Donald Trump Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript April 21

Donald Trump: (03:04)
Thank you very much everyone. Very big day today. I want to start by saying that our love and prayers of every American continue to be with our fellow citizens who’ve lost a cherished friend or family member to the virus. Amidst our grief we are making tremendous strides against this invisible enemy. Thanks to our aggressive campaign against the virus and the extraordinary talent of our medical professionals our mortality rate remains roughly half of that of many other countries and one of the lowest of any country in the world. And that’s due to a lot of things, but our medical professionals have been incredible.

Since we announced our guidelines on opening up America, as we call it, we say opening up America and we add the word again. I think we can add the word probably again, but that’s what it is. We’re opening up America again. 20 States representing 40% of the US population have announced that they are making plans and preparations to safely restart their economies in the very near future. So that’s 20 States, it’s about 40% of our country. They’re moving along pretty quickly. Three announced today, as you know, and they’re going to be doing it safely. They are going to be doing it with tremendous passion. They want to get back to work. The country wants to get back to work.

A short time ago, the Senate passed the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act with additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, hospitals and testing, a lot of money for. All of them, especially for our workers and our small businesses. My administration has worked aggressively with Congress to negotiate this critical $482 billion funding package. We reached a deal that includes $382 billion in crucial small business support to keep workers on the payroll, $75 billion to aid hospitals, which really need the aid and very badly, very proud of that, and $25 billion to support coronavirus testing efforts. I urge the house to pass the bill and they’re going to be voted on it, I imagine very, very soon.

I think while we’re here, and so he’s a very busy manager, as you know, Secretary Mnuchin, he’s going to be running back, so I thought we’ll talk about that now and we’ll take a couple of questions on that and then he can go and start phase four as the ink is drank. Probably they’ll be voting tomorrow in the house, shortly. And I think we have tremendous support. So Steve, please come up, say a few words.

Steve Mnuchin: (06:06)
Thank you Mr. President and thank you for all your work with us to get this passed. I’d especially like to thank Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and the entire Senate for passing this. I’d also like to thank Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Pelosi who have been working with us around the clock as well, and our chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who was also very instrumental in this. Let me just comment. We’ve had tremendous support for the PPP. This gives us another $310 billion for the PPP. We look forward to the house passing this tomorrow and being up and running quickly after that. This also gives us $50 billion for disaster loans, idle loans that will allow the SBA to make $300 billion of disaster loans all for small businesses. It also allows us, as the president said, more money to hospitals and an unprecedented amount of money for testing. And again I think we understand hospitals, not only the hospitals that have been impacted by coronavirus, but more importantly many hospitals that have been shut down and making sure that the doctors and nurses get money.

Now let me make a just one more comment on the program. We have over a million companies that have received this with less than 10 workers. So there is very broad participation in really small business. I will comment, there have been some big businesses that have taken these loans. I was pleased to see that Shake Shack returned to the money. We will be putting out some FAQs. There is a certification that people are making and I asked people just make sure the intent of this was for business that needed the money. We’ll put out an FAQ. But again, the intent of this money was not for big public companies that have access to capital.

[crosstalk 00:07:57] Harvard, you might say.

Speaker 1: (07:59)
So Mr. Secretary, are you going to request that those other companies, because obviously Shake Shack was not alone in being a big company that got money in this. Are you going to request-

I’m going to request.

Speaker 1: (08:08)
You’re going to ask them to return that money?

Yep. Harvard’s going to pay back the money and they shouldn’t be taking it. So Harvard’s going to. You have a number of, I’m not going to mention any other names, but when I saw Harvard, they have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world, I guess. And they’re going to pay back that money.

I just want to clarify because certain people on the PPP may have not been clear in understanding the certification. So we will give people the benefit of the doubt. We’re going to put an FAQ out, explain the certification. If you pay back the loan right away, you won’t have liability to the SBA and to Treasury. But there are severe consequences for people who don’t attest properly to a certification. And again, we want to make sure this money is available to small businesses that needed people who have invested their entire life savings. We appreciate what’s going on and they’re hiring people back.

Speaker 1: (09:06)
And how are we going to ensure that those small businesses, the small restaurants, cafes, bars, who did not get the money last time around are going to get at this time?

Well, as I said, there are a million of these companies that did get it that are very small. We’re working with the banks. We’re extremely pleased that the small banks did great. 20% of the loans were made by banks of a billion and less, 60% by $20 billion in less. And the big banks also, we want everybody to participate. There’s now a lot of money back in the program and we look forward to all these small businesses getting access to funds. Brett, it’s great to see you.

Bret Baier: (09:42)
Thank you Mr. Secretary and do you know, estimate how long this is going to take. That other pot of money obviously went quickly. Do you assume this is going to go quickly as well?

Well, let me just say, we’re pleased with the success of this program and how quickly this got up operationally. We’ve put out more money in these SBA loans than in the last 10 years of SBA. So I want to thank all the banks that have worked really hard. We knew that when we passed this originally, if there was full takeout, we wouldn’t have enough money. That’s why we’ve worked with Congress for more money and this is going to… We’ve already impacted about 30 million workers. There’ll be a lot more. So we look forward to this having a big impact on the economy.

Speaker 2: (10:24)
Yesterday the president said he would look into the issue of felons, those criminal convictions getting access to some of these programs. I was wondering if you have an update on that.

Sure, we worked with the White House on this. There were actually much more onerous restrictions in the SBA program. There were people who had misdemeanors that weren’t allowed to access the program. It was much longer than five years, and we very much because of the criminal reform legislation that was passed and the work that’s been done in the White House by Jared and others, we specifically designed the program and the five years was significantly shorter than what had been done before. So we had already taken that into account. [crosstalk 00:11:04].

For now we’re not going to do that, but I want to just emphasize, we did take this into account. There were a lot of people that wouldn’t have access previously and we changed those regulations.

Speaker 3: (11:13)
The president talked about a phase four. I know we all understand the circumstances and why businesses need this, but how many more phases can we afford to have or can businesses expect to have? Do you see a phase five, a phase six, a phase seven? What’s your thinking on this?

First of all, I very much appreciate the president’s support for phase four. He put out a tweet as the president said, we would look forward to phase four. It would be infrastructure. The president’s been talking about infrastructure since the campaign. Roads, bridges, broadband, especially broadband now to rural America is very important. We’ve talked about incentives for restaurants, sports, entertainment because these businesses have been impacted. The president has talked multiple times about a payroll tax cut. And we’ve also, we’re talking about in the case of states, we’ve heard from the governors and the fiscal issues of the states.

I think phase four will most likely be what we need. I think based upon what we’re seeing and the reopening of the economy and the amount of money we’re putting in and working with the federal reserve on 133 I think you’re going to see a lot of liquidity and we look forward to business rebounding, especially later this summer.

Speaker 3: (12:27)
Just real quick to follow up and the PPP program, is this the last traunch of money you think you’re going to need for small businesses?

We would expect is is the last traunch, but obviously we can always reconsider that. But this is a lot of money going out. Again, let me just be clear. It’s another $310 billion here and a another $300 billion of loans. That’s over $600 billion putting into small businesses, which are the backbone of the economy. 50% of the private payroll.

Speaker 4: (12:54)
How much do you think phase four will cost and it will include all of those things?

It’s premature for us to comment what the cost is. We’ll work with Congress on that and we’ll consider it. Infrastructure can be a big investment.

Speaker 5: (13:07)
Mr. Secretary, given the size of the tax payer dollars that are going out the door, you fellas come to a different way of thinking about the need for oversight, independent oversight on behalf of the taxpayer?

We have independent oversight. We supported in the last legislation. Let me be very clear. We have a new inspector general. The president has already picked someone for that position. We look forward to the person being confirmed. We have an oversight committee of Congress that many of them have already been appointed. And let me just say, we put up last week for full transparency. We have no obligation to do this. We put up, you can go to treasury.gov, full transparency on the money that had been sent out on the PPP across states showing all the big lenders, how it was distributed. No one lender did more than 4%. showed the businesses.

So again, the president and I very much believe in full transparency. We’re spending a lot of money and we want to make sure that it’s done effectively and fairly.

Speaker 6: (14:03)
Mr. Secretary, thank you. You started by thanking the leaders in the House and the Senate. Can you tell us more about how easy or hard it was to deal with both sides?

Well, we’ve been working around the clock. I think there’s been very good bipartisan support to get this done. The Congress is coming together understanding the importance of this. And we’ve been working around the clock for days. So this is important legislation. It was a lot. We spoke to a lot of people. Mark Meadows has been fantastic, as I said, it’s great to have him here in the White House. I couldn’t have done this without him working on this with me and the president and vice president had been available to us around the clock. So this was a big team effort.

Speaker 6: (14:44)
Collaboration of the Democrats.

Absolutely. Absolutely. We couldn’t have done this today without unanimous consent and the Democrats being on board and we look forward to this being passed on a bipartisan basis tomorrow. This is a real example of the country coming together to fight this virus.

Speaker 7: (15:00)
What’s your best understanding of what Mitch McConnell wants from an infrastructure?

Again, I think we’re not at the point of designing that. Like every other bill, we will work with senators on both sides on a bipartisan basis. I can tell you there’s a lot of support, particularly for things like broadband and especially what’s going on today. But the president has talked about… I was on the campaign with the president, we’ve been talking about bridges and tunnels and rebuilding this country for years. So the president wants to make a big investment in this.

Speaker 7: (15:33)
This is Mitch McConnell. Mr. Secretary, what would we see the $17 billion portion of CARES reserved for company’s deemed critical for national security? And also will all companies fit into that at all per the president’s tweet?

So we’re in the process of putting out guidance. That part was really designed for national security companies that are either major suppliers to the Department of Defense or companies that have top secret clearance. So that national security provision was very clear when we did that. The president has asked me to work with the Secretary of Energy. Obviously the energy business is very important to us. This has national security issues but different. And we look forward to both looking at what existing capabilities we have. And that will be something we may need to go back to Congress and get additional funding for.

Speaker 7: (16:29)
Similar to the airline bailout at all or [crosstalk 00:16:33]

A completely different situation. What you have with the airlines is we had a very, very good airline industry. Because of the virus, they basically shut down. We have a situation now with the oil business partially because of the virus. For less demand. But partially also because of too much supply. But the president is determined we want to maintain our energy independence and the president has asked me to look at all of our options and we’re doing that. Obviously it’s a pretty extraordinary situation where you saw the front month of oil futures trade negative.

Speaker 8: (17:10)
On the issue of the fourth stimulus bill and aid to state and local governments, any thoughts on whether that money should be proportionate to the rate of infection in states so that harder hit states-

Interesting, but way too early to consider that. Whatever we do, we’ll do on a bipartisan basis. The president has listened to the governors. I’ve had the opportunity to be on multiple video conference calls with the president and the vice president. We’re reaching out to a lot of people. There’s a lot of states that have been impacted, but way too early to figure out that level of design.

Speaker 9: (17:41)
You mentioned if a large company applies for one of these loans and they manipulate or work the system or works the loopholes to get it, what are some of the consequences if a large company tries to get one of these PPP loans, what can you do?

Well, you used the word manipulate. I’m going to give people the benefit of the doubt. Again, we’re going to put up very clear guidance so that people understand what the certification is, what it means if you’re a big company. Again, there is a provision for where there are multiple affiliates that people can access this. But the intent was not for companies that have access to plenty of liquidity and other sources. And, again, if to the extent these companies didn’t understand this and they repaid the loans, that will be okay and if not, there’ll be potentially other consequences.

Speaker 9: (18:31)
Can you talk about what those consequences could be?

Again, you can look at the certifications there, they’re quite significant.

Speaker 1: (18:40)
Do you have an estimate of How many jobs have been saved with all of the money that’s gone out in PPP so far?

Well, I can tell you the PPP so far is over 30 million jobs. And again, that doesn’t account for other money that we’ve sent out. And again, we’re very pleased. The direct deposits have gone out. We’ve started sending out the checks. We’re also going to be supplementing our capability and sending prepaid debit cards so we can get money out quickly to people.

… prepaid debit card so we can get money out quickly to people. So everything that the President has had us working on is providing significant stability in the economy while we’re dealing with this difficult time, when, for medical reasons, we’ve closed down major parts of the economy. Thank you very much.

Speaker 11: (19:15)
That was a very nice question.

Thank you [crosstalk 00:19:18].

That was a nice question, actually. It was a good question, too. So the noble fight against the invisible enemy has inflicted a steep toll on the American workforce, as we all know. Millions of Americans sacrificed their jobs in order to battle the virus and save the lives of our fellow citizens. We have a solemn duty to ensure these unemployed Americans regain their jobs and their livelihoods.

Therefore, in order to protect American workers, I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigration into the United States. You heard about that last night. By pausing immigration, we’ll help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens. So important. It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad. We must first take care of the American worker, take care of the American worker.

This pause will be in effect for 60 days, after which the need for any extension or modification will be evaluated by myself and a group of people based on economic conditions at the time. This order will only apply to individuals seeking a permanent residency, in other words, those receiving Green Cards. Big factor. Will not apply to those entering on a temporary basis. As we move forward, we’ll examine what additional immigration-related measures should be put in place to protect US workers. We want to protect our US workers, and I think, as we move forward, we will become more and more protective of them.

This pause on new immigration will also help to conserve vital medical resources for American citizens. A short break from new immigration, depending on the time we’re talking about, will protect the solvency of our healthcare system and provide relief to jobless Americans.

Today, Vice President Pence visited the hardworking men and women of General Electric Healthcare in Madison, Wisconsin, who are working three shifts a day to quadruple their production of ventilators. We’re way ahead of schedule and ventilators, as you know. That’s why it’s never brought up by the media. They don’t like to bring things up when we’re doing so well. GE is also working with Ford to make 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days, more than our entire country typically produces in a very long period of time, doing that in a matter of a few weeks, in a few days.

Earlier today, I had a very productive meeting with Governor Cuomo, as you probably saw, to discuss his statewide testing strategy and how we can work together to help expand it with the goal of doubling testing in the next few weeks. In New York State, we’ll be continuing to control the testing of their citizens, and we’ll also manage their state and local laboratories. They have a lot of great laboratories there, more than anybody would ever have known, frankly.

The federal government will work along with the state on the national manufacturers and distributors. Together, we’ll all work together to help them secure additional tests, and we hope that this model will work with the other states as well. I think it will, for the most part. New York has a lot of very exceptional laboratories, but most of the states do. You saw the chart yesterday. Most of the states do.

I’m proud of the relationship my administration has forged with New York, and I can say, very honestly, with New York State and New York City, they’ve been terrific to work with. The New York metropolitan area has been the epicenter of the outbreak here in America, and the federal government has spared no expense or resource to get New Yorkers the care they need and the care they deserve. We’ve sent over five million masks. We had five million masks, and now that number, as of about two days from now, will be more than doubled. Thousands of ventilators. In fact, so many ventilators that the governor is going to be sending up some to Massachusetts and a couple of other locations. We have a great deal of ventilators, which people thought would be impossible about a month ago. Thousands of hospital beds, and the USNS Comfort was sent, as you know, to New York. It was originally for more of a normal medical purpose, and we changed it over so that it could take care of people that had the unfortunate circumstance of going through the problem that we know so well, unfortunately, that we know so well.

I said from the beginning that no American who needs a ventilator would be denied a ventilator, and we have kept that promise all over the United States. Think of that. Other countries are desperate for ventilators. They have many deaths because they don’t have a ventilator, and I’ve asked Andrew if we could bring the Comfort back to its base in Virginia so that we can have it for other locations. He said we would be able to do that. Javits Center has been a great help to them, but we’ll be bringing the ship back at the earliest time, and we’ll get it ready for its next mission, which I’m sure it’ll be a very important one also. But it was an honor. They reconverted it after it got there into handling an event that they were not expecting to be handling.

The FDA has now authorized more than 50 diagnostic tests, including, as of late last night, the first test that a patient can take home. You can take it at home, and it’s highly accurate. LabCorp intends to make the home collection kits available to consumers in most states, with a doctor’s order, in the coming weeks. We also have four different antibody tests already authorized. Tests will help identify individuals who can donate convalescent plasma, thus providing potentially lifesaving antibodies to American patients.

Dr. Hahn will be providing you with an update on these developments in a few moments. He’s done a great job at the FDA. We continue to gain ground in the war against the unseen enemy, and I see light at the end of the tunnel. I actually see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel, and we’re starting the process. We’re starting a very, very powerful, important process. You see that people are getting very anxious. They want to get going. They want to get back to their jobs. They want to make money. They want to take care of their families. So the light is getting brighter and brighter every day. With that, if I could, I’ll ask Dr. Birx to come up and then Dr. Hahn. Thank you very much.

Dr. Birx: (26:49)
Thank you, Mr. President. So, looking at all of the information across the United States, we do see improvement across all the large metros. I know you know that we’ve been talking about the New York Metro Area, New York City, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Long Island, and, really, we do start to see improvement there. We see improvement even now in Rhode Island and Connecticut. The Detroit metro is doing quite well with significant declines now. New Orleans is nearly back to their baseline of where they started for new infections.

Dr. Birx: (27:28)
We also are seeing improvements in Chicago and Boston, and that has been a great concern for us over the last several weeks. They appear now to be flattening, both. Also, Philadelphia and Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and St. Louis also appear to be flattening. The DC Metro Area, we don’t see a decline yet, so hopefully all of you are still social distancing and doing everything that you can.

Dr. Birx: (27:55)
I wanted to remind everybody of two points. When we brought up and the President put out the guidelines for opening up America, again, it was very clear to use data and to really work together to mitigate against any resurgence and also, critically, to protect the vulnerable. What we’re seeing across rural America and in some of the smaller population states is we’re still seeing outbreaks in long-term care facilities, and we asked everyone in phase one to make sure that they continued their social distancing in public to ensure that the vulnerable with co-morbidities and other conditions and among the elderly, we were staying at home and making sure we were still providing service to them.

Dr. Birx: (28:42)
But, as individual Americans, as we begin to open up, we also made it very clear that individual Americans need to continue all of their hygiene pieces, ensuring social distancing, washing hands, not touching their face, and making sure that they’re not bringing the virus home to vulnerable individuals within the household. Remember, those were to continue through all three phases, and so really want to call people’s attention again to the guidelines. We are continuing to see outbreaks in nursing homes and in confined spaces, and I think, as Americans, we want to stop that. We have the ability to do that by really paying attention to the guidelines that were to be in all three phases.

Dr. Birx: (29:25)
So I’m calling on the states again to note that an informed community and knowledgeable community is a protected community. So make sure all of your states have your cases up, visible to the community so they can make decisions and understand where the virus is in their community and understand how to tackle it with their state and local governments. This will be absolutely critical, and there’s surveillance that we called for that was to find asymptomatics before people get sick, as an early warning signal. We asked for those to be in the federal clinics, in our inner city, more vulnerable areas, among indigenous populations, and, of course, in our long-term care facilities and prisons. We really want to support state and local governments to move forward on these critical monitoring to protect individuals that may be in the most critically vulnerable states.

Dr. Birx: (30:19)
We will continue to see mortality and deaths among our American citizens, particularly in the cities, as they begin to move past peak, because deaths will lag. So we really need to continue to unite and really, really, really support our healthcare providers, who are still on the front lines. They have been on the front lines now for weeks and weeks and weeks. So no matter what city they have been in, they have not seen the relief that we’ve been able to talk about, the light at the end of the tunnel, because of the delay in hospitalizations and deaths. So to our healthcare providers, to our respiratory therapists, and to everyone in the labs, thank you for the work that you’re doing to protect Americans and give us one of the lowest mortality rates in the entire world. Thank you.

Thank you.

Dr. Hahn: (31:12)
Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to echo what Dr. Birx said. Just a few short months ago, I was one of those doctors on the front lines. I know how terrific they’re working and how well they’re doing for the American people, and a shout-out to them for just the wonderful work that they do every day.

Dr. Hahn: (31:29)
So President Trump asked the FDA to remove all unnecessary barriers that were in place to help with the development of both diagnostics and therapeutics, and we have done that. I’m here to give you an update on FDA’s efforts around serologic tests, which, as you know, are antibody tests, which detect, in the blood, the natural immunity that someone might develop in response to infection, in this case, COVID-19. These aren’t diagnostic tests, but these are tests that actually detect the antibodies, so an indication that one has had the infection and has responded. I think it’s important for everyone to understand that the timing of the response of the antibody to the infection isn’t completely known, but we know that it takes some time to actually develop that, and there’s two types of antibody responses that can be detected. The antibody tests are just one piece of the larger response that you’ve heard in the America returning to work plan that the President, with the task force, has developed.

Dr. Hahn: (32:27)
This pandemic is truly unprecedented in nature, and you’ll see reports around the world of different antibody tests that have been used. I think that’s a reflection of the fact that we’re just learning and beginning to understand what that response looks like, and many of these tests have different characteristics that allow to detect at different points in the infection.

Dr. Hahn: (32:46)
I do want to address one issue that we are laser-focused on at FDA, and that is, in an effort to provide laboratories and healthcare providers the early access to tests, we issued a policy earlier in March that allowed test developers the opportunity to quickly get their tests to market and address the needs of the nation as posed by the epidemic.

Dr. Hahn: (33:08)
In March, we provided this regulatory flexibility to manufacturers, and here’s what we required of them. The manufacturers had to validate their tests. We call it self-validation, similar to what many test developers in the world have done. They had to notify FDA that they had performed that validation, and then they had to label their products appropriately in the package insert with information about the validation, as well as the fact that it’s not a diagnostic test, that it’s an antibody test. The bottom line here is that FDA still expects manufacturers and test developers to validate their antibody tests, even under this revised policy.

Dr. Hahn: (33:45)
Now, we’ve done a couple of things to actually help end users, to help laboratories, providers, et cetera, states, in terms of their use of these antibody tests. One is that we’re working with CDC and NCI to actually validate some of the more than 90 manufacturers who have notified us that they’ve brought their test to market to do an independent validation, and that process is going. We expect to hear more information this week about that, and we will provide that information in a transparent manner.

Dr. Hahn: (34:14)
We also want to go after anyone who is saying that the test has been authorized or has been approved by the FDA, but actually hasn’t. We’ve authorized four applications for antibody tests, and 140 test developers are pursuing applications for us as we speak. So it’s not okay for someone to say that a test has been authorized or approved by FDA when it hasn’t, and we are pursuing them, both by direct contact with the manufacturers, but also at the border.

Dr. Hahn: (34:45)
So we have increased these interdiction efforts, and we will continue to outreach and do that with the manufacturers to make sure that we provide the most up-to-date information to the end users of these products. We will continue to make all of our efforts, both in the diagnostics and the therapeutics, to help America open up again. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you.

Reporters: (35:06)
Dr. Hahn?

Please, go ahead.

Reporters: (35:07)
Dr. Hahn, you’re speaking of 140 different developers, more than 90 manufacturers. How many of these tests actually work?

Dr. Hahn: (35:13)
So, as I mentioned, the 90 that have come forward inside their market in the US, they are required by us to have self-validation, and they’re required to label that appropriately in their package insert. They also said that what we’re doing is we’re working with folks around the country, but here at home, with US government, with the NCI and CDC to validate some of those tests that have come forward to us. So we’re actually doing some independent validation.

Reporters: (35:39)
What have you found so far?

Dr. Hahn: (35:40)
So we don’t have those results yet. I expect to have more results this week, but we will be transparent about those results, because we think it’s very important. Your question is superb in that if someone wants to use a test that’s come to market, really, it’s important to read the information that’s in the package insert, but often, in some of those cases, it’s also important for the independent labs to do the validation, also. You may have seen reports in the press of labs around the country that have done that. We’ve actually reached out to them, many academics, and we will be including that information in the information that we generate as well to provide to the American people.

Reporters: (36:12)
Dr. Hahn [crosstalk 00:36:15]. While we have you here, there was a study out of the VA today on hydroxychloroquine that found a higher mortality rate compared to those who got standard of care. I know this isn’t a large-scale clinical trial, but since this drug is out there and people are using it, can you give some takeaways from that study? Did that change your thinking at all on the hydroxychloroquine?

Dr. Hahn: (36:35)
So this study is a small retrospective study at the VA, and similar to the data we talked about before, with the French study, this is something that a doctor would need to consider as part of the decision in writing a prescription for hydroxychloroquine. As I’ve mentioned from this podium and in other venues before, what FDA is going to require is data from clinical trials, randomized clinical trials, hydroxychloroquine, placebo to actually make a definitive decision around safety and efficacy.

Dr. Hahn: (37:03)
But the preliminary data are helpful to providers and doctors. I want to ask them to incorporate the data as we have it come forward, and it’s not definitive data. It doesn’t help us make a decision, from a regulatory point of view. But doctors should incorporate that in the decision-making they make on a one-on-one basis.

Reporters: (37:20)
Just the timeline on the clinical trials and when we will be getting a read-out of that data?

Dr. Hahn: (37:24)
So the good news is we have over 30 clinical trials. Now, the settings are very different. They’re in the outpatient setting, they’re in the inpatient setting, and also, I think very importantly, in what we call the postexposure prophylaxis, meaning if you’re a healthcare worker or a frontline provider and you’ve been exposed to the virus, take the drug for a period of time to see if you can prevent the development of illness related to the virus. So all those trials are in progress, and it will probably be early summer before we get a read-out.

Reporters: (37:49)
Mr. President, [inaudible 00:37:51] that.

All of these tests, I want to say, are in addition to the tests that we already have. We have tested more people than anybody anywhere in the world by far, by very far.

Reporters: (38:03)
Mr. President …

Anybody, anywhere in the world by far, by very far.

Bret Baier: (38:03)
Mr. President, [crosstalk 00:00:04], well I think you wanted to follow up on the hydroxychloroquine. I’m wondering if you’re concerned this VA study showed that actually more people died that used the drug that didn’t, and I’m wondering if Governor Cuomo brought you back any results.

No, didn’t discuss it, and I don’t know of the report. Obviously there have been some very good reports and perhaps this one’s not a good report, but we’ll be looking at it. We’ll have a comment at some point.

Bret Baier: (38:30)
A panel of experts at the NIH is actually now recommending against the use of hydroxychloroquine in combination with Z-Pak which is something you’ve recommended.

Okay, well, we’ll take a look at that. I’m always willing to take a look. Brett.

Speaker 12: (38:42)
Another subject. Your signing of the executive order. When do you plan to do that?

The executive order will be… It’s being written now as we speak, probably tomorrow sometime.

Speaker 12: (38:51)
So, will it have exemptions in there?

It will have certain exemptions because you’re going to need certain exemptions, but we’ll be notifying you tomorrow. We’ll sign it most likely tomorrow, being drawn now and tonight, and it’s something we have to have in this country. We have to have it.

Speaker 12: (39:08)
So, for the people who say it doesn’t track with opening up the country to shut down immigration across the board for companies and the pipeline that’s already in place, what do you say to them?

Well, I think it really does. I think it’s very strong, obviously, and it’s countrywide as opposed to specifically like China, or some of the other ones that I’ve shut down. We’re going to see and you’ll see a very accurate definition tomorrow after it’s completed by the attorneys.

Speaker 12: (39:33)
Last thing for me. North Korea, what can you tell us about the status of Kim Jong Un?

Well, these are reports that came out and we don’t know. We don’t know. I’ve had a very good relationship with him. I can only say this. I wish him well, because if he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying, that’s a very serious condition as you know. But I wish him well. We’ve had a good relationship. I’ve said it and I’ve said it many times. If somebody else were in this position, we would have been right now at war with North Korea, and we’re not at war and we’re nowhere close to war with North Korea. So I just have to say to Kim Jong Un, and I wish him very good luck. Good luck. I mean, they came out with very, very serious medical reports. Nobody’s confirmed that. It was CNN that came out. So when CNN comes out with a report, I don’t place too much credence in it.

Speaker 13: (40:34)
Your meeting today with Governor Cuomo. Did he convince you of a need for expanded testing [crosstalk 00:40:40]-

Yeah, we had a great talk on testing, and we have an agreement, we have an understanding on testing, and they have labs, tremendous labs, as you know, in New York, especially in the Manhattan area, but all over the state, and great, great medical schools and federal labs. So we have a very good understanding. We’re going to do very significant testing. You know, not everybody wants to do such significant testing. Testing is good in some cases and in some cases it’s not. You have governors that don’t want to go all out in the testing because they think they can do it in a different manner and do it better. But we had a very good meeting today. The Governor and I had a very good meeting.

Speaker 13: (41:21)
Is there more federal aid that can be used to help governors who want to expand testing because we keep hearing that all they [crosstalk 00:41:27]-

We have $25 billion, and that’s a tremendous amount of money. That’s much far more money than, in my opinion, that we’ll need. And again, already we’re testing more by far than any country. I think I read yesterday a report that we’ve done more than everybody else, every other country combined, and I think our people should be getting a lot of credit for that. We’ve done a lot more than everybody else combined, and you never hear that in the news. It’s unfortunate. Yeah, please.

Speaker 14: (41:55)
Mr. President, just back on the executive order for a second. You mentioned that they’re going to be some exemptions. We’re reporting right now that it only applies to green cards for employment but not for those for [crosstalk 00:04:07]-

We’re going to be reporting on that later on. It might be tonight or tomorrow. We’ll give you an exact report.

Speaker 14: (42:12)
What can you say to people who may be worried about the ability to bring immediate family members into [crosstalk 00:42:17]-

No, I think it’s been covered pretty accurately in this case. I think most people know what it is and some people will be able to get in. We have to do that, obviously even from a humane standpoint, but there’ll be some people coming in, but it’s a strong order. It involves a big circle as you know. Please.

Speaker 15: (42:37)
Are immigrants who are already in the country, are they at greater risk of deportation based on this order?

No, I don’t think so. They’re not supposed to be here. You’re saying they’re here illegally. Is that what you’re saying?

Speaker 15: (42:48)
Well, for example, if an immigrant is here for a court order, right? Are they at risk of deportation?

Well, if a court order, then you have to go to court. So then the judge would make a determination as to whether or not they’re going to be staying, but if they have a court order, they won’t have to leave until they go through that process. So we’ll see what happens. But with the court, and there are some with court orders, that means they have a trial coming up. Please.

Speaker 16: (43:09)
Yes. So obviously on the immigration executive order, you’ve raised concern for a long time, even in good economic times, about immigrants taking Americans’ jobs. So under what conditions would you consider lifting this halt on immigration [crosstalk 00:05:25], or is this sort of an opportunity to address what you’ve seen as a problem for a long time?

Well, I think, look, right now, obviously there’s never been. We had the greatest economy in the world, and then one day we had to shut it down. They said you have to shut it down. We did the right thing because I think we would’ve had a million, or maybe even two million or maybe more than that, deaths. So we did the right thing. But certainly this would pertain, I mean when you look at it, right now the last thing we want to do is take American workers’ jobs. It’s one thing when we were essentially, they used to call it full employment, and it’s another thing right now. Right now we have people that have lost their jobs and we hope they’re going to come back and come back fast, and then we can have an even deeper discussion. But right now we have to have jobs for Americans.

Speaker 16: (44:09)
But, do you have any sense of like if unemployment gets to 4% or 5% [crosstalk 00:44:14]-

Well, we’ll have to see. I mean, I hope we’re in that position to have that debate. Right now, we’re not in that position. Right now, we’ve closed down the largest economy, the greatest economy in the history of the world. It’s the most successful economy. When you look at the stock market, we’re breaking records virtually every week, sometimes every day. And the stock market’s still not doing badly considering what this country has been through, which tells you how strong it was in the first place, but no, I hope we’re going to be able to have that discussion. I hope we’re in a position. That’s like a good discussion to have, but that’ll be a little bit later. Brett.

Bret Baier: (44:50)
Another question for Dr. Birx, about the CDC director said in an interview that perhaps this second wave of the coronavirus in the fall could be worse because it is timed with the seasonal flu. Just wondering if you could talk about that in context of as you’re opening up the country and these guidelines that you’ve laid out.

Dr. Birx: (45:09)
Yeah, so we were very clear in the guidelines that we believe we can monitor, again, monitor communities at the community level by using the influenza like illness, and the syndromic respiratory and gastrointestinal components of this particular virus. Obviously when we have flu, and we’re working on an algorithm that you test for flu and then you test for COVID, and making sure that we are building the testing capacity to be able to do that, because I think it’s very important that you’re going to be able… On the surface, a patient when they come in with early flu and early COVID can look very close to identical, so we need to have testing in place to be able to separate and ensure those patients receive the best treatment. We’re also hoping by that time that we have additional treatment options for people with COVID-19 so that there will be additional treatment available in the fall.

Bret Baier: (46:08)
But your message would be to prepare for that time thinking that it will come back together.

Dr. Birx: (46:13)
The President has made it clear that we have the emergency, which we have been working on, the opening up guidelines and just like he talks about phase four, he has us very much working on the next 60, 90, and for all on with fall, and that’s why he’s not stopped any of the ventilator orders. It’s very important that we have a completely refreshed and a comprehensive stockpile going into the fall, and I think that’s why we’ve continued to bring in those shipments and work on the ventilators so that those would be available not only for the United States but certainly if other partner countries have this level of tragedy. [crosstalk 00:46:51]

Speaker 17: (46:54)
Follow up on that, so you agree this could come back actually worse in the fall?

Dr. Birx: (46:58)
I don’t know if it will be worse. I think this has been pretty bad. When you see what has happened in New York, that was very bad. I believe that we’ll have early warning signals both from our surveillance that we’ve been talking about on the vulnerable populations. We’re going to continue that surveillance from now all the way through the fall to be able to give us that early warning signal. I think what we’ve learned is how good Americans are about immediately reverting to all of those issues that they need to do in order to ensure that they’re protected and their families.

Speaker 17: (47:33)
And Mr. President, what do you say to the concerns like Georgia is opening up barber shops and bowling alleys and the like, and you saw Lindsey Graham is saying he’s concerned that Georgia may be going too far too fast and it could affect people in South Carolina. Obviously people travel back and forth between states. How do you protect the people of South Carolina for example, from a potentially bad decision by a governor in Georgia?

So he’s a very capable man. He knows what he’s doing. He’s done a very good job as Governor, Georgia, and by the way, and South Carolina, Governor McMaster also. So you have two very capable people we’re going to find out. And in fact I’m scheduled to speak to the Governor of Georgia in a little while, but we’ll find out.

Speaker 17: (48:18)
What about Lindsey Graham’s concern that what happens in Georgia can affect South Carolina?

Well, everybody, I have a concern about what happens everywhere. I mean we’ve got those concerns. And as far as coming back, if they do come back and they could come back together with heavy on the flu and much lighter on, because I really believe we’ll be able to put out the fires, you know, it’s like fires. And we’ve learned a lot, you know, we’ve become very good at this. When you look at what’s happening, when you look at the numbers coming down, a lot of states are in really great shape. You’re going to see a lot of openings. But I’ll be speaking to the Governor of Georgia in a little while.

Speaker 18: (48:47)
Mr. President, do the American people need to be prepared for going back to social distancing even if things lax over summer come to fall, if the virus comes back [crosstalk 00:49:00]-

Well, I can see them and I’ll speak for the doctor, and if you’d like either of you to say, but I would say that you keep away until this thing is gone. It’s going to be gone at some point. It’s going to be gone gone, and I would say you keep away and you do the social distancing until such time as you know it’s gone. We’ll know when that time is.

Speaker 13: (49:18)
Your executive order is to last for 60 days. How will you decide whether to extend it? [crosstalk 00:49:23]

Well, I look at the economy. We’ll see where we are with the economy basically, and I think I’ll have a very easy decision to make. I hope that the economy is going to be great by that time, but we’ll see. But right now in light of the fact that Americans are out of jobs, I can’t be taken in.

Speaker 13: (49:41)
Will you roll it for another 60 days or-

Well, I could, or I could roll it for 30 days, or I could roll it for much more than 60 days. We’ll have to take a look at the time, but we’ll be looking at 60 days and we’ll see what it is. Yeah, in the back. [crosstalk 00:49:51] I’m sorry, why don’t you go and then you.

Speaker 19: (49:53)
Okay, on the immigration order [inaudible 00:11:59], there was reporting that you may actually sign a second order to even limit more those extensions that you were just talking about. Can you confirm that you are considering?

It could happen if I want, but I won’t be doing it tomorrow. I’ll be signing the primary order and then we have a secondary order that if I want to do that, we’ll make that determination. We can do that. Yeah, we can do that at a little bit different time if we want,

Speaker 19: (50:20)
But that is under consideration of discussing a second order?

Yeah, sure, sure, secondary orders, yeah, please.

Speaker 20: (50:25)
Thank you, Mr. President. I have two questions. One from me and one from a reporter who couldn’t be in the room because of social distancing. [crosstalk 00:50:31] So, my first question is about your immigration order. You campaigned on reducing legal immigration. I remember your speech in Phoenix in 2016 on reducing legal immigration.

Okay, but legal and illegal. But no, I’ve always said you have to come into the country legally. So not legal. What I campaigned on was people just flooding our border and stopping. And by the way, speaking of that, we have 170 miles, almost 170 miles of a very powerful border wall up, and it’s moving rapidly, very quickly, and it’s having a tremendous impact, and it’s making our job a lot easier. Plus, Mexico has 27,000 soldiers right now on our southern border that we share with them and Mexico has been terrific. They’ve really helped.

Speaker 20: (51:17)
You also campaigned on reducing legal immigration, and I’m wondering if some critics are saying that you are using the virus now in this crisis to follow through on that promise to reduce legal immigration.

No. No. Well, I want people that are in this country, I want our citizens to get jobs. I don’t want them to have competition. We have a very unusual situation where something came in that nobody has seen for many, many decades, probably 1917 would be the closest analogy. If you look at it, when you look at the contagion, the kind of contagion we’re talking about. So no, I’m not doing that at all. I want the American worker and the American citizens to be able to get jobs. I don’t want them to compete right now. There’s a big difference when we have a full economy and frankly where some of the companies, we have many companies moving in, where they need actually, they need workers. That’s a big difference between that and where all of a sudden a lot of people lose jobs.

Speaker 20: (52:16)
As you know, a lot of farmers rely on seasonal migrant workers [crosstalk 00:52:19].

Well, that’s not going to be affected. That’s an important point. [crosstalk 00:52:21] The farmers will not be affected. Yeah, that’s very important point. I mean, it’s a great point actually. I’m glad you brought it up. No, the farmers will not be affected. [crosstalk 00:52:33] They’ve had cases where they stopped everybody from coming in and all the farmers went out of business. They were literally out of business. You remember that, Brett, it was not so long ago. It’s easy, you know, it’s easier to stop everything cold than it is to plan it so that the farmers have the people that have been working in those farms for many years, and that’s what we’re doing. No, the farmers will not be affected by this at all. If anything, we’re going to make it easier, and we’re doing a process that’ll make it better for those workers to come in to go to the farm where they’ve been for a long time.

Speaker 20: (53:04)
Now, for a question from our reporter who is out of the room is from the Washington Times, Tom Howell. Why hasn’t the CDC, the federal government’s main disease fighting agency, had a more public facing role amid the pandemic if it was holding regular media calls early on but has not held one since early to mid-March?

Well, I can tell you that the CDC has been terrific. We’ve worked with them very closely. They were very much involved, even in the border decision that I made last night, and the Director’s doing a good job, and we have always, whether it’s Tony or Deborah or Steve, we have always a lot of people up, and certainly as you’ve seen, the Director has been here a lot. Right? He’s been here, has been sitting here. He’s been speaking a lot. No, no, CDC is very much involved in everything we’ve done. [crosstalk 00:53:55]

Speaker 21: (53:57)
The Director of the CDC said the protests against stay at home orders are not helpful. You’ve encouraged some of these protests. What are your thoughts on the CDC Director saying that these protests are not a good idea?

Well, people, look, it’s not a question of helpful or not, people want to get back to work and I’ve watched some of the protests, not in great detail, but I seen that, and they’re separated, they’re a lot of space in between. I mean, they’re watching, believe it or not. They’re doing social distancing if you can believe it, and they are, and they’re protesting, but the groups I’ve seen have been very much spread out, so I think that’s good. Look, people, they want to get back to work. They got to make a living. They have to take care of their family. They don’t want to do this. It’s unfortunate maybe one way or the other. Both are unfortunate. Both are unfortunate, but you have a lot of people out there that are anxious to get back. Yeah, please.

Speaker 22: (54:49)
[inaudible 00:54:49] seem to be indicating that people are actually more concerned, more people are concerned about the virus spread and they don’t want to go out. They don’t want to go to work. They don’t want to go outside.

They’re two groups. They’re big groups, both of them.

Speaker 22: (55:01)
So my questions is, what good is it for these businesses that would reopen if the customers are afraid to go outside?

Well, at the same time, we have to build back our country, and I’m going to make our country bigger and better and stronger, and we have to get started. There’s a big difference though because people have really been through a lot, and they understand what to do now. Before, nobody had ever heard of a thing like this. Wouldn’t you say? I mean, nobody ever heard of a thing like this distancing, social distancing. What does that mean? Washing your hands every 15 minutes. What does that mean? I mean, people had never seen or heard about anything like this. Now they really are. Not only have they done it, but they’ve done a good job of it. But you have people, you can’t break the country.

At some point you have to go back. Now hopefully the governors are going to do, because I want the governors, and I’ve always wanted that. You could call it federalism. You can call it whatever you want, but the governors, I want them to do it. If we see them doing something we don’t like, we’ll stop it very quickly, but they’re doing a good job. They’re being careful. Some of the governors, frankly, they’re in a position where they can do it sooner or they can do a little bit later and that’s okay, but people, they need money. They need help, and we can’t break our country over this. We can’t do it. We have to get going. With that being said, some are going to go soon and some are not. Yeah, in the back please.

Speaker 22: (56:25)
If I might just, pardon me, hair salons, nail salons, tattoo parlors. Dr. Birx, can you weigh in on this because the people of Atlanta want to hear from you as well, as much as they want to hear from their Governor.

Yeah, I think you can respond.

Speaker 22: (56:39)
How do you safely have hair salons and nail salons and tattoo parlors where people-

Where is it at?

Speaker 22: (56:48)
This is in Georgia, where people have to inherently be close together.

Dr. Birx: (56:50)
I think what I’ve been trying to communicate over the last several days, is it’s really important that the governors and mayors communicate critical information to their communities and show very clearly the data. We remember we wanted this data-

Dr. Birx: (57:03)
… show very clearly the data. Remember, we wanted this data in evidence-based, the data that they utilize to make decisions and the data that the mayor’s should use in each of the communities because it will have to be on a community by community opening because there are different communities in different places, even in Georgia. So I believe people in Atlanta would understand that if their cases are not going down, that they need to continue to do everything that we said. Social distancing, washing your hands, wearing a mask in public. So if there’s a way that people can social distance and do those things, then they can do those things. I don’t know how, but people are very creative.

Dr. Birx: (57:46)
So I’m not going to prejudge but we have told people very clearly and the president guidelines made it very clear about the expectations of phase one. Remember phase one also included social distancing in restaurants, social distancing in every place that was entertainment and keeping your own individual social groups to less than 10. And we’ve been very clear in the guidelines and I think it’s up to the governors and mayors to ensure that they’re following the best they can each of those phases to make sure that both the public is completely protected. But the governors and mayors also need to communicate very clearly on the data that was used for decision making and make that transparent and available to their community.

As an example that you just gave, are they doing testing before they go in? We have to find that out. That’s why I’m speaking to the governor a little while and I’ll be asking him those questions. Please.

Speaker 23: (58:42)
Thank you Mr. President. Just to try to get a sense of what you have left in the toolbox as it relates to oil. You hashed out to deal with OPEC Plus, you’ve ordered for purchases into the SPR. I mean what else can be done?

Well, the biggest thing in the toolbox is to get our country open. That’s by far the biggest thing there is. If we can open pretty well, and I think we’re going to over a period of time, piece by piece puzzle, remember. If we can open well, I think that’s your biggest part by far. That’s where the engine is more important than any other thing that we can work on. Please.

Speaker 24: (59:17)
Thank you, Mr. President. Two New York related questions. In your meeting with Governor Cuomo, was there talk about providing states like New York with aid in the fourth stimulus package? I’m wondering if you have any thoughts on whether that aid should be tied to infection rates. Whether states like New York, New Jersey that have been hardest hit should receive more money and also wondering if you have any thoughts on Mayor Bill de Blasio saying today that he’d like to host a ticker tape parade of sorts once this is all over to honor the healthcare workers [inaudible 00:59:49].

Frankly, that sounds like a good idea to me when it’s all over. It sounds like a great idea. They deserve it. They’re warriors. They’ve done an incredible job. We mentioned briefly the state aid. We talked about that, Governor Cuomo and myself and I agree with him on that and I think most Republicans agree too and Democrats and that’s part of phase four and I think infrastructure is going to be a big part. We have to rebuild our country.

Donald Trump: (01:00:13)
I mean you take a look where we spend and we go over this all the time, but $8 trillion in the Middle East. We want to rebuild our country and that means our bridges, our tunnels, even schools. We’re doing something with schools. We have to do our roadways. What’s happened, we spent so much money on other countries that don’t even, they don’t appreciate it. Okay? They don’t’ appreciate it. We’re going to spend money now on our country and we’re going to have… it’s going to be our jobs and it’s going to be our equipment. Much of it is going to be made here. Hopefully at some point, all of it’s going to be made here. John.

John: (01:00:49)
Mr. President, at that podium back on March 9th, Vice President Pence said that over a million tests had been distributed and then he said, and this is an exact quote, “Before the end of this week, another 4 million tests will be distributed.” As you know now, six weeks later, we still aren’t at 4 million tests. What went wrong with the testing?

[crosstalk 01:01:11] Ready? Are you ready? Again, I’ll say it for the fifth time, we have tested more than any country in the world and some of the countries are very big. Okay, more than any country in the world. We have one of the most successful if you call mortality rates because one person, and I always say that for you in particular, one person is too many. But we’ve done very well our testing. If you add them all up, we’ve tested more. Now, I don’t know what Mike Pence said, but I’m sure he could answer that question.

John: (01:01:44)
He said 4 million tests and we’re six months later we’re not at that point.

Are ready again? We’ve tested more than every country in the world even put together. So that’s all I can say. As far as Mike, he’ll answer your question when he’s here. He’ll be back tomorrow.

Speaker 25: (01:01:59)
I just want to go back to the China deal and the phase one of this China deal. The flight ban is still in place. How confident are you that the Chinese are not going to invoke the natural disaster clause to just wait before getting into there?

Well, we’re going to see. Look, there’s nobody ever been tougher on China than me and that means for 20 years. You go back 20 years. I probably got elected at least partially on the fact that I’ve been very tough. I said China has been ripping us off for years. I’d go into Michigan, I’d go into Pennsylvania, make speeches unrelated to being a politician. I’d be invited. I’d be speaking to people, which I like to do because I love the people. I love the people of this country and I’d make speeches. Nobody. I say, how did you let this happen with China? I even asked the leaders of China how did this ever happen where our country loses tens of billions of dollars a year? And I don’t mean just tens. Take a look, 200 billion, 300 billion, 400 billion, $500 billion a year. How did they ever let a thing like this happen?

Now, if you look at this last year, the deficit went way down and I’m talking about even before, now it’s much different, but a lot of things are happening. Great things were happening except all of a sudden out of nowhere came the invisible enemy and we think we know where it came from and we’ll be talking about that probably a lot, but came the invisible enemy. There’s been nobody tougher than me on China.

Speaker 25: (01:03:38)
You have no guarantee that they are going to go ahead with this phase one.

But if that happens we’ll do a termination and we’ll do what I can do better than anybody. Yeah, please.

Speaker 26: (01:03:47)
[inaudible 01:03:47] about China. Has US intelligence analysts told you that they think that the virus escaped from a Chinese research lab, that it was an [crosstalk 01:03:57]?

Well, I can’t tell you that. Have US intelligence agents told me, I mean, what kind of a question is that?

Speaker 26: (01:04:01)
Do you feel at all [crosstalk 01:04:03]?

Do you want me to tell you? Oh, let me tell you what they told me. Look, they told me plenty. They told me plenty. Bret.

Bret Baier: (01:04:09)
I wanted to follow up on what you said about the small business program. Harvard’s going to pay the money back. How confident are you that you can pull back money for [crosstalk 01:04:17]?

Look, I don’t like when Harvard that has I think a $40 billion endowment or some incredible amount of money that Harvard gets this money. Harvard should pay that money back. I want Harvard to pay the money back. Okay? If they won’t do that, then we will do something else. They have to pay it back. I don’t like it. I don’t like it. This is meant for workers. This isn’t meant for one of the richest institutions, not only far beyond schools in the world. They’ve got to pay it back. I want them to pay it back. Yeah.

Speaker 27: (01:04:48)
Mr. President, your Florida clubs have had to furlough workers.

Yeah, it’s true.

Speaker 27: (01:04:55)
Have you thought about asking your family members to maybe keep some of the workers on the payroll [ inaudible 00:01:05:01]?

Well, in Doral you’re not allowed to have the golf courses open, you can’t have the clubs open, you can’t have anything. It’s a big hotel and resort and I think there’s probably 700, 750 people so you can’t have anything open. And you say, “What are we going to do, have full pay roll and have the whole place with,” there’s no income coming in. First of all, everyone’s home and they’re supposed to be. Second of all, Florida you can’t use golf courses. That one I’m not sure I agree with you. You have parks and golf courses where you have open space, but that’s what it is. So I have others also. Then I have others in different states. I have a lot of different properties. But again, my children run them and I love my children and I wish them well. I look forward to comparing my numbers to my children’s numbers. I think I’ll do better.

Speaker 27: (01:05:59)
You haven’t thought about asking her if [inaudible 00:09:00].

Property is like, you have to close them up and then hopefully when things get better we’ll just open it up. But you can’t have many hundreds of employees standing around doing nothing. There’s no customer. You’re not allowed to have a customer. So in some places it’s very strict. New Jersey’s strict. New York is strict and you have to do what you have to do and it’s too bad. I feel so badly when I say that. I think that it’s a tough policy, but I go by whatever the policy. That’s a state policy in the case of Florida.

Speaker 28: (01:06:42)
You’ve communicated regularly with Kim Jong Un the North Korean leader. Are you going to try to reach out to him to check on his condition?

Look, I just hope he’s doing fine. I mean, I’ve had a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, and that’s to the benefit of the country. That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing. And I’d like to see him be well and we’ll see how he does. Again, I don’t know that the reports are true.

Speaker 28: (01:07:03)
Do they have a line of succession as far as you know?

I don’t want to ask them that. I have asked him that, but it’s my purpose to tell you that in all fairness. But I hope he does well. Please.

Speaker 29: (01:07:18)
[crosstalk 01:07:18] follow up with Dr. Birx for a moment. Dr Birx if you don’t mind, I just wanted to follow up on the question we were asking you about with social distance in some of these states. So with Georgia opening back up, things like tattoo parlors, getting a massage, social distancing maybe there are some creative ways, but it seems very difficult to do social distancing. So do you have a message for people in Georgia who are soon going to have a choice about going to the hair salon or the nail salon or getting that tattoo if they’re not six feet apart and they’re not able to follow these social distancing guidelines? What’s your message to people in a state like Georgia?

Dr. Birx: (01:07:56)
Well, we made it very clear in a message to all of the American people with Opening up America Again the criteria that we wanted states to follow. Those were careful criteria. There were only six. They were carefully, carefully selected in conversations with epidemiologists around the world and with CDC to really pick things that people could understand and use platforms that people have utilized in the past. But it was built on the premise that it needs to be data-driven and it needs to protect those who are most vulnerable. And then it went through the phases and the very first thing it says in all phases, all individuals need to continue to wash hands, protect the vulnerable, ensure the safety of others. But in phase one it made it clear that social distancing was absolutely key and I think it’s on the White House website and we ask every American to read it and do use that as their guidelines.

Dr. Birx: (01:08:57)
Now we’ve also asked governors to create county level information so that communities can see the information and understand why they may be different than a different county so that it’s very transparent and understandable. I had a question here a couple of days ago on a Jacksonville beach and Jacksonville is dramatically different than Miami and I think that was reflected in why Jacksonville had a different set of information and regulations. So I’m not going to second judge anyone about their decision making. What I’m going to say is we were very clear in what we really believe protects the safety of Americans and that is clearly laid out in the Opening up America Again.

Speaker 30: (01:09:44)
I have a question because we got data from Tokyo, an increase of cases and a double of the cases in Singapore. We’ve been looking a lot at Europe after China and then we’re back into this area of the world. Here we’re talking about a plateau and then cases going up. Any lessons to take out of what’s happening in this area in Asia after [inaudible 01:10:11] been put our attention somewhere else first of all?

The lesson is to be careful. We’ve got to be very careful. We don’t want that to happen. It could happen. I think we’d stamp it out if it does happen. We’re not going to be doing any mass closings I hope, so I think we could. I’d call them some burning embers and we put them out and I think we’ve gotten very good at that. But we’ll see. But we don’t want that to happen. No, absolutely.

Speaker 30: (01:10:39)
Are you concerned Mr. President, once the reopening happen, we won’t need to go back into reclosing?

I don’t want to do that. You don’t want to do that. Nobody in this room wants to do that. You look forward, I think Bret, very soon, and John sitting next to a lot of your fellow reporters, right? The room seems so empty this way, but it’s one of those things. Yeah. Go ahead, please.

Speaker 32: (01:11:02)
Mr. President, thank you. On the topic of public support for your immigration treaties, an Ipsos USA Today poll just came out and found 80% of Americans are supportive of the immigration halt, the temporary freeze.

Yes, I know that.

Speaker 32: (01:11:19)
Did public support have any effect on your decision making here and are you surprised by those numbers?

Yeah, it’s a high number. I did not see that number. I heard there was a poll. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of polls. No, look, I think the American people want to make sure that they have jobs for the American people, not for people that come in, in many cases illegally into our country, so we’re doing that. I don’t know what the numbers are, but I think just common sense tells you that’s where we should be and that’s where the American people want to be and we’re going to build our country back.

And I’m telling you with all of the things that we’re doing and infrastructure which we desperately need, it’s going to be an incredible thing taking place. I think it’s going to be a renaissance and we’re going to have something that will be a lot of people are going to go to work building those roads and bridges and tunnels and highways and all of the other things we’re going to be building and broadband for the Middle West. I mean the farmers haven’t been treated fairly. Let’s face it, the farmers have been treated terribly when it comes to the internet, so we’re going to take care of that. We’re going to make them very happy.

So we’ll see you all tomorrow and we’ll have some interesting things to put out tonight and I appreciate you being here and it’s an honor to have Bret Baier here. I’ve used his slot a lot, John. I’ve used that slot a lot.

Bret Baier: (01:12:33)
[crosstalk 01:12:33] Mr. President.

We want to have your back soon. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody.

Donald Trump Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript April 21

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