Donald Trump Coronavirus Briefing Transcript on Protection for Seniors April 30

Donald Trump: (01:26)
Well, thank you very much. Please. This afternoon, I’ll sign a proclamation declaring the month of May to be Older Americans Month. I don’t know if I’m in that category. I have a feeling I am, but I feel good and our country is making a lot of progress, Alex, I will tell you that. Making a lot of progress. As we honor the incredible contributions of our nation’s seniors, we’re here today to discuss the unprecedented steps that we’re taking to protect our seniors from the virus. I’ll also announce vital new actions to safeguard our nursing homes and most vulnerable citizens as we gradually and safely reopen our country and it’s very exciting to see what’s happening. We’re joined today by Secretary Alex Azar, thank you. Secretary Robert Wilkie. Robert, thank you very much. Administrator Seema Verma, thank you, great job. FEMA administrator, Pete Gaynor and Chief of national guard, bureau general Joseph Lengyel.

Thanks also to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, my friend. Thank you very much, Bill. Great job you’re doing. It’s great being with you too. And many outstanding advocates for America seniors who are here with us today, thank you all very much. As we tragically have seen, the virus poses the greatest risk to older Americans. Together as one nation, we mourn for every precious life that has been lost and there have been many. We’re so saddened by it. Through our aggressive actions and the devotion of our doctors and nurses, however, we have held our fatality rate far below hard hit other countries such as Spain and Italy and United Kingdom and Sweden. We’re way below other countries. We’re deploying every tool, resource and power at our disposal to protect our seniors and Americans of every age and background. Early on, we implemented life saving travel restrictions and directed billions of dollars toward the development of therapies and vaccines and that’s moving along rapidly.

We’ve moved at a speed that people are absolutely stunned to see. We accelerated treatments including remdesivir, which is reportedly showing encouraging preliminary results. That was the very big story yesterday, it was announced by Gilead. In early March, my administration advised all nursing homes to suspend all medically unnecessary visits to help slow the spread and to protect our seniors, and especially in our nursing homes they are having a hard time in those nursing homes. We took action to step up enforcement of infectious disease standards at nursing homes all across America. We also acted swiftly to secure our veterans’ healthcare facilities and deployed hundreds of VA staff to help out in nursing homes nationwide, and we’re being helped very greatly by the passage of all of the things that we got passed, Robert. Especially choice, so that people can go and see their doctor when they have to, and especially our seniors.

We provided nearly $1 billion in grants to support home delivered meals, in home care and other services that make it impossible for older people to just do what they want to do. We’re helping older people with disabilities and we’re helping them to live independently. We dramatically expanded access to telehealth, a very big deal for Medicare beneficiaries. The number of Medicare patients using telehealth has increased from roughly 11,000 a week to more than 650,000 people a week. So, that’s from 11,000 a week to 650,000, that’s almost an impossible number to believe, right? But it’s really something. They get used to it and a lot of that’s going to be staying with us long after this horrible scourge is gone. Medicare is also paying for labs to seniors with at home testing when appropriate at zero cost to patients. We’ve ensured a ventilator for every patient who needs one.

Nobody who’s needed a ventilator has been without a ventilator. It’s an incredible achievement and we now have thousands and thousands of ventilators and other countries are asking us to help and we’re helping other countries. Allies and some that aren’t necessarily allies, but they’re in big trouble and we’re helping other countries now with ventilators. Same thing with masks, we have millions and millions of masks. That was something four weeks ago was difficult and now we have millions of masks coming in and already here. The federal government is also funding over 35,000 members of the national guard to help states deliver critical supplies to nursing homes and to assist with disinfecting and testing. I’d like to ask general Lengyel to please come up and say a few words about the work of the national guard. It’s been really fantastic. Thank you. General, please.

Joseph Lengyel: (07:08)
Thank you, Mr. president and good afternoon everyone. I’m very proud of the national guard and all they are doing to help keep our nation safe here at home and abroad. Today, over 83,000 men and women in the national guard are engaged at home and abroad, and 45,000 of those are engaged directly in the COVID-19 response. From running hundreds of testing sites around the country to screening passengers at airports to helping manufacture PPE to a myriad of other tasks, the national guard is there. We know this virus doesn’t treat everyone equally and our senior citizens are at increased risk. In many states, governors have directed national guard members to help sanitize longterm care facilities, nursing homes, giving older citizens and families and caregivers peace of mind that their environments are safe. The Georgia national guard, for instance, has done this, has sanitized over 700 nursing homes and this has been replicated at many places around the nation and continues to grow.

Additionally, food banks and homeless shelters. In normal times, these are often staffed by our volunteers. Many of them are elderly senior citizens here in America. Now, volunteering puts those great Americans at increased risk, so the national guard is helping these Americans stay clear of this risk. In doing that, the national guard is staffing many food banks across the nation where the need for food assistance is increasing across the nation as this virus continues to persist. The national guard is a big part of the United States Army and our United States Air Force, and we’re proud of that. But this role that we play here at home in the homeland, under the command of the governors and our states is distinctly and uniquely national guard business, and we’re very proud of that. So, Mr. president. Thank you for the support that you give our military and the national guard and all the men and women who serve. They are proud to serve our nation. Thank you for letting me talk about the guard today. Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much, sir. That’s great. Four stars, that’s a lot of stars. Very impressive.

[inaudible 00:09:11].

That’s right, but that’s okay. That’s very impressive. You deserve them. I do want to say, you mentioned the word governor, and we’ve had a lot of great success and relationship with the governors. We’ve dealt with our governors very well. We have really, I think, got to understand each other and know each other and in many cases, really like each other. And that’s worked out very well. We had Phil Murphy here from New Jersey, governor of New Jersey today. Wonderful man. A lot of progress is being made there. And we had John Bel Edwards and yesterday from Louisiana and Ron DeSantis the day before from Florida. Just tremendous progress. Three very exceptional men and they’re doing a really good job as you know. So, and we have others coming in. They’ll come in one or two a day and we’re seeing them in whatever we can help them with, we help them with and we help them with where very quickly, general, right? So, it’s been very good. My administration is doing everything possible to support the state led management of nursing homes, and here today is a governor who I happen to like a lot and he’s done a fantastic job in a fantastic state. A state that I happen to like a lot, it’s called Tennessee. For some reason they like me, I haven’t figured that out, but they like me in Tennessee. So, that’s good, Bill. Please come up, governor Bill Lee, please.

Bill Lee: (10:40)
Thank you, sir. Thank you very much, Mr. president and thank you to your team, many in this room that we have worked with. You are guiding America through a tremendous crisis and you’re doing it incredibly well and America’s very grateful for that. And we are grateful in Tennessee for the partnership between the federal government and states like ours. As we work to make our contribution to fighting COVID-19, we can do so because of the work that you’re doing and the way that you’re supporting what we’re doing. So, Mr. president, you’ve asked states to commit to a goal of testing 2% of their population. In April, 2% of Tennesseeans were tested. And we have tested over 175,000 to date, but as we look to May, to build upon that, we’re actually strengthening our commitment particularly to the elderly, the most vulnerable of our citizens, especially those in nursing homes.

Bill Lee: (11:46)
Scripture describes being hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, and that’s where we are in Tennessee. I think that’s where we are in a nation, but the elderly are most hard-pressed in this setting, and especially those in longterm care facilities, and they need our help. So, in Tennessee, we’re committed to testing every resident and every staff in every one of our 700 longterm care facilities. It’ll be a great undertaking, but it honors the value of these lives in those facilities. Lives that have protected our country in the hardest of times, the greatest generation. And those that have a loving legacy of being our neighbors, our friends and our grandparents. And it’s time for us to protect them, and we should do so by pursuing social distancing, for example, in every way that we can with them.

Bill Lee: (12:45)
And the distance is sometimes a great gulf. I haven’t hugged my own elderly mom in eight weeks, but we’re doing right by these citizens and you’re doing the right by committing to these citizens to make certain that we do our personal part to make sure that they’re safe, and while valuing our freedoms all at the same time. So, while I think as a country we may be hard pressed on many sides, we are not crushed. And we are grateful for your leadership and for this team’s leadership and particularly your commitment to the most vulnerable in our nation, and together we will get through this. Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, Bill. Thank you very much, Bill. Great governor, by the way. As we take steps to safely reopen our country, we must remain especially vigilant in sheltering the most vulnerable older Americans. To that end today, I have several important announcements. First, in addition to all of the supplies we’ve already distributed, FEMA will send supplemental shipments, and I have to tell you, Pete, what a job you’ve done. Everybody at the last goal, so many of the governors said, “I want to thank him for calling you,” he called on Easter morning and he’s calling them all the time, and you call them on Sundays and you call them all the time. And I tell you, they really appreciate it, they really do. You’ve done a fantastic job, Pete Gaynor from FEMA, but FEMA will send supplemental shipments of personal protective equipment to all 15,400 Medicaid and Medicare certified nursing homes in America. Right, Pete?

Second, CMS is providing states with $81 million from the CARES Act to increase their inspections of nursing homes at this very critical time. We have to do that and say. That’s a spot that we have to take care of, I guess you could call it a little bit of a weak spot because things are happening at the nursing homes and we’re not happy about that. We don’t want it to happen, so we’re checking that out very carefully and very methodically. Third, this week we’ll be finalizing a new rule requiring information about coronavirus cases in nursing homes to be reported directly to CDC and testing data to be posted online so everyone gets to see it. This will also requires nursing homes to report cases to residents and their family members. And finally, to ensure that our nursing homes are prepared for any future outbreaks, we’re announcing the Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes.

This commission will be composed of leading industry experts, doctors and scientists, resident and patient advocates, family members, infection and prevention control specialist and state and local authorities. It’s a big deal. The commissioner will convene in May and issue recommendations, the furthest steps we can take to protect our nation seniors. My administration will never waiver in it’s relentless commitment to America’s seniors. We owe them a sacred and unbreakable obligation and we will fulfill that obligation with every resource and power that we have. We are working very hard with our seniors and we’re working very hard with our nursing homes and great progress is being made and will be made, that I can promise you. That’s also why we are strongly protecting Medicare and social security. We will protect your social security, we will protect your Medicare, we will protect you as American citizens and that goes even beyond seniors. We’re protecting this country.

Our cherished seniors enrich every aspect of our national life. These great citizens have dedicated their entire lives to our families and our communities and our countries. Our country could not be anything near where it is without our incredible seniors. We’ll show them the same love and loyalty they’ve shown us and they’ve shown our nation every day of their lives. No effort will be spared to give America’s seniors the care and support and devotion and love they have earned and that they deserve. In a few moments, I’ll sign a proclamation designing a very special… We’ve designed a very special plan and it’s going to designate Older American Month. So, this is Older Americans Month, but first I’d like to ask secretary Azar, secretary Wilkie, administrator Verma, administrator Gaynor to share what their department and agencies are doing to help our nation’s seniors. So, just come on up and maybe you could say a few words and you’ve made a lot of progress. So, Alex, why don’t you start?

Alex Azar: (17:45)
Well, thank you Mr. president for your leadership during this pandemic and for the work that you’ve done throughout your administration to protect older Americans. I’d also like to thank the older Americans and advocates we have here today, including those working hard at the state and local level. As the president described, during this pandemic we have taken every possible effort to keep older Americans healthy and safe. In addition to our public health and healthcare efforts, president Trump has secured historic investments in programs that support older Americans and help them live independently. Over the past month, HHS has dispersed more than $1 billion in grants to aging and disability networks, which are state and local agencies, like a council on aging that provides services for seniors living in the community. This is more than a 40% increase in the annual support that we provide to these critical organizations. Services that we support, they include delivered meals like my grandmother used to get from Meals on Wheels, help with trips to the grocery store or the doctor, and assistance with chores in the home. Back in March, we put out $250 million in grants, specifically for meals, including through Meals on Wheels. We’ve been pleased to see communities get creative-

Alex Azar: (19:03)
Through meals on wheels. We’ve been pleased to see communities get creative with these funds. Some States are ensuring not only that the meals are getting to seniors, but that the meals are coming from local restaurants whose businesses are struggling. It’s not just about meals and services. We also recognize that older Americans may be facing mental health challenges and feeling isolated. Florida’s aging network, for instance, is combating social isolation by providing electronic tablets to nursing home residents to help them communicate with loved ones.

Alex Azar: (19:32)
We’re also working to protect the rights of older Americans in accessing healthcare. Our Office for Civil Rights has been taking action to ensure that States and healthcare providers do not discriminate on the basis of disability or age in the allocation of medical care. We’ve already had two States remove such discriminatory policies from their triaging guidelines as a result of our office for civil rights work.

Alex Azar: (19:55)
Finally, as the President and others mentioned, we’ve worked closely with states to ensure that they can test especially vulnerable populations like those living in nursing homes and those who care for them. This work to protect seniors and empower them will continue throughout the pandemic as we reopen our country and keep America’s seniors as healthy and as independent as possible. Thank you all for what you do in this effort.

Robert Wilkie: (20:29)
Mr. President, thank you. And thank you for everything you have done to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of the Nation’s, nine and a half million veterans. 75 years ago, the men of the 28th Marine Regiment raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi. No event better evoked the sacrifices and the trials of the 15 million Americans who put on the uniform during World War II. A few years after Iwo Jima, the soldiers of the United States Eighth Army defended the Pusan Perimeter, and Marines fought through and out of the chosen reservoir.

Veterans of those terrible times are still with us today. Early on in this crisis, President Trump gave me very explicit orders to do everything possible to protect the lives of those precious Americans. The Department of Veterans Affairs has 134 nursing homes. But more than half of the residents in those nursing homes fought in wars with battles with names like Guadalcanal, and The Bulge, and In’chon.

Of the 78,000 residents in our nursing homes, we have tested all of them for the Coronavirus. We have tested all of our staff in those nursing homes. Our infection rate is low. Many of our homes have few, if any, positive cases. But still, as the President noted, we had to make a very tough decision early on. After all of these veterans had gone through so much on the battlefield, we had to tell them at this stage in their lives that we were depriving them of the sustenance of their families and friends because we had to protect their lives.

Because of the President’s directions to me, we have been able to contain the virus in our nursing homes. And now, we are taking those lessons that we’ve learned from VA across the country to protect patients across America. We are the federal experts in gerontology. We are helping 38 States and territories handle the surge of patients dealing with this virus, with our partners, our great partners at FEMA, and even by direct action through the governors.

Aiding America’s elderly is central to all of our efforts. We deployed VA staff, as the President noted, to veterans nursing homes owned and operated by the individual States. Early on Governors Charlie Baker and Phil Murphy moved to protect their veterans and they asked us for help. In addition to Massachusetts and New Jersey, we were helping in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee.

In California, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas we have taken in non-veteran nursing home patients and state veterans nursing home patients into our VA facilities. We are helping elderly Americans wherever we find them.

Mr. President, you should be very proud of this VA that you have helped build. Thousands of VA employees have lept into harm’s way. VA leaders like Joan McInerney and Martina Parauda, in your hometown. Ryan Little in Boston, Rima Nelson in Detroit, Vicky Braun in Illinois and Wisconsin. Fernando Rivera and Skye McDougall in New Orleans, and Miguel Lapuz in Florida. All of them have put service before self to protect the most vulnerable and deserving. These are the folks who made America strong and free. Thank you, very much. Thanks.

Seema Verma: (24:39)
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for your commitment to the nation’s seniors and to the Medicare program. You’ve been very clear with me since day one that you wanted to protect and strengthen the Medicare program. And under your leadership, our Medicare Advantage program is seeing premiums aa a thirteen year low, and in our part D program it’s a seven year low.

But, today I want to focus on nursing homes. In the scheme of life decisions, placing a loved one in a nursing home has to be one of the most difficult decisions. When you make that decision, you want to know that you can stay connected with your loved one, and that they’re going to be safe and have the best quality of life. That’s why the decision to restrict visitation in nursing homes was a heartbreaking decision. And our thoughts and prayers are with the families and the patients during this very uncertain time.

But the tragic reality is that the Coronavirus seemed almost tailor-made to put major pressure on nursing homes. Countries across the world have struggled with their nursing home populations. But the President’s early action around nursing homes has saved countless lives. Even before the Coronavirus, we have been working on a strategy to improve quality in nursing homes. The strategy focused on quality, oversight, enforcement, and transparency for patients and their families. So they understand exactly what’s going on in nursing homes, about the conditions there. And reducing regulatory burdens so that nursing home providers can focus on providing care to their patients instead of paperwork.

We’ve overhauled the entire survey system and implemented a common tool across the entire nation to ensure that our inspectors were being consistent, objective. And that’s actually resulted in an increase in the number of fines. We’ve updated our websites so that patients and their families have the latest information on the quality in a nursing home, and making it very clear when nursing homes have had significant cases of abuse and neglect.

Those improvements that we’ve made, made it possible when the Coronavirus hit for us to take very rapid action on several fronts. We un-launched an unprecedented transparency effort. And that requires nursing homes to inform patients and families when there’s an outbreak in the nursing home. And to also report that information directly to the CDC. That’s going to be important to our efforts around surveillance, going forward, as we reopen the country.

Also, we increased reimbursement for labs so that they could do more testing in the nursing home. That’s going to be very critical, as I said before, to our monitoring and surveillance efforts. Also, starting in February, we issued a series of nine guidance documents specific to Coronavirus in controlling infections in nursing homes. And, just for some perspective, normally these types of guidance documents can take months, sometimes years. But the CMS team work days, and nights, and weekends to make sure we got this information in the hands of our nursing homes to do everything that we could to protect our vulnerable seniors. We also host weekly calls with the nursing homes to help them implement our guidance.

But federal action is just one part of the piece. States ultimately license nursing homes. That’s why we’ve been working with states to investigate outbreaks that have been going on, and inspect nursing homes. Our guidance has called upon state and local leaders to support nursing homes in their efforts to control the coronavirus outbreaks. And I commend Governor Lee, and governors across the nation that have implemented our guidance. Whether it’s cleaning their facilities, testing, and creating new Covid facilities. That helps isolate patients that are sick, and keeps other patients safe. This work has been critical to keeping nursing home residents safe.

I’m pleased to announce that we are putting out new state grants to support state and local efforts to nursing homes. The President has been an advocate of this, he has asked for increased funding to inspect nursing homes every year in his budget. But this is the first time that Congress has provided this funding. And the money couldn’t come at a more critical time when it’ll be important to work with our state partners to ensure safety in our nursing homes.

But, the President has directed us to do more. And so, as part of our Opening Up America efforts, we are going to oversee the Coronavirus Commission for safety and quality in nursing homes. The commission will comprehensively assess the response. It will identify best practices, and also provide recommendations for how we go forward to protect our nursing home residents and make sure we are providing the best quality of life.

In closing, I want to speak directly to our nursing home residents, their caretakers, and their families. Your pain is our pain, and we are doing everything we can to support you. And, to the healthcare workers on the front lines providing care and comfort to our nursing home residents, we thank you. And thank you, Mr. President for your consistent leadership and unwavering support for our elderly citizens. Thank you.

Do you want to tell them that you’re going to have some big news coming up very soon on insulin?

That’s right.

It’s a big deal.

We’re doing everything we can to lower the price of insulin for our seniors, and we’ll have some great announcements coming up very soon to lower the price.

Some big news, great news. Okay, thank you.

Peter Gaynor: (30:46)
Thank you Mr. President, Administrator Verma and members of the Coronavirus Task Force. Let me focus on the logistics in our effort to deliver personal protective equipment care packages to those citizens at highest risk and greatest need, those living in our nursing homes across the country. Thanks to the leadership of the President and the tremendous support of the white house Coronavirus Task Force, FEMA will deliver a care packages containing four items of PPE to more than 15,000 Medicare, Medicaid certified nursing homes nationwide to include the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Guam.

Given the lack of availability of PPE necessary for healthcare workers providing support for nursing homes, we will provide a package, or a kit, containing a seven day supply of eye protection, masks, gowns and gloves to these 15 plus nursing homes. Each kit is individualized for each nursing home based on the level of staffing and the seven days of our supply calculation.

Over the course of the next 60 days, we’ll be providing each of the nursing homes with two separate shipments of seven days of supplies totaling 14 days of supplies by the beginning of July. The first shipment of supplies begins next week. These initial shipments will focus on metropolitan area sites such as New York City, Northern New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The second shipment of supplies begins in early June. The goal is to have all supplies delivered no later than July 4th.

Assisting us in this endeavor is Federal Resources, a small business based out of Stevensville, Maryland who specializes in chem bio equipment support with focusing on kitting solutions for the Department of Defense. They will help us distribute the following PPE items: 608,000 pieces of eye protection, 6.9 million surgical masks, 6.4 million gowns, 31.4 million pairs of gloves.

Finally, I again would like to extend my gratitude to the President for his leadership on this project. As well as to thank my fellow members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and their continued partnership. Together we have turned a critical demand for PPE for our seniors and frontline healthcare workers into reality. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Pete, great job. Well, thank you very much. And if you’d like to have some questions, maybe on this, and we might venture into different territory, also, I think. John, please.

John Roberts: (34:34)
Is that an invitation then?

I guess. Not a wise one, but it’s an invitation.

John Roberts: (34:39)
If we could venture straight into other territory. The Vice President said, just a short time ago, he believes that General Michael Flynn may have unintentionally lied to him or misspoken when he talked to him, did not include his meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the United States. Do you believe that General Flynn may have unintentionally misled the Vice President?

Well, I really have to talk to the Vice President. But I’ll tell you what, General Flynn was under enormous pressure and it was an artificial pressure because what they did to General Flynn was a disgrace. It was a total disgrace, it’s shocking. And I hear even more information came out today. What they tried to do to destroy him and to hurt this presidency was… Perhaps in our country’s history, there’s never been anything like it, an absolute disgrace. But I’ll rely on what the Vice President said. I can say this, and I think you understand this John very well, what happened to General Flynn should never happened again to a citizen of this country. Yes, please.

Paula Reid: (35:39)
Mr. President, you said that Michael Flynn would come back even bigger and better. So are you going to pardon him? And if so, are you considering to bring him back into your administration?

Well, it looks to me like Michael Flynn would be exonerated based on everything I’ve seen. I’m not the judge, but I have a different type of power. But I don’t know that anybody would have to use that power. I think he’s exonerated. I’ve never seen anything like it. What they did, what they wrote. You see this General, you wouldn’t want this happening to you, what they did to General Flynn. It’s just a disgraceful, so you know, I guess we’ll get to that maybe someday or maybe not? Hopefully, we won’t have to get there.

Paula Reid: (36:21)
But would you consider bringing him back into your administration?

I think he’s a fine man. I think it’s terrible what they did to him. It’s something that nobody’s asked me, but you’re asking me for the first time. I would certainly consider it. Yeah, I would.

Paula Reid: (36:34)
So you would bring him back?

I think he’s a fine man. I think he’s got a great family. He loves his son. I will tell you his son was around a lot, and he loves his son as people generally do. And they did everything possible to destroy him and he’s still breathing very strongly. But they really hurt him, very badly. Very, very unfair. Kristen?

Kristen Welker: (36:58)
Quick follow… I do have a Coronavirus related question. But, in what capacity would you bring him back? If you were-

Well, we’d look. I mean, I’m not even… This is really the first time I’ve been asked the question. But I think he’ll be fully exonerated one way or the other, and so certainly he’d be capable of coming back. He suffered greatly.

I want to ask you about comments by your son-in-law. One of your top advisors, Jared Kushner, yesterday said that the government’s response has been a quote, “Great success story.” Is that the right tone?

Could you life that up a little bit?

Yeah, no problem. Your son-in-law, one of your top advisors, Jared Kushner, yesterday said the government’s response has been a quote, “Great success story.” Is that the right tone and message at a moment when people are still dying?

He’s saying the facts. I mean, he’s not talking about other things that I talk about in my speech today that I speak about all the time, and that’s death. It’s horrible that what this country has gone through and what the world has gone through, frankly. This is something that could have been contained at the original location, and I think it could have been contained relatively easily. China’s a very sophisticated country and they could have contained it.

China is a very sophisticated country and they could have contained it. They were either unable to or they chose not to and the world has suffered greatly. But what Jared was talking about and what I talk about a lot is no, I don’t think anybody’s done the job that we’ve done other than at public relations because the press just won’t talk about the facts. We had a ventilator problem that was caused by the fact that we weren’t left ventilators by a previous administration. The cupboards were bare, as I say often. And not only are the cupboards full now, we have ventilators. We’re the king in the world of ventilators, we have thousands and thousands of them now being delivered. You were at the news conferences over the last few days. The governors never, they said, “We’ve never had a case where we couldn’t get a ventilator.” And a month and a half ago, people, you, were screaming, “Ventilator, ventilator.”

I’m just looking at the test numbers. We have more tests, we have given more tests, and the high quality tests, than every other country combined. And I say it, the friend of mine, South Korea President Moon called me, they talk about South Korea and they’ve done a really good job. But he said, “What a job you’ve done.” This is a much bigger country, you understand. He said, “What a job you’ve done on testing.” So the testing and the masks and all of the things, we’ve solved every problem, we’ve solved it quickly. But to think that now we’re giving thousands of ventilators to other countries, allies and other than allies, to be honest. But we’re helping other countries where people are dying because we have ventilators and nobody else does to this extent. And it’s a great tribute.

I mean, Deborah, we were talking about that before, Deborah Birx, Dr. Birx has been fantastic. She’s a fantastic person, a fantastic woman. And we talk about the things that we’ve done in a short period of time. I mean, all you heard about was ventilators. That’s a hard thing. We energized factories that didn’t build ventilators. They were building cars and other things. And now we’re building thousands a week and it’s been very spectacular, it’s been really spectacular. So yeah, I don’t think anybody’s done a better job with testing, with ventilators, with all of the things that we’ve done. And our death totals, our numbers per million people are really very, very strong. We’re very proud of the job we’ve done. We had very little to work with because the previous administration left us very little. PLease, go ahead.

Speaker 1: (40:37)
Quick follow up, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President.

Go ahead. Why don’t you go and then you can go?

Speaker 1: (40:40)
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. You signed that executive order this morning dealing with the counter-narcotics operations that you have going on in the western hemisphere right now. Why the need for more man power? And do you think your government is any closer to the goal of having Nicolas Maduro leave office?

Well, I need it and I sign it and we do have executive orders and they help us a lot, and they’ve helped us a very lot here. We also signed things having to do with production. As you know, I’ve used that very, very powerfully, the Act. And oftentimes, I didn’t have to use it, I just had to talk about it. Now I’m only signing when we want something when we need additional manpower or brain power or whatever it is we’re looking for the time. But we, again, we’ve done things that I don’t think anybody else has been able to do what we’ve done. And this is a big country too, is a very big country, as you know. And I’m very proud of the country. I’m very proud of the way they’ve stepped up.

Now things are opening. As an example, Governor Lee is doing a great job in opening up Tennessee and he’s opening it up rapidly and safely. I think he said to me two words, I think, about safe and rapid. And I think safe was the first one you mentioned, in all fairness, but it was safe and rapid. He’s doing it quickly and safely and Tennessee’s a great story. But we have other governors, friends of both of ours that are doing really good job. I will say this, Governor Murphy and Governor Cuomo have a tougher situation because that’s really a hot bed. That’s a very, very dense area. People don’t realize. I think New Jersey, believe it or not, is the single most dense area in the country. Who would think that? But the Governor’s done a terrific job. And Governor Cuomo likewise is working very, very hard and speaking to me all the time. And whenever we can help him, we do. And we’re helping him and he’s helping his state. That’s what he has to do. Thank you.

Speaker 1: (42:36)
How is the operation going though? And do you feel, my second question was, do you feel you’re any closer having Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela-

I think the operation’s doing really well. I think that things are being discovered that you wouldn’t have thought possible. The Abbott machine, Abbott Laboratory is a great, great scientific company. They came up with a machine that, I would say two months ago, nobody ever heard of this machine. And all of a sudden, boom, people come into my office, they get tested. It takes them five minutes and they feel very good. And some of them have never been tested. But these are equipment and tests that nobody ever thought even possible three or four months ago are being used commonly now. I looked at the numbers and we’re over 6 million tests. And you add up everybody together, they don’t have anywhere near that. So it’s an incredible thing.

And it’d be great if the media could really portray it the way it is because we’ve done some unbelievable work. And when somebody uses the word successful, I mean, it really has been successful. It’s been very successful. But if you look at mortality and mortality rates, this country, it’s a very sad thing to be talking about. Whoever thought you’d be talking about such a thing two months ago? All we talked about was the economy, how well it was going. But today, we have to talk about that. Our country has really stepped up. Our generals have stepped up and our admirals have stepped up. By the way, Admiral has done a fantastic job, as you know. And we’re very proud of everybody. This whole room has been very amazing. Okay. Who’s next?

Speaker 2: (44:14)
Mr. President, you have said that China is doing everything they can to make sure you don’t get reelected. What specifically are they doing?

Well, China doesn’t want to see me elected and the reason is that we’re getting billions and billions of dollars, many billions of dollars a month from China. China never gave our country anything. China gave us nothing, not 10 cents. And whether it was Biden in charge of China, which was a joke because they ripped off our country for eight years. And in all fairness to Biden and Obama, this went on long before they got into office. And you can go through many administrations until I came along. Then we signed a trade deal where they’re supposed to buy, and they’ve been buying a lot actually, but that now becomes secondary to what took place with the virus. The virus situation is just not acceptable.

Speaker 2: (45:08)
Do you think that withholding information about the virus is related to them trying to undermine your reelection?

I don’t want to cast any dispersions. I just will tell you that China would like to see sleepy Joe Biden. They would take this country for a ride like you’ve never seen before.

Speaker 3: (45:29)
Mr. President.

Speaker 1: (45:29)
Mr. President.

Speaker 4: (45:30)
Mr. President?

Speaker 5: (45:30)
Mr. President.

Speaker 4: (45:30)
Mr. President.

Speaker 5: (45:31)
Mr. President. Yes.

Go ahead, please.

Speaker 5: (45:33)
Right. With the unemployment numbers coming out today, 30 million now unemployed, have you given any thought to possibly extending the 600 extra dollars in unemployment benefits that are given out now? They will run out and that will run out in July.

They are looking at it and they’re taking a very strong look and we’ll be reporting to you very shortly. I will say this, obviously this is what it is. It’s this period of time. But I think I view the third quarter as a transition quarter and I think you’re going to have a very strong transition and then I think the fourth quarter is going to be incredibly successful. I think next year we’re going to have a phenomenal year economically.

Speaker 6: (46:12)
Mr. President. You keep referring to China, but do you hold President Xi Jinping responsible for misinformation?

Well, I don’t want to say that. I don’t want to say that, but certainly it could have been stopped. It came out of China and it could have been stopped and I wish they stopped it and so does the whole world wish they stopped it. Jim?

Speaker 4: (46:32)
Mr. President.

Say it.

Speaker 4: (46:33)
On unemployment, there are many businesses who are concerned that as America opens back up again because of a provision in the CARES Act that gives an additional $600, they won’t be able to get their employees back because they make more money staying at home than they would if they came back to work, which has caused some governors to suggest that they might strip those people of their unemployment insurance if they refuse to go back to work. Is that something you would support?

Well, we’re looking at a lot of different things. I brought this up before I was done. This was a Democrat point and I said some people are going to be treated unfairly and some people will be treated, they didn’t get into the kind of formulas, the way I saw it. I said exactly that this was going to happen, but when you think about it, it’s basically we’re being generous with people that it’s short term and we’re being very generous with people that lost their jobs or potentially would lose their jobs, so it’s not the biggest problem that I’ve ever heard of. They’re getting a little bit more money. In some cases, they’re getting more money than they thought they would have gotten. A lot of employees are saying now the job is more important because the employer’s not going to forget that but it was something that I brought up at the beginning and nobody wanted to listen. Yeah, please.

Speaker 7: (47:47)
Follow up regarding the Joe Biden, your campaign and surrogates going after him pretty hard with regard to these allegations from Tara Reade, what do you say to Joe Biden-

I don’t think so. I don’t think they’re going after him hard with regard to Tara.

Speaker 7: (47:59)
What do you think of the allegations and what do you say to Joe Biden?

I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know exactly. I think he should respond. It could be false accusations. I know all about false accusations. I’ve been falsely charged numerous times. And there is such a thing. If you look at Brett Kavanaugh, there’s an outstanding man. He was falsely charged. What happened with him was an absolute disgrace to our country. And I guess three of the four women have now admitted that. And of the fourth, give me a break. I mean, take a look. 36 years. Look, this is a fine man. I saw a man suffering so unfairly. I’m talking about Brett Kavanaugh. But I don’t know, I can’t speak for Biden. I can only say that I think he should respond. I think he should answer them.

Speaker 3: (48:59)
Another question on Biden, Mr. President, another question on Biden.

Jordan: (49:00)
Thank you, sir. On China, a moment ago you said that China, it’s possible they could have chosen not to stop the spread of the virus. Are you insinuating they intentionally let it spread-

Well, they could’ve done it. And I’m just saying, well, one of two things happened. They either didn’t do it and they couldn’t do it from a competent standpoint or they let it spread. And I would say probably it was it got out of control. But there’s another case that how come they stopped all the planes and all of the traffic from going into China, but they didn’t stop the planes and the traffic from coming into the United States and from coming into all over Europe? I mean, look at Italy, look what happened to Italy. And it’s very lucky. This country is very lucky and I’m very lucky that I put the ban on China, as you know, very early on. In January, we put the ban on in China and that was a very early day, that wasn’t a late day. That was an early day. Then we later put the ban on in Europe. And if we didn’t do that, as Alex knows, we would have had a problem like you wouldn’t have believed. We would have had a problem much bigger. But then you take a look at what happened to Italy. A lot of those people went to Italy instead and it’s been a very, very tough place, Italy.

Jordan: (50:12)
And then on holding them accountable, is that something that you prefer to do now in the next few weeks-

No, I don’t want to do that. I want to find out what happened. I think we’ll be able to get a very good, very powerful definition of exactly what happened. We’re working on it strongly now and I think it’s going to be very powerful, but they could have stopped it. They are a very brilliant nation, scientifically and otherwise. It got loose, let’s say, and they could have kept it, they could’ve stopped it, but they didn’t. But they stopped planes from going to China, but they didn’t stop them from going to the rest of the world. What was that all about, Jim?

Jim: (50:51)
Just to help us out on this, to follow up on Jordan’s question, you praised China in the past. What’s changed? When you tweeted, “China’s been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The US greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well.” What has changed between then when you were saying those things about China and now?

Well, what’s changed is the following. We did a trade deal and everybody was very happy. There’s nobody ever been tough on China like I’ve been tough on China. I got elected, at least partially, because of borders and military and different things. But one of the things I’d say is how China and other countries are ripping us off. So recently, we signed a trade deal with China, a number of months ago. China is buying billions of dollars worth of our product, our farm product and other product, manufacturing product, and it’s been a great deal. But then we noticed a virus. And it’s not acceptable what happened. It came out of China and it’s not acceptable what happened.

And now what we’re doing, Jim, is we’re finding out how it came out, different forms. You’ve heard all different things. You’ve heard three or four different concepts as to how it came out. We should have the answer to that in the not too distant future. And that will determine a lot how I feel about China. But when I was, of course, I was very rough with China. I mean, Biden, as an example, the previous administration, they let China rip off this country like nobody’s ever ripped off this country. Now, what I did is I took that, I took that … Jim, I took that and I made it into a great deal for our country. But after that, all of a sudden, we heard there’s a virus and a virus is coming in. That changes my mind very greatly. That’s a whole different thing. So you can have good trade deals. That was earlier on, the trade deal. I made the trade deal earlier on and it’s a great deal. We’re taking in billions and billions of dollars of money in different forms, including the fact that we have a 25% tariff on $250 billion. It’s a tremendous amount of money. Some of that money I’ve given to the farmers because they were targeted by China. And I gave $12 billion, I gave $16 billion, and this year we’re going to be giving approximately $19 billion to the farmers.

Jim: (53:12)
Was President Xi misleading you?

Well, something happened, something happened. I don’t say misleading or not. I’ll let you know that. I mean, I’ll be able to give you that answer at some point in the, hopefully, not too distant future. But I will tell you, you take a look at what happened to this world, a month and a half, two months ago, we had the strongest economy in the history of the world. And all of a sudden, I have to close the economy. I have to close the country. So we’ve had tremendous death and tremendous sorrow, sadness. And nobody’s ever seen anything like it. And so have most of the countries of the world, think of that, most of the countries. 184. You tell me, it’s probably low right now because I’ve been saying 184. 184 countries, they’ve suffered tremendously. It’s something that is going to have to be dealt with.

Speaker 3: (54:05)
Mr. President, on the issue of loss, Vice President-

Say it.

Speaker 3: (54:08)
On the issue of loss, Vice President Biden has said we should lower the White House flag to half mast. Are you going to do that? And are you thinking about leading the nation in a moment of mourning?

Well, let me say that, I mean, I would not mind doing that. I would say not only the White House flag, we could do that. In fact, it’s something that I will be talking about later. We have a meeting on various things. That’s one of the topics and we’re going to bring that up. So I think lowering the flags would be something very appropriate.

Speaker 3: (54:37)
Are you thinking about leading the country, though, in a moment of mourning for all of the lives lost, the more than 60,000 people-

Of course I am. I don’t think anybody can feel any worse than I do about all of the death and destruction that’s so needless, nobody. But I also have to make sure that we handle the situation well. Nobody’s thinking about it more. Nobody has spent more time late in the evening thinking about what’s happened to this country in a short period of time. But at the same time, we have to get our country open again and we’re doing that step-by-step. Tennessee is an example. Step-by-step, we’re opening up our country and I really believe that next year, we can be maybe even be … We have a lot of stimulus and maybe even beyond. We’ll see about, by the way, package four, phase four. But I really hope that we can be as good or better. I built it once and we’re going to build it again. John, go ahead.

John: (55:41)
You said a moment ago, you will soon have information on where this virus originated. The Director of National Intelligence today put out a statement saying that they believe it was naturally occurring, it was not man made-

Who is that? Who is that that said that?

John: (55:54)
The Office of the Director of National-

Who, in particular? Who was the man who made that statement?

John: (55:58)
It was a statement that-

Who would know that? National Intelligence, you say. So we’ll see.

John: (56:03)
That would be your Director of National Intelligence.

Right now, I think it’s … I mean, you’d have to tell me who specifically, who made the statement.

John: (56:10)
The statement was just put out under the office of the-

Okay, we’ll see. I mean, I have to see the statement. I just haven’t seen it.

John: (56:15)
But the question I had was have you seen anything at this point-

Because we’re looking at that, John, separately from … We’re looking at exactly where it came from, who it came from, how it happened separately and also scientifically. So we’re going to be able to find it.

John: (56:30)
And my question is, have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?

Yes, I have. Yes, I have. And I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China. And this country pays them almost $500 million a year and China pays them $38 million a year. And whether it’s a lot or more, doesn’t matter.

Whether it’s a lot or more, it doesn’t matter. It’s still, they shouldn’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes, especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die. I think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves.

Speaker 8: (57:19)
One thing you suggested withholding federal elation jurisdictions that are sanctuary cities. How serious is that consideration? [crosstalk 00:57:27]

Well, I have the right to do that, but sanctuary cities, especially at a time like this, that’s a very dangerous thing. Our law enforcement hates it. They hate it. We want safe cities. We want sanctuary, but we want sanctuary for our citizens and we don’t want sanctuary for criminals that came into our country illegally and they have big records and records.

I won’t go into the type of crimes, but the crimes are the ultimate in evil in many cases. No, we don’t want them to have sanctuary in our country. We want to have strong borders. Look, I’ll say it again. We want to have strong borders. I’ve been saying this for a long time and I think people are agreeing with me. I really do. I think people are agreeing with me.

The Democrats want to have open borders where people just come in and you’re not only talking about coming in from a crime standpoint, you’re now talking about coming in with not only the disease that we happen to be talking about so much lately, but other diseases. And they want to have open borders. They want people to pour into our country from who knows where they come. No, we’re not doing that.

We have a very strong border now, our Southern border, and every day it gets stronger because we’re building miles a day of very, very powerful wall and that’s a great thing for our country. That’s so important for our country and very few people are arguing with it. Yeah, please.

Speaker 9: (58:48)
You often describe this fight against the virus as a war. How do you define victory?

So it is a war and I define victory when it’s gone and we opened successfully. We have a successful country again. Now, it can never be a total victory because too many people have died. All over the world, people have died in our country and every country. I’m looking at the new list of countries. Look at what’s going on with Russia. Look at what’s going on with Spain, so incredibly harmed and injured by this.

So many people are dying. This is not something where you’ll go to your traditional, “Gee, this was an experience.” This is not an experience. It was a very bad experience. But what I want is we want the virus gone and we want to have a vibrant economy. We want people back. We don’t want people necessarily sitting like these incredible people in front of me where they’re sitting six feet apart and instead, I mean, I want our country back.

I want people to go out and see football games and baseball games and basketball and hockey and golf, and all of these sports and not worry about getting sick and violently ill. One of the things that was very interesting, you probably saw it, we put it out before though was Sweden. Then you compare the deaths in Sweden to Denmark and Finland and Norway, and I hate to say it, but the deaths are very, very substantially higher in Sweden because they’ve used that as an example.

Donald Trump: (01:00:20)
Brazil is very high. If you look at what’s gone on graphically, very, very high, very, very straight up, almost. Right, Deborah? Very straight up. Friend of mine, great gentlemen, president of Brazil, he’s really a friend of mine is a great man, but they’re having a hard time. They’re going herd. Sweden went herd, but you know when they say herd, it’s really in Sweden in particular, the bars, you can’t go to. Certain areas you can’t go to.

A lot of the people are saying, “Well, the prime minister doesn’t have to say, stay in your apartment, stay in your house.” They’re staying there. They’re not leaving. So it’s really not quite what was reported, but the number of deaths are tremendous in Sweden compared to the countries that surround where they did very strong lockdowns and we were discussing that, Deborah before. It’s a very big difference. It’s a very big difference.

But again, Sweden didn’t go really herd as you understand it. And also the people of Sweden, very smart. This thing in their houses they’re staying at, they’re not going out. Now are some? Yeah, I guess some, but they’ve lost a lot of people in Sweden. Yes John.

John: (01:01:33)
Mr. President, could I just come back to the-

Yeah, I’ll get you in a second.

John: (01:01:36)
Can I get back to what we were talking about just a second ago?

Sure.

John: (01:01:40)
I missed in the interruption. Are you suggesting that maybe you have some evidence that this was not a naturally occurring virus?

You’re talking about the virus and where it came from?

John: (01:01:53)
Yeah, yeah.

No. We’re going to see where it is. We’re going to see where it comes from and look, you know every theory that you had the theory from the lab. You had the theory from many different, the bats know the type of bat and the bat is 40 miles away. So it couldn’t have been here and it couldn’t have been there. There’s a lot of theories, but yeah, we have people looking at it very, very strongly.

Scientific people, intelligence people and others. And we’re going to put it all together. I think we’re going to have a very good answer eventually. And China might even tell us, China may tell us.

John: (01:02:28)
And what gives you a high degree of confidence that this originated from the Wuhan Institute of Neurology?

I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that. Jeff, go ahead.

Jeff: (01:02:38)
Mr. President, would you consider having the United States not pay its debt obligations to China as punishment for the virus?

Well, I can do it differently. I can do the same thing, but even for more money just by putting on tariffs. So I don’t have to do that. It’s approximately a trillion dollars, a little bit more as I understand it, trillion dollars. But we can do that in a, I think probably a little bit of a more forthright manner. You start playing those games and that’s tough. We have the dollar to protect. We want to protect the sanctity of the dollar and the importance of the dollar.

It’s the greatest currency in the history of the world. Its become stronger. We have a very strong dollar. That’s why we’re borrowing at zero, zero interest rate. With all of the stimulus that we’re talking about where that sounds good though, General, doesn’t it? We’re paying zero interest. So essentially right around zero, but zero and you want to protect.

It’s a very good question. You say, “Oh gee, we owe you a certain amount of money, we’re going to keep it.” But when you start playing that game, you’re really hurting the sanctity, the importance of the greatest currency on Earth. But we can do it in other ways. We can do it with tariffs, we can do it other ways even beyond that, without having to play that game. That’s a rough game.

Jeff: (01:03:55)
On a separate topic, but related Speaker Pelosi said that she envisioned up to a trillion dollars needed to help support States and localities. Would you support that figure?

So what’s happening is the Democrats have come to us and they’d like to do a phase four and we’ll think about what’s happening. They want to help the States, they want to help bailouts and bailouts are very tough and they happen to be Democrat States. It’s California, it’s New York, it’s Illinois. You start with those three and the Republican States are in strong shape. I don’t know. Is that luck or is that talent or is it just a different mentality?

But the Republican run States are in strong shape. Look, I looked today when I spoke, I spoke with Ron DeSantis who was here yesterday as I said, Florida’s doing incredibly. Texas is doing incredibly. These States are doing unbelievably. They don’t know about the word bailout. We had a call from the Governor of South Dakota and they have one of the finest run States.

They have a, I think a constitutional amendment. They’re not allowed to, they have to have a balanced budget and they have a balanced, totally balanced budget. They just have a sales tax. That’s about the only tax they have is a sales tax and then think of that. So it’s a whole different thing.

But a Republican States are doing very well. Maybe the Democrats should have brought this up earlier when we wanted certain things and they did and we said, and I said specifically, “Now let’s look at it later on down the road.: But they’d like to do something. They want to do infrastructure. I can understand infrastructure.

Think of it. We’ve spent $8 trillion in the Middle East and we’re not fixing our roads in this country. How stupid, how stupid is that? And we’re not fixing our highways, our tunnels, our bridges, our hospitals even. Our schools even. It’s crazy. But they want to do things and the Republicans are in a much better position. I don’t want to use the word negotiating position, but we really are. We’re in a negotiating position that’s different because they want to bail out various States.

Illinois is in big trouble. The governor understands that. Pritzker, he understands it, but Illinois in big trouble. Is it fair to do that? And then have States that are very powerful and strong like Iowa and Idaho. I mean take Idaho. Look at all of these incredible States and look at what’s going on and how successful they are.

So you just take a look and we’re going to look at it. We’re going to look at it. I think we want to take a little bit of a pause, but if we do that we’ll have to get something for it. Okay. Christine, go ahead.

Christine: (01:06:55)
So just a question on masks, but very quickly to follow up on Jeff. It sounds like you’re potentially open to Leader McConnell’s called that States should apply for bankruptcy. Is that what you’re saying?

It’s an idea that he has. He threw that out as an idea. I’ve spoken to him about it very strongly and we’re going to see what happens. We’ll take a little bit of a pause. We’ll see what happens. But some States are in trouble. I spoke today, I was with a wonderful man, a great gentleman, a wonderful human being. I think bill knows him too from New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy and we talked about it.

New Jersey, it’s a wonderful state I have to say. It’s a wonderful place, but it’s got a lot of difficulty in terms of the economics and the debt, the costs, et cetera. So it’s in a different position than some of the other States that we could mention. We could mention them all day long.

Let me ask you about masks if I could. Vice President Pence did not wear one when he visited the Mayo Clinic earlier this week. He’s wearing one today. You are traveling to Arizona. Will you wear a mask? What is the policy for you and the vice president?

Well, I’m going to have to see. I am going to Arizona. I look forward to that. I’ll have to see the climate. I mean, I’ll have to get a look and see where I am. Here’s the place that we all feel very comfortable. Everybody’s spread out. It’s a very big room. But as far as where I’m going in Arizona, I’m going to have to look at the climate.

I’d have no problem wearing a mask. I don’t know if I’m supposed to make a speech. I just don’t know. Should I speak in a mask? You’re going to have to tell me if that’s politically correct. I don’t know. If it is all speaking in a mask, but I’m going to be making a speech in Arizona. I look forward to it and depending on the conditions, I would have no problem wearing a mask.

We have millions of masks now. We have masks coming in that there was another thing. It was very hard to get masks. We now have and we’re making millions and millions of masks. They’re opening plants and it’s been incredible.

It sounds like you changed your position because-

Go ahead.

Speaker 10: (01:08:57)
The chairman of the Federal Reserve has said that the economic recovery is going to be long and slow. You have said that it’s going to bounce back quickly. What do you know that he doesn’t know?

Well, I didn’t hear what he said. I can only tell you that I see it. I think it’s going to be a transition quarter, the third quarter. I think the fourth quarter is going to be very good and I think next year is going to be fantastic because of the stimulus. And I haven’t seen the statement, but I think we’re going to have a great year next year knowing that we left behind a year of tremendous death, tremendous death. It was just a terrible thing.

The likes of which we haven’t seen. I guess if you go back over a 100 years, 1917 and that was a terrible thing. But that was close depending on your account or the account anywhere from 50 to a 100 million people died, 1917. So we haven’t seen it. It’s over a 100 years. And so understanding that that was terrible.

I think that next year from an economic standpoint, I mean look at the stock market. People are amazed. The stock market’s at over 24,000 well, it was a 29,000, it’s at 24,000 now. Is that even possible considering what we’ve gone through? Because people are very smart.

These people are very brilliant and they look and they see a great future. The other thing, the dollar is very strong. So when we go out and do stimulus packages were oversubscribed at zero and think of it. You get your money back at zero. It’s a pretty incredible thing. The Euros having a hard time and it’s much smaller. The dollar is really become, the dollar is king and the dollars at a position now. It’s just a very powerful, it’s a very powerful thing, the dollar.

Other currencies are in big trouble. They’re really in big trouble, whereas the dollar is very powerful, very strong. So the good part about that is if you do go out and if we do want to do stimulus or whatever we want to do, we’re borrowing at zero and the dollar is very strong. Okay. Yeah Tim.

Tim: (01:11:08)
Yeah, getting back to what John was asking you about the possibility that this virus came out of a lab in China. Are you insisting or would you insist on China allowing Us investigators into that lab to make sure we get to the bottom of this?

Yeah, I don’t want to go into that. We’re going to say. So far I think John has been trying to be or at least they seem to be trying to be somewhat transparent with us, but we’re going to find out. You’ll be learning in the not too distant future, but it’s a terrible thing that happened. Whether they made a mistake or whether it started off as a mistake, and then they made another one or did somebody do something on purpose.

Say, hey, I don’t understand how traffic, how people weren’t allowed into the rest of China, but they were allowed into the rest the world. That’s a hard question for them to answer. Yeah, please. Go ahead.

Speaker 11: (01:11:56)
Mr. President, Kim Jong-un, have you got an update on his condition and whether he is alive or dead?

Well, I understand what’s going on and I just can’t talk about Kim Jong-un right now. I just hope everything is going to be fine, but I do understand the situation very well. Please.

Speaker 12: (01:12:13)
Going back to when you talked about being complimentary of China early on, were you saying that you were complimentary of China because you were concerned about the trade deal?

Well, I’m making a trade deal with China. This was before the virus. Of course, they’re going to be complimentary. Now it was very uncomplimentary prior to that negotiation, and then every once in a while the negotiation would break down because I’m not like Kerry who signed the worst deal, the Iran deal, which was such a disaster. And he never left the table. I left the table a lot.

Anyway, we ended up making a deal, and of course, during the course of the deal, I was both complimentary and very uncomplimentary. But the bottom line is we ended up making a deal before the virus came.

And I was very happy with the deal, but then later on that was superseded by a virus that should not have happened. Well, I just want to thank you all very much and we’ll see you probably tomorrow sometime. Thank you very much.

Speaker 13: (01:13:05)
Thank you.

Speaker 14: (01:13:05)
Thank you, Mr. President.

Donald Trump Coronavirus Briefing Transcript on Protection for Seniors April 30

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