Deaths have been reported. The crisis is pummeling florida and california right now. They both set records for the number of deaths in a single day. As we wait to hear from the president , lets get more on the breaking pandemic news, and nick is joining us from l. A. The numbers in much of california right now are moving very much in the wrong direction. Reporter they are, wolf. 157 people died in this state in just a 24hour period, and that is an alltime high. We also now have had two days of more than 12,000 new cases reported. You know, right now across the south the average daily death toll from this virus is higher than it ever has been. 173 people reported dead today in florida. An alltime high for that state. One person is getting exposed or sick and they are infecting every Single Member of their household. Today we passed 4 million confirmed covid19 cases across this country. Now, getting to the first million cases took 99 days. The next million took 43 days. The next, 28. And getting from 3 million to 4 million, just 15 days. Theres no end in sight in the sense if theres no plan to control the virus at a National Level its not going to go away by itself. Were now six months in and the president still thinks test something overrated. Instead of 50, if we did 25 we would have half the number of cases. I personally think its overrated but i am totally willing to keep going. Doesnt he realize a case is a case whether its found by a test or not and a known case can be contained, and thats largely why we test. Very early diagnosis of individuals is critical. Dr. Birx is worried about the test positivity rates in las vegas, st. Louis, baltimore. You might say, that went from 5 to 5. 5, and we will wait and see what happens and if you wait three or four or five days, you will see a dramatic surge in cases. Anchorage, alaska, reintroducing the restrictions on the size of gatherings. Hreuts if the United States collectively waited longer and opened more slowly and kept our Gathering Sizes small, we might have reduced case counts like europe and or canada, and experienced a relatively normal summer. Instead, baseballs opening day is today. Late july. With no fans. No spitting. Last year opening day was late march. Dr. Anthony fauci will throw out the first pitch at the nationals. Who would have ever thought a mildmannered 70yearold imydor would be on the mound. A sign of the times. Juan soto will not be playing tonight because he tested positive and the only way hes getting back on the starting team is if he has two negative tests within a 24hour period. Wolf . Thanks very much. Nick watt reporting from california. Lets go to the white house, and jim acosta is with us. We expected to hear from the white house, and dr. Anthony fauci will not be taking part again. White house officials like the way the president has kept the meetings tight, and theres been a glaring absence of any experts at his side like dr. Anthony fauci, he wont be there for a third night in the row. With the staggering 4 million coronavirus cases in the u. S. , President Trump is still denying pandemic reality. Insisting the nation is moving in the right direction when its not. We made tremendous progress. I think thats why you see the death numbers, its a horrible thing to say, but thats why you see the death numbers looking much better. Health experts including former Administration Officials say look at the numbers, warning the covid19 death toll could soar to nearly 300,000 lives lost. By the end of the year we could have upwards of 300,000. Now we have close to 1,000 deaths a day. Despite the tkpreupl estimates the president is downplaying the importance of the testing for the virus, k calling it overrated. If we did 25 instead of 50 we would have half the number of cases. I think its overrated but i am totally will to be keep doing it. The president s questionable Coronavirus Claims have taken center stage at the evening news conferences, so when mr. Trump down plays the risks of sending children back to school they do say they dont transmit very easily, and a lot of people are saying they dont transmit and we are studying very hard that particular subject, they dont bring it home with them. They dont catch it easily and they dont bring it home easily and if they do catch it they and dr. Birx was asked to clarify it later. What we are trying to do right now is to really look at what the antibody levels are already in children under 18. I think there are still open questions there. I think the multigenerational household question is important. White house staffers got another scare this week when officials discovered a cafeteria worker tested positive for the virus, and theres no reason for panic or alarm letter was sent out. And despite that infection, the white house will not mandate masks. The president said here in the white house, were tested regularly and theres not a mask mandate at the white house, and he encourages wearing a face mask. The economy, 1. 4 million americans filing unemployment claims last week, more than analysts expected. Mr. Trump says hes ready for his injection. I would absolutely f. They wanted me to, if they thought it was right, i would take it first or take it last. The president is fielding more questions about his mental acuity. Claiming it proves he has the brains for a second term. Its like a memory question. Like, you will go, person, woman, man, camera, tv. So they say, can you repeat that . So i said, yeah, person, woman, man, camera, tv. Okay, thats very good. The president is using these news conferences as a substitute for his rallies injecting partisan swipes about the democrats and the coronavirus, and President Trump continues to push his law and order message about quelling protests in some cities, and the president is responding to the pandemic and the two simultaneously. If the president cant win florida, it will be hard to see how he wins the election. Yeah, the poll follows a fox news poll where trump was down to biden 4940 in florida. 29 electoral votes, a key battleground state indeed. Lets get more from our medical correspondent, dr. Sanjay gupta. It took 99 days to reach one million cases, and then 28 days to reach 3 million, and just in 18 days we have gone from 3 million to 4 million cases. What does that tell us about the growth of this pandemic here in the u. S. . Well, one thing we Pay Attention to, people look at the numbers changing daytoday and we know they have been going up, obviously. I think what a lot of Public Health experts are watching is the pace its going up, so when you look at the graphs everybody is so used to look at nowadays, the line looks like its going straight up and thats the big concern. A metaphor somebody said, think of it as a cruise ship in the ocean, and once you gain enough speed and momentum, even if you hit the brakes, even if you just basically cut all the fuel to the lines it will still take a long time to stop and thats the eur issue we are dealing with here in the United States. It doesnt mean the measures we are talking about, the Public Health measures wont work, but they may need to be more aggressive and take longer to work. Hundreds of americans are dying every day from a coronavirus. 1,000 yesterday and the day before each day. The cdc just announced, sanjay, the coronavirus will end up as one of the top ten leading causes of death in 2020. Thats a pretty sobering analysis. Its really sobering, wolf. I saw that as well. You know, think about that. We did not even know of this disease at the beginning of the year, and now if you do the math and look at it, its likely to be onethird leaning cause of death in the United States behind Heart Disease and cancer. We dont know for sure what the numbers will be, but thats what its looking like, wolf. For a disease, an infection the world was not even acquainted with at all at the beginning of the year or little acquaintance, it obviously now has taken way too many lives. Thats a concern, and there is a target of trying to bring the numbers down, the trajectory needs to be slowed down. And then theres a warning the u. S. Could see upwards of 300,000 deaths by the end of the year if the current trajectory continues. Do you agree . Well, i mean, look, it took five months to get to nearly 145,000 people dying, and that was in the beginning. You know, there was not, thankfully, many deaths but it grew significantly. Theres about 150 days left in the year, and 1,000 roughly people have died a day, and i hope those numbers will come down, and so if it stays on the same trajectory, thats another 150,000 people dying by the end of the year. Dr. Birx is highlighting, sanjay, highlighting 12 mayor cities, some of them like miami with a major outbreak, and others are starting from a relatively low baseline right now. What do these cities need to do right now before things get way out of hand, baltimore, new orleans, las vegas, a lot of cities. From a medical and surge kul sort of thinking, wolf, you have to prepare at this point because the virus has been very clear. As you start to see more and more people become infected, a couple weeks later there will be a demand for hospitalizations. These hospitals in the areas, some of them are smaller cities, they need to be prepared. Do they have enough hospital beds . Do they have enough personal protective equipment for the staff. Do they have enough staff. Might they need medications like medvedev remdesivir, and those are the acute planning that needs to be done in the cities. You dont want to be caught behind on things like that. Wolf, how do you get ahead of this, its the same Public Health strategies. These are places where you are starting to see significant growth. People Wearing Masks out in public makes a big difference. We are so used in the country to take a pill for everything or having an operation, and the idea of having a mask have such a benefit is lost, but it could make a huge difference, that and physical distancing and hand washing, those things can have a big impact. They dubbed thousands of americans are going to die, and these are simple things to do. An important programming note to our viewers, sanjay will be back later tonight along with Anderson Cooper for a new cnn town hall, and their special guests includes bill gates. Later tpoep later tonight, 8 00 p. M. Eastern, only here on cnn. Were following breaking news, and President Trump about to give his third Coronavirus Briefing from the white house in three days. We just learned dr. Anthony fauci again will not be taking part. A single day Record Number of coronavirus deaths in florida. Ill speak live with the mayor of miami beach about the worsening crisis. We will be right back. Like how nice it is to save on your auto policy. But its even nicer knowing that if this happens. Or this happens. Or this. Or this. Or even this. Weve seen and covered it. So, switch to farmers and you could save an average of three hundred ninetyfive dollars. Get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum we know youre always at univethere for them. X, thats why our advisors are always here for you. Learn more at phoenix. Edu. Thinking about your fi. So are we. Prudential helps 25 Million People with their financial needs. With over 90 years of investment experience, our thousands of Financial Professionals can help. Go to prudential. Com or talk to an advisor. Theres an art to listening. Its the ability to hear more than whats being said. To understand the meaning in every pause. And to be able to offer the answers that make someone feel truly heard. I understand, lets get started. Thats what you get when you talk to a Dell Technologies advisor. Once again we are standing by for the President Trumps coronavirus meeting to come, but first florida recording a report number of deaths and joining us is the mayor of miami beach, the mayor, thank you for joining us. A bad day as far as numbers are concerned in florida, but Governor Desantis said today the situation in south florida where you are has in his word, stabilized, and miami is showing signs of improvement. You are next door in miami beach. Are you seeing signs of improvement . Well, first of all were feeling the deaths is the surge from a couple weeks ago. The number is incredibly high and theres truth, we look at this every morning, the increase is slowing down but the amount of viruses we are fielding every day is four or five, six times it was when we were sheltering in place, so we have way too much in the community, and we have to get it to plateau and then go in the opposite direction a long way, because we are getting two or 3,000 in our county alone every single day of new virus infections. The miami mayor says Contact Tracing efforts in miami suggest a lot of people are getting infected inside their own homes from their own family members, especially if they live in these multigenerational family homes. What steps do you need to take to stop the spread inside the home . Well, the problem we are having, and the mayor and i every morning sit with the experts and data guys talking about this and i know what he is listening to, and hes right. The problem he has is your Contract Tracing is not doing a lot either, and you are supposed to call them up and go to a hotel room and you are supposed to supply them if necessary, and i dont know if we are reaching twothirds of the people that tests positive to do all that and give them all that information. Thats a huge problem right now, and if we manage to get our numbers down, the question is going to be whether the Contract Tracing will be enough to keep the numbers from surging back up, and thats what they do in new york for Contract Tracing, and in florida i dont think we are calling twothirds of the people who are positive and telling them what to do. If it takes a week or ten days to get the results, the Contract Tracing will be ineffective. And the mayor says they are wanting people to wear masks in their own homes, especially in the multigenerational families. I do. If i leave this room i will go out and put my mask on. Listen, there are so many sacrifices being made by people. This is not the biggest one that people will have to make. Its one they ought to make, because every person who doesnt get the virus is one less person we have to worry about and one less person that might infect a group of others. Right now the virus is really way too heavily in our community and many others. The mask is just something that you need to do right now. Get used to it. Just want to be precise. Even in your own home when you leave that room where you are now, you will put on your mask even with your own family members . Yes, and if i dont have it on, i will hear a voice from across the kitchen in her office, my wife will say, get back in your office and put on your mask. So i am hearing it and its appropriate, by the way, because we need to hear it. Listen, people have to do this. If you want to open up the economy, you have got to stop the spread of this in your home and anywhere else. Right now, the mayor is right, onethird of the contacts we believe from interviewing people who we are interviewing are from somebody in their own home, and that means, you know yeah, i just have to point out, were about to hear from the president of the United States. Hes going to make an opening statement. If he starts talking and he might Start Talking about his strategy for reopening schools around the country, what do you want to hear as far as miami beach is concerned . I dont want them to give us some mandate that has no relation to the health and virus that is happening in our community. It makes no sense to say to a community you must open up your schools. Its a great thing to tell the world. Everybody wants their kids back in school, and you cant give a mandate to a community not caring or knowing what the Health Ramifications are going to be. I hope he tells everybody to be thoughtful and cautious, because the worst thing would be if we open up schools because hes withholding money, because then if teachers get sick and we have something worst has not what we have now. Schools are spreaders. You cant open it up until its safe to do it. In washington, they will do learning Virtual Learning hold on for a second. I think the president of the United States is walking in. Mayor, lets listen in. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. We have had a tremendous week uniting the country in the fight against the china virus. I reminded people of the importance of masks when you cant socially distance, in particular. A strong message has been sent out to young people to stop going to crowded bars and other crowded places. Yesterday we made the amazing announcement for our plans to protect nursing home residents and were working very hard on that and doing very well all over the country. Also, about contracting with pfizer, we made a big beautiful contract with pfizer and we think they are very close but we have a lot of Companies Close to producing a vaccine. I wanted to come out again today to share additional news with you. This afternoon my Political Team came to me and laid out our plans for the convention in jacksonville, florida. Its a place i love. I love that state. The drawings look absolutely beautiful. Never thought we could have something look so good so fast with everything going on. Everything was going well. The tremendous list of speakers, thousands of people wanting to be there. In some cases, desperately be there. They wanted to attend, people making travel arrangements all over the country, they wanted to be there. T i looked at my team and said the timing is not right, just not right with what has happened recently, the flareup in florida, to have a big convention, its not the right time. Its really something that for me, i have to protect the american people. Thats what i have always done. Thats what i always will do. Thats what i am about. They said, sir, we can make this work very easily. We have great enthusiasm, incredible enthusiasm. Even the polls say with the most enthusiasm we have seen, we can do it safely and responsibly. I said theres nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe. Whether thats from the china virus or the radical left mob that you see in portland where i want to thank Homeland Security and others in Law Enforcement for doing a fantastic job over the last few days. They went in and people were out of control for 51 days, long time. Homeland security and other Law Enforcement with us went in and they have done a great job protecting our property, our federal courthouse and other property. Most importantly, protecting our people. Or the senseless violence you see in chicago, new york, detroit, a lot of other cities where so many people are shot, and so many people are killed, and people elected me to help and to protect. I told my team its time to cancel the jacksonville, florida, component of the gop convention. We will start in North Carolina for the monday that always was planned, and it was never taken off and its remaining as it is, and the delegates will get together and do their nomination. The delegates are going to North Carolina and will do the nomination, and we are going to do some other things with telerallies and online, and i think we are going to do it well. I will still do a Convention Speech in a different form, but we wont do a big crowded convention per se, its just not the right time for that. I care deeply about the people in florida and everywhere else in this country, and frankly even in the world that would be come into the state and i dont want to do anything to upset it. They will be doing very well shortly. We are going to put maps up of the country behind me and you will see that the area were talking about is a hot spot. You will also see a lot of the country has no problem whatsoever, most of the country, actually. I am always going to take care of you so that thats the way were going to do it. I have spoken to Governor Desantis and informed other political leaders. I want to thank the Jacksonville Community and its great mayor. Hes a great guy. A really great guy. They wanted it so badly. And all of the other political representatives in jacksonville and in florida, and just very special people, a very special group, and they were there for us 100 . Today i want to provide an update on the actions were taking to support the safe reopening of americas schools. Parents around the world who have had their Children Home for the last few months have a greater appreciation for the fact that teachers are essential workers, they are essential to our childrens future. Our goal is to protect our teachers and students with the china virus while ensuring families with high risk factors can continue to participate from home. Very important. The American Academy of pediatrics released guidance recommending that schools reopen. It said, quote, lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of support of services often results in a social isolation making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical and sexual abuse, substance abuse, depression and suicidal idealation. Beyond the educational impact and social impact of School Closures, theres been a substantial impact on Food Security and physical activity for children and for families. So thats very important, and theres a highway, it goes both ways. The National Education association recently stated despite the momentous efforts of educators during the pandemic, Online Learning has never been an effective replacement for inperson learning and support. Being at the school, being on the campus is very, very important. One study estimates says that due to School Closures last spring the average student will begin the school year 35 behind than a typical year, and more than 50 behind in math. According to mckenzie and company, learning loss will be greatest among low income black and hispanic students, and they are the ones hit the hardest and we dont want that happening. 30 Million Students rely on schools for free and reduced meals, and over 70 of the students who receive Mental Health services do so through their schools. According to hhs, 1 in 5 reports allegedly having to do with child abuse, they have negligent these are negligent and neglected cases submitted by education personnel, so people in the Education World on the premises will be the ones that report neglect and other problems when they see the children. They know if they have been neglected or hurt or harmed in any way, whether its at home or someplace else. They see this at school. They dont get to see that if you are not at school. Its a big thing. Fortunately the data shows the children are lower risk from the china virus, very substantially, when children do contact the virus, they often have only very mild symptoms or none at all. Medical complications are exceedingly rare. Those that do face complications often have underlying medical conditions. 99 of all china virus hospitalizations are adults and 99. 96 of all tpau sal teafatal adults. That means children are a tiny percentage, less than 1 , and even a small percentage of 1 . In a typical year the flu results in more deaths of those under 18 in the United States than have been lost thus far to the coronavirus. Many different names. Many, many different names. The life of every child is sacred and must be protected. Our sole focus is the health and wellbeing of americas children. I have a very, very special person who loves children, who is one of the greatest athletes of alltime, and a lot of people say the greatest pitcher of alltime, and known as a relief pitcher, could have been whatever he wanted, but to some people hes the greatest reliever of alltime, substantially more saves than anybody else and got the president ial medal of freedom, and i knew he was great and i didnt know it was almost double than anybody else, and hes a man that has children and loves children and work hard with children, and will go outside and be with little leaguers. Mario rivera, hes the sand man. My wife said, why do they call him the sandman . They play the song, he puts the batters to sleep, and thats what happened. So having him here is a great honor. Theres nobody that has done more than you have, thank you very much. A fantastic man. Given these considerations we believe Many School Districts can now reopen safely provided they implement mitigation measures, and to protect teachers and students and we have to protect the teachers and the families, also. We have to remember that all families should be empowered to make a decision that is right for their own circumstance. This is especially important if a child has Underlying Health conditions or lives with a parent or grandparent that has a higher risk. The current hot spots, you will see it on the map behind me, districts may have to delay reopening for a few weeks, and thats possible and that will be left up to the governors, and the data is based on the facts on the ground in each community, but each should be making preparations to open. Again, the children obviously have a very strong immune system. Maybe even as strong as yours. They seem to be able to fight it off and not have a problem. Pretty amazing, actually. Great, great credit. Our strategy to safely reopen schools, as we race towards the completion of a vaccine and therapeutics, the responsible path is to shelter those at highest risk, while those at low risk can resume work and school as long as everybody practices vigilant hygiene and social distancing. We want that. A permanent shutdown was never the strategy which would lead to greater mortality and irreversible harms. We dont want to do that. At the same time we have to get our economy going. We had tremendous numbers issued yesterday. Housing, pricing, up 20 . Highest in history. Real estate housing went up 21 . Today the cdc will provide Additional Guidance for how schools can reopen safely. I hope local leaders put the full health and wellbeing of their students first and make the right decision for children, parents, teachers and not make political decisions. This is not about politics. Its about something very, very important. This is not about politics. I even think its bad politics if you do the wrong decision. Very bad politics. We are asking congress to provide 105 billion to schools as part of the next Coronavirus Relief bill. This funding will support mitigation measures such as smaller class sizes, teachers and teacher aides, and repurposing spaces for social distancing, and mask wearing. If schools do not reopen, the funding should go to parents to send their child to public private, charter or religion or home school of their choice, and the key word being choice. If the school is closed the money should follow the student so the parents and families are in control of their own decisions. I would like the money to go to the parents of the student, this way they can make the decision that is best for them. We cannot indefinitely stop 50 million American Children from going to school, harming their mental, physical and emotional development. Reopening our schools is also critical to ensuring that parents can go to work and provide for their families. The council of economic advisers estimates that 5. 6 million parents will be unable to return to work if schools do not reopen this year. Its a tremendous problem. Its a tremendous problem. Schools have to open safely, but they have to open. More than a dozen European Countries as well as south korea, taiwan and many others have already reopened schools and cases have not risen. We can achieve the same goal if we unite together, follow the best medical practices and apply common sense. We will continue to support states and cities in the current hot spots in the south, southwest and west. The governors, i know them all, and they are all very capable and are doing a good job and working so hard, you wouldnt even believe it. We have nearly 30,000 federal personnel deployed in the states that need assistance. We are helping with doctors and nurses and medical personnel of all kinds, as the ppe update, were in close communication with governors and states. We have supplies, everything they could possibly need. We are very strong on supplies. I used to say the cub boards were bare, well, now they are not. They have ventilators. The ventilators are very hard to come by, at least in the past, and now we are making thousands of ventilators a month and supplying them in many cases to other countries. For states making requests, were rapidly delivering in the last 24 hours, fema has deployed more than 1. 5 Million Masks upon requests. 1. 7 million gowns. 600,000 well, let me change that. We created about 600,000 different supplies. We have 600 ventilators to arizona, North Carolina, pennsylvania, colorado, idaho, and washington. I think the number is 600, and were going to check that and geoff it to y give it to you in a little while, but we have a stockpile of thousands of ventilators and i think we sent out 600 just recently. The United States has conducted more than 51 million tests, which is more than any other country in the world by far, and roughly half of the tests are either the rapid point test, and roughly half of them now, which is a tremendous increase are five to 15minute tests, or tests done in a hospital where you get the results back in less than a day. In some cases immediately. Were continuing to surge testing to current hot spots such as miami and phoenix to detect those with the virus and take steps to stop from spreading it further. Theres a copy of the map and this is you have it right behind me. Thats really much indicating where the problems are. You see from that, its in great shape, lots of it. The northeast has become very clean. The country is in very good shape other than if you look south and west, some problems, and that will all work out. On therapies, we have worked with florida to ensure that over 40,000 vials of remdesivir are arriving this week, and thats a lot. Thats really a lot. They are working around the clock to make an impact. We shipped thousands of vials to arizona, california in the past two weeks. Arizona is doing well, the numbers are heading down. I think very quickly. The governor has done a great job. They have all done a great job. They have all done a great job. Working hard. We will continue to monitor the areas rising and with respect to cases, we ask all americans to exercise vigilance, practice social distancing, wear a mask, do whatever is necessary so we can get rid of this horrible situation, this horrible disease that was sent to us by china and it should not have been sent. They should have stopped it and could have stopped it and they didnt and the entire world has gotten infected and a lot of countries are going through a lot right now. This morning i spoke with president putin of russia, and they are going through a very hard time with this in moscow in particular. And i spoke with the crown prince, and they are going through a lot. This could have been stopped. It could have been stopped quickly and easily, but for some reason it wasnt. Well figure out what that reason was. So with that, if you have any questions, please. Were you simply not convinced to keep people safe at the convention . I just felt it was wrong, steve, to have people going to what turned out to be a hot spot. When we chose it it was not at all hot, and all of a sudden it happened quickly. It happens quickly, and it goes away and it goes away quickly. The key is we want it to go away without a lot of death, without a lot of problems. Were learning so much about the disease. Thats why were very cognizant of nursing home and watching them very carefully and people over a certain age, and especially people over a certain age with diabetes or Heart Disease in particular, so we didnt want to take any chances. We had a lot of people. We had the delegates that wanted to be there. We will do a fairly reasonably quick in North Carolina. The nomination will be produced. Then we will announce what we are doing and how we are doing it, whether its something that is done online, i guess, you can call it online. So there could be nothing like our last convention, unfortunately. That was a Great Convention and a great place, as you know. We had a great time. A great time in cleveland. But its a different world and it will be for a little while and we want to get the world back to what it was, and i think we will have that, including great job numbers, including so many things happening so positive. I have to say the stock market is close to records, the nasdaq, it is a record, it already exceeded its highest numbers. We want to get our country back to what it was. The acceptance speech, would it come from the white house . We have not set that yet, steve. We will probably announce that over the next few days. Do you think it might dampen the enthusiasm for you . We have done a great job. We have built the greatest economy in the world, nobody close, not china, not everybody. We had to close it and saved millions of lives and then we reopened it, and we have the best history for black americans, and asian, and young people without a diploma, with a diploma, women doing incredibly, never been a time like that. We had to turn it off because of what china did. We had to turn it off and then all of a sudden now were turning it back on and were doing very well. Speaking about china, the trade deal means less to me now than when i made it, when i made it, it was a great deal. They are setting records. Yesterday because a record corn day, purchased more corn than ever and that went on for a couple days, and soybeans and all, and it means much less to me. Can you understand that . Means less to me. Go ahead. What was one day that changed your mind about the convention . Did florida officials ask you to cancel it . No, but we are dealing with them. I would say just safety. I could say the media saying, this is unsafe and i dont want to be in that position. Its safety, not because of the media, but thats what they would say. Well have a nice something, and well figure it out. It will be online in some form. Maybe it will be even something a little different. We have time, you know, were talking about the end of august. I think it will be something that will be exciting. There can be nothing like having 25,000 people. We had a tremendous thing planned, a tremendous convention planned in North Carolina and it would have been very good, but a much smaller version in florida, and then we saw what was happening pretty quickly. We saw the virus was coming up that coast. The severity of the situation in florida no, i think its going to come and go. It will. You take a look at some of these locations where were heavily infected, to a point where debra and i were talking, you know, when you look at what happened in new york, and what happened in new jersey and other places, and now you are looking and its its gone. I hope it stays gone. I think it will. We had to be we have to be vigilant and careful. We also have to set an example. I think setting the example is very important. Its hard for us to say were going to have a lot of people packed in a room and then other people shouldnt do it. Dont forget, were talking about schools and we want them to be vigilant, and were saying open, then were saying here you have a big room i also, if you notice, i said where bars are crowded, other things are crowded. Theres nothing more crowded than a convention. A convention, youve seen them. Even though you try and keep people away from each other, its not that kind of a thing, they probably cant do that, it doesnt work for them. Its very hard. I think were setting an example by doing it, its very important. Mr. President , to come back to school openings, the Money Congress is looking at to help schools who want to reopen. If a school wants to reopen but its concerned about testing, would you consider directing some of that money toward testing for either a School District yeah. Or for individual schools if thats what it took to open the schools . Yeah, i think so. A lot of people feel differently about testing. We talk about it a lot. When we have 50 million tests plus, and we broke the 50 million test mark. Second in the world is india, which has 1. 4 billion people, and they had 12 million tests. And other countries that are very big had 2 million tests. And some countries essentially only test if youre sick and walk into a hospital, walk into a doctors office, youre literally really sick. They essentially dont do tests unless youre sick. And i understand that too. So yeah, if they feel that thats what they want, that would be fine. Would you tell congress, encourage congress to pay for testing for schools . I would if they want. Again, weve done 50 million tests. Theres nobody even close in the whole world. You look at our mortality rate, our death rate, you look at different statistics. Were doing very well. But one death is too many. This should never have happened. This should never have been allowed to happen. From china. So Mitch Mcconnells office just put out a statement a moment ago about the phase 4 relief package, c. A. R. E. S. 2, saying its tailored precisely for this phase of the crisis, yet it does not include your payroll tax cut. Id like to see a payroll tax cut. I think its great for the workers. The democrats would never have gone for it, they dont want it, theyre not big into the workers, i guess. I told the republicans, who have been working very hard on this, they want whats right for the country. Hopefully the democrats ultimately will. I said, i think a payroll tax would be good, but youre not going to get from it the democrats. We need their votes, as you know. We have a majority but its not enough that we i guess thats why we have an election coming up. So you still need democrat votes and were not going to get the democrat votes on that. So id like to see it. I think it would be very good for the workers. But if were not going to get their votes, i guess we have to go on to the next thing. A payroll tax cut would have been very good. And maybe something happens. Yes, please. You talk about setting an example on jacksonville. But i guess what some people are going to take away from this, the lesson, youre pushing too far, too fast. It seemed for a while the numbers were going up in jacksonville and you were going to have a problem there. This comes up at a time youre pushing for schools to reopen. The opening of the Major League Baseball season. Isnt the example of jacksonville that were pushing too fast . Baseball is an example, we were discussing it a little while ago. Youre going to be at an empty stadium. Randy levines a great friend from the yankees. He asked me to throw out the first pitch, and i think im doing that august 15th at yankee stadium. And i say, hows the crowd going to be . You know. Its like, you dont have a crowd, there is no such thing. Its going to be interesting, mariano, hes not used to that. Ive been at many games, he walks in, the place goes crazy. I think it would be just as good without the crowd. Youre born with it, some people are born with it. I dont know. This is only for the baseball players. Ive never seen a pitcher throw a ball where so many bats were broken as mature yoen know. Hes got the alltime record. I said, how do you do that . He said, parents. Great parents, when you get right down to it. Its called parents. The question yeah, just to finish, i think we have to all set examples. I think Major League Baseball is setting an example by playing to empty stadiums, so are other sports. You see that. Then theyll allow a certain number in. I see golf is now soon will be allowing people to come in, percentages. All of a sudden we want to get back to normal. The key is to get back to normal. Nobody wants to see this. But i think its really good that baseballs opening. It looks like footballs opening. It looks like sports are opening. We have its a tremendous thing psychologically for our country. And were all with it. Were going to see right now some beautiful young little leaguers outside with a great future ahead of them. Theyre already practicing on the front lawn of the white house. And were going to go out and say hello to them, and it will be really great. Okay, how about one more . Yeah, please, go ahead. President trump, the Washington Post earlier today reported that one thing about the gop coronavirus bill, is the white house asking that it includes language regarding the fbi building in downtown washington, d. C. . Is that true . I dont know that theyre putting it in this bill. But i know they want to have a new fbi building. This one is very old. It really was never built to a very high standard, as you probably have heard, its got a lot of danger involved. Panels falling off the outside. Pieces of concrete falling off the building. And they want to build it at the site that they have it. They had options very far away from washington. And i said to them, frankly, you have to be near the justice department. Theres Nothing Better than the site. The site they have now is better. But they were looking at sites in maryland and virginia and different places. But they would have been too far away. So i have been encouraging them to build it. If youre going to you have a choice. You can ren vase the existing building, but its not a good building, or you could take it down and build a great building for the fbi for 100 years and have it be incredible, even with tracks on top theyre talking about, you know. We have fbi people like to work out a lot and you could have literally quartermile tracks on top. Its a very big site, very wide site. So i think the idea, the best idea would be to build a new building, and that way you have it for a long time. Renovation can never be as good as a new building. I know theyre talking about it. Whether or not they put it in this bill or someplace else. But the fbi needs a new building, and well get it done. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. So the president making some important news. First announcing that he was canceling the Republican National convention in jacksonville, florida, at the end of august. He simply said, its time to cancel for safety reasons, the timing is not right. Theres a flareup going on in florida, as a result, there wont be a convention, a republican president ial convention in jacksonville. There will be a little preliminary meeting in North Carolina. Charlotte, North Carolina, formally announce hes the nominee. But its not going to be a big deal, it will be online, he said, there may be tele rallies. The republican proposal will include 105 billion for schools, money that will be needed to reopen schools. He wants all these schools to open. He did say if there are some cities and states that are hot spots, they may need to delay for a few weeks, but he said if they delay too long, he said, some of that money is not going to go to the local School Districts, its going to go to the families, the parents, if they have to move their kids to other private or parochial schools in the process. Jim acostas been listening very carefully. Some significant news there. I think a lot of us were surprised that he announced that the Republican Convention in jacksonville is now going to be history, its not going to happen. Thats right, wolf. I think this was in part a fullscale retreat on the part of the president when it comes to this coronavirus pandemic. You know, he is the one that wanted to have this part of the convention in jacksonville because officials in North Carolina would not bend to his demands for a big, splashy nomination event. Hes the one that wanted to put it down there, and now because he has to acknowledge the reality of the situation i was talking to a trump adviser a few moments ago about this. They could not have a nominating speech in jacksonville in a football stadium or amphitheater, wherever, packed with senior citizens, and expect to not have an explosion of cases of the coronavirus. And so the president had to bend to the reality there of the situation down in florida as that state is dealing with a very serious situation when it comes to the coronavirus. But wolf, it sets up a very i think important question for the president. How is it that he is okay with canceling a convention in jacksonville because of concerns with the coronavirus, but yet its okay for him to push schools to reopen around the country . He is still demanding that schools by and large reopen across the u. S. He was talking about how children can withstand the virus, how they have stronger immune systems, so on, disregarding, once again, as weve recounted, time and again, the threat that is posed by children spreading the virus to their teachers and their loved ones at home when they come home from school, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, so on. The president is not dealing with that reality. Hes okay with canceling a convention in jacksonville because of health concerns, yet he wants to push schools to reopen. He did say hes hope tag money will be used as a carrot for schools so they can use some of these funds to put safety precautions in place. But theres very little time for a lot of School Districts around the country to do that. So wolf, there was a point during this briefing as the president was opening up and announcing this news about the convention down in jacksonville where he sounded like hes coming to the reality of the situation that this pandemic is getting out of control in this country, but yet if he had been more serious about the virus months ago, this situation could be in better shape than where it is right now. He might even be able to have his nominating speech in jacksonville or have a normal convention down in charlotte had he taken this seriously all along. And so the president is finding himself to be a victim of his own leadership, his own lack of leadership, throughout this pandemic. And the chickens are coming home to roost for this pr