Donald Trump Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript August 5

President Donald Trump: (00:00) ... escape China. My administration has enacted $3 trillion in economic relief. It's been very, very successful and you saw that by the numbers that were issued yesterday and the day before as to used car sales and auto production. They've been incredible numbers, actually. Shockingly incredible. We've been negotiating in good faith with Democrat leaders in the house to extend relief payments. We're negotiating right now as we speak and we'll see how that works out. But if Democrat leaders put partisan demands aside, we would reach an agreement very quickly. It would happen very quickly. In the meantime, my administration's exploring executive actions to provide protections against eviction. Eviction is a big problem, very unfair to a lot of people. It wasn't their fault that this virus came from a far away land. As well as additional relief to those who are unemployed as a result of the virus. President Donald Trump: (01:02) Very importantly, I'm also looking at a term limited suspension of the payroll tax. Something that has great support from many, many sides, especially some of our top economists and some people that we have great respect for. So we're looking at a suspension of the payroll tax. The Democrats are primarily interested in a $1 trillion bailout of the poorly run states. We have some states in cities, you know them all. We don't have to go through names. But they've been very poorly run over the years and we can't go along with the bailout money. We're not going to go along with that, especially since it's not COVID related. Earlier today, I met with a great governor. Arizona governor, Doug Ducey, has really done a fantastic job beyond even the COVID situation, which you've been reading about as it pertains to Arizona. A state that is a model for applying a science-based approach to the decreasing cases and hospitalizations without implementing a punishing lockdown. President Donald Trump: (02:14) Arizona's record in reducing the spread of the virus while maintaining hospital capacity and allowing society to continue functioning and functioning very nicely, very successfully is an example that shows how our path forward can work in other states. Arizona has a record and a record really to be proud of. It's reduced the number of daily new cases by over 75%, cut the positivity rate in half and reduced ER visits by two thirds, all the while keeping the economy functioning and functioning really well. When cases surged in June, the vice president and Dr. Burke visited Arizona to consult with Governor Ducey. They had long consultations with Governor Ducey and his staff, and the vice president has been in constant contact ever since. My administration is also collaborating with the state and local officials across the South and Midwest to provide similar guidance. President Donald Trump: (03:22) We had a great relationship with the representatives in Arizona, and it's been such a successful endeavor. The federal government has supplied or delivered more than 400 million pieces of personal protective equipment to Arizona, along with nearly 70,000 vials of remdesivir. We've provided over $18 billion in economic support to Arizona, including more than $8.6 million to support over 80,000 small businesses. So we really have been helping Arizona and it's gotten tremendous results. Our goal is to protect the most vulnerable, increase recovery rates, you know that. It's something so important, and prevent hospital overcrowding all the while avoiding the kind of stringent lockdowns that would inflict substantial suffering. In the phase and this phase of the battle, we have the tools, resources and knowledge to implement a targeted approach, as we race to deliver a vaccine. And we are really working very hard on the vaccine and I think they're doing a fantastic job. President Donald Trump: (04:38) I've been meeting with officials of some of the greatest companies in the world and meeting with scientists. And they're getting very close. If not there, they're getting very close. They're testing. Any proper analysis of infection control measures must take into account the short term and long term public health harms, including deaths caused by a far reaching shutdown. When you shut down, you have many, many things that happen. From suicides, to depression, to drinking, alcohol problems, to drug problems, to problems with marriages. Problems with marriages. You have people confined to their house, their apartment for long periods of time, you cause a lot of problems with that also. Instead, Arizona's adopted the following measures. The governor advised residents to aggressively social distance when possible and maintain strict hygiene. President Donald Trump: (05:34) The state encourage mask use in crowded public places, especially when social distancing is not possible. The governor also exercised his discretion to restrict capacity at indoor locations to limit the possibility of super spreading. It's a big thing. My administration has urged treatments. We got them a lot of treatments and therapies to the state, including nearly 70,000 vials of remdesivir, enough to treat over 11,000 patients. And it's been very successful, I might add. My administration also delivered PPE and point-of-care testing to over 100 Arizona nursing homes. In total, the federal government has provided massive amounts of masks and equipments and gowns, and you know some of those numbers. But Arizona was a very big beneficiary and they very much really appreciated. More than 1000 national guard and medical personnel have also been deployed in Arizona and they've really helped. President Donald Trump: (06:41) They've been terrific and I want to thank them. They have been brave and brilliant, combination of both. We also supported our tribal communities. The tribal communities were hit very, very hard. Governor Ducey and I personally delivered rapid testing systems to the Navajo Nation, which has been really, really in originally bad shape and now getting better and very, very quickly. The Navajo Nation now has one of the highest levels of testing per capita, anywhere in the world. We really worked very hard on the tribal areas and in particular, in this case, the Navajo Nation. They've done incredibly well. Overall, Arizona has conducted over 1.1 million tests, more than the entire nations of Japan, Mexico, and Switzerland. Arizona's per capita testing is higher than Germany, South Korea, France, and Canada, and tribal governments in Arizona have received nearly $1.3 billion for the coronavirus relief fund. President Donald Trump: (07:46) Meanwhile, outdoor dining, limited indoor dining and most of the other businesses in Arizona have remained open and very vibrant. They're doing incredibly well. This is an approach and it's an approach that's been incredibly successful. Arizona's been able to protect high risk population- President Donald Trump: (08:03) Really successful. Arizona's been able to protect high risk populations and quickly bring its outbreak under control without the need to impose overly punitive measures. President Donald Trump: (08:12) Thanks to advances in treating the virus, the fatality rate across all age groups in Arizona is very low. Arizona's scientific and data-driven strategy also preserved hospital capacity, ensuring that those who need care were able to receive it and receive it immediately, very quickly. At the peak, approximately 15% of beds remained available statewide. That was at that peak, with roughly 20% of all occupied beds going to patients hospitalized for the virus. President Donald Trump: (08:46) They kept other things going. They kept other forms of operations going. They kept elective surgery going, did a really amazing job. Today, only 6% of the current hospitalizations in the state are related to the China virus. President Donald Trump: (09:02) Arizona's also demonstrated success in protecting the state's African American population. Only 5% of patients hospitalized were African American, and African Americans represent just 2% of all deaths from the virus. President Donald Trump: (09:17) As it has worked to contain its outbreak, Arizona has also been formulating a plan to get children safely back to school as soon as possible. We want our schools open all over the country. We want our schools open. Arizona has worked very hard on this and they're doing very well. The Department of Education is providing Arizona schools with $625 million. They're working very hard, and that's in conjunction with CARES funding. President Donald Trump: (09:46) My administration is actively working with other States in the same way we worked with Arizona. In recent weeks, members of the coronavirus taskforce have visited over 15 states to encourage them to follow our path forward, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio. And I'll be going to Ohio tomorrow. I look forward to it very much. It's a great place and a great state with an excellent governor. And we look forward to being there tomorrow. Next week, Dr. Birx will be visiting Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. President Donald Trump: (10:21) And also, I believe they're trying to get in West Virginia. A great place, a great state. And I'm sure that will happen because we'd like it to happen. They'd like to see her. So we're going to try very hard to get the doctor to West Virginia in addition to those states to deliver aggressive, tailored and targeted guidance. President Donald Trump: (10:39) The strategy we're taking to these states will protect those at highest risk, while allowing others at a lower risk to safely resume work and school. If we do this successfully, it can be really something incredible because we're talking about a lot of states. We're talking about many, many states. President Donald Trump: (10:59) It's really great to see also that Florida, we're coming down, it's coming down, and pretty substantially in many locations. And even Miami is starting to come down. Miami was hit very hard. California, likewise, and Texas, likewise, coming down and really starting to be a substantial amount of reduction. President Donald Trump: (11:20) It recognizes that prolonged lockdowns imposed a wide range of serious public health threats, including higher levels of suicide, drug overdoses, and other significant health harms resulting from the depression that we talked about. Social isolation, economic hardship, it's been very tough for those people that are put in a lockdown position for too long. It really has been a very tough and harmful situation for many people. The fact is that these harms are not measured daily here or abroad. It makes them, really, a very serious threat because people don't know exactly what they are and how bad they are. But I think they're very bad. President Donald Trump: (12:04) Going forward, we must continue to remain vigilant in shielding of the elderly and those with underlying conditions. Approximately half of all deaths have occurred in nursing homes and longterm care facilities, which is an incredible number and statistic if you think about it. President Donald Trump: (12:21) I also urge Americans to help us stop the spread of the virus. Practice good hygiene, socially distance, avoid large crowds, and wear a mask where distancing is not possible. It's a patriotic thing to do. If you are sick, isolate yourself, especially from high risk family members and friends. So important, isolate yourself from high risk family members and friends if you're not feeling well. President Donald Trump: (12:49) Together, we will defeat the virus and emerge from this safer and stronger than ever. Thanks to the robust federal action in partnership with state and local leaders, new cases of the virus are declining in 80% of the jurisdictions, which is an incredible number. And the overall test positivity rate has declined by 8% since last week. Zero states have seen outbreaks get worse since yesterday. So zero states. President Donald Trump: (13:19) We're also continuing to make progress in the development of a vaccine. This is something so important. Also, therapeutics are on the front burner. We're having tremendous... I think. We'll let you know very soon. I think long before the end of the year. We're having tremendous success on therapeutics and tremendous success on vaccines, and we're ready to deliver them literally as soon as they are okayed. President Donald Trump: (13:46) This morning, my administration approved $1 billion for Johnson & Johnson, who's been working very hard in the [inaudible 00:13:52] have something very special, to manufacture and distribute 100 million doses of a China virus vaccine as soon as one is available. And again, we think that's going to be soon and we think we're going to have the vaccines before the end of the year, maybe long before the end of the year. President Donald Trump: (14:09) Finally, today, I'm pleased to announce that the Department of Justice has issued $35 million in grants to 73 organizations nationwide, providing assistance to human trafficking victims. A terrible thing. You think of human trafficking as being an ancient form of crime. It's not because of the internet. It's a very modern crime all over the world. Not just here, all over the world, human trafficking. It's usually in women or women and children. But it's, again, because of the internet. It's a terrible situation. Never been like this. President Donald Trump: (14:46) And also, survivors who have faced heightened dangers during the pandemic, it's actually increased during the pandemic. I guess some reasons are obvious and some reasons are less obvious, but human trafficking, we're working very, very strongly. The wall is up to 277 miles right now. And it's going up. By the end of the year, it'll be largely finished shortly after the end of the year. And it's had a tremendous impact, a very positive impact on human trafficking. Unbelievable impact actually. My administration will never rest in our fight against the human trafficking [inaudible 00:07:23]. It's one of the most horrific of crimes, and we worked very hard on that. President Donald Trump: (15:29) With that, we'll take some questions. Please? Speaker 1: (15:31) Two quick questions. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, you said that voting by mail is an invitation to fraud. Could you lay out and tell us exactly where the evidence is right now that mail-in ballots in Nevada and other states will lead to widespread fraud? President Donald Trump: (15:45) Well, if you read, even The Washington Post had a terrible story on a mail-in, and The New York Times, and many newspapers have had terrible stories. You see them all over the internet. They've had some just horrible stories on mail- in ballots. You look at Arizona, you don't even have- President Donald Trump: (16:03) ... mail-in ballots. You look at Arizona, you don't even have to have ... as you know, they have a provision where they don't have to check signatures. You sign it, and you could have a totally different signature. It's okay. It won't be approved. They have the right to go seven days after the election for approval, so you're not even going to know who won the state of Nevada. Speaker 2: (16:19) I just wanted to point out we did call Nevada's Secretary of State's Office Election Division, and the spokeswoman there said that that simply isn't true, Mr. President. And that Nevada will continue to check ballot signatures against voter registration cards. It's done at the county level. President Donald Trump: (16:33) Okay, but that's not what they said when they approved it. They said they're not going to check signatures. They're not going to be able to. And their machinery, which is old, doesn't allow them to. It's going to be physically impossible for them to do that, especially in a short period of time. President Donald Trump: (16:47) In addition, you have the November 3rd election, and they're allowed to count votes until seven days after the election. What does that mean? If Nevada, which is a big state and a great state ... a state I like very much, and I think we're going to do very well there. Are we going to wait a week after November 3rd if it comes down to Nevada, which it could very well? I don't think so. I don't think it's appropriate. President Donald Trump: (17:11) With all of the bundling that you're going to have, with the harvesting you're going to have, with people being sent ballots all over that have maybe nothing to do with the state anymore, it's a terrible thing. In New York, they had the Carolyn Maloney situation, and I criticized it badly over the last two years and two days. I mean, I gave it some very, very strong criticism. And all of a sudden like a miracle, they just approved the winner. Well, what happened? Did the person that was second concede the race, even though it was very close and all mixed up? President Donald Trump: (17:47) They have a terrible situation in New York with the ballots. You know that. And as soon as I said, "Well, I think you should have a new election," because the election ... obviously, they're not going to know what to do. "I think you should have a new election." They all of a sudden announced a winner. I assume it was her, but they announced a winner. Well, I don't agree with it. Did somebody speak to the person on the other side, the opponent? Did they do something for the opponent on the other side? Take a look at Patterson, New Jersey. Take a look at many things. It's all over newspapers what's going on with the mail-in ballots. President Donald Trump: (18:21) They send out millions of ballots. Millions of ballots. They're totally unprepared to do it, and then they come back in the millions. It's going to be a disaster. I'm doing our country a big favor by bringing it up. And from a common stance or even common sense standpoint, if you look at it just out of common sense and pure, basic, beautiful intelligence, you know it can't work. Now, Florida's worked very hard for years and years in developing a system, and I'm sure they probably have problems also. President Donald Trump: (18:55) But absentee ballots are different than mail-in ballots. What you call universal mail-in ballots. So much different. You have to apply for it. You have to do different things, and it's a much better system, and it's a system that can be reasonably accurate. But there's no system like going to the poll and voting. I would like to find out why all of a sudden out of nowhere in the midst of all of this grief, why is it that they approve the New York race ... Why you asked that question? Speaker 2: (19:23) There's no evidence of widespread voter fraud. [crosstalk 00:19:25] President Donald Trump: (19:26) Oh, really? Well, then you're reading a different newspaper than me. Go ahead, please. [crosstalk 00:19:32] Go ahead, please. [crosstalk 00:19:32]. Go. Speaker 3: (19:33) Sir, you said in an interview this morning on the coronavirus, this thing's going away. It will go away like things go away, despite ongoing cases and death. Isn't that- President Donald Trump: (19:42) It's going away. Speaker 3: (19:43) Isn't that [crosstalk 00:19:43] reality? President Donald Trump: (19:44) It's going away now. It'll go away. Things go away. Absolutely. No question in my mind. It will go away. Please. Go ahead. [crosstalk 00:19:53] Hopefully sooner rather than later. Speaker 4: (19:54) Mr. President, do you praise Governor's Ducey's handling of the epidemic? In his state, one of the things that he did was delay the start of public schools opening. Is that a model that governors and states experiencing hotspots should do as the beginning of school does [inaudible 00:04:10]. President Donald Trump: (20:09) Well, I'd like to see the schools open. I think many of the schools ... most of the schools will be open. I can say that Republican areas want to see them open, and the Democrats probably want to keep them closed until after November 3rd, because they think it's good for them politically. I actually don't think it's good for them politically. Parents want the schools open. We want them open. We want them open safely. We're going to practice very strong hygiene, and all of the other things that I've enumerated many times. But we want to see the schools open. Speaker 4: (20:40) ... states to follow Governor's Ducey's model. And what part of that model was- President Donald Trump: (20:44) No, not his model. I just think he's done a very good job. I mean, he's really done a great job. You look at the numbers, you look at how it's dropped, and very rapidly he's done a great job. He's a great governor. Please Speaker 5: (20:53) From an interview this morning, Mr. President, you were talking about opening the schools and you said children are virtually immune from COVID-19. But children have contracted this virus, and some have died from it. President Donald Trump: (21:02) I'm talking about from getting very sick. If you look at children, I mean, they're able to throw it off very easily. It's an amazing thing. Because some flus, they don't. They get very sick, and they have problems with flus and they have problems with other things. But for whatever reason, the China virus, children handle it very well. And they may get it, but they get it and it doesn't have much of an impact on them. If you look at the numbers, the numbers in terms of mortality fatality, the numbers for children under a certain age ... meaning young, their immune systems are very, very strong. They're very powerful. They seem to be able to handle it very well, and that's according to every statistic. Speaker 6: (21:43) Mr. President, at least two people connected to Kanye West's effort to get on the ballot have been connected to the Republican party. Is this- President Donald Trump: (21:51) Whose ballot? Speaker 6: (21:51) Kanye West. President Donald Trump: (21:53) With Kanye? Speaker 6: (21:54) He's getting on the ballot, including in swing states. And as you know, his wife has raised issues about whether he's having mental issues right now. My question to you is- President Donald Trump: (22:01) Kanye West [inaudible 00:22:02]? I don't know that. Who said that? Speaker 6: (22:03) His wife, who said that his wife might be going through an episode. President Donald Trump: (22:06) I don't know. I like him. Speaker 6: (22:06) But my question to you is- President Donald Trump: (22:08) I mean, I like him. He's always been very nice to me. Speaker 6: (22:10) Are you aware of- President Donald Trump: (22:11) He's talking about Kanye West. Speaker 6: (22:14) Are you aware of or have you encouraged anyone in the party to help him get on the ballot, including the swing states? President Donald Trump: (22:18) No. Not at all. No, not at all. Other than I get along with him very well ... I like him. I like his wife. His wife recommended certain people as you know, including Alice Johnson as a fantastic woman. But his wife recommended certain people to get out of prison. They were in prison for a long time. A long, long time. It should have never happened. I took what she said very strong ... Kim. Kim Kardashian. She's got a good heart. Very good heart. I like Kanye very much. No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens. We'll see he gets on there, but I'm not involved. Speaker 7: (22:57) Mr. President, I wanted to ask you, the group of Republican senators are backing $25 billion in payroll assistance to keep the airlines ... being able to pay their payrolls. Do you endorse that plan? President Donald Trump: (23:12) What Republican senators are doing- Speaker 7: (23:13) Republican senators want to go ahead with another $25 billion for airlines to keep their payrolls going. President Donald Trump: (23:20) Well, if they need it. Certainly, that's a business ... Some businesses are doing better than they would normally. Obviously, we know what those businesses are. Obviously, the airline business is not doing very well. You have shutdowns all over the world, and you have airlines that are essentially shut down. Some airlines are doing modest ... best they're doing is modest. I think it's very important that we keep the airlines going. They'll be very good times very soon, I hope. We don't want to lose our airlines. If they're looking at that, whether they're Republican or Democrat, I'd be certainly in favor. We can't lose our transportation system. Yes. Go ahead. Speaker 7: (23:54) I'm wanted to ask you to on Beirut. There's been some question about your comments yesterday saying that it was an attack, and that you'd heard from military- Speaker 7: (24:03) ... Saying that it was an attack, and that you'd heard from military officials that there was an explosion that looked like some sort of a bomb? President Donald Trump: (24:09) They don't really know what it was. I can tell you, whatever happened, it's terrible, but they don't really know what it is. Nobody knows yet. At this moment, they're looking. It could have... I mean, how can you say accident? Somebody left some terrible explosive-type devices and things around, perhaps? Perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was an attack. I don't think anybody can say right now. We're looking into it very strongly. Right now, you have some people think it was an attack, and you have some people that think it wasn't. President Donald Trump: (24:38) In any event, it was a terrible event. A lot of people were killed and a tremendous number of people were badly wounded, injured. We're standing with that country. We have a very good relationship with that country, but it's a country under a lot of turmoil, a lot of problems, but we stand with them. Speaker 8: (24:59) Thank you. You said earlier today that you are considering using the White House as the venue for your nomination speech. Senator John Thune questioned whether or not that's actually legal given the Hatch Act. Is this something that you would get clearance for before proceeding? President Donald Trump: (25:13) John Thune did. Right? The Republican John Thune? President Donald Trump: (25:16) Oh. Okay. Well, it is legal. There is no Hatch Act because it doesn't pertain to the president. If I use the White House, we save tremendous amounts of money for the government in terms of security, traveling. If we go to another state or some other location, the amount of money is very enormous. That's something to consider also. I think it would be a very convenient location that would be by far the least expensive location. There would be very little in terms of that tremendous traveling, security with airplanes and everybody flying all over the place. I think it would be a very convenient idea, it's something that we threw out. It would be very cost conscious by comparison to any other location. Yeah, please. Speaker 9: (26:02) Your son, Don Jr., tweeted yesterday asking you to direct the EPA to reject the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It's a giant copper and gold mine. The thinking is that- President Donald Trump: (26:18) Reject it in what way? Speaker 9: (26:19) Reject its construction. The Army Corps of Engineers two weeks ago suggested it would be okay to proceed with the project, but sportsmen like your son are saying that it would be harmful for fisheries. President Donald Trump: (26:32) Well, I'd listen to both sides. I don't know of the argument yet, but I would certainly listen to both sides. My son has some very strong opinions. He is very much of an environmentalist and he was very impressed with what we did yesterday because that's one of the great environmental bills, and beyond that, ever signed since, well, I guess over a hundred years. If you think about it, it's been a long time. President Donald Trump: (26:57) I will look at both sides of it. I had heard about it. I understand they're going to be doing a briefing sometime over the next 48 hours. It's going to go very quickly. I've done a lot for Alaska. I love Alaska. It's a special place. ANWR was one thing. The highway, curved highway or whatever the new name is, whatever the old name is. We're getting approvals for a tremendous highway that's been sought for. 40 years, they've been trying to get it approved, and I'm getting it approved. We've done a lot for Alaska. It's a special place. I'll take a look at that. It's interesting. Yeah, please. Go ahead. Speaker 10: (27:35) Thank you Mr. President. Two brief questions. First, your administration has praised ambulance drivers and the ambulance service for their role in dealing with the Coronavirus. Recently, there has been scuttlebutt that the ambulance associations' drivers and all have not been fully reimbursed for the work they're doing. They said they are owed $2.89 billion, and they've only received 300 million from the Provider Relief Fund. President Donald Trump: (28:09) Not 300 billion, no. Not 300... Speaker 10: (28:12) ... Million. President Donald Trump: (28:13) You mean 300 million? Speaker 10: (28:14) ... At the Provider Relief Fund at HHS, are you going to look into this or-? President Donald Trump: (28:20) I just heard of it for the first time. The ambulance people have done an incredible job, as have the doctors, the nurses, the frontline workers. Law enforcement has been incredible. The military, FEMA, I could name almost every group. I can't tell you of a group that's done poorly, but the ambulance people have done a... It's a tough job too. Very dangerous job, very tough job. I will certainly look in. You're telling me something, that, for the first time. Nobody is complaining about not getting paid too much, but we'll take a look at the ambulance drivers. Speaker 10: (28:56) The other thing, Secretary Esper said today that based on what he had heard, the incident in Beirut, he felt was an accident. Now, he's disagreed with you on other things before. Do you have any comment about it, he's your man? President Donald Trump: (29:15) If that's what he heard... I've heard it both ways too. I've heard accident, I've heard explosives. Obviously, it must've been some form of explosives. Whether it was a bomb intentionally set off... it ended up being a bomb. No, I've heard it both ways. It could have been an accident, and it could have also been something that was very offensive. I wouldn't be very happy with that. Speaker 10: (29:36) And you have no problem with that? Speaker 11: (29:37) Just a follow-up on that, Mr President. Even if you just have suspicion that the Beirut explosion is a bomb, do you have any plans pertaining to US assets in the region, for example? How are you looking into this? President Donald Trump: (29:50) We're working very closely with the government, and we're working very closely with many different agencies including the military, and we'll be able to figure it out. We already, probably, have figured it out. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. Speaker 11: (30:01) Just a follow-up, Mr. President [crosstalk 00:30:04]- Speaker 12: (30:01) What did you mean when you said, "It is what it is," about a thousand Americans dying a day?