Transcripts For CNNW State Of The Union With Jake Tapper 20200405

Joins me to discuss in moments. Plus economic pain. More than 10 million americans file for unemployment as Small Businesses vie for federal loans to stay afloat. We have to open our country again. What will federal money get to struggling americans . Ill speak to House Democratic whip jim clyburn, next. Hello, im jake tapper in washington, where the state of our union is bracing ourselves. Today marks the beginning of what President Trump says may be the toughest two weeks of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Announcing at a press conference saturday that there will be, quote, a lot of death. It is hard to fathom since the numbers are already so overwhelming and so bleak. Over a million cases worldwide. And the virus has killed more than 8,500 in the United States alone. Last sunday, the u. S. Death toll was around 2,000. The week before, just over 300. As the crisis worsens, the president is also taking advantage of a distracted nation, choosing this moment to fire the Inspector General of the Intelligence Committee who notified congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to the president s impeachment. Saturday, the president announced that the military is, quote, going to war to help the states, sending a thousand u. S. Air force and u. S. Navy medical providers to new york over the next three days. Joining us now, the defense secretary, mark esper. Secretary esper, thank you so much for joining us, i appreciate it. Youre sending more personnel to new york city over the next few days. Mayor bill de blasio called for a, quote, national enlistment effort for medical personnel across the country to bring more Health Care Professionals there. Take a listen. We dont have the same kind of draft we used to have. But were going to have to create something new, right now, at this moment in history, to enlist all available medical personnel from around the country. And i mean civilians. Anyone with medical training. What do you think, secretary esper, are you willing to do that . First of all, jake, thanks for having me on this morning. I want to lay out three things up front to help frame our discussion. First of all, the department of defense has been all in since the beginning of this, going back twoplus months, to january, weve been all in and ahead of the curve when it comes to the coronavirus. Ive laid out three priorities for the department of defense. First, protect our people. Second, make sure we retain our missions capabilities. And third, provide full support to President Trumps whole of government, whole of nation response. I would like to that anything all the 50,000 plus american soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, on the streets of america today, helping out their fellow americans. Many are deployed away from home, away from their families. Many more are risking their own lives and welfare to help the American People. But thats what we do and well continue to support this effort. With regard to the mayors statement, ive had several conversations with the mayor. Weve been working very closely. As you know, we have over a thousand doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals deployed now around the United States, in several cities, many of them are in new york city. The mayor and i talked as recently as thursday. I spoke to the governor on friday. What we plan on doing now is deploying over 1,100 additional doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to the Javits Center and 11 new york City Hospitals that are also seeing a deficiency when it comes to medical staff. Whats interesting, jake, we will soon be taking over the Javits Center, a 2,500bed capacity. The United States military will soon be running the largest hospital in the United States. That shows you our commitment. Cnn reported earlier this week that the pentagon has not shipped any of the 2,000 ventilators that you have to fema or to hhs because you were not told where to send them. Following up on that story, have fema or hhs reached out to you yet to tell you where to send those ventilators or do you still have them . That report is not accurate, jake. We have first of all, many of those ventilators deployed with the usns comfort and mercy in new york and l. A. Respectively. We have several field hospitals deployed in new york, seattle, new orleans, and dallas. We provided several hundred more that are prepositioned and ready to go particularly with regard to new york city, when theyre needed. As you may know, hhs has several thousand ventilators in stock right now and they plan on delivering those first. On top that have so of the weve delivered millions of n95 masks to new york and 12 other cities and states around the country, and other ppe. So of the 2,000 ventilators that the pentagon had, how many do you still have . I would have to do a quick count, but probably were probably sitting on a few hundred. Were sitting on them in the sense that theyre prepared to ship once theyre needed, once hhs exhausts its stock. The captain of the uss theodore roosevelt, captain brett crozier, was relieved of his command on thursday after he wrote a memo that expressed his dire concerns about the more than 100 infected sailors in a coronavirus outbreak on his ship and whether or not those individuals would spread the virus to the thousands of sailors also on the ship. I want you to take a look at this video of captain crozier leaving the ship to cheers from his fellow sailors. [ cheering ] [ chanting captain crozier ] so, secretary esper, can you explain to those sailors cheering captain crozier, why exactly he was relieved of his command . Jake, first of all, first and foremost, we need to take care of the sailors on that ship and get the ship back to sea as soon as possible. Im pleased to report over half the ship has been tested. Only 155 sailors have come up positive. Those are all mild to moderate. There have been no hospitalizations whatsoever. So the crew is being taken care of out there. With regard to the relief of captain crozier, i think acting secretary modley made a very tough decision, a decision that i support. It was based on his view that he had lost faith and confidence in the captain based on his actions. It was supported by navy leadership. And i think its just another p. Shouldnt there have been at least an investigation before he was relieved of command . The captains of the uss john mccain and the uss fitzgerald who were captains when sailors died at sea, they at least had investigations before they were relieved of their commands. Captain crozier was trying to save lives and he wasnt even afforded the benefit of an investigation. Well, there is an investigation ongoing. But at this point in time, secretary modley did not have faith and confidence that he could continue as captain of the ship. That is not unheard of. All the services can relieve leaders because of lack of confidence. The navy has a history of swiftly and decisively removing captains if they lose confidence in them. There are a number of high ranking former officials like admiral mullen, former chair of the joint chiefs, admiral stavridis, both of whom have said they do not think it was appropriate for crozier to be relieved of duty so quickly without an investigation and that it would underminoe morale. I thought it was terrible what he did, to write a letter . This isnt a class on literature. He shouldnt be talking that way in a letter. He can call and ask and suggest. He wrote a letter to try to save the lives of his sailors. Do you think thats terrible, that he did that . Well, jake, i cant get too much into the facts of the matter because there is an investigation ongoing. This could ultimately come to my desk. I think secretary modley laid out, very reasonably, very deliberately the reasons why. I think when all those facts come to bear, well have a chance to understand why secretary modley did what he did. Acting Navy Secretary modely report ledly told a colleague o wednesday, breaking news, President Trump wants him fired. This was secretary modelys decision. He briefed me about it. I took the advice of the cno and general milley and told him i would support his decision. I want to ask you about the sailors because you mentioned what was going on with them. A pentagon spokesperson on friday said the goal was to have a total of 2,700 sailors off the ship by friday evening. As of yesterday afternoon, only 1,548 sailors had been moved ashore. More than a thousand away from your goal. Whats the latest and why has the navy failed to reach the goal . When will everyone be off the ship . Well, the navy is working that very carefully, very closely. The new commander will be out there, should be out there very soon. There is not a need necessarily to remove every sailor from the ship. You actually cannot do that because theres Nuclear Reactors to be run, you have very sensitive equipment, you have weapons on board that ship. So you cannot completely evacuate the ship. Its how you manage the crew, getting them treated when they need to be treated and at the same time maintain the readiness of the ship in case its called upon to get to sea quickly. Doesnt the fact that the navy hasnt even gotten all the sailors off the ship that they said they were going to get off on friday night underline captain croziers claim that the navy isnt doing what it should for the sailors . That narrative is false, secretary modely has been involved, moving supplies, testing kits, providing support to the sailors at guam. They were all in in terms of providing support to this crew, this ship, as it arrived in port. So i disagree with that assumption. I have a lot of faith and confidence in the navy leadership. I want to ask you about Something Else the navy is doing. The navy has moved the hospital ships, the comfort and mercy, to help alleviate the burden on hospitals in los angeles and new york. Our latest numbers show there are only a few dozen patients on those ships combined. Whats the reason for that and why not allow coronavirus patients on those ships as well, given the fact that these outbreaks are you know, its a really dire situation in los angeles and new york . Sure. First of all, weve worked these plans out closely with new york state and new york city. I would say a major reason why is those two ships are ahead of need. As i said up front, dod has been ahead of this curve from the beginning. Whether its the ships, the field hospitals, or our preparation of eight sites around the country where we built hospitals, another 22 will come online in the coming weeks, we stayed ahead of need here. Number two is, as the ships pulled in, we learned as a result of coronavirus were seeing fewer trauma cases. The plan was to take trauma cases aboard both ships, freeing up muchneeded room space in the hospital where you can segregate patients, you can treat them for coronavirus, and that way keep the comfort and mercy for trauma patients and not risk infecting the trauma patients with coronavirus. We opened up the Javits Center and other hospitals around the country for coronavirus and were prepared to leverage the mercy and comfort as well to do that, ive given authority to the commander to make that call if he needs to make that call. The ships have something that nobody else possesses. They have the ability to move quickly around the countrys shoreline with a hospital with doctors, nurses, and technicians. If we lose that capability, we want to do that as a last alternative. The military still needs to defend the country and execute its missions even during this coronavirus outbreak. Chairman of the joint chiefs mark milley said this week, quote, there will be an impact to readiness. Do you agree, and how severe . There could be an impact to readiness. Were watching this very closely. Weve been at this since january. On february 1st, i issued, activated our Global Pandemic op order. On february 3rd i sent guidance out to troops on how to take care of themselves. Priority number two for me is making sure we retain our military capabilities. So we watch it very closely. All the units report they remain very ready. We have had to cancel exercises. Weve had to constrain basic training, for example. We think those are all manageable. Its important our adversaries know and that the American People know that were on the watch, were prepared to defend them and defend our interests abroad. Secretary esper, thank you so much for your time today and please thank the men and women of the United States military for all theyre doing to help out in this pandemic. We appreciate it. Thank you, jake, theyre all doing a great job and im very proud of them. Thank you so much, sir. Realistically, how long should americans expect theyll remain at home . Governors of two hardhit states join me. Stay with us. Am sugar. Its a situp, banana bend at the waist im tryin keep it up. Youll get there. Whoahoahoa 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. Ensure max protein. Working day in, day out. E. At t is here. Providing support with advanced services for first responders. And connected temporary hospitals, mobile testing sites and Emergency Management centers. Because until their job is done, it is essential that we all have their backs. Its what weve always done. Its what well always do. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. For the same medications as the vet, but up to 30 percent less with fast free shipping. Visit petmeds. Com today. Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. One of the hardesthit states is louisiana, particularly new orleans, the city with the highest death rate per capita from the coronavirus. Joining me now, governor john bel edwards. Governor, thanks for joining us. New orleans could reach 2,500 new hospitalizations per day at its peak around the end of april, according to projections. You said on friday you could theoretically run out of ventilators on tuesday. Is louisiana really just 48 hours away from louisianians dying from coronavirus because you dont have enough ventilators . And obviously we already have louisianians dying. Like every other state, were modeling the growth of coronavirus cases and how many of them are going to need hospitalization, how many of them will need acute beds, icu beds, ventilators. Every day we get new information that informs our modeling. We now think its the 9th of april before we exceed our current Ventilator Capacity and were a couple of days behind that on icu beds being exceeded. As we achieve success in slowing the spread, we push out that date. Critically important is the number of people who present at the hospital and not be able to get a vent or a bed, its a smaller number. Were encouraging everyone in louisiana to take social distancing, the stayathome order, very seriously because thats how were going to save peoples lives at the end of the day. Whatever time we can buy ourselves that gives us additional time to serve our medical capacity which is what were doing right now as we source ventilators from the Strategic National stockpile and around the world. Were standing up beds at the Convention Center, as you know. This is a tough emergency. And its not different here than it is elsewhere. Its a little more acute, i think, than some places. But this is a tough emergency, jake. Governor edwards, what day do you anticipate you will run out of ventilators and people will not be able to get them if they need them to live . The current date based on modeling is the 9th of april. And then the bed capacity would be exceeded on our about the 11th of april. As i said, we continue to update our modeling based on cases in the new Orleans Jefferson parish region. We hope we can continue a downward trend on the rate of new cases. That buys us a little more time, and as i mentioned, that means a fewer number of people will present on any given day and not be given the opportunity to access a bed or a ventilator should they need of them. All right. But thats thursday, thats still stunning. Oh, yeah, this is serious. President trump said on friday his team spoke with ceos of the two Largest Health systems in new orleans and he said, quote, they say they feel they currently have enough ventilators. I dont know if the word currently is doing a lot of work there, but he seemed to be downplaying the idea that ventilators are a problem. Youre saying theyre definitely a problem. Theyre a problem. And i do believe that those ceos were talking about current capacity. They have the ventilators that they need for the patients that they have now. Right this second. Yes. But a decision was made the same day in washington by the task force to send 200 more ventilators from the Strategic National stockpile. That did arrive yesterday, by the way. So i dont have any problem with what the ceos were saying, but as we look out into the future, we definitely see that we will exceed our Ventilator Capacity at some point. Were trying to push that into the future as far as possible. Even the best Case Scenarios show well do that. I think those hospital ceos were looking their particular hospital and what they could do inside the walls of their hospital, not necessarily for the entire population. But they were talking about currently, i think thats the difference. The biggest mardi gras parades in louisiana took place on february 25th, just as the National Outbreak was starting. In retrospect, if you knew then what you knew now, would you have canceled mardi gras . Well, you dont get a doover like that, jake. There was not a single suggestion by anyone, a doctor, a scientist, a political figure, that we needed to cancel mardi gras. And, you know, in february we had a super bowl and it wasnt canceled and so forth. So rather than look back, i am focused on today and going forward. We cant go back and change what did or didnt happen before. This is going to be an interesting study, and i look forward to at some point being able to figure out exactly what role that played. But right now, that is not our focus, because it doesnt tell us what we need to know in order to go forward and save lives. The Washington Post reported that on february 9th, thats more than two weeks before mardi gras, a group of governors came to washington, d. C. They had a white house gala there. There they met privately with dr. Fauci and with the cdc director, dr. Redfield. Even though the president was publicly downplaying the outbreak, those experts, fauci and redfield, gave governors the same dire warning that theyre giving now. I know you were in washington for the gala. Did you meet with fauci and redfield . Well, they actually spoke to a governorsonly meeting. So all the governors who chose to attend that particular meeting were there. And we had a briefing from them. And we spoke generally about the novel coronavirus. I would say it is not accurate to say that they gave the same sort of information that they are providing right now. They have learned an awful lot about this virus, about the disease that it causes and the rate of spread and how to best stop it and so forth. We didnt get into anywhere near this level of detail back in february when we were there for the National Governors association meeting. That just didnt happen. Okay. Governor hogan of maryland says that it was the same message then that theyre giving now. But i want to ask you about pastor tony spell of Life Tabernacle church just outside of baton rouge in your home state. Even though he was issued a misdemeanor summons for continuing to hold Church Services, pastor spell told cnn just today that hes still planning on Holding Church services this morning. You know, obviously this is a dire health threat, youve made that very clear to all of the people in louisiana. Should police break up this large gathering that violates your executive order . Well, you know, jake, were not going to enforce our way out of this. I am still calling upon him to be a leader. He is a leader in the faith community. And im calling on those parishioners to not go because it is grossly irresponsible. There is not a set morniting mo conducive to the virus like Church Services when people are sitting in close proximity to each other for an hour or two at a time. It is irresponsible. Obviously he is violating the order. He has been served a summons on that. I would hope that he would stop. And Law Enforcement has this very much in their sights and i support the actions theyre taking. But, you know, we have 4,500 churches. The overwhelming majority of them are following the order. We have tens of thousands of businesses, and theyre following the order. We have 4. 7 million people, and were getting more and more compliance every single day. So were going to work through this as well. Im appealing to pastor spell to do the right thing and thus far he has not. Its very disappointing. But the vast majority of pastors out there are doing the right thing. Governor edwards, thank you so much. Please stay in touch with us and let us know what you need and whether or not you need us to shine a light on things that your not getting from the government or from the Business Community that you need, and god bless the people of louisiana. Well do that. Thank you so much, jake. My next guest accuses President Trump of, quote, leadership malpractice. Is that keeping his state from getting the supplies they need to save lives . Thats next. When it comes to autism, finding the right words can be tough. Finding understanding doesnt have to be. Together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. Go to autismspeaks. Org staying stay home,es lives. Please stay home, stay home, were gonna have to get creative in here. I really think togetherness is the super power of our species. Lets do it together. We will keep each other company. I want you to meditate with me. Lets get ready together. Coming yoga with me each day could be a different thing. Hi, guys. Welcome back to another studying video. But first, some rock and roll. Aghhhhhhhh i want you guys to stay home and cook with me. This is the one you want to get. Ooohhh like reading what you guys are up too. And im real into it. Why not turn on the camera . Do it as a group, do it together and make some comfort food, because we all need that right now. You can slow the growth of this and save lives. Than the president claimed. Much higher hes also completely discarding the advice from Public Health experts. President trump also ended that Global Health Security Unit within the white house. The president and his administration was very slow to move on this virus. Tonight the number of people filing for unemployment is soaring. And across the nation, widespread layoffs. Unemployment could hit 30 percent. Unite the country is responsible for the content of this advertising. Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. Governors across the nation are scrambling to secure tests and supplies for their residents and their Health Care Professionals. On friday the governor of illinois slammed the Trump Administrations response saying, quote, every state is on their own. Governor pritzker compared the atmosphere to the wild west. Democratic governor of illinois j. B. Pritzker joins me. Good to see you again, governor. Yesterday your state passed 10,000 cases, close to 250 deaths from coronavirus. Your state Health Service reported that 70 of your icu beds are now occupied, 70 . The chief medical officer at Cook County Health in chicago told cnn that, quote, by the end of the week, if we had not made an impact, the models suggest we will be overwhelmed. How long do you have until your Health Care System is just completely overrun . Well, it depends on what model you believe. Let me just say this. I think they zero in on the latter half of april. So were really just less than two weeks away from the beginning of peaking. We, as you may know, opened mccormick place, thats our version of the Javits Center, better, i would argue, but its our Convention Center in chicago where weve got 500 beds for less acuity patients that we can move from hospitals who are covid positive into a new facility. Well have 3,000 beds in that facility soon. And were adding perhaps another 1,500 around the state. You said tuesday that after you told the Trump Administration that your state needed 4,000 ventilators, Vice President pence said that you actually needed 1,400, not 4,000. Is 1,400 going to be enough for illinois to survive the worst . Look, i pray that the Vice President was raight. Let me tell you where i think he got his numbers. He looked at a university of washington projection that people are looking at. Its a very good model but they didnt put that model out there for resource allocation reasons. If you look at the model, there is a Central Point which is where it shows that illinois needs only 1,400 or fewer than 1,400 ventilators. But theres also a worst Case Scenario which shows that we would need 5 or 6 or 7,000 more. Were looking at all the numbers. And everybody is taking an educated guess, because we really dont know. This virus is unpredictable. So our guess is, at this point, that we need a few thousand more than we have now, up to 4,000. Thats what weve asked the federal government for. And over time, theyve given us 450 total. Now, were looking everywhere and anywhere across the world to get ventilators. Here is the problem. The president didnt enact or use the defense production act until just recently and he used it with gm. And with gm, when you talk to gm, they tell you, great, well produce ventilators, mostly in may and june. Thats great, and we may need them in may or june, i hope we dont. But in the latter half of april when we think we might be peaking, there are no ventilators available. And new york does not look like it will be coming off its peak by the time were hitting peak. So the idea of moving ventilators from new york to other places, i pray to god thats true. But right now it doesnt look like that will be true. President trump said yesterday that everyone needed to, quote, stop playing this game with governors about allocating medical equipment from the federal government. And then i want you to take a listen to what the president said on friday about the Trump Administrations new line of argument about the federal stockpile of medical supplies and devices. We have a federal stockpile and they have state stockpiles. And frankly, there were many of the states were totally unprepared for this. So we had to go into the federal stockpile. But were not an ordering clerk. They have to have for themselves. Whats your reaction, governor . Well, the president does not understand the word federal. Federal Emergency Management agency. We have a state Emergency Management agency. But if he were right, why would we ever need a federal Emergency Management agency . Its because individual states cant possibly do what the federal government can do. We dont have a defense production act. Theres no way that we could stockpile in anticipation of a pandemic that no one anticipated. And yet the federal government is responsible for doing precisely that. And we now know that intelligence sources and all the best advice that was given was given in january and early february to the president and the white house, and they seem not to have acted at all upon it. If they had started in february building ventilators, getting ready for this pandemic, we would not have the problems that we have today, and frankly, very many fewer people would die. There are eight states that have not yet enacted a stayathome order. You were i think the second governor in the country to do so behind california governor newsom. But the eight states include your neighbor iowa which shares a very long border with your state. Whats your message to iowa, whats your message to the eight governors who have not enacted stayathome orders . Look, its not for me to tell the governor of iowa what to do or the governor of missouri, they only put their stay at home in very recently and theyre also a big border state for us. But i will say it was the job of the federal government. Look, we are one nation here. This virus knows no borders. So it was up to the federal government to begin with, to advise and to ask all the governors to put in stayathome orders. Those governors, republican governors, would have done it have earlier if the president had suggested it much earlier. They knew at the federal level that that was the right thing to do. You can hear it in the words of dr. Fauci, who ive had many direct conversations with, and dr. Birx. They knew it. But the president was apparently reluctant and we see what the results are today. The president has said that this is not going to last that long. The Associated Press is now reporting that President Trump believes that the nfl season will start on schedule, september 10th, with fans in the seats. Your fellow democratic governor gavin newsom of california said, quote, im not anticipating that happening in this state. What do you think about illinois . Will the bears be at soldier field, will there be fans in the bleachers . The bears are a great team whether theyre playing or not. But i will say this, that its not up to us. We dont know. None of us really knows. But what i do know is this, that if the researchers are able to come up with a treatment, something that will save lives, something that will keep people off of ventilators, maybe even keep them out of hospitals, then that will be an Enormous Development for our country and for the future. And it may allow us to begin to open things up in the way the president is describing. But the truth is that no one predicts now that were going to have that treatment any time in the next few weeks or even in the next month. And no one really knows if well have it by september. What we do know is if you have a vaccine, that ultimately will help us deal with the problem, because its either going to be a treatment and herd immunity that ultimately allows us to open everything back up, or its a vaccine. Governor pritzker, thank you so much, good luck to you and please keep in touch with us about anything you might need to bring attention to it. Thanks, jake, stay healthy. Thank you, sir, you too. Congress passed a bill to send Many Americans a 1,200 check. Is there more coming . The House Majority whip, congressman jim clyburn of south carolina, joins me next. Stay with us. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. Than the president claimed. Much higher hes also completely discarding the advice from Public Health experts. President trump also ended that Global Health Security Unit within the white house. The president and his administration was very slow to move on this virus. Tonight the number of people filing for unemployment is soaring. And across the nation, widespread layoffs. Unemployment could hit 30 percent. Unite the country is responsible for the content of this advertising. Wayfair has way more ways to renovate your home, from inspiration to installation. Like way more vanities perfect for you. Nice. Way more unique fixtures and tiles. Pairing. Nice. Way more top brands in sinks and faucets. Way more ways to rule your renovation. Nice on any budget, with free shipping. Wayfair. Way more than furniture. This is my body of proof. Proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis. With humira. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin in psa. 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As millions of mrns wait fameri wait for muchneeded financial help, House Speaker nancy Pelosi Says Congress will be keeping a close eye on the allocation of those funds with an overnight committee chaired by the House Majority whip, james clyburn. Thanks for joining us. President trump on friday fired michael atkinson, the Inspector General who informed congress of the whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to the president s impeachment. The president said it was his decision and he did not run it by congress because he has the absolute right to do what he did. Whats your response . My response is simply this. I think that that is one of the reasons Speaker Pelosi decided that this committee was necessary. We in the United States congress have oversight. And we must perform that oversight. And we will do that to make sure that we save lives, that we save taxpayer money, and she was very smart, i think, to pattern this committee after the Truman Committee that was stood up in 1941. Ha harry truman said at the time, he was an editor in missouri at the time, he looked back at what happened in the country after world war i and saw that 116 different committees were stood up to investigate what was going on after world war i. He said at the time he thought it was much better to have one committee before the fact. And that committee proved to be very, very wise. According to history, the committee spent less than 1 million but saved 15 billion for the taxpayers. Thats what Speaker Pelosi is trying to do here, get out in front of this to protect the American People so that we cannot only save lives but keep fraud and abuse, profiteering, from happening. Weve seen that already. The governor of new york recently said that masks that he was spending 70 cents for, hes now having to spend 7 for. Is that price gouging . I think it is. And thats what this committee is all about. This is not about the president of the United States or even the independent council or the Inspector General. This is about focusing on how the money is spent, whether or not the people who are getting the money are actually working on behalf of the American People or whether or not theyre profiteering. So this committee will only be looking at how the money is being spent and whether or not private businesses out there are surprise gouging. Youre not going to look at all at the federal response and why it took so long to get a federal response going that would have saved lives, at Governor Pritzker just put it . My understanding is that this committee will be forwardlooking. Were not going to be looking back at what the president may or may not have done before the crisis hit. The crisis is with us. The American People are now out of work, millions of them are out of work. The question is whether or not the money that is appropriated will go to support them and their families or whether or not this money will end up in the pockets of a few profiteers. And thats what i understand we are to do. If we are patterning this after the Truman Committee, and i spent the weekend looking deeply and what happened since march 1, 1941, when it was stood up and stood up for five years, and proved to be very, very successful. Im trying to base my work on this committee on the history thats found with the work of that committee. Meanwhile, the congress, of course, needs to continue to do its job, perhaps pass more stimulus funds, continuing to legislate. Its obviously difficult for congress do so in the middle of a pandemic when theres so many concerns about people flying, people traveling, people congregating. Is it not time on a temporary basis for the leaders of congress to allow remote voting so you can continue to do your job without any of you putting your lives at risk . Well, you know, a lot of people think it is time for that, maybe it is. Heres what i know. Speaker pelosi asked jim mcgovern, chair of our rules committee, to look at the constitution, look at our rules, look at the rules under which we operate on the house floor and see whether or not that is a way to go. I would much rather us respond to that issue after a good study and jim mcgovern is a very good study. And make recommendations and then us respond to that. I dont want to be willynilly about this, i want to make sure whatever we do will not be challenged later on as being unconstitutional or in violation of our rules. Lets make sure we get it right before the fact, so we wont have to be spending a lot of time with a lot of investigative committees looking back on what we did and maybe rendering some of what our actions what might have been as unconstitutional. If you could, on the call last month with lawmakers, you said this pandemic was a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. Youve been criticized by republicans for saying that. What exactly did you mean by that . I meant exactly what were experiencing now. Were experiencing children out of school here in south carolina, there was a big article in the local papers about children not being able to get educated because theyre not online. That article is saying we need to restructure our educational systems to accommodate Something Like this. We see closing rural hospitals full here in south carolina. 11 rural hospitals have been closed. We have to restructure our Health Care System so these lowincome communities can get the access that should be affordable to all. And i would hope that mr. Mccarthy would join me in doing that. Jim clyburn, thank you very much. Stay healthy, stay safe. Appreciate your time. Thank you very much for having me. If i can take a moment, i would like to speak directly to one person known to watch this show or at least clips of the show, President Trump. Mr. President , i know you, like millions of americans, are eager to have the nation go back to some semblance of normal. One of the questions the American People need answered for that to happen responsibly, whats the plan . Is there a plan for widespread testing of every american so as to isolate the virus the way other countries have done . When will there be enough tests for that to happen . How will they be administered . Who will pay for the tests and the results . Who will notify us as to whether we have tested positive or not . And what to do then. Is there a plan to make sure doctors and nurses and Health Care Professionals finally are able to get the personal protective equipment or ppe that they need . Those Health Care Workers are quite literally dying while they try to protect our society and save lives. Theyre begging for ppe. They dont need to be told their governors or their hospital directors are doing anything wrong by trying to get those supplies to protect their lives while they try to save our lives. They need to know theres a plan to get them the supplies they need. Governors and mayors right now are literally bidding against each other and against the federal government to try to get these supplies . This is escalating the prices and causing confusion and unnecessary bidding competition. Is there a plan to stop that . What is it . What about ventilators . New york city mayor deblasio said today would be the day his city could run out. Governor edwards said his state could run out thursday. Is there a plan to expedite the manufacturer of ventilators . Its still not clear whether you have fully utilized the defense production act. Have you . Are any companies being compelled by the u. S. Government to make ventilators . When will they be made . When can hospitals get them . What about the cotton masks that the cdc is now suggesting that we all wear when we leave our homes . Is someone manufacturing them . How can we get them . Is there a plan . Please, mr. President , the American People, they need answers to these questions. They are less interested in your popularity on facebook. Thousands of americans are in mourning. Theyre horrified when you make leering illusions to your history with models while discussing projection models of Mass American deaths. Attacking governors and mayors and journalists for asking questions that might please your fans, it doesnt save one life. This is not about winning a news cycle on fox. Please. The American People right now need someone to explain what is going to be done to get us out of this. Its a moment that requires leadership, it requires honest information, it requires empathy, and it requires a plan. Do you have one . Thanks for spending your sunday morning with us. Cnns coverage of the coronavirus pandemic continues next. Rength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. And nutrients to yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. Public square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world. Im Fareed Zakaria coming to you live