Pres. Trump thank you very much. Please. This afternoon, i will sign a proclamation declaring the month of may to be Older Americans month. I dont know if i am in that category. I have a feeling im. I have a feeling i am. But i feel good. And our country is making a lot of progress. Making a lot of progress. As we honor the contributions of our nations seniors, we are here to discuss the unprecedented steps we are taking to protect seniors from the virus. I will also announce vital new actions to safeguard Nursing Homes and most vulnerable citizens as we gradually seek to reopen our country. It is very exciting to see what s happening. Secretary alex azar, robert wilkie, great job. Verna, ator seema fema administrator pete gaynor, and chief of the National Guard joseph lingo, thanks also to tennessee governor bill lee, my friend. Thank you very much, bill, great job youre doing. Great being with you. And ma outstanding advocates for americas seniors who are here with us today, thank you all very much. As we tragically have seen, the virus poses the greatest risk to Older Americans. Together, as one nation, we mourn for every precious life that has been lost, and there have been many. We are so saddened by it. Through our aggressive actions and the devotion of our doctors and nurses, we have held our fatality rate far below hardhit other countries such as spain, italy, the united kingdom, and sweden. We are way below other countries. We are deploying every resource in our power to protect seniors and americans of every age and background. Early on, we implement a lifesaving travel restrictions and directed billions of dollars toward therapies and vaccines an thats moving along rapidly. We moved at a speed that people are absolutely stunned to see. We accelerated treatments, including remdesivir which is reportedly showing encouraging preliminary results, that was the very big story yesterday, announced by gilead. In early march, my administration advised in Nursing Homes to suspend all medically unnecessary visits to help slow the spread and protect our seniors and especially in our Nursing Homes, they are having a hard time in those Nursing Homes. We took action to step up enforcement of Infectious Disease measures in Nursing Homes. We acted swiftly to secure veterans, health care facilities, and deployed hundreds of v. A. Staff to help out in Nursing Homes nationwide. And we are being helped greatly by the passage of all things we have done, especially choice, so that people can go see their doctor when they have to, especially seniors. We have provided nearly 1 billion in grants to supply meals and other services that make it impossible for older people to just do what they want to do. We are helping them to live independently. We have dramatically expanded access to telehealth, a very big eal. The number of medicare patients using telehealth has increased from roughly 11,000 a week to 650,000 people a week. Thats from 11,000 a week to 650,000. Thats almost an impossible number two believe, but its really something. You get used to it, and a lot of that is going to be staying with s long after this horrible scourge is gone. Medicare also provided labs for at home testing. At zero cost to patients. We have secured a ventilator for every patient who needs one. Nobody who needed a ventilator has been without a ventilator. Its an incredible achievement. We now have thousands and thousands of ventilators, and other countries are asking us to help. We are helping other countries. Some are allies, and some are not necessarily allies. But theyre in big trouble and we are helping other countries with ventilators. We have millions and millions of masks. Millions of masks coming in. The federal government is also funding over 35,000 members of the National Guard to help states deliver critical supplies and to help with disinfecting and testing. I would like to ask the general to come up and say a few words about the work of the National Guard has been doing. Its really fantastic. Thank you, mr. President. Good afternoon, everyone. Im very proud of the National Guard and all theyre doing to help keep our nation safe at home and abroad. Today, over 83,000 men and women in the National Guard are engaged at home and abroad, and 45,000 of those are engaged directly in covid19 response. From running test sites around the country to screening passengers at airports, to helping manufacture ppe, to a myriad of other tasks, the National Guard is there. We know the virus does not treat everyone equally, and our Senior Citizens are at increased risk. In many cases, we are being used to sanitize longterm care facilities and Nursing Homes, giving older citizens peace of mind that their environments are safe. The georgia National Guard has set aside over 700 Nursing Homes. This has been replicated many places around the nation and continues to grow. Additionally, food banks. And homeless shelters. In normal times, they are staffed by volunteers. Many of them elderly Senior Citizens in america. Now volunteering puts those great americans at increased risk so the National Guard is helping those americans stay clear of this risk. In doing that, the National Guard is staffing many food banks across the nation where the need for Food Assistance is increasing across the nation as the virus continues to persist. The National Guard is a big part of the United States army and air force, and we are proud of that, but the role we play here at home, in the homeland, under the command of the governors in our states is distinctly and uniquely National Guard business and we are proud of that. Mr. President , thank you. Thank you for the support you give our military, National Guard, and all of the men and women who serve. They are proud to serve our nation. Thank you for letting me talk about the guard today. Thank you, sir. Pres. Trump four stars, thats a lot of stars. Very impressive. You deserve them. I do want to say you mentioned the word governor. Weve had a lot of Great Success in our relationship with governors. We have dealt with governors very well. We have got to know each other, understand each other, like each other. In many cases that has worked out well. We have the governor from new jersey here today, wonderful man, a lot of progress being made there. We had John Bell Edwards of louisiana yesterday and ron desantis of florida the day before, tremendous progress, three very exceptional men, theyre doing a really good job, as you know. And we have others coming in. One or two a day. We help them very quickly. It has been very good. My administration is doing Everything Possible to support the state led management of Nursing Homes. Here today is a governor i happen to like a lot. He has done a fantastic job in a fantastic state, a state i like a lot, a state called tennessee. For some reason they like me a lot in tennessee, i havent figured that out but they like me. So governor bill lee, come up. Governor lee thank you very much. And thank you to your team. Many in this room we have worked with. You are guiding america through a tremendous crisis, and america is grateful for that. We are grateful for the partnership between the federal government and states like ours as we work to make our contribution to fighting covid19. We can do so because of the work you are doing and the way you are supporting the work we are doing. Youve asked states to commit to testing 2 of their population. In april 2 of tennesseans were tested. And we have tested over 175,000 to date. As we look to may, we are building on strengthening that commitment to the elderly, the most vulnerable of our citizens, especially those in Nursing Homes. Scripture describes being hard pressed on every side but not crushed. Thats where we are in tennessee. I think that is where we are in the nation. But the elderly are most hardpressed. Especially in longterm care facilities. In tennessee, we are committed to testing every resident and staff in our longterm care facilities. It will be a great undertaking, but it honors the value of these lives in those facilities, lives that have protected our country in the hardest of times, the greatest generation, and those that have a loving legacy, our neighbors, our grandparents, our friends. It is time for us to protect hem. We should do so by pursuing social distancing in every way that we can with them. The distance is sometimes a great gulf. I havent hugged my elderly mom in eight weeks. But we are doing right by these citizens and you are doing right to make certain they that we do our personal part to make sure they are safe. While valuing our freedoms at the same time. While we are hardpressed, we are not crushed, and we are grateful for your leadership and for this teams leadership, particularly your commitment to the most vulnerable in our nation. Together, we will get through this. Thank you very much. Pres. Trump thank you very much, bill. Reat governor, by the way. As we take steps to safely reopen our country, we must remain vigilant in sheltering the most vulnerable americans. To that end, today, i have several announcements. In addition to all of the supplies we have already distributed, fema will send supplemental shipments and i have to tell you, what a job you have done. Everybody was, at the last call, so many of the governors said i want to thank him. I was calling him easter morning. Calling him all the time. You can call them on sundays. All the time. They really appreciate it. You are doing a fantastic job. Pete gaynor, fema. Fema will send supplemental shipments of personal protective equipment to all 15,400 medicaid and medicare certified Nursing Homes in america, right, pete . Second, cms is providing states with 81 million from the cares act to increase their inspections of Nursing Homes at his critical time. We have to do that. Thats a spot. Thats a spot we have to take care of. I guess you could call it a little bit of a weak spot because things are happening at the Nursing Homes that we are not happy about. We dont want to have them happen, so we will be taking care of it very carefully and ethodically. Well be finalizing a new rule about coronavirus cases in Nursing Homes to be reported to c. D. C. And testing data to be posted online, everyone gets to see it. This law also requires Nursing Homes to report cases to residents and their family members. Finally to ensure that our Nursing Homes are prepared for any future outbreaks, were announcing the Coronavirus Commission for safety and quality in Nursing Homes. This commission will be composed of leading industry experts, doctors and scientists, resident and patient advocates. Family members, infection and prevention control specialists and state and local authorities. Its a big deal. This commission will be composed the commission will convene in may and issue recommendations for further steps we can take to protect our nations seniors. My administration will never waver in its relentless commitment to americas seniors. We owe them a sacred and unbreakable obligation and we will fulfill that obligation with every resource and power we have. We are working very hard with our seniors and we are working very hard with our Nursing Homes, and great progress is being made and will be made. That i can promise you. That is also why we are protecting medicare and social security. We will protect your social security. We will protect your medicare. We will protect you as american itizens. That goes beyond citizens. Our cherished seniors and rich every aspect of our national life. These great citizens have dedicated their lives to our families and our communities and our countries. Our country could not be anything near where it is without our incredible seniors. We will show them the same love and loyalty they have shown us and they have shown our nation every day of our lives. No effort will be spared to give our seniors the care, support, devotion, and love that they have earned and that they deserve. In a few moments, i will sign a proclamation designed its very special. We have designed a very special plan thats going to designate lder american month. This is Older Americans month. First i would like to ask ,ecretary azar, secretary wilke administrators to come up and say a few words. Alex, why dont you start. Mr. Azar thank you, mr. President , for your leadership, and for the work you have done to protect Older Americans. Id like to thank the Older Americans and advocates we have here today including those working hard at the state and local level. As the president described, during this pandemic, we have taken every possible effort to keep Older Americans healthy and safe. In addition to our Public Health and health care efforts, President Trump has made historic investments in programs that support Older Americans and help them live independently. Over the past month, hhs has disbursed more than 1 billion in grants to aging and disability networks, state and local agencies like the could be sill on aging that provides services for seniors living in the community. This is more than a 40 increase in the critical support we provide to these organizations. Services include delivered meals like my grandmother used to get from meals on wheel, help with trips to the Grocery Store or the doctor, and assistance with chores in the home. Back in march we put out 250 million in grants specifically for meals including through meals on wheels. We have been pleased to see communities get creative with these funds. Some states are assuring that not only are meals getting to seniors but that the meals are coming from local restaurants whose businesses are struggling. We recognize that Older Americans may be facing Mental Health challenges and feeling isolated. Floridas aging network is combating social isolation by providing electronic tablets to nursing home residents to help them communicate with loved nes. We are working to protect the rights of Older Americans. Our office of civil rights has been taking action to ensure that Health Care Providers do not discriminate on the basis of disability or age in the llocation of medical care. We have had two states remove such policies from their triaging guidelines as a result of our office of civil rights ork. We have worked closely with states to make sure they can test especially vulnerable populations, like those living in Nursing Homes, and those who care for them. This will continue to empower them throughout the pandemic as we reopen the country and keep americas seniors as healthy and independent as possible. Thank you all for what you o. Mr. President , thank you, and thank you for everything you have done to transform the department of veteran affairs. On behalf of the in additions nine and a half million veterans. 75 years ago, the men of the american regiment raised the flag on a mountain. No event better evoked the sacrifices and triumphs of the millions of americans who put on the uniform for world war ii. A few years after iwo jima, the men of the United States army defended the perimeter and the marines fought throughout the reservoir. Veterans of those terrible times are still with us today. Early on in this crisis, President Trump gave very explicit orders to do Everything Possible to protect the lives of those precious americans. The department of Veterans Affairs has more than 134 Nursing Homes, but more than half of those fought in wars in battles with names like the bulge. Gaudal canal. Of the 78,000 residents and our Nursing Homes, we have tested all of them for coronavirus. We have tested all of our staff. The infection rate is low. Many of our homes do not report any positive cases. Still, as the president noted, we had to make tough decisions arly on. After residents had gone through so much on the battlefield, we had to tell them that at this stage of their lives, we were depriving them of the sustenance of their families and friends because we had to protect their lives. Because of the president s directions to me, we have been able to contain the virus in our Nursing Homes, and now, we are taking the lessons we learned from the v. A. Across the country to protect patients across america. We are the federal experts in jer ontology. In gerontolgy. We are helping 38 states and territories handled the surge of patients dealing with this surge with our great partners at fema, aiding americas elderly is central to all of our efforts. We deployed v. A. Staff to veterans Nursing Homes owned and ormented by the individual states. Early on, Governor Charlie Baker and phil murphy moved to protect their veterans, and they asked us for help. In addition to massachusetts and new jersey, we were helping alabama, florida, and tennessee. In california and mississippi, new mexico, oklahoma, rhode island and texas, we have taken in nonveteran nursing home patients and state veterans nursing home patient into our v. A. Facilities. We are helping elderly americans wherever we find them. Mr. President , you should be very proud of the v. A. You have helped build. Thousands of employees have left have leapt too harms way. Leaders like jim mcnerney and martina prada brian little in boston, rima nelson in detroit. Fernando rivera in new orleans. All of them have put service before self to protect the most vulnerable and deserving. These are the folks who made america strong. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President , and thank you for your commitment to the nations seniors and to the medicare program. You have been very clear with me since day one that you wanted to protect and strengthen the medicare program, and under your leadership, premiums are at a 13 year low and in the part d program, it is a seven year low. But today, i want to focus on Nursing Homes. In the scheme of lifes decisions, placing a loved one in a nursing home has to be one of the most difficult. When you make that decision, you want to know you can stay connected with your loved one and theyre going to be safe and have the best quality of life. That is why the decision to restrict visitations to Nursing Homes was heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers are with families and patients uring this uncertain time. The tragic reality is the coronavirus seems almost tailormade to put Major Pressure on Nursing Homes. In countries across the world, they have struggled with their nursing home population. The president s early action around Nursing Homes has saved countless lives, and even before the coronavirus, we have been working on a strategy to improve quality in Nursing Homes. It focused on quality, oversight, enforcement, and transparency for patients and their families so they understand exactly what is going on in Nursing Homes about the conditions there and reducing regulatory burdens so that nursing home providers can focus on providing care to their patients instead of paperwork. We have overhauled the entire survey system and implemented a tool across the nation to ensure that our inspectors were being consistent, objective, and thats increased in the number of fines. We have updated websites so that patients and families had the latest information on the quality in the nursing home, and making it very clear when Nursing Homes have had nothing have had significant cases of abuse an neglect. Those improvements made it possible when the coronavirus hit for us to take rapid action on several fronts. We launched an unprecedented transparency effort that requires Nursing Homes to inform patients and families when there is an outbreak, and to report that information directly to the cdc. That will be important to our efforts around surveillance as we reopen the country. We increased reimbursement for labs so that they could be more testing. Thats going to be critical to our monitoring and surveillance efforts. Also, starting in february, we issued a series of nine guidance ocuments specific to coronavirus and controlling infections in Nursing Homes. Just for some perspective, norm lie li these guidance documents can take months or years. But the c. M. S. Team worked days and nights and weekends to make sure we got this information in the hands of our Nursing Homes to do everything we could to rotect our vulnerable seniors. We also host weekly calls with Nursing Homes to help them implement guidance. Federal action is just one part of the piece. States ultimately license Nursing Homes, and that is why we have been working with states to investigate outbreaks and inspect Nursing Homes. Our guidance has called on state and local leaders to support Nursing Homes in their efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak. I commend governor lee and governors across the nation who have implemented our guidance, whether it is cleaning their facilities, testing and creating new covid facilities that help isolate patients and keep other patients safe. This has been critical to keeping nursing home residents safe. I am pleased to announce we are putting out new grants to support state and local efforts. He president has been an advocate of this. Advocate of this. He has asked for increase funding for Nursing Homes every year in his budget, but this is he first Year Congress has provided this, and it could not come at a more critical time as we work with our state partners to ensure safety and our Nursing Homes. But the president has directed us to do more, so as part of our opening up america effort, we are going to oversee the Coronavirus Commission for safety and quality in Nursing Homes. It will comprehensively assess the response, identify best practices, and identify recommendations for how we go forward to protect nursing home residents and make sure we are providing the best quality of life. In closing, i want to speak directly to nursing home residents, caretakers, and their families. Your pain is our pain, and we are doing everything we can to support you. To the Health Care Workers on the front line providing care and comfort to nursing home residents, we thank you. And thank you, mr. President , for your consistent leadership nd unwavering support. President trump you want to tell them were going to have big news soon on insulin . Its a big deal. Were doing everything we can to lower the price of insulin for our seniors and well have some great announcements coming p very soon. President trump thats great ews. Thank you, mr. President , administrator, and members of the task force. Let me focus on logistics in our efforts to deliver care packages to those at highest risk and greatest need. Those living in our Nursing Homes across the country. Thanks to the leadership of the president and the tremendous support of the task force, fema will deliver care packages containing four items of ppe to more than 15,000 medicare and medicaid certified Nursing Homes nationwide to include the district of columbia, commonwealth of puerto rico and uam. Given the lack of p. P. E. For Nursing Homes, we will provide a package or a kit containing a seven day supply of eye protection, masks, gowns, and gloves to 15 plus Nursing Homes. Each kit is individualized for each nursing home based on the level of staffing and the seven days of our supply alculations. Over the cost of the next 60 days, course of the next 60 days, we will be providing two shipments of sevenday supplies, totaling 14 days of supply supplies by the beginning of july. First shipments begin next week, the first shipments will focus on metropolitan area sites like new york city, new jersey, boston and washington, d. C. The second shipment begins in early june. The goal is to have all supplies elivered no later than july 4. Assisting us is a Small Business in maryland that specializes in equipment support, focusing on solutions for the department of defense. They will help us distribute the following p. P. E. Items. 608,000 pieces of eye protection. 6. 9 million surgical masks. 6. 4 million gowns. 31. 4 million pairs of gloves. And finally, i would again like to extend my gratitude to the president for his leadership thon project as well as to thank my fellow members of the White House Coronavirus task force and their continued partnership. Together we have taurned critical demand for p. P. E. For our seniors and frontline Health Care Workers into reality. Thank you, sir. Pres. Trump thank you all very much. I think thats fine. Indiscernible] thank you very much. If you would like to have questions on this, we might venture into different territorials. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore to venture into other territory , the Vice President said a short time ago that he believes general Michael Flynn may have unintentionally lied to him or misspoken when he talked to him and did not include his meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the United States. Do you believe that general flynn may have misled the Vice President unintentionally . Pres. Trump he was under an enormous, artificial pressure. What they did to him was hocking. I hear more information came out today. What they tried to do to destroy him and hurt this presidency, perhaps in our countrys history theres never been anything like it. An absolute disgrace. I think you understand very well. What happened to general flynn should never happen to a citizen of this country. Reporter you said that Michael Flynn would come back even bigger and better. Are you going to pardon him and are you considering bringing him back into the administration. Pres. Trump it looks like Michael Flynn would be exonerated. Im not the judge, but i have a different power. I dont know that anybody would have to use that power. I think hes exonerated. Never seen anything like it. You wouldnt want this happening to you. What they did to general flynn. Its disgraceful. I guess well get to that maybe someday or maybe not. Hopefully we wont have to get there. Reporter would you consider bringing him back into your dministration . President trump hes a fine man. Youre asking me for the first time. I would consider it. I certainly would. I think he is a fine man. I think he has got a great family. He loves his son. His son was around a lot. He loves his son, as people generally do. They did Everything Possible to destroy him and he is still breathing very strongly. They hurt him very badly. Very unfair. Reporter in what capacity would you bring him back . Pres. Trump this is the first time i have been asked of the question. I think hell be exonerated one way or the other. Certainly hed be capable of coming back. He suffered greatly. Reporter i want to ask you about comments by your soninlaw, one of your top jade visors, jashede Jared Kushner who said the governments response has been a Great Success story. Your soninlaw said the governments response has been a Great Success story. Is that the right tone and message at a moment President Trump lets look at facts. There are other things i talk about in my speech all the time and that is death. It is horrible what the world has gone through. It could have been contained at the original location and contained relatively easily. China is very sophisticated and could have contained it. They chose not to and the world as suffered greatly. But what jared was talking about, what i talk about a lot, no, i dont think anybody has done the job we have done other than Public Relations because the press just wont talk about the facts. We had a ventilator problem that was caused by the fact that we werent left ventilators by a Previous Administration, the cup boards were bare as i say often. Not only are the cup boards full now, we have ventilators, were the king of the world in ventilator, we have thousands and thousands of them now being delivered. You were at the news conferences over the last few days. The governors said we have never had a case where we couldnt get a ventilator. A month and a half ago people, you, were screaming ventilator, ventilator. Just looking at the test number, we have more tests, we have given more tests, high quality tests, than every other country combined. And i say it. The friend of mine, south korea president , called me, they talk about south korea, they have done a good job. He said where did you have what a job you have done, this is a bigger country what a job you have done in testing, the testing, the masks, we have solved every problem and solved it quickly. To think that now were giving thousands of ventilators to other countries, allied and other than allies, to be honest, but were help orge countries where people are dying. Because we have ventilators and nobody else does to this extent. Its a great tribute. Deborah, we were talking about that before, deborah birx, dr. Birx, has been fantastic. Fantastic person. Erson. Fantastic woman. We talk about the things that weve done in a short period of time. I mean, all you heard about was ventilators. Thats a hard thing. We energized factories that didnt build ventilator, they were building cars and other things, now were building thousands a week. Its been very spectacular. Its been really spectacular. So i think, yeah, i dont think anybody has done a better job with testing, with ventilators, with all of the things that we have done. And our death totals, there are numbers, per Million People, are really very, very strong. Were very proud of the job we have done. We had very little to work with because the Previous Administration left us very little. Reporter quick follow up reporter mr. President. Reporter thank you, mr. President. You signed an executive order morning dealing with [inaudible] why the need for manpower and do you think youre any closer to the goal . President trump we do have executive orders they help us a lot, they have helped us a very lot here. We also signed things having to do with production, as you know, ive used that very, very powerfully, the act. Often times, i just had to talk about it. I am only signing when we want or need additional manpower or whatever it is. We have done things. I dont think anybody else has been able to do what we have done. This is a big country, as you know. I am very proud of the country and the way they have stepped up. Things are opening. Governor lee is doing a great job in opening up tennessee. Hes opening it up rapidly and safely. He said to me, two words i think about, safe and rapid. He is doing it quickly and safely and tennessee is a great story. We have other governors who are doing a really great job. Governor murphy and cuomo have a tougher situation because it is really a hotbed. Its a very dense area. People dont realize. New jersey is the single most dense area in the country. Who would think that . But the governor has done a terrific job. Governor cuomo is speaking to me all the time and whenever we can help him, we do. Thank you. Were helping him, hes helping his state, thats what he has to o. Reporter do you feel any closer . Pres. Trump things are being discovered that we never thought ossible. The abbott machine, Abbott Laboratory is a great, great scientific company. They came up with a machine that i would say two months ago never heard of this machine and all of a sudden boom, people come into my office they get tested, takes them five minutes and they feel very good. Some of them have never been ested. This is equipment and tests that nobody ever thought was even possible three or four months ago and its being used commonly now. I looked at the numbers and we are over six million tests. Add everybody together and its not close to that. Its incredible. It would be great if the media could portray it the way it is. We have done some unbelievable work. When somebody uses the word successful, it has been successful. If you look at mortality rates, its a very sad thing to be talking about. Whoever thought you would be talking about such a thing . Two months ago all we talked about the economy, how well it was going. Today we have to talk about that. Our country has really stepped up. Our generals have stepped up, our admirals have stepped up, admiral has done a fantastic job as you know. Were very proud of everybody. This whole room has been very amazing. Reporter you said it china is doing everything they can to make sure you dont get reelected. What specifically are they doing . Pres. Trump china doesnt want to see me reelected and the reason is we are getting many billions of dollars a month from china. Hina never gave us anything, they gave us nothing, not 10 cents. Whether it was biden in charge of china, it was a joke, and in all fairness to biden and obama, this went on long before they came in office. You can go through many administrations until i came along. Then we signed a trade deal where theyre supposed to buy and have been buying a lot, actually. But that now becomes secondary to what took place with the virus. The virus situation is just not acceptable. Reporter do you think that them withholding information about the virus is related to trying to undermine your reelection . Pres. Trump i dont want to cast any dispersions, just that china would like to see sleepy joe biden. They would take this country for a ride. Like youve never seen before. Reporter mr. President . With the unemployment numbers coming out today, have you given any thoughts to possibly extending the 600 extra dollars of unemployment . That will run out in july. Pres. Trump they are looking at it and taking a strong look and will be reporting to you shortly. I will say this. Obviously this is what it is. Ts this period of time. I view the Third Quarter as a transition quarter. I think you will have a strong transition and then the Fourth Quarter will be successful. Next year, we will have a phenomenal year economically. Reporter you keep referring to china, do you hold president xi jinping responsible for this . Pres. Trump i dont want to say that, but it certainly could have been stopped. It came out of china, it could have been stopped, i wish they had stopped it, so does the whole world wish they stopped it. Reporter there are many businesses that are concerned that as americans open again, because of the extra 600, businesses wont get their employees back because they make more money staying at home, which caused some governors to suggest they may strip people of their Unemployment Insurance if they refuse to go back to work. Is that something youd support . Pres. Trump we have brought up a lot of things. This was a democratic point, some people are being treated unfairly and didnt get into the formulas the way i thought. When you think about it, basically, we are being generous shortterm with people who have potentially lost their jobs so its not the biggest problem ive ever heard of, getting a little more money, maybe getting more money they thought they would have gotten. A lot of employers are sthage job is more important because the employer is not going to forget that. It was something i brought up at the beginning but nobody wanted to listen. Yes, please. Reporter followup regarding joe biden. Your campaign and surrogates are going after him pretty hard. What do you say with regard to tara reade . Pres. Trump i dont know anything about it. I dont know exactly. I think he should respond. It could be false accusations. I know all about false accusations. Ive been falsely charged numerous times. And there is such a thing. If you look at brett kavanaugh, there is an outstanding man. He was falsely charged. What happened with him was an absolute disgrace to our country. I guess three of the four women have now admitted that. And the fourth . Give me a break. Take a look. 36 years. This is a fine man. I saw a man suffering so unfairly. Talking about brett kavanaugh. I cant speak for biden. I can only say that i think he should respond. I think he should answer them. Reporter another question on biden . Reporter a moment ago, you said china could have chosen to stop the spread of the virus. Are you insinuating they intentionally let it spread . Pres. Trump they could have done it. One of two things happened. Either they didnt or couldnt do it from a competence standpoint, or they let it spread. I would say it probably got out of control. Another case, how come they stopped all of the plane and traffic from going in but not the traffic from coming into the United States and all over europe . Look at what happened. In italy. This country is very lucky that put the ban on china. Very early on. In january. We put the ban on china. That was a very early day. We later put the ban on in urope. If we didnt do that, we would have had a problem you wouldnt believe, a much bigger problem. Then look at what happened to italy. A lot of those people went to italy instead. Its been a very tough place, italy. Reporter on holding them accountable, is that somebody you want to do now . Pres. Trump i think we will get a powerful definition of exactly what happened. We are working on it strongly and it will be powerful. But they could have stopped it. They are a brilliant nation. Scientifically or otherwise. It got loose, lets say and they could have kept it. They could have stopped it. But they didnt. They stopped planes from going to china but didnt stop them from going to the rest of the world. What was that all about. Jim . Reporter a followup. You have praised china in the past. What has changed . You tweeted they have been working hard to contain the coronavirus and the u. S. Appreciate theirs efforts at transparency, it will all work out well. What changed between then when you were saying those things about china, and now . Pres. Trump the following. We did a trade deal and everybody was very happy. Nobody has ever been tough on china like i was tough on china. I got elected because of borders and military but i would say how china and other countries are ripping us off. So recently, we signed a trade eal. A number of months ago. They are buying millions of our products and it has been a great deal. But then, we noticed a virus. Its not acceptable what happened. It came out of china and it is not acceptable. What we are doing is finding out how it came out. Different forms. You have heard all different thins. You have heard three or four different concepts as to how it came out. We should have the answer and that will determine how i feel about china. But i was very rough with china. Biden, as an example, the Previous Administration led let china rip off this country like nobody has ever ripped off this country. I took that and made it into a reat deal for our country. But all of a sudden, we heard there is a virus coming in. That change mismind very greatly. Thats a whole different thing. You can have good trade deals i made the trade deal earlier on, its a great deal. We are taking in billions and billions of dollars of money in different forms. Including the fact that we have a 25 tariff on 250 billion. Its a tremendous amount of must be. Of money. Some of that i have given to the farmers, because they were targeted by china. I gave 12 billion. I gave 16 billion. This year well be giving approximately 19 billion to the farmers. Something happened. Something happened. Misleading or not. Ill let you know. Ill be able to give you that answer at some point. Hopefully in the not too distant future. But look at what happened to this world. A month and a half ago, we had the strongest economy in the history of the world, and all of a sudden i have to close the country. Close the economy. So we have had tremendous deaths and sorrow. Nobody has seen anything like it. So have most of the countries of the countries of the world. Most of the country. 184, you tell me, its probably low. 184 countries, theyve suffered tremendously. Its something that is going to have to be dealt with. Reporter on the issue of loss, Vice President biden said we should lower the white house flag. To halfmast. Are you going to do that, and are you thinking about leading the nation in a moment of mourning . President trump i would not mind doing that. I would say not only the white house flag, we could do that, its something i will be talking about later on, we have a meeting on various things, thats one of the topics and were going to bring that up. I think lowering the flags would be something very appropriate. Reporter what about leading the country in a moment of mourning for all the lives lost, the more than 60,000. President trump of course i am. I dont think anybody can feel any worse than i do about all the death and destruction that is so needless. Nobody. But i also have to make sure we handle the situation well. Nobody is thinking about it more. Obody nobody has spent more time late in the evening thinking about whats happened to this country in a short period of time. But at the same time we have to get our country open again. And were doing that. Step by step. Tennessee is an example. Step by step. Were opening up our country and i really believe that next year we can be maybe even we have a lot of stimulus and maybe even beyond. Well see about, by the way, package four, phase four, but i really hope we can be as good or better. I built it reporter you said a moment ago, you will soon have information on where this virus originated. The director of National Intelligence put out a statement saying they believe it was naturally occurring, it was not manmade. Who said that . oforter your office National Intelligence. Your director of National Intelligence. President trump who specifically made the statement . Reporter the statement was put out by the office of the dni. But the question was, have you seen anything . President trump we are looking at where it came from, how it happened, separately and also scientifically. Reporter have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of virology was the origin of this virus . President trump yes, i have. Yes, i have. And i think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves, because they are like the Public Relations agency for china. And this country pays them almost five hundred Million Dollars a year. And china only pays 38 million a year. And whether it is a lot or more, it doesnt matter. Still, they shouldnt be making excuses when people make especiallystakes, mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die. I think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves. Reporter you have suggested restricting aid to districts with sanctuary cities . A suggestion is that . President trump well, i have a right to do that. But sanctuary cities are a dangerous thing for law enforcement. Our law enforcement, we want sanctuary cities, and we one sanctuary for our citizens, we dont want crimes of the ultimate evils. We dont want them to have sanctuary in our country. We want strong borders. I will say it again, we want to have strong borders. I have been saying this for a long time, and i think people are agreeing with me. I really do. People are agreeing with me. The democrats want open borders where people just come in. Only talkingnot about coming in from a crime standpoint, you are talking about people coming in with not only the disease we are talking about so much lately, but other diseases. And they want to have open borders, and they want people to pour into our country from who knows where they come. We arent doing that. We have a very strong border, and every day it gets stronger. Because we are building miles a day of very powerful wall. ,and that is a great thing for our country. It is so important for our country. And very few people are arguing with it. Reporter you often describe this fight against the virus as a war. How do you define victory . President trump so it is a war, and i define victory when it is gone and we open successfully. It can never be a total victory and we have a successful country again. It can never be a total victory because too many people have died. All over the world, people have died in our country and every country. I am looking at the new list of countries. Look at what is going on with russia. Look at what is going on with spain, so incredibly harmed and injured by this. So many people are dying. You is not something where will go to your traditional, gee , this is an experience. This was a very bad experience. What i want is to have the virus gone and a vibrant economy. We want people back. We dont want people necessarily sitting like these incredible people in front of me, where they are sitting six feet apart. Instead, i want our country back. And seeeople to go out Football Games and baseball games and basketball and hockey and golf and all of these exports, and not worry about getting sick and violently ill. One thing that was very interesting, you probably saw it, we put it. Before, it was sweden. And you compare the deaths in sweden to the deaths in denmark, finland, and norway. And i hate to say it, but the deaths are substantially higher in sweden because they have used , it as an example. Brazil is very high if you look what has gone on, graphically, they are very high, very straight up almost, very straight up. A friend of mine, great gentlemen, the president of brazil, he is a really great erd, ind when they say h sweden in particular, the bars you cant go to, certain areas you cant go to. A lot of people are saying, the Prime Minister doesnt have to say, stay in your apartment, stay in your house. They are staying there. They arent leaving. So it is really not quite what was reported but the number of , deaths are tremendous in sweden, compared to the countries that surround, where they did very strong lockdowns. And we were discussing that before. It is a very big difference. But sweden didnt go herd as you understand it. And also, the people of sweden very smart. ,they are staying in their houses. They are not going out and are some . Yeah, i guess. But they have lost a lot of people in sweden. I could get back to what we were talking about a second ago i missed in the , interruption are you suggesting you may have some evidence that this was not a naturally occurring virus . President trump we are going to see where it is and where it comes from. And you know, look, you know every theory. You had the theory from the lab, you had the theory for many different, the bats, the type of bat, and the bat is 40 miles away so it couldnt have been here and it couldnt have been there. We have, there is a lot of theories but yeah, we have people looking at it very, very strongly. Scientific people, intelligence people and others. And when you put it altogether, i think we are going to have a very good answer eventually. And china might even tell us. China may tell us. Reporter what gives you a high degree event high degree of confidence that this originated from the Wuhan Institute . Pres. Trump im not allowed to tell you that. Reporter would you call to debt payments to china as punishment for the virus . President trump i could do a number of things, like tariffs, so i dont have to do that. You know it is approximately a , trillion dollars, could be more, as i understand it, trillion dollars. But we could do that in a more forthright manner. You Start Playing those games, and that game is tough. We have the dollar to protect. We want to protect the sanctity of the dollar, the importance of the dollar. It is the greatest currency in the world. It has become stronger. We have a very strong dollar. That is why we are borrowing at zero, a zero interest rate. With all of the stimulus that we are taught about, it sounds good in general, we are paying zero interest, right around zero, but essentially zero. And it is good question. You want to say, we owe you a money, we are of going to keep it. But when you Start Playing that game, you are harming the sanctity and importance of the greatest currency on earth. Wayse could do it in beyond that, without having to play that game. That is a tough game. Reporter Speaker Pelosi said she envisions up to 1 trillion needed to help support states and localities. Would you support that figure . President trump the democrats have come to us and they would like to do a phase four. And we will think about what is happening. They want to help the states. They want to help the bailouts. You know, bailouts are very tough. And they happen to be democrat states. It is california. It is new york. It is illinois. You start with those three. And the republican states are in strong shape. Is that lock or is that talent . Or is it just a different mentality . But the republicanrun states are in strong shape. I looked today when i spoke, i , spoke with ron desantis. He was here yesterday, as i said, and florida is doing incredibly, texas is doing incredibly. The states are doing unbelievably. They dont know about the word bailout. We had a call from a governor of south dakota. And they have one of the finest run states. They have, i think a , constitutional amendment. You know, they have to have a balanced budget, and they have a balanced a totally balanced , budget. They just have a sales tax, thats about the only text they have, a sales tax. So think of that. Its a whole different thing. But republican states are doing very well. Maybe the democrats should have brought this up earlier. When we wanted certain things. And we said and i spent and i said specifically, we will look at it later on down the road. But they would like to do something. They want to do infrastructure. I can understand infrastructure. Think of it. We have spent 1 trillion in the middle east, and we are not fixing our roads. How stupid is that . And we are not fixing our tunnels, our bridges, our hospitals even, our schools even its crazy. , but they want to do things and the republicans are in a much better position from, i dont want to use the word negotiating position, but we are. Our negotiating position is different, because they want to bail out various states. Illinois is in big trouble. Pritzker understands that. But illinois is in big trouble. Is it fair to do that and then have states that are powerful and strong, like iowa, and idaho . I could take iowa. Look at all these incredible states, and look at what is going on and how successful they are. So you just take a look. And we are going to look at it. We are going to look at it. I think we want to take a little bit of a pause, but if we do that, we will have to get something for it. Ok . Reporter question on masks, but very quickly to follow up. It sounds like you are potentially open to leader mcconnells call that states should apply for bankruptcy. President trump im just saying that that is an idea that he has. He threw that out as an idea. I have spoken to him about it very strongly. We will see what happens. We will take a little bit of a pause and we will see what happens. Today i spoke with a wonderful man, a wonderful gentleman, phil murphy. And we talked about it. Jersey is a wonderful state, i have to say. It is a a wonderful place, but it has got a lot of difficulty in terms of economics and debt. The costs, etc. So it is in a different position than some other states we could mention. We could mention them all day long. Reporter about masks, if i could Vice President pence did , not wear a mask when he visited the mayo clinic earlier this week. He is wearing one today. You are traveling to arizona. Will you wear a mask . What is the policy . President trump i am going to arizona. I look forward to that. I will have to see the climate. I will have to see where i am. Here is a place where we all feel very comfortable, everybody is spread out, its a very big room. But as far as going to arizona, i would have to look at the climate. I would have no problem wearing a mask. Im supposed to make a speech. Am i supposed to speak in a mask . I dont know if it is politically correct, but i would speak wearing a mask. And depending on the conditions i would have no problem wearing , a mask. We have millions of masks now. Coming ine have masks that, that was another thing, it was very hard to get the masks that we have. They were making millions and millions of masks and opening plants. It has been incredible. Reporter the chairman of the Federal Reserve has said the economic recovery is going to be long and slow. You have said its going to bounce back quickly. What do you know that he doesnt know . President trump . I didnt hear what he said. I can only tell you that i see it. I think it will be a transitional Third Quarter, the Fourth Quarter will be very good and i think next year will be fantastic, because of the stimulus. I havent seen the statement. But i think we are going to have a great year next year, knowing that we left behind a year of tremendous death, tremendous death. It was just a terrible thing. The likes of which we havent seen, if you go back over 100 years, 1917, that was terrible. But depending on your account of the account, anywhere from 100 50 Million People died we , 1917. Havent seen it in over 100 years. So understanding that it was terrible. Next year, from an economic standpoint, i mean, look at the stock market. People were amazed that the stock market was over 24,000. It was over 29,000. It has 20 it is 24,000 now. Is that even possible, considering what we have gone through . Because people are very smart. Many of these people, they are brilliant and they look if they see a great future. The other thing is the dollar is , very strong. So when we go out and we do stimulus packages we are , oversubscribed at zero. Think of it. You get your money back at zero. It is a pretty incredible thing. The euro is having a hard time and it is much smaller. The dollar has really become the dollar is king and the dollar is at a position now, it is just a very powerful, it is a powerful thing, the dollar. Other currencies are in trouble. They are in big trouble, whereas the dollar is very powerful very , strong. The big part is if you go out and we do want to do stimulus or whatever wooing whatever we want to do, we are borrowing at zero and the dollar is strong. Reporter back to the possibility that this virus came out of the lab in china, would you insist on china allowing u. S. Investigators into the lab . President trump i dont want to go into that. So far, i think china has been trying to be, or at least they seem to be trying to be somewhat transparent with us. But you will find out. You will be learning in the nottoodistant future. But its a terrible thing that happened. Whether they made a mistake or whether it started as a mistake or they made another one, or did somebody do something on purpose saying, i dont understand how , people werent allowed into china, buted into they were allowed into the rest of the world. Thats a hard question for them to answer. Reporter have you got an update on kim jongun and whether he is alive or dead . President trump i understand what is going on, and i just cant talk about kim jongun right now. I just hope everything is fine. But i do understand the situation very well, yes. Reporter when you talked about being complementary about china early on, were you complementary of china because you were concerned about the trade deal . President trump this was before the virus. Of course i would be complementary. I was complementary because of negotiation, but then every once in a while it would break down, i am not like john kerry, left the table in disaster. I left the table a lot. Anyways, we made a deal, and during the deal, i was complement tree and very uncomplimentary. But the bottom line is, we ended up making a deal before the virus came. And i was very happy making the deal. But then later on, the deal was superseded by a virus that should not have happened. I want to thank you all very much. We will probably see you tomorrow at some time. Thank you, very much. Thank you, mr. President. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, we will talk about the u. S. Response to dr. Sarahvirus with chair of the department of immunology and Infectious Disease at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a discussion of racial and Health Disparities in the pandemic with National Medical associations dr. Oliver brooks. Cspans washington journal, live at 7 00 a. M. This morning, and be sure to watch washington journal sunday at 9 00 a. M. For a look back 50 years to the antiwar student protests at kent state, which erupted into a deadly confrontation between students and the ohio National Guard. Q a, househt on south sudanese videogame is bringing the refugee experience to a wider audience. To all the young people, so it is changing the way they think about war. Aboutwas like how teaching them how to play video games . In the videogame, it is the same ,hing, helping in my country killing people, how things are sent out, really playing for resolution. Nflict watch sunday night on cspans q a. On Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and her husband answered students questions on the coronavirus pandemic. The governor said she expects grade School Classes to resume in the fall but acknowledged that the environment will look different with students possibly having to wash their hands more, wear face masks, and spread out in the classroom. She asked all colleges and universities to submit submit a a plan on how they will safely reopen in the fall. Gov. Raimondo thank you for joining us. Today, my husband andy and i are having a special segment where we talk directly to the kids and students in rhode island. It is pretty amazing. Thousands of you, once again, wrote in your questions. We have questions from kids who