P. M. In the east. Here are the facts as we though them this hour. New White House Press secretary kaly kaly mcKayleigh Mcenany will brief the press. It is First Press Conference in over a year. That was in march of 2019. Southwest and alaska are the latest Major Airlines to require facial coverings for all passengers. The countrys largest airlines, delta, american, and united are also mandating masks. Experts expect the industry will lose more than 300 billion this year. Today is the last day of operations for the temporary Field Hospital in manhattans aft javits center. It was created to ease a burden on the hospital system. And the u. S. Ns comfort left new york city yesterday. And in aint view with cnbc today, the National EconomicCouncil Director did not rule out the possibility that the president or others believe that covid19 may have been intentionally leased by kline. Does the president or the Administration Believe that somehow the chinese engineered the release of this virus to either derail his reelection or weasel out of phase one or both . Carl, there are a lot of theories around, a lot of discussions around president has his views on this. Those views are being developed with the help of our intelligence people and others so i dont want to go too far down that road. It will be up to the president to make final decisions here. And joining me as well this hour my coanchor katy tur. There are two campaigns in 2020. I do think we ought to separate them out. We have the campaign between biden and trump and all that that is going to take place. There is a Global Campaign essentially for what i would call virus supremacy between china and the United States. And some of this is for domestic purposes, obviously. A lot of the china bashing and rumor mongering. But some is for the international appetite, if you will, which is as basically the United States wants to push back on any good will china is trying to attain around the world when it comes to whether its ppe or things like that. They want china to have to own the virus. This was on them whether an accident or not that, this is on them. So some of this is about a global sort of diplomacy campaign that is happening. The two campaigns though will diverge into one and already doing so when you talk about politics leading up to the 2020 election, to november. I havent seen the intel so i couldnt tell one way or another. I can tell you that politically speaking, blaming china for this and accusing them or having it, like, felt that they are somehow responsible for releasing this on the world lines up politically with what the president and his team have been trying to do. Saying that he is protecting the United States from china. Hes shut down the flights from china. And that he was the one who acted decisively. So politically speaking, theyre going to merge into one going into november. Chuck, in case you didnt know, i think its always good to have a reminder, today is friday. It is also may 1st. And it is also International Workers day known as may day. In a show of worker solidarity, employees at some of the countrys largest retailers including amazon, target, walmart and whole foods are calling out sick today to protest what they call unacceptable working conditions. A group of organizers at target tell nbc news they want Stronger Health benefits if they are going to keep working through a pandemic. Joining us now is nbcs jo kent. She is outside where one protest is set to begin in los angeles. So may day is always a big day for protests. This year, a lot different than in years past. Thats right. The retail pro sest is happening across the country right now. The companies have responded including amazon and target. Theyve all highlighted the fact that the numbers of people actually doing a sickout are walking out on the retail jobs is relatively small. The companies are taking may measures. Theyre certainly happening at the same time. For example, whole foods now going to be providing protective equipment and masks for its workers. Near los angeles, were waiting for a major caravan of cars to come down here. As much as the retailers are benefitting from this big insurge ens of demand for the stuff we need, the toilet paper, you also have people who cant afford rent. You have 30 Million People that have filed for jobless claims. Theyre expecting a caravan of cars to come down here. Youre very familiar. This is Los Angeles City hall. Theyre asking for rent and mortgage payments to be canceled until the end of may. They say they cant pay because of covid19. The governor already put a restriction on evictions. Landlords cannot actually evict tenants right now for a twomonth period. However, that period is going to come to a close. And if you are a landlord, you are still able to start the paperwork for an eviction. You have major pushback across the country not just here in l. A. But around the country for this rent strike. The idea is that because of the economic fallout, this emergency that were in, a lot of people are not able to make their rent. They want a break. Some say we work very hard to pay the rent every single month. We dont have jobs. Why are Small Businesses and big businesses getting help and we the individuals are not . Thats the argument. If you cancel rent, youre going to have to cancel mortgages. A lot of landlords wont be able to pay the mortgage without that rent. Thank you very much. Chuck, over to you. Thank you, katy. Now to germany, a company praising for a potential second wave of covid19. The infection rate ticked up after it started loosening the lockdown. That is not surprising. The question is, it too much . Joining me from berlin is carl mazzman. Carl . Yeah. Thats right. Germany, we know has been one of the countries thats been successful in flattening the curve. Already starting to lift some of the lockdown restrictions. There is a statistic that is looked at very closely in germany. Its no the really on the radar in the United States. Its something called the reproduction number. This is basically a simple measurement that tells you how many other people, one sick person can infect. Now in germany, early in the week this number ticked up to one, anything above one, chuck, is considered dangerous. That means the virus is starting to spread rapidly once again. This gave the country a bit of a shock, you might say. The Public Health officials here, they immediately warned citizens to voluntarily at least stay inside as much as possible. And this is something that the made International News as well. We herd press conferences and cuomo mentioning this and even the uk. That number since ticked down. But were not seeing the government or chancellor rushing in to loosening any more restrictions. In fact, she met with state leaders yesterday and announcing a few baby steps, a few more restrictions lifted. But really keeping most everything in place. And that is despite the economy here really beginning to hurt. Germany is in the midst of the worst recession since world war ii. A third of the businesses are in dafrpg or fearing they may have to go out of business if these restrictions remain in place for another three months or so. But really what you see here is the government listening to the statistics in terms of how and when they want to lift these lockdown measures. Okay. Carl, thank you. One thing is unique about germany is that their chancellor is a trained scientists. She has been giving very scientifically data driven briefings. Katy, i believe we have the twominute warning or under the twominute warning for the first press briefing of a new era. Also starting relatively on time which will be a new thing for the press briefings. A year and a half ago, we would constantly be interrupted by white house briefings, sean spicer and Sarah Huckabee sanders and have to come back and correct the record for a lot of what was said from that podium. Im curious what this is going to what this is going to look like with kaly Kayleigh Mcenany. She was a pro trump commentator during the 2016 election. She left and went to the rnc, then to the Trump Campaign and now the new White House Press secretary. Interestingly the last press secretary who was one of the handlerses for the press on the Trump Campaign held this role, this White House Press secretary role for nine months, never once, never once held a press briefing with reporters. Its interesting. This is the first sort of fingerprint of the new chief of staff, mark meadows. He wants to try to use some of the mort traditional tools of a west wing including this press briefing, including a more a Communications Office that perhaps is more involved in in day to day parts of the west wing. I think ill be curious to see, katy, mark meadows is doing what a lot of the other chiefs of staff attempted to do. You know, get their arms around the communications side of things. Get their arms around the political side of things. And then realizing at the end of the day everything is just goes through one entity and one person and its the person that sits behind the dez in tsk in tl office. Lets see what she says holds up and that the president doesnt end up contradicting her. Good afternoon. I have an announcement for you on hospital funding as appropriated in the third phase of coronavirus relief. The Trump Administration will distribute a total of 12 billion in Provider Relief Fund payments to 395 hospitals across the country that have been hardest hit by the covid19 pandemic. They have collectively cared for over 70 of the patients. 10 billion of the 12 billion will go towards hospitals treating 100 or more covid19 admissions. Hhs is distributing an additional 2 billion to the 395 hospitals in proportion to the amount of care they provide to low income and uninsured patients. This is consistent with our effort to ensure that americans who need federal government assistance the most receive it. Well be releasing a breakdown of the states receiving this funding and the counties receiving this fund brg your awareness, new york, new jersey, and illinois received the most funding by state. New york, new york, bronxes, new york, and cook, illinois, received the most funding by county. Our Health Care Providers as President Trump has repeatedly acknowledged are our heroes as we work to defeat the invisible enemy. This relief funding will help the heroes defeat this virus. In reacting to cares relief, i love what a provider said, he said thank you and god for this relief. I have tears in my eyes out of gratitude for these funds. Thank you, so, so, so much. Additionally 100 flights is part prove jekt air bridge have been completed to date. These flights have expedite nearedly one billion pieces of ppe for the health care heroes. There was 320 billion in additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program which provide forgivable loans to Small Businesses to keep the employees on payroll. This program is successful during first round of ppp loans. Of the 1. 6 million loans provided, one million were given to companies with ten or fewer employees. So it has gone to Small Businesses and businesses that need it most. The ppp, its not just government program. This is supporting every day americans who threw no fault of their own have found themselves in this predigability. We saw this firsthand at the white house on tuesday. On tuesday, President Trump welcomed Small Business owners and employees to the white house. These Small Businesses received ppp loans which helped pay the employees during the pandemic. This tl is a coffee shot not too far from it here. They had to temporarily close the doors but because of ppp loans, they were able to rehire all of its employees. I had the real honor of getting to meet michael hoip, one of the plo employees and he offered words of encouragement to our country. They really touched my heart. I think theyll touch the heart of america if you wouldnt mind playing the remarks. You and President Trump, thank you so much. Thank you, mr. President , for having us. I love my job and im excited about going back to work. We like to use the phrase called not broken. That means me and all my amazing coworkers are not broken. And we have lots to offer. I know the great country of the United States isnt broken either. So on behalf of myself, megan, amy and all the employees, thank you for inviting us over. I gave michael a call yesterday and asked him what he was up to. He said and his fellow employees were literally handwriting notes to put in with their coffee packages. I received one of the notes from another company. It does put a smile on your face. Michael is doing that each and every day. They represent the hope and opportunity that is on the horizon for americas workers as their body, their business eshg rather, and embodies the american spirit. Workers like michael show that this country is not broken. And that we will recover together. Michael, thank you. Youre an american hero. Thank you for sharing that message of hope and with that, ill take questions. If i could, welcome to the podium for first time. Thank you. The markets are down substantially today after the president yesterday suggested in the east room he might use tariffs to punish china over the coronavirus. Is there any serious consideration being given to putting new tariffs on china or was the president just spitballing zbled. I wont get ahead of any announcements from the president. Ill echo the president s displeasure with china. Noes secret that china mishandled this situation. They did not share the genetic sequence until they did on their own the next day. China shut down the lab for recollect fiction. They slee walked information on human to human transmission alongside the World Health Organization and didnt let the u. S. Investigators and n. At a very important time. So we take displeasure with chinas actions. I certainly wont get ahead of the president with those announcements. Is the president seriously considering forcing china to pay some compensation, reparations, whatever word . When it comes to retaliatory measures, i wont get ahead of the president on that. Thank you. Welcome to the podium. Thank you. The president said yesterday that he has a high degree of confidence that the coronavirus originated in a lab in wuhan, china, yet his own intelligence agencies say theyre still investigating. So does the president have information and has he drawn a conclusion that the Intelligence Community has not yet . The president s statement is consistent with the other intelligence assessments. While we continue to have limited and dubious data from china, President Trumps statement is consistent with what some analysts believe is the epicenter wrf the virus began. I would note that intelligence statement youre referring to really made two points. One that this virus originated in china, and, two, it began through contact with infected animals or was the result of an accident at a laboratory in wuhan. So i consider that consistent with what the president said. St he has seen intelligence suggesting it could be in the wu had han laboratory. They seem to lean into the idea that this started in a laboratory. Whereas the statement that we saw from the dni said were still investigating those two options that you just laid out. Is the president in any way creating mixed messages by not saying investigate it. Let me remind everyone, intelligence is just an estimate, essentially. Its up to policymakers to decide what to do with that information. The president of the United States, hell make that decision at the right time. Is the president getting close to deciding what to do about china . Is he receiving any recommendations of the consequences . Is he anywhere near a decision . Again, i wont get ahead of the president s decision or timing of the decision. He takes this very seriously. The decisions of china that i referenced slow walking some of that information put american livers at risk. And rest assured, this president has one priority and that is the safety and wellbeing of american lives. Thank you so much. Welcome. Its been more than 100 days since the press secretary stood there, we want to get a better sense of what your plan is. You are planning on doing these for a daily basis and will you pledge never to lie. I will never lie to you. As for the timing of the briefings, we do plan to do them. I will announce timing of that forthcoming. But we do plan to continue these. Welcome to the podium. Thank you. Question for you on project warp speed. Can you give us some more details of the president said ultimately hes in charge of the project. But will there be a day to day point person on this . What is the budget for this project . And when can the American People realistically expect there will be a vaccine available . Well, there is day to day point person. That is the president of the United States. President trump and with regard to vaccines, i would note the words of dr. Fauci which are these, going into a phase one trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionable. The world and or record, nothing has ever gon