Heads the Coronavirus Task force asked the cdc, the centers for Disease Control and prevention for specific guidelines of how businesses, schools, restaurants and such can responsibly reopen. The Trump Administration rejected their guidance. Its something of a theme here. The politicians pushing back against medical and scientific expertise. Governors around the country are taking steps to reopen without having reached the benchmarks in the white houses guidelines. Experts say widespread test secretary key and in response to reopening, President Trump does not seem to grass the concept saying yesterday in the oval office in a way by doing all of this testing we make ourselves look bad. We should clarify thats testing for you that hes talking about. The white house tests its officials and visitors regularly. In fact, a white house official confirms that a member of the u. S. Navy who serves as one of President Trumps personal assistants has tested positive for coronavirus. And this surveillance testing has allowed the white house to identify and now isolate that infected individual, keeping white house officials safer and good they should. Thats exactly what Health Experts want to do on a widespread basis. So its not just white house officials and President Trump who can go to work and feel safe. As cnns Caitlin Collins report, even tow President Trump said he had very little contact with this five officer, the president will be tested daily now to make sure he is free of the virus that has infected northern 1. 2 million americans. Its a big deal. Reporter today there is the first known case of coronavirus inside the west wing. Yeah, its a little bit strange. Reporter a member of the u. S. Navy who serves as one of President Trumps personal valets has tested positive, upsetting President Trump when he found out and raising concerns about his own possible exposure. The valets are members of an elite military unit assigned to the white house who worked incredibly first to the president and the first family. Ive had very little personal contact with this gentleman. I know who he is, good person. I had little contact. Mike had little contact with him. Reporter sources tell cnn the unidentified male exhibited sims i symptoms on the white house grounds this week but it was unclear when he was in the oval office. A white house spokesman said the president and Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and rep main in great health. The president is feeling fantastically today as is the Vice President. Reporter despite guidance issued by his own administration, President Trump has resisted wearing a mask so far by citing how often he and hisser . Staff are tested. As he hosted medical professionals at the white house, a reporter pointed out no one was social distancing or covering their face. Look, im trying to be nice, im trying to sign a bill and you criticize us. Reporter they havent said whether todays news will change his behavior going forward. I think if anybody should start Wearing Masks and showing more respect is the media. Trump has told advisers that wearing a mask would send the wrong message as he focuses on reopening the country. He says he wore one briefly in arizona this week before removing it. I had it on back stage, but they said you didnt need it. Reporter cnn has learned the cdc prepared detailed guidelines for reopening the country. But the white house rejected them and asked for changes. The guidelines put together by Health Experts offered more details about reopening schools, churches and restaurants. But an Administration Official told cnn the white house felt they were overly prescriptive because guidance in royal tennessee shouldnt be the same as guidance for urban new york city. The press secretary reiterated this week that the white house wants governors to implement their own guidelines. We have this beautiful concept called federalism. Which means that the states lead on this. No, we should note that these valets to the president have not been Wearing Masks for the last several weeks. The question is whether or not todays news changes that. We do know what will be changing is the president and the Vice President are gone from being tested to weekly to daily. He said, today, he did not release questions on whether it is deep cleaned or he is going to be quarantined for two weeks as we know that Health Expert versus recommended for people that come in contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus. All right, thanks so much. Joining us now, dr. Richard besser, the former acting director of the cdc under the Obama Administration during the h1n1 crisis. Dr. Besser, i want to check through the cdcs six categories that they were issuing recommendations for. They were for child care programs. Schools, day camps, communities of faith. Employers with vulnerable workers, restaurants and bars and mass transit administrators. Have you seen this guidance the white house projected. What did you make of it . Was it good advice . This is exactly what states are looking for. As were moving to reopen aspects of the economy, you want to do it slowly, carefully, and based on the best Public Health science and advice, what cdc pulled together here is a terrific document that lays out for each of those settings what you should do during five dadif phases. After a couple weeks they continue to do go down and so on. This is the kind of guidance states can use and adapt locally based on conditions they are having in their states. So a Trump Administration official told cnn the guidelines are restricted and guidance in rural tennessee shouldnt be the same as new york city. I guess thats true if you are standing in the middle of a field versus standing in times square, but should a restaurant in rural tennessee, where there are fewer cases per capita, than in, no, should that restaurant not adhere to the cdc recommendations, that, for instance, they only operate at limited capacity . Well, cdc puts out recommendations. Its up to states to then adopt those and decide whether to go forward with them. But you would think that a restaurant that holds the same number of people in tennessee thats in the same phase of the pandemic should do the same thing as a restaurant in pennsylvania or new jersey where i am. You know, jake, if we move forward with opening the economy without these kind of measures, if these are purely voluntary, if workplaces can decide for themselves what theyre going to do, were going to see the same burden put on the same population itself, black americans, latinos. Front line workers who have just been getting slammed during this pandemic. They will be at risk if these kind of standards arent adhered to. Healthcare experts say, including you, that frequent and repeated testing is the key to reopening the economy. That way the virus can be identified and isolated and that individual kept away and it doesnt spread. Yesterday, the white house pretty secretary said the notion earn needs to be tested is simply nonsensical. They will just need to be tested an hour later. But the white house is deploying rapid results testing for their own staff. President trump will be tested now every single day. So im confused. There seem to be two different messages there. There is the testing that goes on at the white house and then they dont think that the rest of us should be entitled to that same kind of protection and, look, obviously, the white house is not the same as your local office. But isnt that kind of testing what will enable us to get to a reopening of the economy . You know, there are different models in terms of how much testing should be scaled up. And not everyone agrees that you should test everybody every day. I dont think thats the way to go. But you have to get to a point where you are able to test people even with the mildest of symptoms and, right now, were in most places, the people being test odd people who are quite sick to determine do they have covid, do they need to be hospitalized . You want to be able to pick up people who have mild disease. Because theyre going to do well. Thankfully, most people that do covid will do well. Those could spread it to other people who might be at high risk. You want to identify those people, track the people they have contact with. Very importantly, provide safe places so everybody can isolate and quarantine and one new case doesnt lead to another local outbreak. But, dr. Besser, how does that square with the fact that so many asymptomatic people are contagious. In fact, i heard people are most contagious when they are asymptomatic. I dont know if President Trumps valet had symptoms when he was tested and tested positive for coronavirus. But i have been told by other Health Officials this kind of surveillance testing is what will enable us to isolate the virus. Obviously, as you noted, no one is saying, every Single Person should be tested every single day. Thats a strawman from the White House Press secretary. Doesnt there need to be such widespread testing that people know, they can be confident, its okay, its safe to go to school to go to work. To send your kids to camp . Because there has been testing and there is at least that kind of precaution . Yeah. I mean, the issue of asymptomatic people is a really challenging one, jake. At this point we dont know what percentage that is. But there is evidence it can transmit. For someone in a nursing home, that would be a setting where id say, yeah, it makes a lost sense to test people who are asymptomatic. I think we are so far from even being able to test people with mild symptoms that discussing whether Everyone Needs to be tested is not really very worthwhile. If we can get to the point of testing mild people and do that Contact Tracing, which means building up that Public Health work force and isolating people, well be able to knock this down to something thats manageable. Thats the goal here. No one thinks any of these measures will get rid of coronavirus. If we can get it to a manageable level so our Healthcare System can take care of not just people who have coronavirus. But all the people with medical conditions that havent been treated because of all the effort around coronavirus. If we can get to that point, our economy can get back to work, not as it was three months ago, but to a level where more people have jobs. The economy is generating money so that people can take care of their bake needs. Weve seen this chart. Its a graph that shows everywhere in the country, except for new york and the numbers of coronavirus cases are going up, new york is going down, although, there was the most severely hit place. And yet, most of these states are reopening. Even though they have not met the white house guidelines for 14 Straight Days of the chart going down, of the number of new cases going down. That must concern you . Well, the guidance when it came out in terms of trends and downward trends was a really good sign. Because thats really what you need to see. You need to see that ongoing trend. You need to see that there is excess capacity in your Healthcare System to take care of people that everyone has personal protective equipment. There is a number of factors you need to look at. But are you right, if you look at the trends around the nation and you look at a number of the states that are opening up their economy, its a really risky proposition and i worry that were going to seep very significant outbreaks in many of those places. Dr. Richard besser, always a pleasure and honor to have you on the show. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you, jake. The number of americans out of work since the pandemic began. Now more than the entire population of texas. The devastating new unemployment figures. Thats next. Plus, Food Processing plants, the epicenter of many recent outbreaks. Coming up, the stunning comments, blaming affected employees for the surge. Stay with us. [horns honking] birthdays arent cancelled. Hope isnt quarantined. First words arent delayed. Caring isnt postponed. Courage isnt on hold. And love hasnt stopped. U. S. Bank thanks you for keeping all of our spirits strong. Weve donated millions to those in need and are always here for our customers and employees. Wyeah, im done afters tthis meeting. Ed were just going over how people who switch to progressive can save hundreds. Hey mara yeah jamies the guy running it. Mara, youre not on mute. I once had to fake jury duty to get out of talking about his yogurt preferences. Mara, you know youre not on mute, right . Oh, theres a mute button . Yeah, thats flo the one who looks like shed smile while she sleeps. Flo i always smile. Mara thats why i said that. , today a new battle scar on the u. S. From the coronavirus. 2. 2 million americans filed for unemployment for the first time. Just last week before the pandemic, unemployment claims barely cracked 200,000. Since the shutdown started in midmarch, 33 Million People in the u. S. Or one in five American Workers have filed for weekly unemployment benefits, and, sadly, thats only a snapshot of the economic pain. It does not mention furloughs, layoffs. I want to bring in Senior Business anchor julia chatterley. It might get repetitive. But we just cant overstate how unprecedented and disastrous this is. We cant. We are in Uncharted Waters in every way. The virus was just like a tidal wave. You are absolutely right. We are not capturing how bad the damage was. If you add in every worker that lost a job, lost hours or lost pay, we are probably talking about half of the entire work force, jake. These have been heart breaking, damaging weeks. The white house predicts that tomorrows unemployment numbers for april will hit 20 . Thats quite depression level. Its a far cry from three months ago when the economy was strong. We dropped from 15area lows to approaching 18year highs. This is the definition of a jobs depression. The question now for policy makers is how do you bring those jobs back . More importantly, how do you do it safely . I am talking to economists this week who say we will still have a 10 Unemployment Rate at the end of this year so thats millions of jobs lost in the last three months. Its also millions of jobs gained from where we are today. Thats the reality and also the crazy of covid19. Earlier this week, you and i discussed j. Crew as the first retailer to file bankruptcy in this crisis. Now Neiman Marcus. You think Neiman Marcus might hit harter, why . I think were marking the end of an era for these big iconic store brands in the Shopping Mall or how its looked. It follows the collapse of Barneys New York last year. The problem is exiting bankruptcy during a pandemic when stores are shocked and Consumer Spending reduced is a real challenge here. There is a warning going off for other brands like lord and taylors, j. C. Pennies, sears, too, those are the ones to watch. Also a huge reversal by Frontier Airlines that lowcost carrier tried to make money having customers pay to keep the middle seats empty that didnt go over pretty well . It absolutely didnt. Some might call it profiteering. You pay for everything on an airline. It seems we stopped short for paying for safety under the guise of quote more room. Some might call it situational survival for a Budget Airline that faces ripping out a third of those seats, it will raise seat prices or ticket prices by 50 and this is the key. Do those costs then get passed on . For all the outrage, the risk carriers flyers pay a higher price all the way . All right. Julia chatterley, cnn business anchor, thank you so much. As always coming up anger over face mask requirements. You are breaking my constitutional and civil rights. Sparking some hostile confrontations as the nation tries to adjust to this new normal. Stay with us. 49. 50 daddy, i found you good job. Now im gonna stay here and you go hide. Watch your favorites from anywhere in the house with the Xfinity Stream app. Free with your xfinity service. Now any room can be a tv room. Stream live tv, on demand shows and movies, even your dvr recordings. Download the Xfinity Stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. Ibut that doesnt mean ayoure in this alone. Were automatically refunding our customers a portion of their personal auto premiums. Were also offering flexible Payment Options for those whove been financially affected by the crisis. We look forward to returning to something that feels a little closer to life as we knew it, but until then you can see how were here to help at libertymutual. Com covid19. [ piano playing ] many of lifes moments in thare being put on hold. Are staying at home, at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just cant wait. To help, were giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. Shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. And for even Greater Peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a sevenday return policy. So, if you need to keep moving, were here for you. At carvana the safer way to buy a car. To deliver your mail and packages and the peace of mind of knowing that essentials like prescriptions are on their way. Every day, all across america, we deliver for you. And we always will. Drug maker madderna says the Coronavirus Vaccine has been approved for phase 2 of the development with the hopes that it could ramp up production by the summer or the fall. But without a vaccine and a huge number of cases coming from asymptomatic people, it is hard to see how the 45plus states beginning to reopen will not see more infections spiking in a few weeks. Several states are already reopening despite already seeing a spike in new cases . Reporter new developments today on the vaccine front. Biotech company madderna announcing the fda announcing phase 2 steps of their vaccine. The company has never gone to market but homes for approval next year. But there is bad news on the testing front. The director of the National Institutes of health say today the abbott i. D. Now machine used ford rapid coronavirus tests has about a 15 false negative rate. The president touted the test last month. Abbott, its a brandnew technology, brandnew test. Its great. Its five minutes, boom, you put it in. Reporter new infections continue to climb in 19 states, including minnesota, where some businesses have been allowed to reopen. While the rate of new cases, new hospitals and deaths continue to decline in new york state, new york city is operateing a longterm disaster in brooklyn where bodies will be restored inside refrigerated trucks. We are seeing how long it takes to reduce the number of deaths. And theyre coming down at a painful slow level of decline. Reporter states across the country take different approaches, while florida has begun to reopen, restrictions stay in place from three hardest hit counties. We will be able to go forward in florida. There is no pandemic. Reporter meanwhile, outrage at a south florida supermarket from a examiner that wasnt allowed inside because he wasnt wearing a mask. Im filing a lawsuit. I have to right to buy groceries. Reporter and in a letter to the community, elected officials in utah said after two companies refused to follow quarantine guidelines, 68 of their employees tested positive. They claim they made changes to the three largest pork plans shut down during the pandemic all resuming operations today and professional sports taking tentative steps to return. The nba announcing players can return to practice facilities tomorrow. Major League Soccer players training again. The nfl sets to start its season tonight. And there is more news out of california, the state will begin reopening tomorrow. Health officials said there will be modifications. For instance, theyre encourage stores not to have cash payment at a register but use click and also the governor announcing or confirming i should say that californias first case of coronavirus originated in a nail salon, governor gavin newsom saying it started in the state of california. The first known case of Community Spread in a nail salon. He was explaining why they are not in the opening phase. We feed higher levels of protection before they are allowed to reopen. Interesting news out of california. Thank you so much. Joining me now chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta. The made re na vaccine. Its a couple, three years. So we should find that somewhat hope. Phase 2 you know typically is to see if this thing is starting to show any evidence that it works. That its effective. Sometimes in phase the they look at what they call efficacy snachlts starting to see these little hints that it works. As dr. Fauci talks about, they see enough efficacy signals they may start to manufacture this virus, just because they want to be ahead of the game. This is moving pretty quickly. Theyre also sort of blurring the line himself. Look for safety and effectiveness at the same time to try to make this go fastert. Obviously, thats what Everyone Wants to accomplish. Jake. How optimistic are you about madernas vaccine and how is it different from the dozens of others in development right now . Well, you know this thiep of vaccine which is an mrna vaccine is a messenger rna vaccine has never been done. They started working on it with the middle east syndrome. Which is a coronavirus. So theyre building on that knowledge, but there is never one completed. Putting that as a preface, i think there is reason for optimism. This is a project that the federal government put nearly half a million behind and dr. Fauci described it as breaking land speed record. We got to see if its effective. There is good reason to believe this could at least show some effectiveness. Does it get through phase 3 . Does it become become the vaccine . We have to wait to see. Its basically using that genetic code as opposed to the virus, itself, as a vaccine. All right. But until we get to a vaccine, testing, obviously, remains a huge component to a safe reopening. I want you to take a listen to dr. Frances collins, talking about the Rapid Response tests that are offered by the company abbott. I think the other concern has been that it does have about a 15 false negative rate. If you are in a circumstance where you really really dont want to miss a diagnosis of somebody who is already carrying the virus, youd like to have something that has a higher sensitivity than that. 15 false negative rate. I am a layman, but that sounds kind of high. Yeah, that means 15 utes of 150 people will be told they have the virus and, in fact, they do. You layer on the fact you dont have to have symptoms. You can be asymptomatic and spread the virus. If someone feels fine, they get the test that says their negative so theyre out and about. So that leads to more spread. Thats the concern. This company abbott, they say theyve identified a specific problem that led to that high false negative rate. That poor sensitivity. Theyre addressing that problem. Its a particular, one of these mediums that we talk about in the testing process, so, hopefully, theyll get that fixed. But its absolutely important to get test results early, to make sure theyre accurate and those tests are easily available. And some doctors are urging the continued use of the hiv drugs. Two hiv drugs to treat severely ill patients with coronavirus. Even though a rent a study found no significant difference in Recovery Time between the patients taking the drugs and those who were not. As a physician, what do you make of that . This is a big discussion in the community right now this particular regimen of drugs, there was an article in the new england journal, a letter basically saying, you know, weve gone back and looked at the data that showed it didnt work and in our secondary analysis we found some everyday that it did seem to reduce some more tea. We find it was under power to look at the overall disease so there has been a lot of optimism around this. I think a lot of people were surprised when the results came back that it didnt work. So i think its prompted these reinvestigations. My guess is we will see another trial around this. The first trial did not show that it worked. Theyre looking for more evidence i think at this point. All right. Dr. Sanjay gupta, with all the latest on the medical front. We appreciate it. Tune in for the global town hall, fact versus fears. The guests include former Vice President al gore and film director spike lee tonight at 8 00 p. M. On cnn. Coming up, one states possible success story. How it started at number 1 in coronavirus deaths. Now its not even in the top 10. Stay with us. When bugs move in we stress out and spray. Well, we used to. New ortho home defense max indoor insect barrier kills and prevents bugs for up to a year without odors, stains or fuss. New ortho home defense max. Bugs gone. Stress gone. Robinwithout the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Heres the thing about managing for your business. S when youve got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds things can get a bit cloudy for you. But now, theres the Dell Technologies cloud, powered by vmware. A single hub for a consistent operating experience across all your clouds. That should clear things up. Why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills . E else. Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. Flonase sensimist. 24 hour nondrowsy allergy relief. Early aggressive action may explain why the pandemic is not worse in Washington State. The first state to confirm a case of coronavirus in the u. S. Back if january. Now new cases still fluctuate but Washington State has managed to keep the death toll relatively low compared to other states. All the more remarkable considering washington is the first to face the u. S. Sara sidner now explains for us why. Reporter this er in suburban seattle was in the first epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Describe what that was like . It was a little chaotic. Reporter Washington State has less than a thousand covid deaths, while densely populated new york has more than 25,000. We are down to probably 10to15 that we were seeing with covid. Reporter Washington State avoided the predicted covid19 surge partly due to its reaction by a discovery by francis rito. In february, he tested two patients with no connection to infected countries. Both came back positive. What did you think . It was a moment of recognition realizing that now everything had changed. Reporter then the first known covid19 death in america occurred here. Walk governor jay insley took immediate action. I declared emergency so this was an all points bulletin. Reporter three days after the emergency declaration, we were here. There was a noticeable empty of the streets. Thats because the tech giants headquarters here in washington like amazon, microsoft, urged all their employees who could to stay home before any order. That was not by chance, according to seattles mayor. We include them in our plans and conversations from the beginning. The data is really clear that first phase of having people telecommute and not come downtown really started breaking the back of the virus. Reporter the governor then banned gatherings of 250 or more. Ordered schools closed, then restaurants and bars. Why not say, all right, were Closing Everything down right away . If you are going to lead a parade, you got to make sure someone is behind you. And if you go too fast and the public is unwilling to accept, then youve lost your connection to your community. Reporter its a page right out of the cdcs pandemic handbook on communications. Finally the stayathome order came. We watched boards go up over businesses. Now two months it a ler, those boards, beautified by artists, commissioned to remind the city is not down and out, just on a break. The worlds most famous coffee shop a seattle original is no longer drive through only. The private employer boeing slowly taking off but cutting its work force. Empty parks family playgrounds, construction back in business. Washington went if number 1 in u. S. Covid19 deaths to 18. Still there is a slow march to reopening here. The pace of that will be dictated by the data. It will be based on what we learn every day. This is very important. Because as we move away from the blunt instrument of social distancing towards the smart weapon of testing Contact Tracing and isolation, we have to have that capability up and running. Reporter one thing governor insley isnt being praised for, the nursing home at the center of the outbreak. It went for more than a week without handsopen government help. Should have you stepped in and said we got to get people in there faster than this . This corporation had the responsibility for the medical care of their patients. We couldnt walk in on day one without some coordination with them to truly understand the circumstance. Reporter just like hospitals, it was struck himming to get testing and worrying about securing protective equipment. We did not have enough ppe for many nurses in many facilities and still dont. Ro you know, he says there is no way his state can fully reopen without enough ppe or testing. So hes made that very clear. However, this was like seeing a silent movie. This is a famous place. Now its more bustling than we have seen it when i got here in march. You see folks out here. Some of these places have been opened. They havent had the customers. We are seeing far more people out here, commerce, some in masks, some not. So clearly the state is starting to reopen. People are starting to respond. Jake. All right, sara sidner in seattle, walk. Thank you so much. As food workers continue to contract the virus in those highly dense food plants, a top trump official is now apparently partly blaming the employees for getting sick. His stunning comments next. vo at farmers weve seen a thing or two. Especially lately. Weve seen you become sweatpant executives, cat coworkers and pillowfort architects. Weve seen you doing your part. So, farmers will keep seeing you through. With fifteenpercentreduced personal auto premiums and immediate savings through our signal app, which gives a discount for safe driving. And then well do the next thing, and the thing after that, until this is another thing weve seen and done. Health and Human Services secretary alex azar is being criticized for commends he made about meat plant workers affected the coronavirus. A source tells that on a call with bipartisan lawmakers last month, azar seemed to blame the workers saying they most likely contracted it because of the way they lived as opposed to the difficult close quarters in the plant, itself. Diane, you have been covering the issue of food heart issages and high rates of infectionings at these processing plants. What are you hearing from workers . Reporter jackie, theyre hurt, but theyre not surprised. Id talked to several workers at plants both closed and those recently reopened dealing with outbreaks. When talking about the secretarys comments, they all said it was something that they had heard before. They refuted it saying it was simply crazy to feel that way. One meat worker pointed out to me the whole reason they wanted these plants to shut down and make changes is because they didnt want to bring this virus home to their family. Another worker told our colleague Anne Caldwell they heard their company say the exact same comments to the workers, themself himself. One woman pointed out there is so much talk about keeping the Food Supply Chain intact right now, why would you say that about the people who are processing your food right now . Now secretary azars office did read a statement, the spokesperson saying secretary azar simply made the point that many Public Health officials made, in addition to the meat packing plant, many workers at rural meat packing facility versus multiple family and congregant living which has been conducive to a rapid spread of the disease. Jackie, i want to remind you nearly twothirds are people of color. About half of them are immigrants. And, diane, this is not the first time plant workers felt people in authority otherized them and diminished their importance . No not at all. In fact, i hear that quite a bit at almost every level within that industry. Kind of, hey, have you thought about this here . Have you thought about how they live . Its that dehumanizing language. We saw another example at the Washington Supreme Court chief justice. I want you to listen to what she said. Due to the meat packing, though, thats where the brown economy got the flare. It wasnt just the regular folks in brown county. Yeah, jake, i would say that the people who work in those plants are regular folks as well. All right, thank you so much. Masked firefighters in white plains new york said goodbye to their departments deputy chief edward sciocca, paying respects outside his funeral on tuesday. The 63rd Third Generation fire fighter died friday from coronavirus. Fellow firefighters described him as a loving father, a stalwart leader and caring friend who was calm, cool and collected whether inside a burning building or from operations from the outside. Krist angielen castro guzman, a nurse and mother ended Maternity Leave and returned to work at a nursing home outside chicago. She contracted the virus there. She died saturday. Her husband omar who worked with her also just tested positive for coronavirus. May their memories be a blessing. Well be right back. Our homes. Overnight, they became our offices, schools and playgrounds. All those places out there are now in here. Thats why were still offering fast, free two day shipping on thousands of items. Even the big stuff. And doing everything it takes to ensure your safety. So you can make your home. Everything you need it to be. Wayfair. Way more than furniture. Just swap your sim card you can also keep your phone, keep your network, keep your number, 20 a month, no contract. Dont keep that case though. Available 24 7 at tracfone. Com tracfone wireless. Just in this afternoon, the Justice Department is dropping its criminal case against President Trumps former National Security adviser, retired general Michael Flynn. Flynn as you may recall was charged with lying to the fbi about his contacts with russian officials. Moments ago the president reacted to the news. I didnt know that was happening at this moment. I felt it was going to happen just by watching and seeing like everybody else does. He was an innocent man. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama Administration. Of course, it was the Trump Administration that was prosecuting the case against general flynn. Former fbi Deputy DirectorAndrew Mccabe said quote todays move by the Justice Department has nothing to to with the facts or the law, it was pure politics designed to please the president , unquote. Sarah murray joins us, he called flynn innocent. He confessed his guilt in open court and the judge even ruminated why he wasnt charged with a tougher crime. Why drop a case against somebody who admitted his guilt . Well, its certainly an unusual set of circumstances going on. In this filing what the Justice Department says is in this interview he lied was untethered and unjustified into flynn. It goes on the to say that the sis tis department cannot say without a reasonable doubt that Michael Flynn died and those lies were substantial. Obviously, this is different than what the Justice Department has been saying for years. Bill barr has brought in outside u. S. Attorneys to take a look at some of these convictions hand the is what we are now seeing in this filing. Its really an about face when it comes to these charges against Michael Flynn. Jake. And what does it mean that the prosecutor in the case withdrew from the case right before this all went down. Which we should know happened with confidante roger stone before he was sentenced. He was the lead prosecutor, he was struck a plea deal with Michael Flynn. He didnt give a reason in his filing as to why he was withdrawing. But he talked to roger stone. It was all of these prosecutors that pulled their names off of it. It was a clear signal they didnt disagree and its possible or likely that is what brack is doing. I think its notable the filing is not sientd by any career prosecutors signed by career prosecutors, it is signed by a political appointee as per usual. And i know that this is already being, attorney general barr is already being accused of creating a special Justice System just for President Trumps friends . Absolutely. I mean, you see that from the mccabe agents. Which is why we have a statement out from adam schiff. It hasnt p doesnt have to do with justice. It has to do with politics. I think you can expect a lot of blow back coming bill barrs way and former officials at the fbi, jake. All right. Sarah murray, thank you very much. Our coverage continues right now. Stay healthy, stay safe. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, im wolf blitzer in the situation room. We are following new developments in the coronavirus pandemic, including the white house now rejecting cdc guidelines for the safe reopening, guidelines the white house asked for, even as the death toll surpasses 75,000 in the u. S. , now concerns over President Trumps possible exposure to the member of the u. S. Navy who serves as a personal valet tested positivity. The president says hes since tested negative. The white house has not enforced social distancing