Transcripts For CSPAN President Trump Holds Coronavirus Briefing 20240713

Critical function, which is getting spent fuel rods out of and into a storage challenge, s a major the hink all much, nk you very everybody. Thank you. So america continues to wager war to defeat the virus, this horrible, horrible virus. You see how terrible it is, at the ly when you look numbers from yesterday. I will explain why we are extending our nationwide guidelines to slow the spread. We have the power to save countless lives we are ttacking the for our workers, rapid medical very serious and innovation and banning dangerous foreign travel that threatens people, and weour did that far earlier than anyone and way aheadught of anybody else. In this time of need, i know will do y american their patriotic duty and help us achieve a total victory. As governments and nations focus coronavirus, theres a growing threat that cartels, and other terrorists, malign actors will try to their the situation for own gain, and we must not let that happen. Never let that happen. Today the United States is counter enhanced narcotics operations in the to protect sphere the American People from the deadly scourge of illegal narcotics. We must not let the drug cartels to threatenpandemic american lives. 22 ooperation with the partner nations, u. S. Southern ommand will increase surveillance, disruption, and seizures of drug shipments and support for ional eradication efforts, which are going on right now at a record pace. Deploying Additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, helicopters, coast guard cutters, and air force surveillance aircraft, doubling capabilities in the region. Very importantly, our forces are equipped with personnel protective equipment, and weve taken additional Safety Measures our troops remain healthy. Esper, attorney general bill barr, National Advisor Robert Obrien will provide more details. Going to have am general who has done an incredible job in so many ways and, also, with, of Naval Operations admiral gilde, who you know. You know. And commandante, admiral schultz. Going to ask mark to start, and then we can go, and after that were going to take it pertains to this, and then well go on to the virus which is itself. Okay . Thank you. Please, mark. Mark thank you, mr. President , and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to we make this as very important announcement. At a time when the nation and the department of defense are protecting the American People from the spread of the coronavirus, we also vigilant to the many other threats our country faces. Today at the president s direction, the department of cooperation ose with our interagency partners began enhanced counter narcotics operations in the eastern ocean and the caribbean sea. His initiative is part of the administrations hall of government approach to combatting the flow of i will lift drugs into the United States and protecting the American People from their scourge. I want to thank all of our to ners in this effort include the United States coast guard, the department of homeland security, the Drug Enforcement agency, the justice, and members of the Intelligence Community for their tremendous and cooperation. To conduct these enhanced operations the president has directed the deployment of additional ships, aircraft, and forces to the united tates Southern Command area of responsibility. Included in this package are Navy Destroyers and combat ships, coast guard cutters, p. A. And elements of an Army Security force brigade. Ce these Additional Forces will nearly double our capacity to narcotics nter operations in the region. Additionally, 22 partner nations have joined us in this fight to bring with them a variety of intelligence and operations theselities needed defeat criminal organizations. Last year alone United States Southern Commands operations seizure of over 280 metric tons of drugs, much which was designated for shipments to america. While this was an incredible achievement, theres much more done. To be Transnational Criminal Organizations continue to hreaten our security by smuggling cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs our borders. This puts our communities at risk and destroy lives. Every year tens of thousands of americans die from Drug Overdose more suffer the harmful effects of addiction. Actors like corrupt the odoro regime rely on profits derived from the sale of narcotics to maintain their oppressive hold on power. The people suffer tremendously due to his criminal control over the country. Traffickers are seizing on increasing ness by their elicit activities. Counter narcotics operations will further disrupt the flow of drugs to america, eny our adversaries the Financial Resources they depend on, and build the capacity of our partner nations throughout the region. I want to thank President Trump for his leadership and support this critical mission. This is particularly important time for this operation to begin. World ons around the shift their focus inward to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, organizations are attempting to capitalize on this crisis. The enhanced operations we are today will keep the pressure on these criminal groups and protect the american from the devastation caused by the flow of Illegal Drugs into our country. Mr. President , thank you for leadership as we begin this important operation. While the men and women of the United States military work hard here at home to fight the coronavirus, we continue to take world to und the defend our great country. Hank you, and i would like to invite general millie you, secretary, for those words, and thank you, mr. President , and i would like the commander of the u. S. Southern command out of miami for leading this operation which is effective today. Admiral gilde, chief naval peration admiral schultz for their contribution and from their services. Here are thousands of sailors, coast guardmen, soldiers, airmen, marines involved in this operation. We came upon some intelligence sometime ago that the drug cartels as a result of covid19 to try to take advantage of the situation and try to infiltrate additional country. O our 7,000 americans die on an average annual basis to drugs. Thats unacceptable. Were at war with covid19. Were at war with terrorists, nd we are at war with the drug cartels as well. This is the United States military. You will not penetrate this country. You will not get past jump street. You are not going to come in here and kill additional americans. Whatever assets are required to prevent your ntry into this country to kill americans. Right now the navy has marshalled additional ships from com, and ucom, and they are the ail already and are in caribbean right now. In addition there are ten coast cutters along with air force reconnaissance aircraft. The bottom line is youre not through. Get now is not the time to try to penetrate the United States of Illegal Drugs to kill americans. With the United States military, we will defend our country regardless of the cost. President. Mr. Hank you, secretary. For your thank you support for this important theiative, and thank all of secretary of defense and all the this es for taking on important initiative. Obviously, during this crisis all else focused above at the same time our Law Enforcement and National Security work must go forward rotecting the American People from the full array of threats. Justice, epartment of one of our highest priorities ust remain destroying the mexican cartels. Their trafficking is largely deaths, as for the we all know now, of 70,000 a year and, also, the costs of this dont count the the oyed families, destroyed lives, the draining of our national treasure, state are crushed by the urden that this narcotic trafficking causes. We are not interested in half measures. Cartel at posed by the is not just a Law Enforcement security t a National Threat as well. On your er building success with the president and forging cooperative relationship in the area of immigration, you sked me to go down and meet with the president and our mexican counterparts to see if also establish a more comprehensive and coordinated ffort with the mexicans in confronting the cartels. Successful visits and discussions, and currently ave an array of activities cartels andinst the we anticipate along with the mexicans that this is going to ago. Fruit in the months it became clear that we can obtain the most immediate for the the best bang buck, where we increase the ssets involved in interdiction on both the pacific and atlantic mexico and the Central American countries. Cartels have been using the c roots to take the from principally columbia and out of venezuela, sea routes on both coasts have become the primary up to f bringing cocaine the United States. Because of the superb work, we time xactly most of the where these traffickers are at sea. Significantly we have been up until now significantly limited to our ability to interdict because of the numbers we have deployed. Limitation are the that we could only intercept a raction of the traffickers that and the various boats that were detected. His will now double our capacity, and we are talking tons of dreds of a aine now that were now in position to seize. Its going to save lives by street. Drugs off the last week i announced the nsealing of charges of narcoterrorism Drug Trafficking nd other crimes against the former modero regime, 16 members of that regime, and their of lvement in trafficking 250 metric tons a year. A lot of that comes by sea, as i discussed at that time. Because of that pressure were pplying by our sea interdiction, they are trying to establish an air route out of up into central america, which is one of the reasons were trying to move that corrupt regime. At times weve taken our eye off the ball. Fortunately, not in this administration, and im grateful that you, mr. President , have to this fight and the determination to use whatever tools are necessary to win the fight. Defeated,s have to be both for the people of this country and for the people of and venezuela. Would like to thank you, again, mr. President for providing the wherewithal equired to help win this war against the cartels and others to send elicit drugs into our country. With that i would like to ambassador obrien. Thank you. Todays action is another example of the bold leadership of President Trump and his the tment to protecting homeland against threats who seek to destabilize the united western d our hemisphere. The uncontrolled flow of illegal rugs into the United States poisons our communities, fuels the dangerous epidemic of addiction, and threatens the security of all americans. Coast ressive u. S. Navy guard Army Marine Corps air force and interagency operation threats ess a range of to our National Security posed traffickers and narco terrorists. It will list Financial Support for Drug Trafficking that moduro the corrupt regime in venezuela and other bad actors with the funds to connect their maligned activities. Nder President Trumps leadership we will continue to execute our maximum pressure olicy to counter the regimes malign activities, including trafficking. This will help to choke off the funds that go to that corrupt regime. Narco terrorists, and criminals should make no mistake that even as we are working the d the clock to fight spread of coronavirus, we will present to execute the counter narcotics strategy. We are working on a number of important National Security this ties as we face Public Health crisis. The United States will continue to combat this information and news about this virus. We will work with the worlds producers to address volatility and global oil markets. We will always protect our and Service Women around the world, including in iraq and afghanistan. The American People to know that President Trump and their esident pence and administration are working tirelessly every day to protect he health and wellbeing of americans and respond to the coronavirus. Our adversaries should take this president as a cleareye focus on americas National Security interests, and let me be clear, it would be a mistake, a mistake consequences, for any adversary to attempt to do s harm during this Health Crisis or ever for that matter. Thank you very much. President . Mr. So do we have any questions on this because this group is back to work . Question for you, mr. President , or secretary esper. Has changed that is allowing these assets to be deployed now, whereas general barr said in the past they were not available . President trump for a long time weve had a lot of drugs into our country, and its not that its increased. Weve probably got it down a but its still a tremendous number. Families are being ruined. Are being ruined. Thing. N incredible especially if you are in this position, would you never believe. I see things that nobody would believe. That nobody would believe. I met with the group behind me, all of them, and we said what do do, and i think they can interdict. They think that we can stop it the shores, s to all overre coming from the place. We have incredibly talented team. I think im going to give mark a little bit of an answer to that, but we just want to see if we can stop a good percentage of drugs coming into ow country the president has given us clear guidance on whats important to him and protecting the American People, and as some you know, i began a review months ago looking at all of our combat and ographic commands and looking to where we can can free up time, money, and esources to put into other endeavors. Scrutinized our inventory fairly closely. Chairman milly did a great deal of work on this, but and with gilde, and we felt there was no risk to our fleet, to the operations to free up, in this case, naval ships. We also freed up aircraft, and other assets to apply them to and,president ial priority, of course, the coast guard did the same. It was a very good operation. Very important to the American People and completely in line with the residents direction how long will you be able to tempo . P this operational we will assess it after a matter of time, and then well make adjustments from there. Decrease or se or sustain asis. This will be an assessment we will do as an Interagency Team nd report back to the president , and well take guidance from there. President trump it will have an impact on the virus because to get in,ple trying and now we have a new phenomenon, and thats at least the next hopefully short period of time, the virus, so well be able to have an impact on that too, please . Mr. President , could you expand on that a little bit . You tie it to covid19 saying hat these drug cartels were taking advantage of the situation of this pandemic. How exactly well, because were focused on so many other parts of the country, and even parts of the a sudden areasof where we had it clamped down pretty tight, in all fairness, wall is up to about 160 miles already, and any areas that wall for the most part it contiguous. We have fillins, but were up 161 miles exactly place you have that wall other than walking around, its stopping everybody cold. When nobody g has seen anything like it. Thats how good it works. The other side knew it worked well. Everybody. Everybody was bored four to five years ago. Changed. Sudden it its having a tremendous impact. Focused on so many different things. Now we have to focus on drugs from e drugs come in different methods, and we have the best people in the world, and well have an tremendous impact on drugs. Things, well er think, ve an impact, we on the virus yeah, please obrien, china report the number of cases and the death toll from the coronavirus . Case, ts the mr. President , what does that mean for our relationship with with and your relationship president xi . Well, number one, i think the president has a great relationship with president x like to have a great relationship with china. Unfortunately, we are just not in a position to confirm any of the numbers that are coming out china. Theres no way to confirm any of those numbers. Theres lots of public reporting numbers are too low. Youve got access to those reports that are coming out of chinese social media and some of the few reporters that we have no way to those numbers. Thank you . We really dont know. Other a great call the night. Were working together on a lot of different things, including trade. Theyre buying a lot. Spending a lot of money. Theyre giving it to our farmers are. Theyre paying our farmers for product. Were going to continue that tweeted earlier today that there was you have uncovered there is agence that sneak attack being planned against american troops, iraq. Can assets in are we talking about hezbollah again . Information that they were planning something, information. Y good it was led by iran. Ot necessarily iran, but by iran. S supported by were just saying dont do it, dont do it . That would be have i very bad thing for them to it last time they did in early march, there was a the military against hezbollah and that alone we have a very powerful response, by the way. That response knocked out five different places, but it also of very bad t people if it happens again, that food chain the we knocked out a lot. They hit one site. Five big ones, and ammunition sites. You saw what happened . Say how many people were killed, but some bad people were killed, and a lot of them. That was a big response. This response will be bigger if something yes, thank you, mr. President. Your conversation with president xi, wondering if you received an Intelligence Report that talked in the e discrepancy numbers, and if you addressed t with the numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and im being nice when i say that, relative to what we was reported,what but we discussed that with him. Not so much the numbers as what and how theyre doing, and were in constant communication with i mean, i biggest the communication is myself and president xi. Good. Elationship is very we have look, theyre spending. There will be spending when things even out. Bit is obviously a little of a hurdle whats happened over they will beh, but spending 250 billion buying our product. Farmers on to the alone. 200 billion to other things. They never did that before, so a great trade deal, and we would like to keep it. Like to keep it. The relationship is good. As to whether or not their accurate, im not an accountant from china. I think we all understand where t came from, and we dont have to make a big deal out of it. We didnt like the fact that they said it came from our snlz, pursued that. t it was that was a midlevel person that said that. Level s not a high person. I assume i will always assume the best. I will assume the high level about it. Nt know it was a foolish statement. Look, the relationship with a good one, and my him is really th good you inese propaganda that entered as well as ambassador obrien. N the past several weeks china has been shipping ppes, masks, theyve either been selling or africa, everywhere, europe, italy, russia, and really pushing this narrative that theyre taking on a global role in the crisis. What are your thoughts on that, there any sign for President Trump i view that as a positive if they are helping countries. We have 151 countries that are under siege by the virus. Under siege. Are doing really badly. You know, they dont know about distancing. These are countries that arent highly sophisticated. Hey dont have great communication to the rest of the world. I meaning, they dont know the doing, and were that some others are able to do, and if china can help them, im all for it. All of us helping everybody. Were soon going to have more than we need. Were building thousands of ventilators right now. It takes a period of time of to nobody em, and, again, could have known a thing like this could happen. Were building thousands. We will fairly soon be at a far more e we have than we can use even after we stockpile for some future we hope he, which doesnt happen. Were going to be distributing the world. Around well go to italy and france and hit. N, which is very hard is there any proof in the reporting that your stopping tion is shipments of u. S. Stockpiles of ppes abroad . No truth whatsoever. No we want i would love china and other countries, if they have additional supplies, medical supplies, to give to other countries. 151 why would i stop that . Wouldnt that be terrible to stop it . The u. S. Stopping shipments our own stockpiles, u. S. Aid other countries . Whatever weve committed to, we commit, but we also need a lot for ourselves, so were very until we get t over this. To besly, were not going shipping too much until we have excess have certain things, and we dont have enough of others. Talk today great mcmillan from you gave him goundz u gowns and protective gear or he is very excited about it. He is the biggest purchaser of this kind of thing. I mean, of anything probably in world, and he is very excited about it. Said what size . He said its almost unlimited. When you look at the hospitals, order, you hat they almost say how could they possibly use so much, whether ts masks or the protective gear, but we are supplying a tremendous amount, and we just a lot from walmart, and he has taken this on personally. Go. Id let it let it be shipped not to a warehouse. Directly to the site of the ospital or wherever they need it because we save a lot of time when we do that. Walmart, in addition to many and people, is at the highest evel. Are you concerned that were this ly losing ground on drug crisis while were we dont want to lose ground. Thats why were doing it. Ground. Want to lose thats a big fight. Ye seen many families where theyre wiped out because they lost a son or a daughter or a wife. Or all of them. To lose ground. Effect, s goes into which is essentially now, we would never have been so focused country come into our s we are right now. The Mexican Government or any latin American Government work in conjunction with this corporation to tell that that are, y of the governments and mexico in particular is, and mexico right now we have mexican soldiers on our southern border keeping people our country. Woor very few people are coming into our country right now. Complete, again, the wall 27,000 ion to the soldiers, its a very its a very tough place to come into. When i took over, people were in, and they were bringing whatever they wanted. They were bringing drugs of any very hard forits them. It will get harder and harder. Mexico is a of great guy who has really helped us a lot. Soldiers. 27,000 mexican soldiers, and you remember when i first took over all of the caravans coming up, with 10,000, 15,000 people in the caravans. Marching through mexico. Thats not happening anymore did the or the modero regime. Do you know if theyre working mexican ction with the cartel. Is there any intelligence indicating that . I cannot tell you. I know the answer to that, i i do. E i capital tell you this. E have information that would lead us to believe something very powerfully, but i cannot tell you the answer to that. Please. Jeff have u. S. Forces in iraq taken any precautions, and of this particular precautions en and we are watching it very closely, and its going to be for the other side. Have you been in touch with the Iraqi Government about it . They know about it, yes are they offering additional protection or anything . Well see what happens, but, to a small re down force now over the years. And been bringing smaller smaller, and were down right number, but we are very powerful airpower there. And that a big base, will nobody can get near it. Near that. Even get weve really largely left. You know, weve taken tremendous amounts out, and weve deployed them elsewhere, including bringing some back home think tweeting about will help its social media. It gets out. Have hundreds of millions of people. Number one on facebook. Did you know i was number one on facebook . Found out im number one on facebook. I thought that was very nice for whatever it means. Something, and what i can explain to people, just dont do it. You know . Its going to be bad if you do it. Going to be really bad. Iran has enough problems. Weve been pulling back over the last year in iraq, and thats the way it is you say you dont want to give the enemy, whoever that is case, a headsup. Do you feel like maybe you did . No. Im just giving them a warning. Headsup. A im giving them a warning. Theres a big difference. Im saying if you do anything to urt our troops, theyre going to pay a price. Now, they did last time. They did last time. We didnt make a big deal out of very, very hard major ammunition sites. Theyll pay a much bigger price this time . We could ask the question about what the plans are for the roosevelt trip in terms of roosevelt, were making great progress in terms moving ng and also people off the ship, so in the moved over so weve 1,000. That number will increase to more than 2,700 by friday. Increase the to testing as well and fly those after itff, so getting pretty quickly. The ship remain fully operational . Now is fully operational and will remain so . And will remain so . Protocols are you putting in place to help mitigate the spread of the service men mong and women who have been before we have any ships etting underway for training exercises for deployment, theres been they were in quarantine s before they got underway. Weve increased the amount of esting equipment as well as physicians on board our ships. Weve taken additional steps covid the beginning of the crisis not many people will be at various ports anymore. Correct. We probably have decideded on that you mean civilians . People ilitary i would like to add one thing to that. There seems to be this narrative down e should just shut the entire United States military and address the problem that way. Thats not feasible. We have a mission. Is to protect the United States of america and our people, and so we live and work cramped quarters, whether its an aircraft carrier, a bomber. Ne, a tank, a its the nature of our business. The chain of command has very and im dance, confident between the Commanding Officers and the senior noncommission officers, theyre taking every reasonable to make sure we practice as best we can social sanitizing environments, et cetera, consistent with that mission, nd thats what i trust admiral gilde, and all the other Service Chiefs and Service Leaders to do. We have a job to do, and we will continue to do it, defend the of america. S you mentioned the stockpile earlier. The waub wash post reported that u. S. Stockpile is nearly ppe . Eted of we are send it directly to the hospital. We have to take it after it to various bring it states and hospitals. One of the things and, again, states to do this as much as possible. Any of the states have people that whether its that or clothing, they make clothing, lots of clothing, and many of different states. We said see if you can get it directly for those manufacturers. Deal. Well use the purchase act if we have to. Way, so t by the many people are spirit is incredible what theyre doing, where ve asked states they have large manufacturers of different types of equipment to factories, those local plants and have it made it into the hospitals. Were shipping things, right, and as you know, we have almost ventilators, which we need for flexibility and it sounds like a lot, but its not on the board see from yesterday, as the scourge virus plague, as this moves, it moves very fast. We dont know yet whether were to need it in louisiana, in new york, you know, wherever it may be. Were ready for it. Ready for it. Were going to be shipping out. We agreed to ship out over 1,000 to different locations. The e have to have flexibility of moving the ventilators to where to where be virus is going, and well able to see that. Well be able to see that from charts a couple of days in advance. Right now we have a nice pile of ventilators. We have a lot more coming in. We have a lot of i think we 11 Companies Making now. Ilators right very good companies. Theyre making you know about ford and General Motors . We have a lot of companies the ventilators right now. Ow, the question is you know, when you make one, it doesnt get made in 15 minutes. Its not a mask can get quickly. Time to tor takes build. Its very, very, as we discussed its complex. Its big. Its expensive. You know, et cetera. Well be able to move. E have great flexibility i was just going to say, sir, do you want to move on to the this . Avirus, or stick with does anybody have any other questions for this great Group Brilliant people . Yes, please the military personnel has across the country to help combat the virus. Is there any chance theyre happen to see it foreseen ersonnel covid19 patients . We have the hospital ships deployed. New york. And one in city. They will be they could be treating patients as they come in. Were taking precautionary them es to screen beforehand to make sure that theyre not theyre not exposed, if you will. Military hospitals that we are deploying. Certainly, again, new york, seattle, and other places. Thing you have to be areful of where these are deplorable assets. Theyre unique. If we want to retain the ability doctors, military expeditionary military hospitals around the country, we have to preserve and protect them as best we can. Said, we remain completely available to assist as needbe, fema, as the Vice President and president asks us. Thats what we commit to do to people to help safeguard them and protect them through this virus will they be seeing coronavirus patients, or will other rictly be seeing patients . They could if called upon. The best use is based on their training and how theyre structured and organized is for trauma. The load off of hospitals with regard to their trauma patients, thereby freeing doctors, nd other particularly doctors who are, you know, respiratory nurses or doctors who deal with infectious to treat those type of patients. I think its the best use of our resources, but, again, if push omes to shove, were prepared o do what we have to to assist the American People. At the same time preserving the medical capability we need to deploy operation and forces abroad. Were looking at two hospital brand new ships because these ships have they really ean, struck a blow, very positive blow, for what theyre doing. Los angeles and going to new york. Were looking very seriously at building two additional ships of about the same size . Building two new ones or deploying two new ones . But were looking at building either two new ones or doing the renovation of ship. Er large this has really worked out well, probably two brand new ones. Get back to hem to work and work against all those people . A followup. I know that secretary wilke has is on standby waiting to see if v. A. Hospitals need to be opened the doors need to be opened to civilians true are you talking about that . Yes, we are happen . You see that yes. He is a very capable man. Were ready to move very quickly. Example, in louisiana they have a very big hospital, so to move very quickly if we need them hopefully we wont need them do you think well need that soon . Find out oing to pretty soon. Well only know at the time it happens. We can prepare for the worst. We are preparing for the worst. Unfortunately, thats the way we have to look at it . To follow up on the naval ships, you mentioned something about treating trauma patients, curious, about what birth . Things like giving will mothers be expected . Thats the one thing theyre the oing outside of covid19 theyre not doing that. The birth of a baby, not being on the ships . Can i have a followup question with general this has to do with the visa restrictions doctors. Rant is the administration considering easing the waiving ons or restrictions for doctors with a h1 visa so they can help other doctors during this crisis . Actually, the immigration laws are no longer under the administration of the department justice, and i havent been participating in any of those discussions . What did mr. President , that . Ou respond to one more . Mr. Secretary, the w. H. O. Topic of the coronavirus and iran. Is w. H. O. Confirms that iran vastly underreporting its coronavirus cases. Not just cases, but fatalities. To on the ground high tes, it might be as as 15,500 dead. Military commanders are confirm dire condition or dead. Ou have 8 of the parliament now down with coronavirus. Sounding of aggression today that President Trump, do thathink strategically, is a bluff on their part, or is his a sign of very clear desperation . Where are you strategically on that . Well, first and foremost, we iranian with the people. They clearly have been hit hard. As you know, i think the it. Sident has spoken about certainly secretary pompeo. Weve offered assistance and medical supplies. That. Have refused i think if the Iranian Regime ut more interest in terms of taking care of their people in the context of this virus, they served. Better the Iranian Regime wants to spread maligned activities, and out the force nd and others to cause problems throughout the region. Shape, that in one way, or form they either are esourcing, directing, approving, whatever for shia militia groups that are targeting american forces. The day, the end of again, i feel deep concern for the iranian people. He important thing is the iranian government should focus on them and stop this maligned ehavior that theyve been conducting for over 40 years. I think the entire region and certainly the iranian people off for it ter i happen to think they want to make a deal. They just dont know really how start. And theyve been given some bad former secretary kerry. The logan act. We would have to look at the logan act. All have you to do is take a look. Think theyve been given very bad advice by secretary kerry. I think that i think theyre dying to make a deal. Their country is in trouble. Their economics are shot. Theyve got a lot of bad things going. I think that they would like to make a deal. Get it settled very quickly. No nuclear weapons. No nuclear weapons. Weapons. t have nuclear its very simple. Lets let these folks get back to work. Is that okay . Thank you all very much. As we deploy, our Service Members to combat both threats invisible enemy at home. Earlier today i spoke to our andons incredible warriors military families. Spent a lot time on the phone with thousands and thousands of were hooked in. In order to stop the spread of the virus, some of these delayed planned moves to their next duty station. Cases military families are also waiting longer to from e home their heroes deployment. The families have evolved with us for so long. Theyre incredible. They t the families, couldnt be the great Service Members that they turned out to that, d they understand and i must say protecting our ilitary families is our top priority. They understand what is happening with respect to the they understand it well. Theyve been fantastic. S commander in chief, im deeply grateful for our Service Members, their spouses, and their children whose love, and sacrifice keeps strong. Secure, and disburse our medical staff, we are taking advantage of innovators across the industry and across every industry, and i just told you about walmart, and i could tell you about many more. Is making protective gear, and masks and were making amounts of rukt. I tell the governors get it yourself from your local local warehouses. In fact, if you can do that, you should do that. Ecause of the actions that weve taken under the defense production act, manufacturers sharing with are fema and hhs their planned allocations to states the o hospitals all over region. This enables fema and hhs to work closely with states, local overnments, and private sector to allocate Critical Resources to highly impacted areas working together. Were entirely focused on getting materials to the right place at the right time. To go directly to a hospital, directly to a certain state location. Ideally, not even hit the states warehouses if we can even the warehouses, its better because they go directly into a hospital. One example of that is ohio. State of ohio. To facilitate a donation of 2. 2 million gowns. 2. 2 million gowns. Think of what that is. 2. 2 million to the strategic from al stockpile ohiobased cardinal health. Cardinal health, we appreciate it. Making much more than of in different types things. Were profoundly grateful for their contribution to protect the lives and safety of our health care professionals. Cardinal has been working with us very well. Fema and hhs formed a Historic Partnership with the private sector called project air bridge to bring supplies from other countries to the United States, ncluding gloves, gowns, goggles, and masks. These supplies will soon be the country. Round we have large cargo planes coming in from various parts of world. Every day new plane loads are landing in cities such as new chicago, los angeles. Have been flights scheduled. These flights are coming in ahead of schedule. Amount nt of usage, the of need is something that nobody has ever seen before. No re getting so much, but matter how much we get they seem quickly. T up very more than 17,000 National Guard now been have activated all across our country. On tuesday the Vice President sent a letter to the governors to have plans in place to use the National Guard o move medical supplies from warehouses to hospitals. The. Authorize it was a special authorization into tional guard to go that facility and to move it for the state. The National Guard is moving a this equipment and medical supplies into a Hospital Area where its needed by the state. As i said yesterday, difficult are ahead for our nation. Couple ofng to have a weeks starting pretty much now, but especially a few days from are going to be horrific, but even in the most challenging of times, americans despair. We do not give into fear. We pull together. We persevere. We overcome, and we win. Americans ery hearted is joined with the people of new york as they continue to bear the brunt of pandemic. Every new yorker, please know that we are by your side. New york, and every day we will be with you, and it others ry well be that take over from new york. There are some areas, some hot other states, that are exploding. Some like louisiana were very all of a sudden it was like an explosion. In confronting this deadly armed with ica is capabiliti capabilities. You look at 1917, the pandemic. It was something. Parts of this country, but ravaged europe. Ravaged. They say 75 million to 100 million. Some people think 50 million to 75 million. People died. Think of that. That was a long time ago. 100 years ago. Many books written pandemic. 1917, 1918 our doctors are pouring over the virus genetic code designing potential therapies and vaccines. Our planes are airlifting corner of om every the earth. Were watching other countries, and theyre watching us to see whether or not and who is going to come up with remedy of some kind. Or even a help, if it can help, and, of course, a vaccine. Were looking very strongly for a vaccine. Johnson johnson is doing well, are doing ompanies very well. The american spirit is unyielding, unwavering, and unbreakable where, incredible. Never seen anything like it the way the people have pulled together. Unity of this country. Together were going to win this do, the the sooner we sooner we can begin to rebuild. Rebound and o return to normal lives. We work for the best economy in world, the of the best economy that this country has ever seen. Numbers employment weve ever had. Sir, youre going to have to shut it down, and were going to build it up, and i think were going to build it up fast, and i think were going to have a tremendous rebound. Energy and great pentup demand. S you know, phase three was terrific, and phase four, what and phase ongress, four, if that happens, will be great. Almostdy proposed paying bonds. Nterest on ell also do something very good. Its called jobs. Im asking that restaurants and facilities go back to the old deductibility from corporations here can buy because, otherwise, a lot of these restaurants are going it to have a hard time reopening. Time, and long theyre going to have a hard time reopening. Back to ing for going deductibility where corporations can buy and corporations can go out to lunch and they pay and a deduction on what they eat. Bring a lot of people back. People forget that years ago they had that, and when they got when they ended it, for whatever reason, but they ended it, many, many restaurants went out of business. Many entertainment type facilities went out of business, every now is a great time to bring it back. Terrible time for that business after they ended it. This is a great time to bring it back. Our restaurants going. In fact, i think the Restaurant Business will be actually bigger better than it is right now. Were also talking about that. Now what well do is well take some questions. I see mike is back with some of the folks. Thats great. Fouchie. We will oh, how are you . . Ank you, debra. Theres still some people who kind of think of this as the flu, and over the past month, flu ave compared it to the sometimes, saying treat it like we handle you know, the flu. What changed your thinking on that . The severity. Looking at the way that the contagion, it is so contagious. Seen anything like this where large groups of people all of a sudden just by in the presence of somebody have it. The flu has never been like that. And there is drew brees f the flu is contagious, but never like this. If it hits the right person, and you know what those stats are, person, s the right that person is in deep trouble, nd my friend was the right person when you heard about that with your friend, was that a turning point . Well, not a turning point. No, before that i knew as im seeing the numbers that im young, statistics that are, know, not exactly very good, him very hard. T he is strong. A very strong kind of a guy. Older. He is heavier. He sort of is central casting or what were talking about, and it hit him very hard. Ive never seen anything like it . Mr. President , dr. Fouchie, senator Lindsey Graham tweelted night, and we checked today that there are still flights that are running between hot detroit,e new york and new orleans as well. A number of flights were completed today. Senator grahams point is if youre going to declare should it not be full mitigation and you stop people from traveling . Doing e thinking about that. At the same time we just, you know, to start these airlines and to start this whole thing again is very tough, john. Its very tough. You have them going in some hotspot to hotspot, if you noticed. Heyre usually hotspot to hotspot. Very few flights. To miami. Were were certainly looking at it, but once you do that, you are you really are clamping down an industry that desperately needed. Has issued governor a stay at home order. All of you have made it very clear how important it is to direhome, that we are in a situation here. Thats how you stop the spread home. Ying why not take the power out of the hands of the governors and a stay at home order for every state in this country . I states are different, and understand that the governor of florida, great governor, ron issued one today, and thats good. Thats great. There are some states that are different. There are some states that dont have much of a problem. There are some well, they problem. E a they dont have thousands of are positive or thousands of people that even think they might have it or in some of people cases. Its awfully tough to say close it down if they dont have a problem. E to have a little bit of flexibility. Look, were really here to help governored. Theyre the frontline of attack, and that includes in purchasing, by the way. Ere here, and were backing them up, and theres never been a backup like weve given them. Of e given them billions dollars worth of things, medical ventilators. D thousands and thousands of ventilators. Under thousands construction right now. We have thousands ready to go in case they need it. Theres never been anything like this. Weve theyve done really the people have done incredibly. Hospitals all over the country. Were building hospitals right ow at a rate that has never even been contemplated before. There are mobile hospitals, but really not mobile. Theyre incredible structures, many re building hospitals. In louisiana, new jersey, new york we just finished a massive complex, and we also in medical centers built new york. Were building hospitals at the rate that this country has never before. Hopefully its all going to work ut just want to make sure on the at just re you looking occur tailing the hot spots or is it broadly . Were looking at the whole getting cause we are into a position now where we want to do that. We have to do that. O were looking at the whole thing we may have some recommend dayings second question on economics. Just with oil, oil prices are very low. Saudis have increased production. Spoken about e lightening oil prices, and theres the industry aspect from 1950, these oil prices, and thats when they had big dollars, big beautiful dollars advocate cuts, cuts to production . Do you well, we have a great oil oil industry the is being ravaged, and as you know, russia and i spoke to putin. Nt we had a great call. Russia, saudi arabia, i spoke with the crowned prince. Had a great call. I think that they will work it out over the next few days. You ask me, i think its just its too simple not to be able to. Know what they have to do. I think i have confidence in to that theyll be able work it out. An industry d worldwide. Worldwide the oil industry has ravaged. There was a lot of Oil Production to start off with. Got hit op of it, it with the virus and business went 40 . 35 , that business is a tough one, ships u know, they have all over the sea. I told you yesterday. All over the sea. Massive tankers that theyre using for storage. They just sit there. Theres no place to go. Gasoline is going to be 99 cents. Thats like giving a massive tax to people of our country. When we try and get the airlines if fuel is costing much less, it helps with getting the airlines, which is always a tough business. Has been a tough business. With that being said, look, i that industry back where it was. We were doing records in that industry also. E want to get it back to where it was. I think that saudi arabia, ussia, theyre negotiating and talking, and i think theyll come up with something. Oil oing to meet with the companies on friday. Im going to meet with Oil Producers also on friday or saturday. Maybe sunday. Lot of meetings on it. I think i know what to do to olve it, but if they were unable to solve it, then i think to solve it. O do be one producer of il in the world, and a month ago you say it was great. A way that theres that can be solved or pretty well solved. I would rather not do that. Think that russia and saudi arabia at some point are going on it make a deal in the not so distant future. Its very bad for russia. Its very bad for saudi arabia. Bad. Very i mean, its bad for both. I think theyre going to make a deal market is , the free a wonderful thing. It can work. How to make a deal will not receive any money aid eir i know any from the government or in this crisis. Ow do you suppose they survive during the covid19 some you say undocumented, meaning illegally, and a lot of people would say we have a lot of citizens right now that wont be working, so what are you going to do . Terrible its a very sad question. I must be honest with you. Illegally. N i do think were going to have a boom economy. I think its going to go up rather quickly. And maybe quickly, slowly. Its going to go up. It will all come back. To ink its actually going come back stronger than what it stimulus. E of the its a really sad situation, and we are working on it. I will tell you, im not going and fast u a hard answer because i just want to tell you, its something i think its something were working on. Please. Go ahead. Mr. President. Question for dr. Fouchie. Other side of this curve, are we looking at iving with some sort of social distancing guidelines, essentially, until theres vaccine . T or a for example, people looking forward to the summer, talk about going to baseball games, concerts. We have a Political Convention going this summer. Are things like that possible or vaccine or a treatment . The partk if we get to of the curve that dr. Burg showed yesterday when it goes essentially no new cases, no deaths, at a period of time, i think it makes sense to have to going relax social distancing. The one thing we hopefully would have in place, and i believe we will have in place, is a much system to be able to identify someone who is infected, isolate them, and then Contact Tracing. Have a really good program of containment that to entses you from having get into mitigation were in mitigation right now. Thats what the social and physical distancing is. The ultimate the ultimate that might a virus keep coming back would be a vaccine. The weekly as on Conference Call with the w. H. O. The ored group of all Health Leaders in the world who are dealing with this. Agreement to the that we may have cycling with another season. Well be much better prepared. Will have interventions. The ultimate game changer in vaccine. Be a the same way a vaccine for other diseases that were scourges in dont even t now we worry about. On target. Is were still in phase one. There were three doses that we had to test. The first twoough doses. Were on the highest dose now. It will et that data, take awe few months to get the data to feel confident to go to the phase two. Few months from now well think hase two, and i were right on target for the year to a year and a half . You and dr. Burke have you received threats of any kind or have you been given a security detail given have been out here every day on camera . Well, i mean, i anything to do with security detail i would have to have you refer that question to the of hhs rather al answer to that he was grate basketball player. Did anybody know that. He was a little on the short nba, but he was talented. He won a game. I read this. Game that was unwinnable against a great team, and his whole team said we cant beat this team, and he went in, the game. On that was a couple of years ago. The head never changes. The attitude never changes . Loves being up here on the podium. Like pulling teeth. Dont want to hit you with everything thats coming along, but a lot of people who are watching television today heard repper named dr. Jacob granville who has come up with a antibody therapy that he has given to do you know this . Ng about what might be able to tell it . Ple at home who have seen john, i dont know specifically this individual what theyre doing, but i can tell you theres a lot of is centered around a path of transfer of antibodies in the form of convalve esent plasma, one. The number is to get immune that you precipitate out of the plasma, and another monochlomal antibody. Its based on the principle if you have a protective antibody, that could sfer of provide protection and also treatment. Concept. An old in fact, immunology was born decades and decades and decades the concept of giving passive transfer of serum to an ndividual to protect them from the infection. Its i wouldnt be surprised if he and a number of other people are pursuing this. Right thing to do. Can i follow up on Antibody Testing, please, dr. Fouchie. Can we as a country expect there to be a widespread Antibody Testing so what were tly dealing with here as well as other questions such as, you who are n can people deemed to be healthy donate blood, for example . So when you talk about antibodies testing, there are a couple of things that you want to do. Ou want to find out if someone has been infected and whether or not theyre going to ultimately being protected. Anybody testing right now is not priority. Thing on our its something that we need to do is testing to see if someone infected. It is very important ultimately o be able to get a feel for what the penetrants was for a number of reasons. You get a better feel of what has been, but also, feel of what er the hurt immunity can be. That foresee in the future when we get in the facility, which well have. Ultimately, you can get a test do this reasonably easy, and do the kind of what we call surveillance study, this is and analagous to dr. Burke weve been talking about that a lot, and that is back in the day when she and i were both doing h. I. V. Aids issues back when we first discovered the virus in had an antibody tested found out by serial surveillance representative in different populations that we tip of theg with the iceberg when we saw individuals who were the ones who actually got infected. Us a really good feel for how many people were infected, how many are doing how many are getting ill. I foresee that well have that information, which will be important information, but right now thats not our problem an you really came forward and supported us. Right now were in talks with the whole series of universities. The most brilliant scientist in the world in our universities in state after state. The Public Health universities, some of them basic science. All of them have received grants for h. I. V. Or other development in the past. To a lot of them over the last few days to really them to develop these simple eliza test that could be used their Health Care Centers because immediately its do. To weve all developed. N a day or two after development they could screen their entire hospital. I think that would be very reassuring to the Health Care Workers who have been on the frontline. About them every day. I really called on every every state to develop eliza. Antegens and he controls online and really work o test entire Health Care Communities if your states and way. Ort them that at the same time we worked in Subsaharan Africa in what we call dry blood spots. Could you use that in a community while we work on the point of care test, where you on to this paper and then they can go into the lab and be analyzed. In would allow us to look Nursing Homes and other care facilities immediately. Finally, we reached out to the test, ers of the rapid the one that developed it formal era or h. I. V. Same concept he and process to ask them to rapidly develop these tests owe it to thek we Frontline Health care providers rna only to provide them tests, but many of them have been on the frontlines now for may have become exposed. We now know theyre asymptom act, and being able to tell the peace of mind that would come from knowing you already were infected. Have booebtd. You are safe from reinfection. 99. 9 of the time. This, i think, would be very reassuring to our frontline our h care workers, and universities can do that by friday. Im putting that challenge out to really work on that and do that. Thats what we did in the early days. We had elizas up and running within days of having the antigen. This is whats really possible. Were not waiting. Were asking for help now potentially this could happen soon even within this month if people if it happens within this month. Help us. Iversities bsolutely mr. President governor desantos says he with you before issuing the order he spoke to me thorping he has some loopholes in that no, no, he spoke to me this morning large religious groups can together. That doesnt really who can . Religious groups . Me this speak to morning. We talked about it. Please full mitigation, sir . Does that go against your model because everybody has to look at what he did Health Care Workers on the frontlines following up with dr. Burke, hazard pay. You have said you have wanted the Health Care Workers on the frontlines. Know secretary mnuchin has mentioned about that in the fourth level of the stimulus, but can you make it happen now . We have to wait for a fourth i think its something were discussing in terms of bonus or pay. It doesnt have to be called hazard pay. T could be called i watched those people go into hospitals that i know. I talked about one of them, right . Watched them walk into those hospitals, and they are walking middleaged. Young not so many older ones. Them. Ch theyre almost like i think i take the word almost out. Like warriors. They are going in. People are where theres a building across the street, the cheering and clapping. Theyre like heroes the Empire State Building incredible. Ts theyre like theyre like warriors. Soldiers. Ike were going to be doing something for them. Whether its bonus because, you hopefully going to be over this relatively quickly. Its going to be vicious for a time, but hopefully were going to be over this. You have a lot of questions, sir. You. At do you know this young lady behind snu never met her before in my life were practicing social distancing. Thats a good idea . Thats good for america there are a lot of people who getting sick out and do they end up in a hospital . People who are uninsured, and crushed by medical bills. You were considering last month marie opening the health care. Gov exchanges. There has been a determination do that. Could you tell us what the rationale was behind that and as an alternative . The ey took that up during task force, and well, thank you, mr. President. I can tell you is the president has made a priority of our task et force work to make sure every they can nows that have a coronavirus and they dont have to worry about the cost. We were very inspired as well ecause of the president s engagement with the leading Health Insurance companies in the country that now so far two Health Insurance companies in america have foundsed that theyre not only on ing to waive copays testing, and now testing is fully covered because of the bill the president signed for american, but also, these two Insurance Companies have copays on all coronavirus treatment. You that as congress and the president and the administration begin to next piece of legislation, were going to make that americans have those costs compensated and covered. Our priority right now is insuring that every american slow the spread to heart. Do for oneing we can another, for our families health, for the most vulnerable practice those mitigation strategies that the forident outlined yesterday the next 30 days. Were dealing with testing to make sure that every american a test that needs one. Were dealing with were and wereth supplies, making great progress in building personal protective quipment and insuring that ventilators are available, particularly for the communities most impacted. Can be ican people confident that as we move into his, were dpg to make sure that our Health Care Workers are roperly compensated for their extraordinary and courageous work and well make sure that those ancial burden on who end up contracting the with itsus and dealing most serious symptoms also can and deal those issues with those costs understood, mr. Vice president , but there will be people who dont have insurance get sick before any of these mitigation efforts are put into place. With that opening the health care, where can they find insurance . People that arent insured by companies that are covering the cost of the copai, where can people go now to get if they get nce sick, before they get sick . All across america we have medicaid for underprivileged americans, and at the president s direction, the medicaid and Medicare Services has gin unprecedented to expand states testing for coronavirus and treatment. Weve also extended waivers for Medicare Administration to make access to eople have that coverage, but were going to continue to bring opportunities to the president. Systems of nal medicaid in particular for the uninsured in america would you like that to cover middle class . Think what were seeing Health Insurance could today, john, is really inspiring. One of the things im sorry. Are people that already have insurance one of the things that has characterized the president s approach is the way e has engaged american businesses to step up and do their part. S the president said many times, were inspired by the spirit of american businesses. Center a distribution for walmart today in southern virginia, and i saw the way this literally has already hired thousands of people. These workers are coming to work. Are coming to rs work. Farmers are working in the field. Grocery stores made a commitment month ago ident a that no Grocery Store in america would close down. The food supply is strong. Were getting food on the table of every american. Its because the president went to these leaders and said we need you to step up and do your part. We engaged Health Insurance this ives early on in process to waive to waive copays on coronavirus testing, of the engagement that rankly, because of patriotic and compassionate spirit thats being reflected, weve seen two of the largest Insurance Companies in the announce that theyre going to provide full coverage free of charge for coronavirus treatment. I fully expect that. I think the president does too that well see more of that for have insurance. Well continue to provide flexibility for medicaid for dont have insurance, and well make sure that medicare has some this moment. O meet for seniors, when we remember that seniors with underlying conditions are the most vulnerable to serious outcomes from the coronavirus, but well this using the full weight of the federal government the he full strength of American Economy its a very fair question to add its something were really because it k at doesnt seem fair if you have it, you have a big advantage, and at a certain income level you do. I think its one of the greatest answers ive ever heard. Able to speak for five minutes and not even catch a question . Call a hats what you great professional. You really are you really ts a fair question, and its something were looking at just in terms of a fair question, i always endeavor to but this is tions, a huge worry for people in this country who were in that donut hole. They dont have commercial insurance. They dont qualify for medicaid. They do . Its a pretty big group. Were looking at it. We spent the entire 2000 donuton talking about the hole, and its still there we are i havent been up yet. The other people have been talking about it. And they havent spoken we were s 20 years ago talking about it theyre talking about it theyre talking about it in the 2020 election too. Nobody has gotten to it. Nobody has talked about it at all mr. President i think we will. I think were going to get to it. I think were going to get to it. I dont think the other group will get to it. Spoken about ven it. Its a big group of people are you committing that no, imim not exiting. From it. Get approval i have a thing called congress, but its something were going to look at, and we have been ooking at it you mentioned in this ongressional bill, the next, phase four, you would like to see some were certainly looking at certain things. To help restaurants, entertainment. We want to help because its not just restaurants. Jobs. Tremendous amounts of jobs. Were looking at that. Infrastructure. T when you think of it, we will have spent 8 trillion, and its were way pulled back, but we will have spent 8 trillion in the middle east, and, yet, our roads are in bad shape, our bridges, our tunnels in bad shape. Going to be the talk of the world again soon, but we trillion. We will have spent in the middle out of it ll we got was death and cost. All we got out of it was death. People. Of you have to look at the other side too. Illions and millions of people killed. Our great soldiers, thousands killed. So many wounded, hurt. Yet, when we want to go and fix someplace, we want to do what we want to do in our country. Its time we spend money on our country. What were going to do. Its time that we start spending on our roads and our bridges and and all of the things that were supposed to be spending on. Getting used ally to it. You could look at all of what east, done in the middle way back in so many different places, way back in other countries, too, by the way, and other countries that are very rich. I said im sorry. Youre going to have to reimburse us for our costs. Even know what im talking about. It takes them 20 minutes to figure it out because nobody has and asked them to do that, theyre doing it. Theyre doing it. They have no choice. They have to do it. Its time that we start spending usa. He okay. Please mr. President , this is a question for the Vice President. March 9 you said one million tests had been delivered, and another four million would be end of the the week. That clearly did not happen. What happened with those projections . What went wrong . Well, i think the test kits ere delivered, according to hhs, but the difference is test and theving a ability to rapidly produce a result of that test, and, because of the Publicprivate Partnership that the president initiated now more month ago with our massive commercial laboratories team wase country, our reported today that were now doing more than 100,000 tests a day. More than 1. 2 million tests have and states have established drivethrough sites all across the country. Fact, states have been so successful that the communitybased ask drivethrough testing that were working to transition over completely all of the federal testing rivethrough and have the states completely manage that process, but four million k tests were delivered by the i understand of that week . From early ery busy in the year delivering test kits but the e country, difference was as the president said many times, we where antiquated system state laboratory or cdc only had capacity to process 40 to 60 tests a day. Labs, h the commercial literally those labs are rocessing tens of thousands of tests every day. While were continuing to distribute test kits around the of the now because partnership with Companies Like roche and quest and lab corps, he American People are seeing the results of those tests more rapidly than at the results of those tests and we expect that to expand. The exciting news this past abbott about laboratories having a 15minute ast approved will put us in position we believe down the road to get to where dr. Fauci dr. Birx want us to get among states that dont have outbreak but we want to be doing the kind of in thosence testing states that allow us early on to identify people with the do what the experts call Contact Tracing and ensure have anstate we dont outbreak of the coronavirus. Pres. Trump in many countries all over the world want to know not they can use especially our new test that was by abbott which isalmost instantaneous which going to be great. Remember, we inherited bad tests. Horrible tests. And it was broken. It was all broken. Fixed it and were doing millions of tests. Sometimes we send out a test and used. Ot in many cases it wasnt used but we worked with the states and been prettyhas amazing especially considering the fact that we inherited a system. Ken reporter you said before, are temporary bang a on all domestic flights . At hotrump i am looking spots. I am looking where flights are going into hot spots. Those flights i didnt like from the beginning but single flightry on every single airline, thats a very, very rough decision. But we are thinking about hot spots. Spot, bothspot to hot. And well let you know fairly soon. What about rail . Pres. Trump similar thing. We have trains going back and and people dont think of trains but we do a lot of transportation business. Big decision to do that. And were pretty late in the process from the standpoint that starting youre going to start seeing, i think, over the next couple of weeks, youre aing to start to see us hit top and start coming down so well make those decisions. Very those, are very, very Big Decisions of thee standpoint future of our country in a way our country. E of we have to get our country back. We have to start moving again. We have to start working again. Theyre doing tests on airlines, tests, getting on, getting off. Theyre doing tests on trains getting on, getting off. When you start closing up entire Transportation Systems and then opening them up, thats very tough thing to do. Be a lotcontinues to of public confusion about the use of masks. Pres. Trump reuse. I love the sterilization of the mask. Company, you can sterilize sterilize thatan mask up to 20 times. Think of that, up to 20 times. Were throwing them out. And theyre very expensive masks. Theyre throwing them out. And i kept saying one of the first questions i asked to why arenti said they cleaning the masks, because wasnt my thing exactly when i first heard about this. Nobody else knew it, either. Now we have a company, a number of companies, one in ohio, a great one, that makes equipment where you can sterilize a mask isto 20 times, which fantastic. Reporter what about the public . Should we be Wearing Masks out . Believe i dont its a big thing. A lot of people dont like it. Ite people dont like because youre taking it away from the medical professionals. Some people dont like it for other reasons. It hurts andhere it doesnt have to be a mask. It can be a scarf. Recommended by the professionals. I dont see where it hurts. People wantedy if to do it, we dont want to do anything thats going to take asks, youre talking about tremendous amount of masks when you do that. We dont want to take them away professionalsal but i certainly dont see it hurting. But what i do see people doing using scarfs and i think in a certain way depending on fabric, in a certain way a scarf is better. Better. Ually reporter i want to ask you about social distancing and how it applies to religious organizations. Some churches have continued to though youveeven advised people to practice social distancing. Pastor at a megachurch in florida over the weekend who Held Services attended by several hundred people. Should pastors being Holding Middle of this pandemic and should americans be going to them . Pres. Trump my biggest disappointment is that churches cant meet in a time of need. This is a great time for people to get together and meet and yet ityou do that, if do you close, youre really giving this invisible enemy a very big advantage. So its the biggest i think the single biggest disappointment, one the reasons i said wouldnt it be great just a date, i called it aspirational date, could be easter, and i will tell you its very, very disappointing. Get too close and if somebodys sick, youre going to probably catch it. Careful. To be very joe bidens Campaign Came out Statement Today saying pres. Trump did he read the a p. R. Person . Reporter as far as i know the was wide awake and said joe biden is open to having a you to talkith about the coronavirus. Would you take his call . Pres. Trump absolutely. Him. Ike to speak with i think hes probably a nice guy. If hed like to call, id take his call. You can tell him, all right. Reporter leaving you with empty theves, pandemic office, National Security council. Pres. Trump that turned out to false story. Are you working for cnn . Whatter im pointing out you said and fox has said. Pres. Trump fox isnt so easy, either. Yourself. You know its a false story. What you just said is a false story. Knows it better than anybody. You shouldnt be repeating a story that you know is false. Next . Reporter iran struggling with the virus. Under which conditions would you consider suspending sanctions . Pres. Trump we have to talk with them. I think we can work out a deal with iran very quickly. They have to do is call. Theyre proud people and the leadership is proud. Proud like all of us. Were proud. You people are proud. Theyre having a hard time or having ahe phone hard time setting up the meeting. Country could fix their pretty easily and we dont want areility but if they hostile to us, theyre going to regret it like theyve never anything before, as pro todays statement. Call or have to do is have somebody call. There are channels where we can deal very easily. Again, i think that john kerry did a tremendous disservice and logan act 100 . Think and i think it made it tough for them because it was a terrible deal. 150 billiononey, plus cash. Plus cash. Plane loads of cash for a deal that was no good and was short term. Essentially it was a shortterm deal. Who makes a deal for that kind of money and 1. 8 billion in cash. I dont even know what that would look like. Bes room would have to filled up five times with 100 dollar bills. A deal like this and on top of it, the deal is no good. More. Out one or two abouter surging calls Domestic Violence. Pres. Trump mexican violence . Reporter Domestic Violence. A number of groups have raised concerns that the more people stuck at home, the more Domestic Violence cases there will be. Do you share these concerns . Of notrump the cost getting our country working. I mean, people some people are getting along great. Ive also had the exact opposite question. Coming together. Theyre actually coming together. They havent talked for a long suddend now all of a theyre talking again, theyre loving each other. So ive heard that, too. Have heard Domestic Violence, at a higher level. Because of in this case theyd lose their jobs. A great job, a great life, a great family. All of a sudden the husband is he doesnt have a job anymore, hes got no money and jowgs jowgs that bringst, suicide into it. Its a terrible thing. We have to get our country going again. Right thing. Other countries tried to use the herd mentality. Just something that doesnt work, if you look at just to heard sweden gave it a shot and they saw things that were really frightening and they immediately to shutting down the country. We did the right thing and we did it early. And we stopped other people from coming into our country early but thats a cost. I have been talking about that. People say what are you talking about . You will have youll have that. Youll have Domestic Violence. Youll have violence. Youll have suicide. Addiction. Drug a lot of people are going to be lost. Get this open as soon as we can. Ill be the happiest person, so will you. Everyone in this room, happy when we get the word that this we have ourand common sense and theyll give me be making or theyll certain statements and i think ill know how to interpret those statements very well. Be with mike. Ill be with the task force. Ill be with a lot of very thented people including two people on stage with us. But i look forward, that will be a great day. About one more. Reporter what is the current in detentionlan centers where cases of covid19 are popping up and people have been released. Is there contingency plan . Would you release the most childrene people like and the elders . At, on aooked casebycase basis, even well looking atd, detention facilities on a casebycase basis to see if individuals release and when we do that we put them on alternatives to detention, as well. Covid, weref looking at vulnerable individuals, i. C. E. Is doing in conjunction with the c. D. C. And other medical professionals. In some cases we need to do that health and safety of the but thats aes casebycase basis. A blanketmaking statement. Its a casebycase basis, health of that population or detainee, facility theyre in. Facilities have different capabilities whether i. C. E. Owned facility or contractor operated facility so we have been doing that today weeks. Past several pres. Trump could you talk about how tight that southern right now . Absolutely. We continue to build miles of the wall every day. To over 150, i believe. Newe continuing to build miles of wall. And a lot of folks ask about new milest wall or and its a new capability on our southwest border that we havent before so whether you talk to the Border Patrol agents, they like that capability. They like that impedance and itial it provides them and provides the ability for those agents to focus elsewhere on parts of the border that are patrol so we can use our resources in a different way and so we see a lot of the border wall system and that includes not only the physical infrastructure roads, theeras, the fiberoptic cables and were well on our mark to the 450 miles by the end of calendar year. Reporter theres been concern among farmers about getting keep thegrant labor to food supply moving into the harvest season. What are you doing to address that . Mr. Wolf at the direction of the Vice President and the task force, we are looking at a options with the h2a theers on how do we extend validity of visa. Ofre looking at a couple options. I think we will have soon and it very beneficial. Pres. Trump i am glad you asked that question because we want theyve had this for years. We want the farmers to be able to get the people that have been farms for years, or were not going to have farms. Theyre going to come in and going to be given a certain pass and well check them very closely especially month because remember after a month or so, i think once this passes, were have to beo hopefully worried too much about the virus but we want them to come in. Closing the border so that we cant get any of those people to come in. Andve been there for years years and ive given the commitment to the farmers that theyre going to continue to haveor were not going to any farmers. One more question. Else . Reporter in less than 24 hours forthips will arrive at everglades with people pres. Trump im looking at the two ships. Notified, a lot of canadians, a lot of british on the ship. Theyre coming to take the ship backt are on the to their homeland. Canadas coming. U. K. Is coming. And we have a lot of we have americans. Have some people that are quite sick and were taking care of that im speaking with the that a lot. Ut and its a tough situation. Tough situation. You can understand, you have people that are sick on those ships and states dont want to take they have enough problems right now. They dont want to take them but have to from a humane standpoint. Choice. Have a i dont want to do that but we have to. People are dying. Do something. At a minimum were sending medical teams on board the ships. Taking the canadians off canadiang them to authorities. Theyre going to bring them back home. The same thing with the u. K. But we have to help the people. Theyre in big trouble. Where theyre from. Happen to be americans, largely americans. Or not,her they were theyre dying. So we have to do something. Knows that,rnor too. Sent home . Pres. Trump were sending a lot of them home to their countries but well be doing something and announcing. But were also putting medical staff on to the ships so that we take care ofe to the people. Reporter mr. President , there is the i. R. S. Is requiring normally filet income tax to file a simple tax return in order to get their 1200 check. That the way its going to be . Pres. Trump i dont know. Mike . Know that answer, we can get back its a theyre working on. Well get back to you as soon as we find out. One more, please. Reporter you spoke to president today . Arrow pres. Trump i did. Hes a great guy and doing a job, from brazil. Very complimentary call. Hes working very hard. Hes got a big problem with the virus. We talked about it today at length. We had a call this morning and brazil is shut down, as you know. They werent going to shut it down but they had to. So brazil is shut down. Shut down. S nobodys ever seen anything like this. The entire world is shut down. Go from having the most powerful economy in the world and from other countries that well to being everything is shut down. Its very sad. It going going to get and were going to be stronger than ever. I really believe that. Bige going to have a bounce, very big bounce when this is gone and i want to thank the American People. Thank these great professionals and i want to thank the media because for the been verythe medias fair. Thank you very much, everybody. [captions performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] you miss any of our live coverage of the governments response to the watch itus outbreak, cspan. Org coronavirus. Use the charts and maps to track global spread and confirmed cases in the u. S. County by county. Youroronavirus web page is fast and easy way to watch cspans unfiltered coverage of this pandemic. Pres. Trump its absolutely critical for the American People to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days, a matter of life and death. Announcer tonight on washington journal primetime, we continue the conversation on response to the Coronavirus Crisis with the chief quality and Patient Safety stater at ohio universitys wexner medical theer on Clinical Care for virus and interventional fairfaxogist at hospital in northern virginia, on ventilators. Thewell check with michigan congresswoman about the virus. Of the watch washington journal primetime. Announcer when the 2 trillion coronavirus Economic Relief passed by voice vote in the u. S. House of representatives, many members were away from the house floor due to the global coronavirus pandemic and submitted video statements. Statements from members who were unable to participate in the debate tonight at 9 00 on cspan. N announcer coming up thursday shannonalthcare reinhardtnd william will look at the impact of federal responses to coronavirus and the impact of covid19 on selfemployed. Watch cspans washington live at 7 00 eastern thursday morning. Discussion. Canadian Prime Minister trudeau briefed reporters