A cardiologist on Monday called for President Donald Trump to cease all in-person contact with Vice President Mike Pence and be placed “basically on lockdown” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who treated former Vice President Dick Cheney, told CNN anchor Erin Burnett that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s admission to an intensive care unit after his symptoms worsened due to the virus was “a terrible cautionary tale.”

“When I watch our leadership do these daily press conferences, I worry for their safety,” Reiner said. “This shows anyone can be infected with the virus, and I just don’t think that our leadership here is taking this seriously enough for their own safety. I worry about the safety of the president and vice president.”

Reiner recalled how former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney were never together in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks “because the concern was that the enemy could deliver what would be called a ‘decapitating attack’” and kill the “leadership of this country.”

“Well, this is an enemy that can do the same thing. So why would you have the president and vice president together frequently when one can infect the other? The president should be basically on lockdown,” he said, noting that Trump is 73 and therefore, due to his age, “at high risk of dying from this virus.”

“So I think that for the sake our leadership, there really needs to be very, very limited, physical access to the president of the United States,” Reiner added.

Check out the interview here:

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, former White House medical adviser, says UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's move to an intensive care unit a day after being hospitalized with coronavirus is a "cautionary tale."



Pres. Trump should be "on lockdown" to avoid contracting the virus, he adds. pic.twitter.com/IZfiLqWtnU — OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) April 7, 2020

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