[cameras shuttering] ms. Mcenany good afternoon. I have an announcement for you on hospital funding as appropriated in the third phase of Coronavirus Relief. The Trump Administration will distribute a total of 12 billion to 395 hospitals across the country that have been hardest hit by the covid19 pandemic. These hospitals have collectively cared for 70 of the 184,000 americans that required hospital inpatient care. 10 billion of the 12 billion will go toward hospitals treating 100 or more covid19 admissions. H. H. S. Is just to bidding an is distributing an additional 2 billion to these 395 hospitals in proportion to the amount of care they provide to low income and uninsured patients. This is consistent with our effort to ensure americans who need federal government assistance the most receive it. We will be releasing a breakdown of the states receiving this funding and the counties receiving this funding. New york, new jersey, and illinois received the most funding by state, while new york, new york, the bronx, new york, and cook, illinois, received the most funding by county as determined by our metrics. Our health care providers, as President Trump has repeatedly acknowledged, are our heroes as we work to defeat the invisible enemy. This relief funding will help these heroes defeat this virus. I love what this one provider said he said thank you and god for this relief. I have tears in my eyes out of gratitude for these funds. Thank you so, so, so much. Additionally, 100 flights as part of project airbridge have been completed to date. These flights have expedited one million pieces of p. P. E. For our health care heroes. The third phase of Coronavirus Relief also included 320 billion in additional funding for the paycheck protection program, which as you know, provides forgivable loans to Small Businesses in order to keep their employees on payroll. This program has been extraordinarily successful. During the first round of p. P. P. Loans, 1. 6 million loans went to Small Businesses. Of those 1. 6 million loans, one million were given to companies with 10 or fewer employees. So it has gone to Small Businesses and businesses that need it most. But the p. P. P. , it is not just another government program, it is supporting Everyday Americans who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves in this predicament. We saw this firsthand the white house on tuesday. On tuesday, President Trump welcomed Small Business owners and employees to the white house. These Small Businesses received p. P. P. Loans which helped them pay their employees during the pandemic. Gideon bowes was one of the businesses welcome to the white house. It employs 120 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is a coffee shop not far away from here. They had to temporarily close their doors, but because of p. P. P. Loans, gideon bowes was able to rehire all of their employees. And i had a real honor of getting to meet michael, one of the employees at gideon bowes. He offered some words of encouragement our country. They really touched my heart and i think they will touch the heart of america if you guys wouldnt mind playing those remarks. [video clip] thank you, President Trump and ivanka. Thank you mr. President , for having us. I love my job and i am excited about going back to work. At gideon bowes, we like to use the phrase, called not broken. That means me and all my amazing coworkers are not broken, and we have lots to offer. I know the great country of the United States isnt broken either. So on behalf of myself, megan, amy and all the employees of gideon bowes, thank you for having us over. You guys are family. [applause] ms. Mcenany michael is an incredible young man. I gave him a call yesterday and asked what he was up to. He said he and his fellow employees were literally handwriting notes to put in with their coffee packages that they sent out to consumers. I received one of them from another company and it really puts it smile on your face. Michael is doing that every day. Beaus they represent , the hope and opportunity on the horizon for americas workers as their business embodies the american spirit. Workers like michael show this country is not broken and that we will recover together. Michael, thank you. You are an american hero. Thank you for sharing that message of hope and with that, i will take questions. Kelly, if i could. Welcome to the podium for the first time as well. Ms. Mcenany thank you. Reporter the markets are down substantially after the president yesterday suggested in the east room but he might use tariffs to punish china over the coronavirus. Is there any serious consideration being given to putting new tariffs on china, or was the president just spit balling yesterday . Ms. Mcenany i wont get ahead of any remarks by the president , but i will echo the president s displeasure with china. Its no secret china mishandled the situation. Just a few examples for you. They did not share the genetic sequence until the professor in shanghai did so on his own the next day. China shut down his lab for rectification, they slowwalked that information of human to human transmission to the w. H. O. And did not let u. S. Health investigators in at a very important time. I certainly will not get ahead of the president with that announcement. Reporter is the president seriously considering forcing china to pay some type of reparations . Ms. Mcenany when it comes to retaliatory measures, i will not get ahead of the president on that. Reporter thank you. Welcome to the podium as well. The president says he has a high degree of confidence that the coronavirus originated in a lab in wuhan, china, yet his own intelligence agencies say they are still investigating. Does the president have information and has he drawn conclusions that the Intelligence Committee hasnt yet . Ms. Mcenany he is consistent. Where we continue to have very limited and dubious data from china, analysts believe that current assessments indicate President Trumps statement is consistent with what analysts believe is where the virus began and i would note the intelligent statement you are pointing to makes two points. One, that this virus originated in china and two, that it began through contact with infected animals or was the result of an accident at a laboratory in wuhan. So i consider that consistent with what the president said, that he has seen intelligence suggesting it could be a wuhan laboratory. Reporter he seems to be reading lean into the idea that this started in a laboratory whereas the statement we saw from the dni says we are still investigating those two options. As the president in any way creating mixed messages by not saying we are still investigating . Ms. Mcenany let me remind everyone intelligence is an estimate of essentially and it is up to policymakers to decide what to do with that intelligence. The president will make that decision at the right time. Reporter is the president close to deciding what to do about china . Has he received recommendations, is he anywhere near ready to make that decision . Ms. Mcenany i will not get ahead of the president and his decision. But he takes this very seriously because the decisions of china that i referenced, slow walking some of that information, put american lives at risk and this president has one priority and that is the safety and wellbeing of american lives. Reporter welcome. It has been more than 100 days since a press secretary stood there. I want to get a better sense of what your plan is read do you plan on doing these on a daily basis . Also, will you pledge never to lie to us from that podium . Ms. Mcenany i will never lie to you. You have my word on that. As for the timing of the briefings, we do plan to do them. I will announce that forthcoming, but we plan to continue these. Reporter welcome to the podium. Question for you on project warp speed . Can you give us more details . The president said ultimately he is in charge of the project but will there be a daytoday point person on this, what is the budget, and when can the American People realistically expect there will be a vaccine available to everybody . Ms. Mcenany there is a day to day point person, and that is the president of the United States, President Trump. With regards to the vaccine, i would note the words of dr. Fauci going into the phase of one trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionable. The world record. Nothing has ever gone as fast. What the president is doing under the president s leadership phase one faster than before , according to dr. Fauci, that should encourage a lot of people. Reporter there is really no other point person . I guess the buck stops with the president , but he hasnt put somebody on the staff . Ms. Mcenany i will not get into any details as to exactly how that works, but rest assured we are on an accelerated pace for the vaccine, at least for phase one of the clinical trials. Reporter the fed yesterday took an action that appeared to bail out oil companies. I am wondering if the president has spoken to chairman powell about this and if he is happy about the move . And if the white house is offering additional assistance to the oil companies. Ms. Mcenany i wont get into the president s personal discussions, but i will just note that the president is always looking out for the nearly 11 million workers in the oil industry. I will also note that we are filling the Strategic Petroleum reserve right now, and we will buy 75 billion barrels and thats the only announcement i have on the oil front today. Reporter thank you. The president tweeted this morning about the protests in michigan. He essentially said the governor of michigan should work with protesters, called them very good people and said they are very angry. Some of the protesters, i am sure you saw, included heavily armed protesters, members of a militia group. I wonder if the president was speaking about those specific members who stormed the capitol of michigan when he was talking about very good people . Ms. Mcenany what the president was referencing generally is that in this country, you have the First Amendment right to protest, which is something we treasure here and we should. You have the right to do that constitutionally but you must protest within the bounds of the law. He encouraged everyone to protest lawfully and also engage in social distancing guidelines, which we think all americans should engage in. Reporter does he have any response to the imagery of people with long guns, showing a storming the capital, going up to Police Officers and intimidating others . Ms. Mcenany the president says we must protest lawfully and act within the bounds of the law. Yes . Reporter Jared Kushner talks about a Great Success story. Some americans see it as a lack of empathy. Does he understand the reaction . Ms. Mcenany look, Jared Kushner has first of all done a great job for this administration. What i would say is that when he talks about a success story, he was talking about the story of this administration, the story of mobilization for the American People, the greatest mobilization of american industry since world war ii. Of course we grieve for every American Life that has been lost, but we want the American People to be confident in the response of this administration. That is what he was referring to. The fact that in the average year, the Healthcare Industry uses 25 million n95 masks, and we have delivered in this short time, 75 million n95 masks, more than three times what the healthcare sector uses in a year. That is extraordinary. It is extraordinary that some in the media were saying that we did one million ventilators. We have needed far short of that so far and not a single american has died for lack of a ventilator. The fact that this president can say, i am producing 100,000 ventilators this year, alongside the private sector, 100,000 ventilators, three times what we produce in the average year, i consider that a Great Success on behalf of the American People. Reporter it is more about the tone in the policy itself. Ms. Mcenany we want to give the American People confidence that we have a federal government that is doing everything in our power to provide the necessary equipment to combat this invisible enemy. We grieve for the american lives , we said that repeatedly. I will echo that today. I pray regularly for those affected by the coronavirus, but we are going to give confidence to the American People that you have a federal government under President Donald Trump that is going to step up and give the greatest mobilization of the private sector since world war ii. Yes. Reporter President Trump mentioned the situation in brazil two times this week. Besides talks of cutting off flights from brazil are there talks in terms of sending assistance to brazil, sending p. P. E. Or ventilators. And is President Trump hoping to talk to president bolsonaro . Ms. Mcenany the president has mentioned he has sent ventilators across the world. Any excess supply, we certainly look to help other countries. In terms of a specific announcement regarding brazil, i dont have any information for you on that front today. Reporter one of the most important parts of your job is to have access to the president. Can you give us some indication since you have been named press secretary, what kind of access do you have to the president to get what he is thinking and relate it to us . Ms. Mcenany i can tell you i am around the president from is the entire day. I was just with him before i left to come out and speak with you guys. My staff can attest to the fact that they have a hard time finding me because i am normally with the president in the oval office. I am consistently with him absorbing his thinking. , it is my mission to bring you the mindset of the president , deliver those facts, so the president gets fair and accurate reporting, and the American People get fair and accurate information. Reporter following up on the question, china is blocking the World Health Organization from coming in and investigating how this started. Shouldnt external investigators n how thento wuha pandemic started and expedite a way of finding a cure for this thing . Ms. Mcenany there is no secret that china stopped u. S. Investigators from coming in. It was of paramount importance that we got into china in an expedited fashion, but that did not happen. With respect to the world horror World Health Organization, they have questions of their own to answer. The United States, as the president has emphasized, provides about 400 million to 500 million a year compared to china at roughly 40 million a year to the w. H. O. The w. H. O. Appears to have a very clear china bias. When you look at the timeline, it is damning further w. H. O. You consider the fact that on december 31, you had taiwanese officials warning about human to human transmission. The w. H. O. Did not make that public. On january 9, the w. H. O. Repeated chinas claim that the virus does not transmit readily between people. That was quite apparently false. On january 14, the w. H. O. Again repeated chinas talking points about no human to human transmission and praised chinas of on the on the 22nd january. 23rd, and they said, this is incredible, the pandemic did not present a Public Health emergency of international concern. Even on february 29, you had the w. H. O. Saying that when the coronavirus was spreading around the world, they chose Political Correctness first by opposing lifesaving travel restrictions. The travel restrictions the this president put in place, the travel restrictions dr. Fauci praised as saving lives. You have the World Health Organization opposing a measure that saved american lives, that is unacceptable. Especially at a time when the u. S. Was providing 400 million to 500 million. Reporter this time last week, the president was saying he was not happy with georgias governor, brian kemp, for beginning the reopening process in the way that he was and the time that he was. A week later there have been , some peaks and valleys in new cases in georgia, but overall, the trendline is down. Do you know what the president is thinking about georgia reopening . Ms. Mcenany the president is resolute in saying that the states takes the lead here. Its the decision of governors to decide what is best for their states. That being said, i talked to experts, i talked to dr. Birx and to dr. Fauci and they say this president has always sided on the side of data. Which is why he encourages all states to follow the data driven guidelines to reopenings. All states should follow those guidelines but ultimately, it is , the decision of the states. One note i would make about the president in times of national emergency, we have a trend in this country where president s aggregate power at the federal level, but this president has devolved power. He has invested in a principle that i cherish which is , federalism, and i think that is the right decision. Reporter has he mentioned about how he feels about Governor Kemp in the last few days . Ms. Mcenany i have not spoken to him about Governor Kemp in the last few days. Reporter as the president is pushing forward to reopen the country does that mean he will , be campaigning in those states that will be reopening . Ms. Mcenany i would refer you to the Trump Campaign on that question. Yes. Reporter thanks for being here, you mentioned dr. Fauci a minute ago. Are we going to have any more press briefings with dr. Fauci and dr. Burge, or is the white house shifted the message to focus more on the economy and less on the Public Health aspect . Ms. Mcenany let me back up a bit and talk to about how we approach disseminating information. When i talk with my colleague and we plan out the communication strategy for the white house along with the president , what we do is say, what is the best mode for the public to receive this information at this time . We allow the news cycle and the needs of the American People to guide us. What we see happening, and i hinted at this last week, you have 35 states and probably more at this point with plans to reopen. Americans are looking to reopen the country. We had dr. Birx at several events this week. Dr. Birx and dr. Fauci out on the airwaves. They are really incredible people and they have done a Great Service to the country. We allow the news of the day to guide us in what the American People want to hear. Right now we are in a reopening seen withh we have , Small Business owners, employees, the great heroes that have emerged from this pandemic and have done a lot of the hard work. Every day we approach this as how can we disseminate information . There is a need for information that is why i am here, supplementing the efforts of this president to get the message out. I would also note, he is the most accessible president in history. He took questions twice yesterday and twice the day before. You hear from him quite often as well as the medical experts. Reporter is a task force still meeting . What is the role of the Coronavirus Task force . People are still dying. What role does a task force have versus Economic Advisory . Ms. Mcenany the task force meets regularly. I go to the meetings. Dr. Birx is meticulously reviewing the data in granular detail. I watch them spend sometimes upwards of two hours in these briefings, so those are still ongoing, rest assured. We want a safe reopening. We are prioritizing the health of the American People as well as looking forward to reopening the country. The statement yesterday, there is a quote i would like your response to that says, the International Community also concurs with the consensus that the covid19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified. This was from the dni statement. How do you view this statement, how do you understand it . Also, there was a piece in the new york times, senior trump demonstration officials have pushed the intelligence agencies to hunt for evidence of the theory that the covid19 was made in wuhan . Ms. Mcenany i can assure you no one is pressing the Intelligence Community to come to a determination the Intelligence Committee stands in perfect concert with what the president said. So i encourage the media to convey the facts of the American People, which is that we are in line as an administration and we stand by the Intelligence Community, completely in concert with what the president said yesterday. That is almost everyone. Round two, that is great yes. Reporter today, former Vice President joe biden denied allegations of sexual misconduct. Does President Trump take him at his word, given he has denied allegations against himself . Ms. Mcenany what i would say is that we are pleased to the former Vice President has decided to go on record. It took him less than 16 hours to follow the advice of the president of the United States to come out and publicly address those claims. We are glad he is on record about this. Reporter i want to ask you about something the president said moments ago. He said that tara reade is for more compelling than anything they had with respect to brett kavanaugh. What did he mean by that, what is far more compelling . Ms. Mcenany that is the president s assessment, so i would point you back to his words. I think it was a grave miscarriage of justice, what happened with brett kavanaugh. There is no need for me to bring up the salacious, awful and false allegations made against justice kavanagh. But was an embarrassment for the Democratic Party to have sullied the name of a very respectable man like that. Reporter there is word that the decision to release Michael Cohen from prison to home confinement for covid19 has been reversed. Did the white house directly or indirectly intervene here . Ms. Mcenany absolutely not, i would say. But i am glad you brought up justice. Because, look, again, there is a case of injustice that is yet to be brought up today. I certainly would like to bring it up. The case of general Michael Flynn. What we have all learned from that should scare every american citizen. The fact that he had jim comey admitting in december of last year that he violated a protocol by directing agents to confront flynn, something that he would not, quote, have gotten away with under previous administrations. The f. B. I. Told flynn he didnt need a lawyer when he came to meet with them. Mccabe told f. B. I. Agents he did not think he was lying. And the information we have learned the last months and years culminates in the fact we have a handwritten f. B. I. Note that says, quote, we need to get flynn to lie and get him fired. That is an unfair target on the back of general Michael Flynn that should concern every american. Anytime there is a partisan pursuit of an individual. At least those questions are raised with regard to general Michael Flynn, and honorable man an honorable man who served his country. Reporter when the president fired Michael Flynn, he said he was doing that because he had lied to the Vice President and lied to the f. B. I. Given all you said, is it still true that the president Still BelievesMichael Flynn lied to Vice President pence and lied to the f. B. I. . Ms. Mcenany Vice President pence is on the record. He said he is inclined to believe flynn did not intentionally mislead him. I would turn the question on you and ask, does it trouble you that the f. B. I. Said we have to get flynn to lie . Doesnt it trouble you as a journalist and a journalist and not only that, as an american citizen . Reporter it is worth reporting, it is not up to me to say if it is troubling. The bottom line is the president said point blank that flynn lied to the fbi and to the Vice President. So i am asking a direct question, does he still believe Michael Flynn lied to the f. B. I. And lied to the Vice President . Ms. Mcenany again, i point you to the Vice President s statement that he is inclined to believe Michael Flynn did not intentionally mislead him, and i ask that all of you in your coverage endeavored to report what is a very scary story, when the f. B. I. Is saying, let us get someone to lie. I have seen very scant coverage of that. It is a story worth reporting and a story i hope the American People, if they not have heard it yet are getting to hear from , the very first time. Reporter the south china sea, we had an issue come up this morning, where you had the ship crossing International Maritime waters in the south china sea. Chinese officials are saying this will be a deadend endeavor. Has the president spoken with the chinese as far as what they will be doing . Did the u. S. Navy ignore these threats and keep going through these International Waters . Ms. Mcenany there is no news to report as far as the president s conversations. For specifics about it, i would be directed to the nsc. Reporter in a broadcast interview, the president said democrats would, have to give us a lot of pay for the states. Any specific idea what the president is asking for secondly, Governor Cuomo said, the president already told me a few weeks ago he supports this kind of assistance, and why are we bailing out airlines or defense contractors but not the states that pay teachers . Ms. Mcenany you brought up Governor Cuomo, a good time to remind everyone that Governor Cuomo has praised the president s response on covid19 crisis, saying that what the president achieved is a phenomenal accomplishment. We thank Governor Cuomo for his kind words. On that note, with regard for funding to states, phase four is something we want to start negotiating one immediately and get to work on. The president has said, look, i will certainly look to consider helping the states who have coronavirus reasons for the financial situation they find themselves in, but he doesnt want this to be an excuse of decades of decades bad democrat governance that have run the states into a financial predicament. He has mentioned that. In terms of the types of things he wants to see in the states i donte phase four, want to get ahead of negotiations, but i want to emphasize he has mentioned sanctuary cities. That is an important issue that has cost american lives. Last year, our brave i. C. E. Officers arrested more than 120,000 criminal aliens charged with nearly 10,000 burglaries, 5000 sexual assaults, 4500 violent assaults, 2000 murders, and in the last year, and egregiously, 5000 Human Trafficking episodes. American lives matter. Our brave i. C. E. Men and women matter. It is something he would like to see in phase four. Reporter the president has been vague about this are you , specifically conditioning state aid to states that are not having sanctuary city policies. Ms. Mcenany that is not conditioning anything but that is a negotiation item the president will certainly bring up. Reporter the president has in the past denied any of the allegations from the many women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. But from the podcast, he suggests the allegations tara reade has raised are more credible than the ones made against brett kavanaugh. The allegations raised against him . What makes them any less credible than the allegations from tara reade . Ms. Mcenany the president has swiftly denied these allegations that were raised four years ago. He has always told the truth on these issues, he has denied them immediately. You are bringing up issues from four years ago. That were asked and answered, and the American People had their say in the matter when they elected President Trump as president of the United States. Leave it to the media to take an issue about the former Vice President and turn it on the president and bring up accusations from four years ago. They were asked and answered in the form of the vote of the American People. Reporter to johns question, Kellyanne Conway suggested the other day that two things could be true at the same time. We have the Vice President saying it is his belief that general flynn may have unintentionally misled him, that is three years after the fact. Two things that could have been true at the same time were that flynn lied to the Vice President and also lied to the f. B. I. If you remove the f. B. I. Piece of that, would the president still have fired Michael Flynn for his believe he lied to the Vice President . Ms. Mcenany i will not engage in a hypothetical. I would echo yet again that this was a grave miscarriage of justice. I am very glad that the f. B. I. Kept a paper trail because what many have said for a very long time pointing to the first few facts i shared with you culminating in the hand written note, i am glad they kept the augmentation of their attempt to slowwalk general flynn into a trap and essentially create a grave miscarriage of justice. The f. B. I. , at least we can thank you for the great notetaking. Reporter john does bring up a point that general flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the f. B. I. Ms. Mcenany i am not going to dovolved in a matter you not consider it a miscarriage of justice when you have the f. B. I. Writing, we want to get someone to lie . Isnt that a miscarriage of justice . Reporter but in the end, he pleaded guilty. Ms. Mcenany you know what the answer is, the answer is yes. I would encourage the medias media to cover it because i watch a lot of your networks and i have read a lot of your papers. I have seen a lot of scant information about Michael Flynn. When there was a lot of speculation about russia, russia, russia, culminating in of tax money lost and the 40 million complete exoneration of President Trump. Thank you very much. I will cut this short and see my little five month old here in a few hours. Let me say this, the president at 5 00 p. M. Leaves today for camp david. It will be a working weekend talking with head of states and , elected officials. We have a great event coming up this afternoon. Everyone should watch the fox news town hall with the president from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Thank you. [cameras shuttering] [reporters asking questions] World Health Organization members commented on notification in january and the virus sources. The world had enough time to intervene. Again, me and my colleagues believed that, and the emergency committee. Emergency on january 30 was actually the clarity in a timely fashion that allows enough time for the rest of the world to respond. Again and listened again to different scientists who looked at the sequences, look to the virus, and we were assured this virus is natural in origin. What is important is that we host for the natural the virus is. The primary purpose of doing that is to ensure we understand the virus more, we understand animalhuman interface and wasthe animalhuman area or breached. The purpose is to put in place the necessary prevention of Public Health measures to prevent that happening again. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. With white house briefings, updates from governors and congress, and our daily call in program, washington journal, hearing your thoughts. If you missed any of our live coverage, see it any time on demand on cspan. Org coronavirus. President trump announced in the fda has approved emergency use of the antiviral drug remdesivir to