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Thirty-two States to Begin Reopening Procedures; White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany to Give Briefing Today; Live Coverage of White House Press Briefing. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 01, 2020 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- a.m. between those hours. And this is because there are more than a thousand cases of coronavirus in that city of 22,000 people. And there have been more than 200 cases reported over the last couple of days.

So when you do the math on that, it is -- and city officials are concerned that there is no sign of the virus slowing down, the spread of the virus slowing down. And there's also a great deal of concern -- as we've done some reporting on -- in the Gallup, New Mexico area about the toll that it is taking on the medical resources, there in that small community.

So Gallup, New Mexico, just west of the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. It's a bit of a remote area. Not an incredibly small town, but you can imagine, in a place with 22,000 people, that the medical resources are not capable of withstanding the onslaught of so many coronavirus patients.

The governor there and city officials, very concerned about how all of this is unfolding. And that's why they say they're taking these dramatic steps and announcing them today -- Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Got it. Ed, thank you.

We continue on. You're watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin, thank you so much for being with me.

Any moment now, we will bring you the first White House briefing by the president's new press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. Live pictures there, that briefing room, the reporters, ready to roll. By the way, it has been 417 days since a formal briefing with a press secretary at the White House.

And as we wait, at least 32 states are moving ahead with plans to ease some restrictions by the end of the week; yet others are extending their stay-at-home orders.

And just in the last hour, we learned the state of Louisiana is sticking with its order, at least until May 15th, after the largest jump in daily reported cases in nearly three weeks, 710 new infections there in one day. And yet Vermont, which experienced a day without a single new case, just announced it will reopen just -- not some, but many businesses -- next week.

And as states move forward, some governors are met with protestors. And keep in mind, they're not just opposing social distancing, like these armed demonstrators there at the state capital in Michigan. In Georgia, one of the first states to reopen, protestors held a mock funeral procession, saying the governor's choice to reopen will cost lives.

Let's start this hour with my colleague there in California, Nick Watt. And, Nick, you have been covering this growing divide over how various states are reopening. Tell me what's happening specifically with schools? Will kids be able to go back to class any time before the school year ends?

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Probably not, Brooke. Most places, New York just became the 45th state to either order or recommend that there will be no more school this academic year. And Governor Andrew Cuomo said they haven't actually made a decision for the fall because, as he says, the fall is a long time away and boy, does it feel that way.

And as the CDC just reminded us, Brooke, what we do this summer is going to be critical.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (voice-over): This virus might circulate among us for another two years, says one new study, until 60 to 70 percent of us are infected.

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY AT UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: This is going to continue to be a rolling situation throughout the world, not just our country, for these months ahead. So expect many more New Yorks to occur, it's very likely they will.

WATT (voice-over): The U.S. death count doubled these past two weeks. One model from Northeastern University now suggests 100,000 of us will die by mid-summer.

But this morning in Katy, Texas, a line at Snappy's Cafe and Grill. Today, restaurants, movie theaters and malls can reopen in the state at a quarter capacity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beginning to see the beaches open, beginning to see guests on the beach and it's just -- paints for a very optimistic picture for the weekend and for the future.

WATT (voice-over): But up in Dallas County yesterday, nearly 180 new cases, the biggest single-day spike they've seen since all this began.

Opening now under way in at least 32 states, but it doesn't appear any of them meet one of the vague White House guidelines that states have a downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLTERGY AND INFECTOIUS DISEASE: There are some states, some cities or what have you who are looking at that and kind of leap-frogging over the first checkpoint. And, I mean, obviously, you could get away with that, but you're making a really significant risk. I hope they can actually handle any rebound that they see.

WATT (voice-over): A vaccine maybe by January.

WALTER ORENSTEIN, ROLLINS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AT EMORY: If we didn't care about safety, we'd be using these vaccines today.

[14:05:01]

WATT (voice-over): Florida starts its process Monday with restaurants and retail, but the state's three largest and hardest hit counties are excluded.

MAYOR DAN GEIBER (D), MIAMI BEACH, FL: Here in Miami Beach, we can't open at the same speed. You know, a third of the infections, a third of the deaths, 350 deaths are in our county. I don't know that we're going to be able to open up our beaches, really, before June.

WATT (voice-over): In California, Orange County beaches, closed again by the governor after last weekend's crowds --

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We're going to have a temporary pause --

WATT (voice-over): -- which one county supervisor called an act of retribution. Two cities say they'll file injunctions.

Meanwhile, Michigan's governor, in the shadow of armed protestors at the capital, extended her state's stay-at-home order through May 28th. The president, suggesting the governor make a deal with them, tweeting, "These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again."

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY AT UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: If I could pray for one thing right now, I would pray for the kind of leadership that gives us the FDR moments, the fireside chats, the Winston Churchill. This is going to get tough, and we have to bring our country together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: So, some good news. The Mercy, that Navy hospital ship that's been docked here in Long Beach, taking people from Los Angeles-area hospitals to clear capacity for COVID patients, that ship is not taking any more patients. They only ever ended up treating 76 people, so that's good news.

Also, the mayor of Los Angeles, Garcetti, was asked about schools opening in the fall. He's optimistic. He said, We're not going to be throwing the doors wide open, though. Careful steps.

Careful steps, Brooke, that might just become our mantra. Back to you.

BALDWIN: Yes, the new normal come this fall and beyond. Nick Watt, thank you, in Los Angeles.

And any moment now, President Trump's new White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is expected to hold her first briefing since taking the job last month. So CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins is with me now.

And, Kaitlan, 400 -- what was it, 417 days? It was March 11th, 2019, that was the last official full-throttle White House press briefing. I mean, we're grateful for them, you know? A little transparency, please. But, like, why are they doing this now?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we're hoping that this is going to be a regular occurrence, now that there is a new press secretary. Because it has not been since Sarah Sanders was in the job that we saw someone in the formal press secretary role at that podium, taking questions from reporters regularly.

And of course, we saw that she phased them out and then the one person who succeeded her, Stephanie Grisham, did not hold any press briefings during her entire tenure as press secretary.

So now, of course, Kayleigh McEnany has only been on this job for a few weeks, and now she's already holding a briefing. So some people have taken that as a good that this could be more of what's to come.

We should note that it does come after a shift in the president's own briefings because, until this week, he had been regularly holding court inside that room, but he has not taken questions there since last Thursday, when of course there was the fallout over the president's remarks.

And so there's a lot of things for Kayleigh to be asked about today, given what has been going on, the president's comments yesterday about the intelligence he's seen about where this virus originated. And so there are going to be a lot of things that she's pressed on.

We'll be waiting to see if any of the health officials from the coronavirus task force join her at this briefing so far. But this is going to be the first one in 417 days, so it certainly is a remarkable event.

BALDWIN: We will take it as soon as we see her step behind that podium.

Let me ask you this because the president, didn't he just announce that he has some travel plans this summer?

COLLINS: Yes. The president says he is going to be going to Mount Rushmore for a fireworks display on the July Fourth weekend, July 3rd, he says. He's been cleared to go, which of course comes as the president is announcing this plan while we're still wondering, really, what July is going to look like for this country. And what the president's travel schedule is going to look like.

He had talked about this before the pandemic, but now the president says he is standing by those plans as the governor of South Dakota said it's still not totally clear what it's going to look like, but she said they are proceeding with planning that fireworks show.

But more immediately, Brooke, the president is also leaving town today for the first time since March, when he went to Virginia to see off the USNS Comfort, which of course then went to New York.

He's going to Camp David with a small group of aides, including his new chief of staff, Mark Meadows, this weekend, where he's expected to spend the weekend speaking with aides, talking about the coronavirus pandemic and of course, the question is, you know, what the president else is going to do while he's there before coming back to Washington on Sunday.

BALDWIN: All right, Kaitlan, thank you. Hang tight, we'll talk to you on the other side of the briefing, appreciate you.

And just a reminder, Jake Tapper is digging deep on what happened with the U.S. response to COVID-19, so don't miss Jake's CNN special report, "THE PANDEMIC AND THE PRESIDENT." It airs Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Two more years of this? A new report indicates that we might expect to live with the effects of coronavirus for a couple of years. We've got those new details on what to plan for.

[14:10:04]

And I will talk to a man who was treated for coronavirus with the promising new drug here -- drug, I shouldn't say it's new -- remdesivir. We'll talk to him.

And the White House says testing is under control. So why can't doctors, even on Capitol Hill, get enough tests for the senators returning on Monday?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:12:04]

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- the Trump administration will distribute a total of $12 billion in provider relief fund payments to 395 hospitals across the country that have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These hospitals have collectively cared for over 70 percent of the 184,000 Americans that required hospital in-patient care. $10 billion of the $12 billion will go...

towards hospitals treating 100 or more COVID-19 admissions.

HHS is distributing an additional $2 billion to these 395 hospitals in proportion to the amount of care they provide to low income and uninsured patients. This is consistent with our effort to ensure that Americans who need federal government assistance the most receive it.

We'll be releasing a breakdown of the states receiving this funding and the counties receiving this funding before your awareness. New York, New Jersey and Illinois received the most funding by state, while New York, New York, Bronx, New York and Cook, Illinois received the most funding by county as determined by our metrics.

Our health care providers, as President Trump has repeatedly acknowledged, are our heroes as we work to defeat the invisible enemy. This relief funding will help these heroes defeat this virus. In reacting to CARES relief, I love what this one provider said. He said "thank you and God -- thank you and God for this relief. I have tears in my eyes out of gratitude for these funds. Thank you so, so, so much."

Additionally, 100 flights, as part of Project Airbridge, have been completed to date. These flights have expedited nearly one billion pieces of PPE for our health care heroes.

The third phase of coronavirus relief also included $320 billion in additional funding for the paycheck protection program, which as you all know, provides forgivable loans to small businesses in order to keep their employees on payroll.

This program has been extraordinarily successful during the first round of PPP loans -- 1.6 million loans were issued to small businesses. Of those 1.6 million loans, one million of them were given to companies with 10 or fewer employees, so it has gone to small businesses and businesses that need it most.

With the PPP, look, it's not just another government program. This is supporting every day Americans who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves in this predicament. We saw this firsthand at the White House on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, President Trump welcomed small business owners and employees to the White House. These small businesses received PPP loans which helped them pay their employees during the pandemic. Bitty & Beau's was among the small businesses welcomed to the White House.

Bitty & Beau's employees 120 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It's a coffee shop not too far away from here. Bitty & Beau's had to temporarily close its doors but because of PPP loans, Bitty & Beau's was able to rehire all of its employees.

[14:15:00]

I have the real honor of getting to meet Michael Heup. He's one of the employees at Bitty's and -- Bitty & Beau's and he offered some words of encouragement to our country and they really touched my heart and I think they'll touch the heart of the -- of America, if you guys wouldn't mind playing those remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HEUP: ... you, President Trump and Ivanka, thanks so much for inviting us. Thank you, Mr. President, for having us. I love my job and I am excited about going back to work. At Bitty & Beau's, we like to use the phrase called "not broken." That means me and all my amazing coworkers are not broken, and we have lots to offer. I know the great country of the United States isn't broken, either. So on behalf of myself, Megan and Amy and all the employees of Biddy & Beau's, thank you for inviting us over. You guys are our family. Love you guys.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCENANY: Michael's an incredible young man. I gave him a call yesterday and asked him what he was up to, and he said he and his fellow employees were literally hand-writing notes to put in with their coffee packages that they send out to consumers. And I received one of these notes from another company and it really does put a smile on your face. And Michael's doing that each and every day.

And Biddy and Beau's, they represent the hope and opportunity that is on the horizon for America's workers as their body -- their -- their business, rather, embodies the American spirit. Workers like Michael show that this country is not broken, and that we will recover together.

Michael, thank you. You're an American hero. Thank you for sharing that message of hope.

And with that, I'll take questions. John?

QUESTION: Kayleigh, if I could, welcome to the podium for the first time...

MCENANY: Thank you.

QUESTION: ... as well.

The markets are down substantially today after the president yesterday suggested in the East Room that he might use tariffs to punish China over the coronavirus. Is -- is there any serious consideration being given to putting new tariffs on China, or -- or was the president just spit-balling yesterday?

MCENANY: Look, I won't get ahead of any announcements from the president, but I will echo the president's displeasure with China. It's no secret that China mishandled this situation. Just a few examples for you: They did not share the genetic sequence until a professor in Shanghai did so on his own. The very next day, China shut down his lab for, quote, "rectification". They slow-walked information on human-to-human transmission alongside the World Health Organization, and didn't let U.S. investigators in at a very important time. So we take displeasure with China's actions, but I certainly won't get ahead the president with those announcements.

QUESTION: Is -- is the president seriously considering forcing China to pay some sort of compensation, reparations -- what -- whatever word you want to put on it?

MCENANY: Again, when it comes to retaliatory measures, I will not get ahead of the president on that. (CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Thank you, Kayleigh, and welcome to the podium...

MCENANY: Thank you.

QUESTION: ... as well. The president said yesterday that he has a high degree of confidence that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, and yet, his own intelligence agencies say they're still investigating. So does the president have information, and has he drawn a conclusion that the intelligence community has not yet?

MCENANY: Look, the president's statement is consistent with the other intelligence assessments. While we continue to have very limited and dubious data from China, current assessments indicated that President Trump's statement is consistent with what some analysts believe is the epicenter of where the virus began. And I would note that intelligence statement you're referring to really made two points: one, that this virus originated in China; two, that it began through contact with infected animals or was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan. So I consider that consistent with what the president said -- that he's seen intelligence suggesting it could be in the Wuhan laboratory.

Yes?

QUESTION: He seemed to lean into the idea that this started in a laboratory, whereas the statement that we saw from the DNI said, "We're still investigating those two options" that you just laid out. Is the president in any way creating mixed messages by not saying, "We're still investigating"?

MCENANY: No, you know, let me remind everyone, intelligence is just an estimate, essentially, and it's up to policymakers to decide what to do with that intelligence. This -- in this case, the policymaker is the president of the United States, and he'll make that decision at the right time.

Steve?

QUESTION: Is the president any close to deciding what to do about China? Has he -- has he received any recommendations of -- of the consequences? Is he anywhere near a decision?

MCENANY: Look, again, I won't get ahead of the president's decision or the timing of that decision, but he takes this very seriously because the decisions of China that I referenced slow-walking some of that information, put American lives at risk. And rest assured, this president has one priority and that is the safety and the wellbeing of American lives.

QUESTION: Thanks so much, Kayleigh, welcome. Since it's been more than 100 days since a press secretary stood up there, I wanted to get a better sense of what your plan is. Are you planning to do these on a daily basis at this point?

And also, will you pledge never to lie to us from that podium?

MCENANY: I will never lie to you, you have my word on that.

As to the timing of the briefings, we do plan to do them. I will announce timing of that, forthcoming, but we do plan to continue these.

[14:20:00]

John (ph)?

QUESTION: Welcome to the -- to the podium. A question for you about Project Warp Speed. Can you give us some more details? The president said, ultimately, he's in charge of this project, but will there be a day-to-day point person on this? What's the budget for this project? And when can the American people realistically expect that there will be a vaccine available to everybody?

MCENANY: Well, there is a day-to-day point person, and that's the president of the United States, President Trump. And with regard to vaccines, I would note the words of Dr. Fauci, which are these: "Going into a phase one trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionable, the world indoor record. Nothing has ever gone this fast."

So what the president is doing, and under the president's leadership, we're in phase one, faster than ever before, according to Dr. Fauci. And that should encourage the American people.

QUESTION: In the budget, in the budget -- and then there's really no other point person? I mean, I know the president ultimately, I guess the buck stops with the president but he hasn't put somebody on the staff?

MCENANY: I'm not -- yeah, I'm not going to get into any details as to exactly how that works. But just rest assured, we're on an accelerated pace to a vaccine, at least for this phase one portion of clinical trials.

QUESTION: The budget (ph)?

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: Yes.

QUESTION: Thanks. The Fed, yesterday, took an action that appeared designed to allow oil companies to access their lending (ph) facilities, so I'm wondering if the president has spoken to Chairman Powell about this, if he's happy about the move? And if the White House is considering any additional assistance to the oil (ph)?

MCENANY: So I won't get into the president's personal discussions, but I would just note that the president is always looking out for the nearly 11 million American workers in the oil industry. I would also note that we're filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right now, and we'll buy 75 million barrels. So that's the only announcements I have on the oil front today.

Yes, hello (ph)?

QUESTION: Thank you, Kayleigh. The president tweeted, this morning, about the protests in Michigan. He essentially said that the governor of Michigan should work with the protesters, he called them very good people and said that they are very angry.

Some of those protests, I'm sure you saw, included heavily armed protesters, members of militia groups. I wonder if the president was speaking about those specific members who stormed the capital in Michigan, when he was talking about very good people.

MCENANY: Look, the president was referencing generally that, in this country, you have a First Amendment right to protest. I think that's something we all treasure here, and we should, rightfully. You have a right to do that constitutionally, but you must protest within the bounds of the law. He encourages everyone to protest lawfully. And also to engage in our social distancing guidelines, which we think all Americans should engage in.

QUESTION: Do you have any response to just the imagery of, you know, people with long guns essentially storming the capital, going in to face off with police officers and intimidating, in some ways, some of the lawmakers?

MCENANY: Again, the president says, you know, that we must protest lawfully and act within the bounds of the law.

Yes?

QUESTION: Thank you for being here. When the president says we did a spectacular job, or when Jared Kushner's -- talks about a great success story, some Americans see it as a lack of empathy. What's -- do you understand their reaction?

MCENANY: Look, you know, Jared Kushner has, first of all, done a great job for this administration. And what I would say to that is that his -- when he talked about a success story, he was talking about the story of this administration, which is a story of mobilization for the American people, the greatest mobilization of American industry since World War II.

Of course we grieve for every American life that has been lost, but we want the American people to be confident in the response of this administration, and that is what he was referring to.

The fact that, in the average year, the health care industry uses 25 million N95 masks, and we have delivered, in this short time, 75 million N95 masks, more than three times what the health care sector uses in a year. That's extraordinary. It's extraordinary that, you know, some in the media were saying that we needed a million ventilators, and this president has -- we haven't -- we've needed far short of that so far, not a single American has died for lack of a ventilator. And the fact that this president can look the American people in the eye and say, I am producing 100,000 ventilators this year, alongside the private sector? A hundred thousand ventilators, that's three times what we produce in the average year: I'd consider that a great success on behalf of the American people.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: It's more about the tone than the policy itself.

MCENANY: We want to give the American people confidence that they have a federal government that is doing everything in our power to provide the necessary equipment to combat this invisible enemy. We grieve for the American lives, we've said that repeatedly. I will echo that today, my heart breaks for those. I pray regularly for those who are affected by the coronavirus.

But we're going to give confidence to the American people that you have a federal government, under President Donald Trump, that's going to step up and give the greatest mobilization of the private sector since World War II.

Yes?

QUESTION: Thank you so much, Kayleigh, thanks for being here. President Trump mentioned the situation in Brazil a few times this week. Besides talks of cutting off flights from Brazil, are there talks of -- in terms of sending assistance to Brazil, sending PPE or ventilators to Brazil? And is President Trump planning to talk with President Bolsonaro?

[14:25:30]

MCENANY: Well, the president has mentioned that he has sent ventilators around the world. Any excess supply, we certainly look to help other countries. But, you know, in terms of a specific announcement regarding Brazil, I don't have any new information for you on that front today.

QUESTION: How...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... Kayleigh, welcome. One of the most important parts of your job, though, is to have access to the president. Can you give us some indication -- since you've been named press secretary -- what kind of access do you have to the president to get what he's thinking and relay it to us?

MCENANY: Yeah, I could tell you this. I'm around the president almost the entire day, I was just with him before I left to come out and speak with you guys. I think my staff can attest to the fact that they have a very hard time finding me because I'm normally with the president in the Oval Office.

So I'm consistently with him, absorbing his thinking and it's my mission to bring you the mindset of the president, deliver those facts so this president gets fair and accurate reporting, and the American people get fair and accurate information.

Yeah?

QUESTION: Thanks, Kayleigh. Just following up on Christian's (ph) question, China's blocking the World Health Organization from coming in and investigating how this started. Shouldn't external investigators be allowed into Wuhan to determine, one, how the pandemic started and, two, maybe a way that we could expedite finding a cure for this thing?

MCENANY: Look, you know, there's no secret that China stopped U.S. investigators from coming in. It was of paramount importance that we got into China in an expedited fashion, and that didn't happen.

With respect to the World Health Organization, they have some questions of their own to answer. The United States, as the president has emphasized, provides about $400 million to $500 million per year to the WHO, compared to China at roughly $40 million a year.

But, yeah, the WHO appears to have a very clear China bias. I mean, you look at this timeline and it's really damning for the WHO, when you consider the fact that, on December 31st, you had Taiwanese officials warning about human-to-human transmission. The WHO did not make that public.

On January 9th, the WHO repeated China's claim that the virus, quote, "Does not transmit readily between people," that was quite apparently false.

MCENANY: On January 14th, the WHO, again, repeated China's talking points about no human-to-human transmission. They praised China's leadership on the 22nd of January. On the 23rd they said -- and this is incredible -- the pandemic didn't represent a public health emergency of international concern.

And even on February 29th, you have the WHO saying that when the coronavirus was spreading around the world, they -- they chose to put -- put -- excuse me -- political correctness first by opposing life- saving travel restrictions, the travel restrictions this president put in place, the travel restrictions that Dr. Fauci praised as saving lives. And you have the World Health Organization opposing a measure that saved American lives. That's unacceptable, especially at a time when the U.S. was providing $400 million to $500 million.

Josh (ph)?

QUESTION: Kayleigh, this time last week the president was saying that he was not happy with Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, for beginning the re-opening process in the way that he was, at the time that he was.

A week later, there have been some peaks and valleys in new cases in Georgia, but overall the trend line is down. Do you know what the president's thinking about the Georgia re-opening as -- as of today? MCENANY: The president -- the president is resolute in saying that the states take the lead here. It's the -- the lead -- the decision of governors to decide what is best for their state.

That being said, you know, I -- I've talked to the experts, I talked to Dr. Birx, I talked to Dr. Fauci and they say, rightfully so, this president has always sided on the side of data, which is why he encourages all states to follow the data-driven guidelines to re- opening, all states from Georgia on down the line to follow those guidelines. But ultimately it is the decision of the states.

And one note I would make about the president. In times of national emergency, we seem to have had a trend in this country where presidents aggregate power at the federal level but this president has devolved power. He has invested in a principle that I cherish and I know many others do, which is federalism. And I think that was the right decision.

QUESTION: Has -- has he mentioned how he feels about Governor Kemp in the last few days?

MCENANY: I have not spoken to him about Governor Kemp in the last few days.

QUESTION: As the -- on the lines of re-opening, as the president pushes forward to re-open the country, does that mean he'll be campaigning in those states where he -- that will be re-opening?

MCENANY: So I would refer you to the Trump campaign on -- on that question.

Yeah?

QUESTION: Yeah, thanks for being here, Kayleigh.

You mentioned Dr. Fauci a minute ago. Are we going to have any more press briefings with Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and the health experts or is the White House, kind of, shifting the message to, you know, focus more on the economy and less on the public health aspect?

MCENANY: Well, let me back up and talk to you a little bit about how we approach disseminating information.

You know, when I talk with my colleague Alyssa and we plan out the communications strategy for this White House, along with the president -- and Ben (ph), as well -- you know, what we do is we say "What is the best mode for the public to receive this information at this time?" And we allow the news cycle and the needs of the American people -

[14:30:00]