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Don Lemon Tonight

President Trump Activates National Guard Units for New York, California and Washington State; Senate Vote Fails to Move Ahead with Stimulus; Senator Rand Paul Tests Positive for Coronavirus. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired March 22, 2020 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:22]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST; Hello, everyone. This is a special edition of CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon and we have a lot going on for you this Sunday evening.

And our breaking news is the Senate fails to make a deal to advance a massive stimulus package tonight setting up another blood bath on Wall Street as Dow Futures are plunging right now. The vote was 47-47. Lawmakers needed to clear a 60-vote threshold to succeed.

That with the latest numbers just in for coronavirus. More than 32,000 people have tested positive in this country. At least 400 people have died. The numbers of cases rising so fast that it is a challenge to count every single one of them. And those numbers are staggering really. And I have said this before. But every one of those numbers represents one of our fellow Americans, every one of them someone's friend, someone's family member, someone's loved one.

And tonight, the president says that he has activated the National Guard, in New York and California, in Washington state. He's also approved disaster declarations for New York and Washington, with California expected to be approved soon. He says he's instructed FEMA to supply four large federal medical stations with 1,000 beds for New York, eight medical stations with 2,000 beds for California, and three small medical stations with 1,000 beds for Washington.

FEMA administrator Peter Gaynor saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER GAYNOR, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: We have medical supplies en route to these states including respirators, surgical masks, gowns, coveralls, gloves, with quantities already delivered to both Washington, New York and California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So that as more states are ordering people to hunker down. To just stay where they are. Louisiana, Delaware, telling residents to stay at home whenever possible. And New York is now the state hardest hit by the coronavirus. Half of the patients tested at New York. I want you to listen to this. Half of the patients tested at New

York's Presbyterian Hospital on Saturday, they were positive. The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, says at least 40 percent to 80 percent of the people in his state will eventually get the virus. He's calling for the federal government to nationalize the effort to get medical supplies as states are being forced to compete with each other for masks, for gowns and for swabs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: The states simply cannot manage it. This state cannot manage it. States all across the country can't manage it. Certainly the states that are dealing with the highest case load can't handle it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And you may have heard the news tonight that we are learning that the coronavirus is hitting the Senate with the news that Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for the virus. His colleagues, Mike Lee, Mitt Romney, Corey Gardner, and Rick Scott, as well, all self- quarantining, which means they cannot vote.

Several Republican senators say that Senator Paul was in the gym with colleagues just this morning, which makes you wonder, why the Senate gym is still even open? When gyms all across the country have been shut down.

Kansas Republican Jerry Moran tells CNN that he saw Rand Paul in the Senate swimming pool today. So Republicans pointed out that he was in close proximity with others during the Senate lunches and in recent days.

And with the future of the stimulus bill far from certain, we're seeing how this virus is taking a toll on our economy. There is no denying it. Economists at Goldman Sachs predict that when the totals come out, the number of Americans who filed for unemployment last week will be more than two million people. The highest level on record in this country.

We need our leaders. Our government to step up, and help people who won't get their next paycheck. We need people to take action to prevent further damage to our economy. But for anyone who tries to tell you all of this disruption is overkill, for anyone who thinks it is too high, a price to pay, just ask any of the more than 32,000 people in this country who have tested positive what they think.

This is an emergency. We are seeing right now what happens when you don't take this virus seriously. When you waste precious time. When you play politics, passing around the dangerous lie that the coronavirus is a hoax meant to harm this president. The coronavirus is not a hoax. It is a virus. And it is killing people. And if you ignore it, if you refuse to change your daily life, you are just putting yourself and the people around you in jeopardy.

[20:05:10] This virus doesn't care about your politics. It doesn't care whether you live in a red state or a blue state. And far too many people are just not getting that message. There's a New Jersey man who was arrested for holding a pop-up wedding at his home with a crowd of over 50 people. The New Orleans Police Department creating a special team to investigate illegal gatherings. Some houses of worship even refusing to close while so many others are holding virtual services.

People still going out to see cherry blossoms, the cherry blossoms in D.C., though the mayor is calling for them to stay home. There were boat parties in Miami just last night. Miami-Dade's mayor has since shut them down.

Like I said, this virus, it doesn't care where you live, it doesn't care about your politics. More than 32,000 Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus. And it's going to take every one of us to be responsible, to stay home, to avoid crowds. To put up with the inconvenience. It's going to take all of that to protect ourselves and our neighbors. It is up to all of us to take it seriously.

So with that said, I want to bring in CNN's national correspondent Kristen Holmes and our congressional reporter Lauren Fox.

Good evening to both of you. Thank you so much for joining us, Kristen and Lauren.

Kristen, we're going to start with you. So give us the latest from the president's press conference that had just wrapped up. He started out giving some information regarding the coronavirus crisis. But then after a certain point, he slipped in sort of his usual routine. What's going on here?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Don. And look, this goes to how most of things go with President Trump. He had a prepared statement that he stuck to, then as soon as it became time for question and answer, we saw him veering off course and going back into his normal rhetoric.

And I want to start with what he said at the top because I do think that were some important figures that he gave. You mentioned them at the top of the show. Just those specific numbers in terms of personal protective equipment that are going to Washington and California and New York. If you are anyone who is watching this closely, you know how hard it is for these medical professionals, for these health care workers on the ground.

It is nice to finally hear some concrete number of the kinds of protective equipment that they are getting on the ground. They are going into these circumstances every day. Some of them reusing the same mask. And then it appeared that President Trump kind of tried to strike a comforting tone. At least comforting compared to what we have seen this week. We know he lashed out at reporters several times. He called questions nasty, but he reached out to Americans saying that we were all in this together. That this was a united front.

But then again, as you said, once that question and answer started it really started to go off the rails. We know that he took a sarcastic job at Senator Mitt Romney when he learned that Romney was quarantined -- was self-quarantining after he had contact with Senator Rand Paul. And remember, Romney's wife has an underlying health condition. Romney is in his 70s. So a sarcastic jab about his health, of him possibly having coronavirus there, he went on a tangent about how his numbers are so high, his polling is so high among veterans.

And he really seemed to have a disconnect with the American people when he went off about how he was a rich man, he was elected as a rich man, how much money he lost, billions of dollars by running for president. I mean, we're at a time here where the economy is in a downward spiral. We know that millions of Americans are losing their jobs.

I mean, up on Capitol Hill, one of the sticking points, one of the issues, is about unemployment because they are trying to get more money to figure out how this is going to work when so many people are going to be filing for unemployment.

So you see this juxtaposition here where all of these Americans are struggling on a daily basis. We are talking to these people who are losing their jobs. These small businesses who are saying they are going to have to shutter their doors. And you have a president who's saying that he's a rich man who has lost billions of dollars because he ran for president. Just -- it didn't seem to really mesh with what we are seeing here today.

LEMON: Yes. I think it's better in these situations for the president just to play traffic cop and let the experts speak.

Lauren, I want to bring you in and talk about this critical procedural vote over roughly $2 trillion -- a $2 trillion stimulus bill failing to pass in the Senate. Democrats have some very serious problems with it. I mean, this is a race against time. Why can't they agree? Why can't they get it together?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we saw some early warning signs today, Don, about this piece of legislation. They were supposed to have this procedural vote at 3:00. Then it slipped to 6:00. Then several minutes into the vote, there were no Democrats that we could see on the floor of the Senate. Eventually Democrats were there and they were voting in mass against moving forward.

[20:10:05]

And why is that significant? Tomorrow morning the markets are going to open. And Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans as well as their staff are very, very aware of what that could mean in terms of how the market reacts if there's no deal reached. Right now, there is no agreement. And even though Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is encouraging his Democrats to, quote, "step up" and come to the table to find some kind of an agreement, there are very substantial differences between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to this piece of legislation.

One of them is how to structure state stabilization fund, essentially that money that goes out to the states to ensure that they can deal with this crisis. The other big sticking point is what Democrats are calling a corporate slush fund. What Republicans say is really important money for businesses and corporations to ensure that they can keep people on staff as we move forward with what could be a prolonged economic recession.

So that's where things stand tonight. And I will tell you that there are negotiations that will continue. I'm told that Chuck Schumer may meet with Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary. They are going to continue talking. Those conversations are going to continue at the staff level, but right now, a very bad sign that we are not seeing any agreement between Republicans and Democrats that they couldn't even come to a consensus to move forward with this procedural vote before the final vote which of course now is in jeopardy tomorrow -- Don.

LEMON: OK. So you said a lot there. So no signs of an agreement, a deal being reached tonight basically is what you're saying. Correct, Lauren?

FOX: Exactly. Exactly, Don.

LEMON: OK. OK, Kristen, let me just -- let me get in and talk about the governors here because they are pleading. You heard Governor Cuomo and some other governors talking today. They are pleading with the president to step up. The federal response, including using the Defense Production Act. He has said that he's activated, but according to our reporting that is not happening. We are getting some confusing answers here. What did you garner from the -- this press conference today?

HOLMES: Well, that's right, Don. And I specifically asked about this. I just want to give an overview here of what the Defense Production Act is. It essentially gives the president a huge authority over the entire supply chain. He can force companies to produce certain critical items and he can also take control of the allocation. And that is what those governors are asking him to do.

We know that there are a lot of private companies who have volunteered, who have stepped up to produce these critical items. But what the governors are saying is that we can't get them from the private companies right now. Essentially, you have 50 states all competing with each other. On top of that, they are competing with the federal government which is trying to get its supplies out, trying to get more in their stockpile.

And in some cases, they are competing with their own hospitals within their states who are trying to get stocked up. So essentially we asked today, would you consider this? And he shut it down pretty quickly. Even though he did invoke it, we learned on Wednesday that after he invoked it, he got a lot of pushback from those businesses saying that they didn't want government-controlled agencies.

They'd do whatever it takes to not have that, to have their companies controlled by the government. And essentially President Trump confirmed that today. He said that it sent a shudder through the business community when he invoked that so he wasn't going to utilize it. But right now, this is a very hard situation for these governors.

Of course we know that President Trump is sending all these supplies to New York and Washington and California. Those are the places hit hardest, but there are a lot of other states that are seeing an increase, a spike in those cases. And we expect it to get worse in every single state. And they are having a hard time getting the supplies they need for their health care workers on the ground.

LEMON: All right, Kristen, Lauren, thank you very much. Appreciate your reporting.

The Senate vote to advance a stimulus fails. Democrats and Republicans blaming each other. What are they working on late into the night and how will it help you?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:12:59]

LEMON: A key Senate procedural vote to advance a massive stimulus package failing tonight. Democrats arguing that Republicans are prioritizing corporations over American workers in the legislation. That as analysts at Goldman Sachs are saying they believe over two million Americans filed for unemployment last week.

Let's discuss now with CNN Business anchor, Julia Chatterley is here, as well as Catherine Rampell, an opinion columnist for the "Washington Post."

Hello to both of you.

Julia, you first. Futures markets reeling with this failure to reach a deal on the stimulus package. What do you know?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: I think they're sending a message. The markets are sending a message to these politicians that they have to stop playing politics, quite frankly. In my mind, this isn't a stimulus package. It's an investment in survival for the next two to three months while this economic shock goes on.

Remember what we're doing is we're fighting a health crisis by creating an economic crisis telling businesses that they simply have to shut overnight. And that's happening for small businesses. That's happening for medium-sized businesses and large businesses. They are all afraid of going bankrupt.

Now at the heart of this of course is the workers that we're already seeing losing their jobs. We have to try and prevent that as fast as possible. So you made the point earlier, there is no time to lose. The problem with what we're seeing here is the optics. What I'm hearing is it's going to be just over $2 trillion package. So the numbers are looking better, but it's the optics of giving an aggregate far more money to big corporates and corporations than is like individual checks to people.

And what the Democrats have come back and said is, look, if we're going to give all this money to these big corporations, we won't control over executive pay for the next 10 years.

LEMON: Well, that's a --

CHATTERLEY: We need to focus on the next two and three months, not 10 years.

LEMON: Well, that's a problem that -- the key disagreement between the Republicans and the Democrats in this bill, but how much of a delay is this going to hurt? How much is that going to hurt the situation because they had this chasm between corporations and people?

[20:20:03]

How much of a delay do you think that could cause?

CHATTERLEY: Every second counts here. You are going to see a collapsing in stock prices again tomorrow. We have got health crisis, economic crisis, financial crisis, and jobs crisis. For me it's irresponsible for both sides here to be playing politics when ultimately it's people who are living paycheck to paycheck that are going to get crushed the most by this.

They know this. They have to sign this before the markets open tomorrow, and they to bridge the gap here. Trying to control executive pay for the next year is politics. Not investing in the survival of ordinary people. They have to move on from this.

LEMON: Catherine, let's bring you in. You know, you and I talk almost every night about this. This is not just any, though, really because -- and people are really freaked out about this right now. They are worried about this virus.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Understandably.

LEMON: They are worried about their own health and the incredible toll that it's taking on the economy. What does the stimulus need to have in it to take care of all of these concerns that Americans have?

RAMPELL: I would say that there are three priorities. Roughly in order, helping people, helping households. We are essentially forcing all of America or a very large portion of the U.S. economy into an economic coma. Right? We're telling everyone, stay home. Don't engage in your normal business transactions, your normal economic transactions. At least if they would require you to come into contact with other people. Stay home.

But just because your job goes on hiatus, your business goes on hiatus, does not mean that your bills do. So the first crucial need is to make sure that people can continue to pay the bills that do not stop or to find some way to put a pause on those bills. And there have been requests for forbearance for mortgages, for rent, for things like that. So that's priority number one.

Priority number two is to help businesses. Because even if we save households from starvation and from immediate deprivation, if when we come out of this economic coma there are no jobs to go back to, that's not a good outcome either. So we need to have -- we need to make sure that businesses, particularly small businesses that have limited cash on hand, that have small margins that may have difficulty getting loans otherwise, we need to make sure that they can continue to pay their bills and stay open, and reopen, rather, when this is over.

And then the third priority I would say is help to the states. States and localities. Because they are facing a fiscal crisis that we cannot even imagine given how many additional people are going to need Medicaid, how many additional people are going to need all sorts of other services. And at the same time, of course, income tax revenues and as well as sales tax revenues in a lot of categories. Tourism revenues, things like that. Those are going to fall as well.

So the states are in for a major crunch down the line, but the first priorities have to be people and businesses.

LEMON: Yes, I know you want to get into it, but unfortunately that's all the time I have. But it's the first time I've ever heard anyone referred to it as an economic coma, a forced coma. Interesting.

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you, Julia. I appreciate it.

New York City has more cases of coronavirus than any other city in this country. Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling it the center of the epidemic. We're going to talk to him. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:45]

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Republican Senator Rand Paul now the first U.S. senator to test positive for coronavirus. He was on Capitol Hill just this morning and now at least four Republican senators who came in contact with him are self-quarantining.

CNN White House correspondent John Harwood joins me now.

John, wow, here we go, brother. So we were told that the senator, Senator Rand Paul I'm talking about, wasn't showing any coronavirus symptoms. So why was he tested in the first place?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was among several people who were tested after that event. He went to a fundraiser for an art museum in Louisville on March 7th. During the week, a few days after that event, a couple of people who were at the event including the wife of Louisville's mayor, announced that they have tested positive for coronavirus.

So some of the people then at that dinner including the mayor, who's 62 years old, John Yarmouth, who's the House Budget chairman, member of the House here in Washington, he's 72, he got tested, and Rand Paul, who has lung issues from the altercation he had with a neighbor, the injury he suffered there a few years ago. So it became known that there were people at that event who had tested positive and that's what led to those tests.

LEMON: So he was on Capitol Hill late this morning. Correct?

HARWOOD: That's right.

LEMON: How close is he to his Senate colleagues, John?

HARWOOD: Well, he'd been at lunch with Senate colleagues. He'd been at the gym, swimming with colleagues. But when he -- after he got the positive results, which occurred sometime today, he said that he left the Capitol immediately.

LEMON: OK, fine. So if everyone else around the country -- I mean, I'm just asking. Everyone else around the country -- I know everything is closed here. I can't go to the gym. Right? I can't go out to restaurants except for takeout. Why is the Senate gym open? And if he's getting a coronavirus test, why is he at the gym? So many questions.

HARWOOD: Well, both of those are legitimate questions. One is, if you had been at an event where you knew people had coronavirus and you were tested for it, it would seem ill advised to be in close quarters with other people.

[20:30:00]

But then, the first question you raised is also significant, that why are members of the U.S. Senate many of whom are quite old, and therefore at higher risk to coronavirus.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: And he has a pre-existing condition from the altercation --

HARWOOD: That's right.

LEMON: -- with his neighbor. Go on, John. Sorry.

HARWOOD: That's right. Why would that gym have been open and, you know, the reality is that, you know, just like members of the NBA, were able to get tested, even though they didn't have symptoms. And even as the city of Washington is discouraging businesses and gyms from being open, members of the U.S. Senate can do what they want and that's what they did.

LEMON: Okay, I want to play this. We have a short time left but I want to get this in. There are now five GOP senators in self-quarantine or isolation, including Mitt Romney. The President was asked about him today. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On top of Senator Paul, now four senators are in isolation. And the rules say that in order to vote (INAUDIBLE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who are the (INAUDIBLE) who are they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mitt Romney, Senator Lee -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Gardner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Gardner, Senator Rick Scott.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Rick Scott also. Two of them were in contact with (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Well, which Rick (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the critical stimulus package vote expected --

TRUMP: Romney's in isolation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Gee, that's too bad. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do I detect sarcasm there, sir?

TRUMP: No, no, none whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, he said that there was no sarcasm. You know, you guys can take him at his word, but we'll see --

HARWOOD: Of course, there was sarcasm.

LEMON: Okay, go on.

HARWOOD: No, of course, there was sarcasm. Look, the one thing that we've seen from this President is that he is not mature enough to rise above what he thinks are slights in important moments. So, John McCain, who voted to oppose the repeal of Obamacare. Time after time, even when John McCain was ill or after he had died, he continues. The President can't let that go.

Mitt Romney voted to convict the President on impeachment charges. He cannot let that go. So, even in this moment, where you're talking about a grave natural crisis, he cannot control that impulse, which is -- it's childish. Let's be honest. And he can't do it. He can't refrain from doing it.

LEMON: John Harwood. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Dr. Esther Choo joins me now, an associate professor at Oregon Health and Science University. Thank you, Doctor. Appreciate it. Good to see you again. You just heard John, when he said Senator Rand Paul knew he was around people who tested positive, still went to the Senate gym, how should he have handled this? Did he handle it the correct way?

DR. ESTHER CHOO, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Oh, boy, yes. First, I wish the senator well. I hope that he doesn't develop any of the more serious --

LEMON: Absolutely.

CHOO: -- complications of the disease. This is a really wonderful teachable moment for all of us, you know, kind of like the Berenstain Bears story of what not to do. I think anybody who is being tested should consider themselves to have the disease and should stay away. Also, you know, just regular social distancing applies to everybody and we all look to our leaders to show us what that looks like.

So, while the rest of us are doing -- staying away from places like the gym, not having group meals together, I think it's important that we also hold our Congress people to the same standards and really show us how it's done.

LEMON: Yes, it -- for -- it has been, do as I say, not as I do for a couple of our leaders on in Washington. Dr. Choo, you know, at this point, more than 32,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the U.S., the numbers are rising by the minute. How long until hospitals in this country are overrun?

CHOO: It's hard to give an exact estimate. I'm hearing anything from weeks to months, but we're anticipating very soon. We're already seeing an uptick in cases around the country. And I think, you know, putting those two questions together, I mean, I think this all demonstrates how insidious this virus is. It is traveling asymptomatically, kind of tricking us into wanting to go back to ordinary activities, because we're not seeing how rapidly it's spreading, but it is spreading.

And we are seeing right now the result of activities from a couple of weeks ago. It is inevitable that we're going to start seeing the rise in cases and our hospitals are going to be pushed to capacity in the upcoming weeks.

LEMON: Dr. Esther Choo, thank you. Appreciate it. New York's mayor says his --

CHOO: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: -- city is in the center of the epidemic, and he's just got off the phone moments ago with the administration. I'm going to talk to Mayor Bill de Blasio, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tonight, President Trump activating the National Guard in three of the hardest hit states, including New York, which has over 15,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Nearly 10,000 of those cases are in New York City alone. The President saying that desperately needed medical supplies will reach a city within the next 48 hours. So, let's discuss now with the mayor of New York City, and that's Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mayor, I appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much.

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: So, I said before the break that you just got off a call with the administration, President Trump and Vice President Pence, is that correct?

DE BLASIO: That's correct. It was both the President and the Vice President.

LEMON: How did that go? What did they say?

DE BLASIO: Don, I was pleased with the call. I have to say, for weeks now, I've been trying to get across to everyone in Washington, just how dire the situation's becoming here and how much we lack basic supplies.

[20:40:04]

I do want to say, you know, being straightforward and respectful, I appreciate that the President and Vice President had a focused constructive conversation with me directly, to talk about what's going on, particularly in our public hospitals, which are literally 10 days away from running out of really basic supplies, particularly, and equipment like ventilators.

I felt that both the President and Vice President heard what I was saying, they heard the details, they talked about specific solutions. Obviously, you know, I want to see this help arrive rapidly. And I still think we're going to need the United States military to really make it work.

But it was a sea change, Don, and a welcome sea change, to see both of them directly addressing the concerns of, you know, a city that's now literally the epicenter of this American crisis, literally, one third of all the cases in this nation right here in my city. Sad to say. And two-thirds of the cases in New York State and climbing. So, I was certainly happy to see the focus and the attention, finally.

LEMON: Okay. A lot. A couple things that you talked about there. You said you need the military. Did you tell them that you -- you told them you wanted the military? What was their response?

DE BLASIO: Yes. Look, without getting into a private conversation, respecting the President and Vice President, I would say at this simply, I made clear what I've been saying publicly, that we of course need and welcome the supplies, but I made clear also, we have to get these supplies here very rapidly from around the country. No one does that better than the military. And we need the personnel right after we get through the supply situation, Don.

So, and we get some improvement there. We're going to be stressed with tens of thousands of cases potentially quite soon, to have enough doctors, nurses, lab techs, you name it, and the military have some of the best trained medical professionals in the country and obviously, quickly deployable. So, I, you know, I appealed for help on that front, considering that this is going to be, you know, a really tough April and probably an even tougher May, we're going to need that sustained help.

LEMON: Did they -- you said you don't -- without giving away private conversation, did they, at least, take it into consideration? Is it a possibility that you may get some military help?

DE BLASIO: Again, I never want to speak for anyone else in government. I think I'll give the President and Vice President credit. They took time to have a serious detailed conversation. I think they understood that -- and I tried to lay it out, you know, very bluntly, because I said in about 10 days, our public health care system, the biggest in the country, biggest public health system in the country. If we don't get the equipment, then we literally going to lose lives that we wouldn't need to lose, that we could save.

But at a certain point, you can imagine, Don, even with the best health care professionals in the country, we're going to lose some folks to this disease for a period of time. We're going to have a lot of exhausted folks in the ever-growing need. We have to expand rapidly the number of medical facilities. We've got to get more personnel into this equation. I think they heard it. I don't want to say that they gave me a specific answer yet, but I think they heard it.

LEMON: OK.

DE BLASIO: And further, I talked to them about the legislation in the Congress, and I made clear, Don, I've got a city right now that's lost billions of dollars in revenue, in the last few weeks.

LEMON: Listen --

DE BLASIO: And has billions of dollars a new need, and I think at least that registered as well as a serious a serious --

LEMON: Listen --

DE BLASIO: -- a serious problem.

LEMON: I know, I live here. And you know, I heard the governor saying that there were too many people out, but I mean, when you look at the entirety of New York City, it's like a ghost town comparatively, compared to what the way it is.

DE BLASIO: That's right.

LEMON: But I got to ask you, Mayor, half of, which I thought was a surprising number, let me -- I want to make sure that I get it right. Half of the 500 patients tested at New York Presbyterian Hospital came out positive, one in five are receiving ICU care. The bigger picture that you just said just moments ago, is that you -- if you don't get more ventilators, if you don't get more supplies in the next 10 days, you said, people will die.

DE BLASIO: That's right. It says play is that, Don. And Don, it's not -- the next 10 days is only round one, it gets harder. It's kind of like we're in a grotesque video game where each level gets harder, except it's real human lives, and thousands of human lives. So, if we can get to April 1st, if we can get to April 1st with enough equipment, the second -- you know, the first week of April is hard. The second week of April is harder. It's just like this. And we've got to keep bringing in more equipment, more personnel. Somehow, we're going to have to relieve the personnel who can't keep going at a certain point.

LEMON: But I guess my question is, Mayor, you know, excuse me for cutting you off. But I didn't follow. I didn't give you a question. I know you've appealed to the President and the Vice President, but I mean, what are you going to do? I mean, what do you do if that does not come through? What do you do?

DE BLASIO: Don, I think the way to look at this is, we have a very brief window, you know, a couple of weeks, to create enough momentum where we get supplies, we get personnel, we can stay ahead of it and just constantly resupply it, literally like a rolling thunder, if you will, that we just stay ahead of the curve.

[20:45:04]

And if that does not happen, if we don't get that help steadily from the federal government, and we don't get medical personnel to come in from other parts of the country, bluntly, we're going to get to a point where there are people waiting for a bed, where there's people waiting for a ventilator, and some will die who did not need to die. It could be many. But I am at least encouraged this evening, Don, I've been very critical of the President because I did not feel there was a response to his hometown.

I'm -- I want to be encouraged, Don. I want to see progress. I want to see us all get on the same page. So, at least, tonight for the first time, in weeks, I heard a response that showed me focus and an acceptance and understanding of the sheer scope of the problem. Now, the proof will be in the, you know, the supplies, the equipment, the personnel. If they keep coming, Don, I think we have a chance to stay ahead of it. If they don't, we're in danger.

LEMON: Yes. Mayor, that is the most positive, I think, I've heard you speak in the last couple of days. I appreciate it. And I hope you get the help that you need, of course, being a New Yorker, but just being an American. Thank you so much, sir.

DE BLASIO: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Bill de Blasio just got off the phone with the administration, the President and the Vice President. We'll keep you updated. America is facing a crisis unlike any that has been seen for generations. Are our leaders today. living up to the example of those who got us through major challenges in the past? We'll discuss.

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[20:50:00] LEMON: The governors of Ohio, Louisiana and Delaware, ordering residents in their state to stay at home, as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. Similar orders already announced in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and California. Let's bring in now, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, I'm so happy to have you here. Doris, you always bring an amazing perspective to these stories, but this one is a unique one.

So, I'm doubly glad to have you here. It has been a generation --

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Thank you.

LEMON: -- since Americans have experienced, you know, a crisis of this magnitude. You say, history could make us feel a little better now. Explain that, please.

GOODWIN: You know, most of us, you know, did not live through the great depression or World War II. And those crises were enormously disruptive of everyday life of the ritual of lives. And yet somehow the combination of our leaders and our citizens brought us through. I mean, think about the fact that when FDR was inaugurated, the Great Depression was at rock bottom, banks were collapsing. And five days after his inauguration, they passed an emergency banking law.

In fact, it was passed in one day when it was delivered to them and done bipartisanship. And then he was able to get the country going again, he puts systemic reform in to correct the old abuses, and we got stock market regulation and millions of government jobs were done. And then finally, he has to deal with World War II. And at the time, World War II comes, we are only 18th in military power. We have no military supplies, and the private industry and the government make a partnership.

And we produced 300,000 pines, 100,000 tanks and ships. It's an extraordinary thing that helps through land lease with all of our allies in the world. And the citizens accepted rationing. The citizens accepted they couldn't have pleasure driving anymore. They had scrapped drives and aluminum drives for rubber. And there was a sense of engagement and camaraderie that FDR provided and the citizens responded. This one's harder because it's isolation rather than camaraderie.

LEMON: Yes, yes. It is clear, though, Doris, from his own words, the President has seized on the idea of this as a -- as a war, and himself as a wartime president.

GOODWIN: Well, I think, you know, in a certain sense, presidents are remembered in history for how they deal with crisis. And you talk about -- sometimes Teddy Roosevelt used to say, you know, Lincoln might never be remembered if there hadn't been a Civil War.

So, at some level, having this kind of crisis is an important thing for a president if they want to be remembered. But it's more important that he mobilized the powers that you have in a war to get the citizens, and the action, and the products that are necessary to get to the hospitals, et cetera, right away. So, I think it's a good analogy right now. This is -- this is a huge crisis for our country and for the world.

LEMON: Yes. You know, it's interesting, because this -- I perked up too, as well. And you took note, I understand, from President Trump's briefing tonight that he doesn't plan on calling former presidents for advice during this crisis. Why did that stand out to you as well?

GOODWIN: Well, you know, one of the things we've seen in our former presidents is that they know that the previous presidents are the only ones who have lived through the kind of turmoil and anxiety and job that they've had. So, for example, when Truman came in after World War II, and he needed to get relief to Europe, he called on Herbert Hoover because he knew he had done that.

JFK in the Bay of Pigs calls on Eisenhower. LBJ goes down to Independence, Missouri, to give Truman the first Medicare card because he was the one who first proposed it. And Clinton and Bush became really good friends. You would want him to think that there's something to be learned.

You know, the four presidents I've studied, starting with LBJ, his hero was FDR, he called him his political daddy. FDR's hero was Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt's was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's was Washington. They read biographies about each other. There's so much to learn about history and the presidency, that you wish he was talking to all of them right now as much as he could.

LEMON: Yes, I mean, thinking of Bush, having gone through 911 and Katrina and so on, he could probably offer him some great perspective on this, Doris. Doris Kearns --

GOODWIN: I absolutely agree.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you so much. It's good to see you. Appreciate you for your time and perspective.

GOODWIN: You are so welcome. Thank you for having me.

[20:55:03]

LEMON: Absolutely. The President activating the National Guard to help Washington, California and New York, as at least eight states issue, stay at home orders. The latest reporting on the coronavirus, next.

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LEMON: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Here's our breaking news. The Senate failing tonight to reach a bipartisan deal for a massive stimulus package, as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy.