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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Donald Trump Declares National Emergency to Combat Coronavirus; Donald Trump Holds Press Conference. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired March 13, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The CDC has published guidelines on the coronavirus.gov to enable its - coronavirus.gov and it's very, very heavily used right now, I will say, to enable every American to respond to this epidemic and to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.

While the risks to young and healthy Americans remains very low - yes, we've learned about this over the last two weeks - anyone can be a carrier for the virus and risk transmission to older Americans and those with underlying health conditions and those who are most at risk. They have not done very well, older Americans who are - especially if they have a health problem. They have not done well.

We must take all precautions and be responsible for the actions that we take and that we see other people take. We want to prevent the spread and the transmission of the disease. It's incredible what sports - what's happening with the sporting world where so many of the great sports we've gotten so used to at this time of the year. They're not going to be meeting, and they've done a great service actually, but that would be another way that it could be - problems could be caused.

But this is why I outlined on Wednesday my administration's fact that we've issued a requirement suspending all medically unnecessary visits to various places but particularly nursing homes. We should all be working off the same playbook when it comes to protecting Americans. We have to.

We need to be consistent in adopting measure to limit the spread of the virus. The virus is the same whether it's spreading in cities, towns, or rural communities. The tools and tactics for attacking it are similar no matter where you go - no matter where you go. You have some hot spots throughout the world right now that people would have never thought possible. They're being very seriously affected.

Key among these efforts are breaking chains of transmission between people. These measures have been adapted by many companies, universities, and schools. And we want to protect the safety and the health of their employees and their students. I encourage everyone to follow the guidelines we've issued by CDC on these commonsense measures. A lot of it's commonsense.

For the areas where the virus is spreading, the CDC is advising communities to postpone large gathering, postpone assemblies, social functions, and sporting events, stagger recess and lunch for schools that aren't canceled, limit in-person meetings, increase schedule cleanings (ph), and cancel work-sponsored travel among numerous other steps that could be taken.

Americans are the strongest and most resilient people on Earth, and in the coming weeks we will all have to make changes and sacrifices, but these short-term sacrifices will produce long-term gain. And again, I've said we're learning a lot for the future and future problems like this or worse - or worse. It could get worse.

The next eight weeks are critical. We can learn, and we will turn a corner on this virus. Some of the doctors say it will wash through. It will flow through. Interesting terms, and very accurate. I think you're going to find a number of weeks it's going to be a very active term.

In times of hardship, the true character of America always shines through. We live in the company of the greatest heroes and the most inspiring citizens anywhere in the world. We want to take care of our people. We want to draw on the strength of our history, draw on the strength of our people, and we will get through this. All together we will just get through.

So much progress has already been made, and frankly the numbers because of steps that have been taken are at a level that a lot of people are surprised, especially when you compare them with other places, with far smaller populations.

The spirit and the will of our nation is unbreakable. We will defeat this threat. When America is tested, America rises to the occasion. And to those families and citizens who are worried and concerned for themselves and their loved ones, I want you to know that your federal government will unleash every authority, resource, and tool in its disposal to safeguard the lives and health of our people.

So we're with you every step of the way. No nation is more prepared or more equipped to face down this crisis. As you know, we are rated number one in the world. We're also helping other nations. Many of the nations, we're helping them a lot, and they're doing OK in some cases and some cases they're not doing well at all, but we're working with a lot of groups of people and a lot of other nations.

[16:05:00]

With faith and heart and hope and love and determination, we will succeed, we will prevail, we will be very, very successful and we'll learn for the future. Thank you all very much. If you have any questions, we can take some.

Go ahead, John (ph), please.

And if you'd like to ask some of the folks up here, would be fine. Please.

QUESTION: Sure. Mr. President, where are you with the House bill? Yesterday, we talked to you in the Oval Office, you were opposed to it. What has happened since then? And what's the holdup on that?

TRUMP: Well, we just don't think they're giving enough. We don't think the Democrats are giving enough. We're negotiating. We thought we had something, but all of a sudden they didn't agree to certain things that they agreed to. So we could have something, but we don't think they're giving enough. They're not -- they're not doing what's right for the country.

QUESTION: And if I could ask Dr. Fauci?

TRUMP: Go ahead, please.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. You just mentioned waiving interest for student loans...

TRUMP: Yeah.

QUESTION: ... you talked about buying oil from the SPR -- or adding to the SPR. What other specific targeted measures is your administration thinking about taking? The Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, said today that you're just in the second inning of things that...

TRUMP: Yeah. Well...

QUESTOIN: ... you might be undergoing.

TRUMP: ... that's true. And we're looking at many different things, as you know. You know some of them, they've been written about very widely. But we're going to be releasing a paper in about two hours, stating quite a few other steps, very important ones.

Please, go ahead.

QUESTION: ... sir, if you wouldn't mind?

TRUMP: Please, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you so much, Mr. President. I want to -- I want to know if you are in contact with the Brazilian president, Bolsonaro, after a member of his delegation, who was with you Saturday, was tested positive.

And also, I want to ask another question if you'll let me. Senators Lindsey Graham and also Senator Scott -- Rick Scott are self- isolating. Are you planning to take any kind of precautionary measure to protect you and also your staff who was there...

TRUMP: No, I...

QUESTION: ... with him?

TRUMP: ... we have no symptoms whatsoever. And we have -- we had a great meeting with the president of Brazil, Bolsonaro, great guy, very -- very tremendous. He's doing a fantastic job for Brazil.

And as you know, he tested negative, meaning nothing wrong this morning, and we got that word too. Because we did have dinner with him, we were sitting next to each other for a long period of time.

QUESTION: But are you in contact with him over the coronavirus crisis?

TRUMP: No, we have -- we have -- we're talking about it, country-to- country. But we did discuss if he had a problem. It was reported that he may have it, and he doesn't, fortunately.

Yeah?

QUESTION: Thank you so much, Mr. President. Dr. Fauci said earlier this week that the lag in testing was in fact a failing. Do you take responsibility for that? And when can you guarantee that every single American who needs a test will be able to have a test? What's the date of that?

TRUMP: Yeah. No, I don't take responsibility at all because we were given a -- a set of circumstances, and we were given rules, regulations and specifications from a different time. Wasn't meant for this kind of an event, with the kind of numbers that we're talking about.

And what we've done is redesigned it very quickly, with the help of the people behind me, and we're now in very, very strong shape. I think we'll be announcing, as I said, Sunday night. And this will start very quickly and we -- we'll have -- we'll have the ability to do in the millions over a very, very quick period of time. So, no.

And what we have done -- and we are going to be leaving a very indelible print for the future, in case something like this happens again -- but it was a -- and that's not the fault of anybody. And frankly, the old system worked very well for smaller numbers, much smaller numbers. But not for these kind of numbers.

Tony, maybe you'd like to say something...

QUESTION: By Sunday night? Will you have -- yes, please. By Sunday night, will every American be able to get a test?

FAUCI: So just to reiterate what I said to many of you multiple times, it's a (inaudible) of a system. The system was not designed -- for what it was designed for, it worked very well. The CDC designed a good system. If you want to get the kind of blanket testing and availability that anybody can get it, or you could even do surveillance to find out what the penetrance is. You have to embrace the private sector. And this is exactly what you're seeing, because you can't do it without it.

So when I said that, I meant the system was not designed for what we need. Now, looking forward, the system will take care of it.

QUESTION: Mr. President, with respect, you...

TRUMP: And interestingly, if you go back -- please. If you go back to the Swine Flu, it was nothing like this, they didn't do testing like this. And actually, they lost approximately 14,000 people. And they didn't do the testing. They started thinking about testing when it was far too late.

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What we've done -- and one of the reasons I think people are respecting what we've done, we've done it very early, we've gotten it very early and we've also kept a lot of people out. Yes, please, go ahead.

QUESTION: Mr. President, the last administration said that they had tested a million people at this point. You've been President for three years ...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... but with respect, you've been President for three years and Wuhan was suffering ...

TRUMP: They had a very big failure with swine flu -- very big failure.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to ask you about the European travel ban that goes into effect at midnight tonight and the exemption that you've offered to the UK. There are 17 countries that are in the so-called Schengen zone that have fewer coronavirus cases than the UK.

And just in the past 24 hours, the UK has added 208 coronavirus cases to their total. Why did they, Mr. President, deserve an exemption and would you consider adding them to this travel ban list?

TRUMP: Well that was recommended to me by a group of professionals and we are looking at it based on the new numbers that are coming out and we may have to include them in the list of countries that we will -- you could say ban or whatever it is -- during this period of time.

But yeah, the numbers have gone up fairly precipitously over the last 24 hours so we may be adding that and we may be adding a couple of others and we may frankly start thinking about taking some off.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm a correspondent with Hong Kong Phoenix TV.

You have been mentioned -- you have mentioned that the number in China has been decreasing, China has made tremendous progress in the past weeks.

I'm wondering how much confidence does this give you to control the virus in the United States? And do you see the data China has been sharing with the United States has been helpful?

TRUMP: I think it has been helpful. We've been working very much with China. I've spoken, as you know, with President Xi. They went through hell and their numbers are starting to look very good, they really -- they're really looking very good, we're very happy about that.

We are sharing data, yes. In fact, we're sharing quite a bit of data, including the fact that some of our pharmaceutical companies are working over there right now with large groups of people.

Yeah, go ahead, please.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. You spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau yesterday. Did you discuss the potential closing of the border between the -- Canada and the U.S.? And by extension, are you considering ways to salvage the $2 billion daily trade between the two countries?

TRUMP: So we didn't discuss the border. We've had a very good relationship. Just about finished with the USMCA, as you know. He called -- actually, he called to tell me that. I think that was the primary reason for the call.

At the time, his wife had not been diagnosed and she's a lovely lady -- wonderful lady -- great lady. And since then, I've heard, read that the result was that she has it and I was a little surprised, I think he was surprised, also. We did discuss it prior, too. She's going to be fine but he thought that she would not most likely have the virus. Unfortunately, she does.

But we didn't discuss the border yesterday, no. Go ahead, please. If you have any questions for these great geniuses up here, you should -- even a business question related to what we're talking about.

QUESTION: Mr. President, Ross Paloma (ph) from ABC News Miami.

As a relatively new Floridian, what is your message today to the cruise line industry and the travel industry that Florida depends upon? And since Senator Rick Scott and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez have the same exposure as you and they are self-isolating, what's your message to them? That they shouldn't be?

TRUMP: Well I don't know that I had an exposure but I don't have any of the symptoms and we do have a White House doctor and I should say many White House doctors to -- frankly and I asked them that same question and they said you don't have any symptoms whatsoever.

And we don't want people without symptoms to go and do the test. The test is not insignificant. As far as the cruise line business, we're with them all the way. It's a great business -- it's a great U.S. business, frankly and I know how important they are to the country -- that includes airlines but the cruise line business obviously was hit very hard.

We had a tremendous success out in Oakland, where we moved it -- Vice President Pence did a fantastic job with that. We worked with UK, we worked with Canada. They took their people back -- and Canada's approximately 600 people. UK, likewise, took a large number of people back to the United Kingdom.

And we have people quarantined. It was a big operation and it worked out really -- you don't hear about it anymore, it worked out really well. You -- Mike, you even may want to say something about that cause that was really done properly.

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PENCE: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And that -- that -- that program with the Grand Princess, the ship, is continuing to be administered in the highest standards and orderly way, as the president directed. And American's that needed treatment have received it.

I spoke to the governor of Iowa today and some of those who now have been cleared are -- are able, in proper supervision, to be returning to Iowa. They're making arrangements for them to do that. Others in Texas, others in Georgia -- again, it's another example of the extraordinary cooperation of Governor Abbott, Governor Gavin Newsom, and Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia.

But to add to that, the president directed me last Saturday to travel down to Miami, we met with all the leaders of the cruise line industry. Several cruise lines have announced a 60-day pause in operations. Our Department of Homeland Security has praised them for doing that because of the unique health challenges particularly presented to seniors with underlying conditions.

We have a proposal from the cruise line industry but they're currently considering what other steps that they might take, perhaps even similar to what those other lines have taken. We're anticipating some response on that in the next 24 hours.

But as the president said, the American people cherish our cruise line industry, the men and women who work on the ships, the men and women who work on the shore, all the economies that are so benefited by a vibrant cruise line industry. And what the president's directed us to do is, whether there -- whether there is a pause in the moment, as some cruise lines are doing -- and as well all continue to discuss, we want to work with the cruise line industry to ensure that when we come through this that cruise lines and the medical services that are available and -- for the passengers and all of the crew, that -- that -- that cruise lines are safer than ever before and prosper for many years to come.

TRUMP: (OFF-MIKE) OK, thanks.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President...

TRUMP: Go ahead, please.

QUESTION: This question is for Drs. Fauci and Birx. Dr. Fauci, based on what you currently know, what is the trajectory for when this outbreak will peak? How long will the American people have to remain on this emergency footing? And for Dr. Birx, as the administration tries to get its arms around this test kit shortage issue, the next glaring need could be respirators and related hospital equipment. So what is the administration doing right now to ramp-up production of respirators and that kind of equipment, should this outbreak persist?

FAUCI: So when you have an outbreak like this, particularly if you're trying to interfere with it, it's really impossible to predict the time element of when it's going to peak and when it's naturally going to go down.

So if you look at the situation where countries really did not get to the point of trying to contain and mitigate very well, you'll see a peak over several weeks and then down again over another several weeks. What we're trying to do with the efforts that we're doing is to blunt that peak.

And I've mentioned it many times, and I think it's important and appropriate for me to mention it again because it answers your question -- when you talk about preventing infections from with (ph) out to in, which is the kind of travel restrictions we're talking about, then how do handle what you already have in your country? You continue some sort of containment but you also do mitigation, and you try to proportion it to the areas where there are the most infections.

The success of that, and how much you make this turn into this, is going to give you the amount of time. If we're successful, it'll be less. If we're not successful, it's going to be more. But these kind of things generally run out in a few months; hopefully, we'll make it several weeks -- eight, nine, whatever weeks. But I can't give you a number because it depends on how successful we are.

BIRX: Great, thank you. It's a great question. And Dr. Fauci and I have worked together a very long time and continue -- it's a privilege to work with him every day. So you can learn very -- and I appreciate there was some graphics done by some of the reporting over the last several days. If you align the data from China with the data from South Korea, you can start to see almost a complete overlay of that data. And so that's what we're tracking very closely, as well as Italy.

But you have an excellent question. I just want to make one note. In South Korea -- I want to repeat -- only 4 percent of the tests were positive. That means 96 percent of the people had a different respiratory disease because we're in the middle of flu season, cold season, and all of the other respiratory diseases that we get every day.

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In LabCorp and Quest's early data, they're running about 1 percent to 2 percent positive. That means that we have a lot more other respiratory disease out there besides the coronavirus. And that's why the screening is critical. But even with the screening, we're going to run what we think are very low rates. Needless to say though, we are taking it extraordinarily seriously to plan for what could come -- not what -- what Dr. Fauci talked about blunting the curve, that makes it much less high need at that peak of the curve that we're all planning for.

So we're in full inventory of all of our assets, by the president on locking in (ph) this emergency order, and the Secretary of HHS ability, it unlocks all of those stockpiles, those needs -- what the VA has, what the DoD has, what the National Guard has and what every hospital has.

And the Hospital Emergency Preparedness Plan allows them to defer elective issues to keep those hospital beds open for those who might need it. So we're in full planning mode for each of those things.

TRUMP: And I might add that we're in the process, and in some cases have already done it -- ordered a large number of respirators just in case. We hope we don't need them, but we've ordered a large number.

Yes, go ahead please.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. President. In your speech to the nation you mentioned the situation in China and South Korea have improved and you are thinking about removing the restrictions, also the warning...

TRUMP: Right.

QUESTION: ...in place right now. When can we expect that announcement, and how do you see the overall progress that Asian countries made (ph)?

TRUMP: Well some are making progress, some are not -- as you know. But some are making progress, and as they make progress, as they get to the number that we all think is right -- that they know is right, we know is right, we'll be opening it up. And some are really moving along rapidly, we hope to be able to open things up as quickly as possible.

Go ahead, please -- go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to ask Secretary Azar and Dr. Fauci just how -- Dr. Fauci, OK...

TRUMP: All right, better -- better, not 100 percent, but 90 percent.

QUESTION: Right.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: This effects the elderly primarily, and in that sense it's an unusual disease, is any specific research being done as to why it effects our senior citizens more than others?

FAUCI: So I don't mean to diminish your question, but we already know why it would effect senior citizens more. Because when you talk about anything that requires a robust immune system, as you get older your immune system is not as potent as it is when you are (ph) young. And that's the reason why when you talk about even influenza, which we have extraordinary experience with over decades and decades -- the people who are very vulnerable are the elderly and those with underlying conditions.

The same thing holds true for a variety of other disease -- why cancer is more prevalent in some -- mostly in older individuals because the immune system that screens for it is less robust. So it really is something that is kind of well-known over a lot of studies.

TRUMP: OK, on the end (ph), please -- on the end.

QUESTION: Mr. President, the Chinese officials are expressing some tones of discontent with how -- where the source of this virus has come from, and they're spinning some odd narratives, what are your response to the Chinese officials who are doing that? And have they signaled any kind of resistance to upcoming trade talks in response to how we're handling this virus?

TRUMP: No, we're talking about a deal with China (ph), they're going to be buying $250 billion worth of goods, and $50 billion from our farmers -- and it's a great deal for our country. It's about time somebody did that.

And frankly, phase two will start negotiating. I did read one article, but I don't think that article was representative -- certainly not of my conversations with President Xi. And they know where it came from, they all know where it came from -- we all know where it came from.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President Yamiche Alcindor for PBS NewsHour...

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: ...my first question is, you said that you don't take responsibility, but you did disband the White House Pandemic Office and officials that were working in that office left this administration abruptly.

So what responsibility do you take to that? And officials that worked in that office said that you -- that the White House lost valuable time because that office was disbanded, what do you make of that?

TRUMP: Well I just think it's a nasty question because what we've done is -- and Tony has said numerous times that we've saved thousands of lives because of the quick closing. And when you say me, I didn't do it -- we have a group of people, I could ask perhaps in my administration, but I could perhaps ask Tony about that, because I don't know anything about it.

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I mean, you say we did that -- I don't know anything about it...

QUESTION: You don't know about the...

TRUMP: ...disbanding, no, I don't know...

QUESTION: ...about the reorganization that happened at the National Security Council?

TRUMP: ...it's the -- it's the administration...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: ... perhaps they do that. You know, people let people go. You used to be with a different newspaper than you are now. You know, things like that happen. OK, please go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: We're doing a great job. Let me tell you, these professionals behind me and the - these great, incredible doctors and business people, the best in the world - and I can say that, whether it's retailers or - or labs or anything you want to say, these are the best in the world. We're doing a great job.

We have 40 people right now - 40. Compare that with other countries that have many, many times that amount. And one of the reasons we have 40 and others have - and again, that number's going up, just so you understand. And a number of cases, which are very small, relatively speaking - it's going up.

But we've done a great job because we acted quickly, we acted early, and there's nothing we could've done that was better than closing our borders to highly infected areas. Please, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. (Inaudible) for (inaudible) for Latin American countries and also for Spain (inaudible). I would like to ask you two very brief questions. One, for how long will - going to have the emergency, the - I mean, the national emergency?

TRUMP: I hope not long but it's there now and it gives tremendous powers for things that we need - tremendous power, actually - and the Stafford Act and various other things that we're involved with and have studied and memorized in so many different ways and forms.

It gives the kind of power that we need to get rid of this virus and we're going to do it very quickly and I hope we won't need it very long but whatever it takes.

QUESTION: So for now, we still don't know for how long. And something very important I wanted to ask you is, like, how do you think - do you really think it's essential, coordinating with other countries, and learning from the lessons that they already suffered, these same situation countries, of course like China and South Korea but now recently Italy and Spain? And how is that coordination done? Thank you so much, Mr. President.

TRUMP: ... we're in touch with Italy and, you know, it's - it's a country that we love. We have tremendous - millions and millions of people originally - origins from Italy and we're working with them. They are in a very - they're in - probably, relatively speaking, the toughest position of all.

We're in touch with everybody - we're in touch with - when I say everybody, we're in touch with many of the countries that you know about, that you're writing about, and they're calling us asking for advice, they're asking for the advice of the people behind me.

Italy's got a tough situation but they're - they're really - they have really clamped down. I think they're going to see some very good results. It's tough, what they did. They really took their medicine but they're going to see some much better results.

Yeah, Jeff?

QUESTION: Thank you, sir. With regard to domestic travel, should Americans feel safe or should Americans at all be traveling to states such as Washington state, New York, and other hot spots within this country?

And a follow up on Brazil. You're asking people who come back from a - from Europe - Americans who are coming back from Europe to self- quarantine for a couple of weeks. You were in a picture with somebody who now has coronavirus, from Brazil, at Mar-a-Lago. How is that different?

TRUMP: Well I'll tell you, first of all, I'm not coming back from some place.

QUESTION: But you were exposed.

TRUMP: We - there was somebody that they say has it, I have no idea who he is, but I take pictures and it lasts for literally seconds. I don't know the gentleman that we're talking about, I have no idea who he is. I haven't seen the picture. I said there's a picture of somebody but I take sometimes hundreds of pictures a day and that night, I was taking hundreds of pictures, so I just don't know.

Now I did sit with the President for probably two hours but he's tested negative so that's good.

QUESTION: It's just a matter of - and the - the domestic ...

TRUMP: Go ahead, please.

QUESTION: Domestic travel, the first part of the question, sir, about domestic travel?

TRUMP: I would say if you stay home, it's not bad - it's not bad. Now there are certain parts of the country that are essentially have no - have zero problem. Washington's been very tough, in particular, a nursing home, and Washington - the state of Washington's been very tough. It's been a big percentage of - when you talk about the 40 deaths, that's been a big percentage of the deaths, as you know very well, and they all came from a very - certain area, unfortunately. Please, go ahead - go ahead. OK.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. President. (Inaudible), Sky News. You talked this week about the UK doing a good job in tackling coronavirus. In light of the rising cases, are you changing your mind about that?

You also just spoke about possible travel restrictions. Have you discussed when they might be put in place?

TRUMP: Well in light of the results, as we discussed before - in light of the results, we're going to be looking at it and I know the - the task force is looking at it very strongly - Vice President, everybody.

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