no,
I can assure you it's not being
done for political reasons.

I think that the --
again, I defer to the
medical authorities,

I'm not a doctor. I'm going
to defer to them that they
think this is appropriate,

and they believe they can
manage him, as well as protect
other folks at the White House.

And then, secondly, I
will just tell you, from
a governmental standpoint,
although he does have an

office suite, and a
considerable one, at Walter
Reed, it's, of course,
not quite the White House.

And I think that the
president believes that he
will be more effective as our

commander in chief in
the White House, and that
he can do so effectively

while protecting other folks.
Clearly, he's not going
to be wandering the halls

of the West Wing or next door at
the Executive Office Building.

But, look, this is good
news. I mean, I think that
we all should celebrate
this, that our president,

who everyone, I think even
people who don't support his
agenda, were very understandably

worried when Marine One
took off from the White
House with our president
infected with this virus.

He is now returning home in far,
far better condition already
in just a few short days.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well,
let me ask you about the
state of the campaign.

As we know, the campaign
manager is now down with
COVID. The chairman of the RNC

is down with COVID. The
president is back in -
- behind Joe Biden by
anywhere from eight,

nine or more points
in the polls.

What is the shape? How far are
you behind in this campaign?

STEVE CORTES: Well, let me
address that, please, on
polls, because I think -- and,

look, I don't like to
play the game of just
cherry-picking polls.

But, if we're going to do
that, yes, there are some
polls that have come out,

national polls, which aren't
really all that relevant,
honestly, to how we elect

the president of the
United States, but there
are some national polls

lately that have shown us
sliding, that have shown
a retreat in our standing.

However, there are also national
polls that show us gaining,

and respectable ones. Ones
like Zogby and Investor's
Business Daily show

Joe Biden with an
extremely narrow lead and
us gaining three points,
actually, since the debate.

So, here's what I think. If you
look at battleground states,
polls are an important input

for us, for those of us
here in the campaign, both
public polls, as well as
the internal ones we do.

When you look at battleground
states, all of them
in the last couple of

months have tightened
dramatically. And even
if we don't have a lead
in a lot of those states,

we are very much within
striking distance.

So, I view those -- and
I'm trying to be unbiased
as I can here. I really
view the battleground

states as tossups. I
think even the Biden camp
would roughly agree that
either side is capable

of winning these battleground
states, given what we know...

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let me...

STEVE CORTES: ... of
internal and public polling.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Very
quickly, Vice President
Pence, no concerns about
his exposure to COVID,

having him travel the
country, as he is between
now and the election?

STEVE CORTES: No, listen,
the chain of command is
well-established here,

of course, in the United States.
I'm not talking politically
now. I'm talking governmentally.

And neither the president,
nor Pence, nor anyone
on our campaign,

we cannot cower and hide. We
simply will not do that. We can
take reasonable precautions. And

we will. And -- we have
and we will. None of that
guarantees safety. We saw
that with the president,

who, unfortunately, still got
infected, as the most protected
person probably in the world.

But Vice President Pence is
going to be -- he is out there,
not going to be. He is out there

traveling the country, heading
to the debate. This campaign is
charging forward. We're going

to defeat the virus, and
we're going to convince the
American people to rehire

Donald Trump as their CEO
for this economic revival
of the next four years.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Steve Cortes,
with the Trump campaign,
thank you very much.

STEVE CORTES: Thank you.