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Don Lemon Tonight

President Trump said Ungrateful People Must be Ignored; Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) Nevada Was Interviewed About the Request They've Made to the Federal Government; Health Workers Aren't Inanimate Things; Good Comes out of Bad Circumstances; Coronavirus Pandemic; Interview with Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) Saying He Tested Positive To Coronavirus After Not Being Able To Smell Or Taste; Lawmakers Test Positive For Coronavirus; New Orleans Becomes A Hot Spot As Coronavirus Pandemic Spreads Across United States. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired March 27, 2020 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are GTA's 2020 class valedictorian.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are. You are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My gosh, thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Isn't that amazing. What an achievement. The Ameri-cans school of thinking complete with social distancing. Listen. Together as ever as one, we will make it through. I can't believe some of the things that are happening in leadership, but I believe completely in us.

Thank you for watching. CNN Tonight with D. Lemon right now.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: That's good stuff, right? Americans are good folks. I got to ask you, but no one ever stops to listen, so how you doing?

CUOMO: Better than I deserve, brother. Better than I deserve.

LEMON: Yes. That's always your answer. But you're doing OK. And you wouldn't steer me wrong, right?

CUOMO: How could I steer you wrong? You're too smart and you live too close. We're doing all right. We're lucky. You and I, we're lucky people. We have healthy families. We've got means. Our jobs are intact. We got places to be and people who can take care of us. We're lucky.

LEMON: Yes. A lot of people have been checking in, and I've been checking in with a lot of folks. It means a lot in this time. And when someone says how you doing, I think you should stop and listen and to actually (Inaudible) instead of it just being a throw-off. Hey, how you doing? That doesn't mean the same thing anymore.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: You're right. I should have put you on the Ameri-can list too. You and Tim. It's not for what you're doing for heart of the Hamptons.

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: It's a great outfit. Everybody is helping their own community, right? So, Don and I live close together out on Long Island. And he is helping out. My buddy Hilton runs this place. It's a big food pantry and clothing pantry for all our community out there on the east end. And you're raising money for them with your fiancee. And you know what, it's been really spreading and helping. It's a beautiful thing you're doing.

LEMON: It's mostly Tim. And I think he needs -- I think he said -- he needed like 7,000 more to get to his goal. But it's mostly him. The dog idea was his as well. He is a good guy. I mean, you know, I'm all right. But it's mostly his --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Every relationship is like that. There is always balance.

LEMON: By the way, though, I'm glad you're doing OK. And hopefully I'll see you this weekend, but six feet apart.

CUOMO: No way. With you, eight. Eight feet. Eight feet with you.

LEMON: You have been doing a great job this week.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Have a great show, Don.

LEMON: You have a good one, and be safe. Tell everyone hello. And if they're watching, hi, fam. I'll see you guys soon. See you, brother.

CUOMO: They like better anyway. I'll see you soon.

LEMON: I love you, man.

This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.

Here is our breaking news. We have the new numbers. The coronavirus spreads. More than 101,000 cases tonight. We're over the 100,000 mark. Over 1,500 people have died. Today we hit another terrible milestone. The most reported deaths in a single day.

The United States now has more cases of coronavirus than any other country in the world. The horrifying fact is, here it is, there will be more cases during the two hours of the show. And we are learning tonight that federal health officials are green-

lighting a coronavirus test that can give results in less than 15 minutes. That's good. And could accelerate testing in this country.

But shortages of masks and swabs could blunt its impact. In tonight's coronavirus briefing, the president veering into an airing of grievances against governors that he thinks aren't sufficiently grateful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they should be appreciative. Because you know what, then they're not appreciative to me, they're not appreciative to the army corps. They're not appreciative to FEMA. It's not right.

These people -- they're working 24 hours a day. Mike Pence, I mean, Mike Pence, I don't think he even sleeps anymore. These are people that should be appreciated. He calls all the governors. I tell him, I mean I'm a different type of person. I say Mike, don't call the governor of Washington. You're wasting your time with him. Don't call the woman in Michigan. It doesn't make any difference what happens.

Don't call the governor of Washington?

TRUMP: No, you know what I say? If they don't treat you right, I don't call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, he just said it there. Think about it. OK? You don't have to really think about that that that much. Think about what he is saying there. He said appreciate me or I won't call you. Won't call about the deadly pandemic that is killing Americans in your state. Americans and after, you know, more than three years in office, still trying to put the blame on someone else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I took this over, it was an empty box. We didn't have testing. We didn't have anything. We had a broken system there. We had a broken system stockpiling. We had a lot of broken systems. And I'm not just blaming President Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, after three years in office, why isn't it his responsibility to make sure the nation is safe and that we're prepared and that we have needs -- we have what it needs, what we need in an emergency situation? Isn't that -- that's his job.

[22:05:07]

President Trump is the commander in chief. He's not responsible for the invisible enemy that's killing Americans? The virus doesn't know or care than. But he is responsible for the nation's response, except he won't take that responsibility. He still tries to blame his predecessors. I want you to just listen what the president says tonight about ventilators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Ventilators are a big deal, and we've delivered thousands of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ventilators are a big deal. They are, to say the least. But he sure didn't seem to think so just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes, they'll are two ventilators.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He said it. I'm just playing it back for you. So, don't blame me. That as the president signs the largest emergency aid package in this country's history, $2 trillion, including direct payments to many Americans and unprecedented expansion in unemployment benefits and $350 billion in small business loans.

And you'll notice not a lot of social distancing there among people who are mostly in their 60s and 70s. The youngest is 54. But in a sign that some things never really change, even now, the speaker, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not invited to the signing ceremony. No Democrat was.

And with this crisis getting worse and worse, the need for masks, ventilators and test kits is critical. For more than 90 percent of mayors across this country, well, they say that they don't have enough mask for -- masks for their first responders and medical personnel. They don't have enough test kits.

And more than 85 percent say they don't have enough ventilators. They don't have the equipment they need for what is coming. I would tell you that is shocking, except the cold hard fact is we may be beyond being shocked at this point.

We've heard it over and over from medical professionals, from local governments. They are begging, actually begging for the equipment to save lives, patients' lives and their own.

Sonja Ender Reinert, a labor and delivery nurse at Emory Hospital Midtown in Atlanta posted this emotional message on Facebook. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONJA ENDER REINERT, NURSE, EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL MIDTOWN: Let's be honest. This is just the start of something that's going to get much worse. And yes, they call us heroes, but, you know, we have families too. And all the nurses are so scared. And we don't want to be scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So that is just heartbreaking. The people who are trying to save our lives shouldn't be terrified for their own lives and the lives of their families. We need to get them everything they need to do their jobs, everything.

The virus is hidden, and its effects are hidden from a lot of people who haven't thankfully been inside hospitals. But listen to what an emergency room doctor named Colleen Smith in Elmhurst, Queens, one of the hardest hit hospitals in New York City. Listen what she tells the New York Times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLEEN SMITH, EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR, ELMHURST HOSPITAL: All of the doctors, it's hard for us to get tested even if we want to, even if we have symptoms. We're exposed over and over and again. We don't have the protective equipment that we should have. We're always worried that we'll be out of N95 masks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the worst is yet to come for his state, predicting it may take 21 days to hit the apex in New York. The state and its National Guard assembling 4,000 bed overflow hospitals, including at Manhattan's Jacob Javits Center, convention center.

He is asking the president to approve four more. Doctors and nurses begging for help. Governors and mayors begging for supplies. Like I said, we need to get them everything they need to save our lives and their lives before it is too late.

Kaitlan Collins is CNN's White House correspondence -- correspondent -- excuse me, and she joins us now from the White House.

Kaitlan, good evening to you. The president is saying the U.S. will make 100,000 ventilators in the next 100 days. One hundred days seems like a long way off considering that he wants the country up and running again in the next few weeks.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and considering what you were just talking about with the New York governor has said, that he thinks they're going to hit their worst phase of this in about 21 days. That's a lot sooner than that 100-day mark that the president gave today.

[22:09:58]

And of course, the ventilators have been the number one thing that has been talked about, because these are machines that will literally determine -- you know, they're life-saving machines. They are needed for coronavirus patients who are on the worse end of things and who cannot breathe on their own.

So that's why the ventilators and the shortage of that has become such a point of contention over here at the White House as for weeks we've asked, you know, how many do you have in the stockpile? How many do you expect that you're going to need.

And the president saying that today, which is pretty notable, especially given that 24 hours ago he was downplaying the need that governors have said they have for these ventilators, saying he doesn't think that they actually need 30,000 to 40,000, which of course New York Governor Cuomo has said he needs in his state.

LEMON: You know the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, I just want to play something that we heard from her about receiving aid, Kaitlan, and then we'll talk about it. Here it is, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): -- it ourselves, we started procuring every item we could get our hands on. But what I've gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Kaitlan, listen, we missed the first part. She said, when the federal government told us that we needed to go it ourselves, we started procuring every item we could get our hands on. But what I've gotten back is vendors with whom we have had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan.

So, we heard the president tonight say that he has told Mike Pence not to call unappreciated -- unappreciative governors. What is going on here?

COLLINS: Yes, the president has been paying very close attention to which governors are criticizing him and which ones are praising him. You saw him today he was even telling the person who was leading the task force on this, who needs to be coordinating with these states about what they need, how much personal protective gear they need, any of those other demands that they have are, the president is encouraging them not to call.

Of course, we should note the vice president has been in touch with some of these governors that the president himself has feuded with, people like Governor Inslee of Washington.

Now the president has taken up this new disagreement with Governor Whitmer of Michigan, who he hasn't even said her name I don't think lately. He just refers to her as that woman.

But the split that you're seeing about the supplies comes as, you know, the president urged states to try to get it on their own and said the federal government would back them up. That came as now the federal government is trying to make sure they have enough of these materials to have, and FEMA is really buying up a lot of these materials.

And so, you're seeing these state governors have to compete with the federal government to buy something. And that's why you've seen this shortage, and that's why so many of these governors have urged the president to use the Defense Production Act to get more medical supplies.

LEMON: Let's talk more about the Defense Production Act, or the DPA as some refer to it. There has been a lot of back and forth on this. President Trump invoked it today. And you have some reporting on this, on why he did this?

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, for weeks governors have been pushing the president to do this. Ever since he signed it, but hadn't actually used it. And then all of the sudden he did today, but it came under some notable circumstances, and that was because the administration had been in talks with General Motors and this other company about making ventilators.

Those talks got put on hold. There was basically a disagreement over how long it was going to take to make them and how much it was going to cost. And the president we're told was so irritated by these reports about those talks being put on hold that he then decided to go and invoke the DPA, now mandating that General Motors makes these ventilators that they said they were already making.

They said just because there had been a pause in the ongoing discussions with the administration, they actually were still moving forward like they were going to be making them.

So, the question that some people have tonight, as you know, internally, the president really didn't change much of the circumstances here by using the DPA in this situation. Because it's not going to speed up G.M. being able to change its factories to be able to make ventilators. They're pretty complex machines.

And of course, they're complex so, it's going to take a while to make them still. So, some people have been questioning why the president used this circumstance to invoke the DPA, and also mainly why he hasn't done it sooner if he felt that this was the right way to go.

LEMON: Yes. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, Kaitlan, thank you. I appreciate it.

Governors across the country are desperately trying to get what they need to protect their people. I'm going talk to one of them, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, next.

[22:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: There are now more than 101,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 1,500 deaths in the U.S. And tonight nearly 200 million Americans living under stay-at-home orders. It's a very tough, tough time here. So, I want to show you something that's just really incredible. This

drone video, look at this. It's from about two hours ago. Friday night, the famous Las Vegas strip. It's now a ghost town. Normally busy and bustling with tourists. It's now deserted due to coronavirus.

So, I want to talk about the pandemic with Governor Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada. Sir, thank you. I am honored to have you on. I know that it's a tough time for everyone. It's a very busy time, especially for the governors who have really stepped into the void here, picked up the slack and are really helping the folks out all over this country. So, thank you, governor, for joining us.

And I just want to jump right in to the hard numbers with you. Your state has submitted four requests from the federal government for coronavirus tests. And as of today, you received zero shipments. You can correct me if I'm wrong. What is the holdup?

GOV. STEVE SISOLAK (D) NEVADA: I don't know. We got a response from them that we have an indefinite backlog on the coronavirus tests. So, we've gone -- I've been on all the conference calls we had with the president and the vice president. And I've got the most generous community in the world.

Some of our bigger casino operator, Sheldon Adelson donated several thousand test kits. He flew them from Macau.

LEMON: Yes.

SISOLAK: The private labs went out and bought them. Some of the businesses bought test kits on the open market. That's the only way we've been able to obtain any test kits whatsoever.

LEMON: You only received about 25 percent of what was called PPEs, or personal protective equipment that you've requested. How soon before your hospitals run out, governor?

[22:20:06]

SISOLAK: Well, you know, we were in a pretty desperate situation. But here again I've gone to our community partner, our state partners. I've got one of our larger operators is donating in excess of half a million masks.

Some of our smaller, our restaurants we put a call out for smaller restaurants and construction company, nail salons, they're all donating masks and gloves and gowns.

Like I said, the president made it clear that we should go try to find as much as we possibly can on our own. We have done that. But you can't find test kits very easily. Those you've got to go on to the open market and buy them. And we have purchased some. But they're costly.

I'm a small state. I can't compete with a New York or California or even a Michigan when it comes to purchasing power. I mean, three weeks ago, Don, I had two positives, two. I have 535 today and 10 tests. LEMON: Wow.

SISOLAK: So, we're in a tough situation, but we're making due with what little we have, and we're -- the community has been great. They stepped up. I've got nail salon operators that are dropping off half a dozen masks that just care about our community.

LEMON: You said you have 535 now and you had two, two weeks ago?

SISOLAK: Three weeks ago.

LEMON: Three weeks ago. Wow.

SISOLAK: Yes.

LEMON: And we've been seeing that. We've been seeing nail salon folks. We've been seeing people who work at tattoo parlors helping out. All kinds of Americans just stepping up.

Listen, you're talking about competing on the open market and competing against bigger state, or states who may have more resources.

But also, some governors are saying that they are also competing against the federal government. They'll put an order in and then find out that their order has been canceled and n some way by the federal government. Have you heard that?

SISOLAK: I've heard that on your show. I have not had that experience. We have not had that here. Like I say, I'm on these calls. You got 50 states and four territories. They're all on the calls. Everybody is asking for the exact same thing.

We're all asking for ventilators, PPE equipment, test kits. Every single governor is asking for it. And we're going out, trying to find what we can on our own. Do we need help from the federal government? Certainly, we do.

But like I say, everybody has pulled -- they're working so hard in Nevada, whether you're a truck driver or grocery clerk or stocking shelves. The medical providers on the front end are, you know, they're making due with what they have. And so appreciative of what we can have. This community is really pulling together to try to cobblestone our fight together against this virus.

LEMON: Yes. The president tonight -- the president tonight, pardon me for the delay, the president tonight is saying that if governors aren't appreciative, he is not going the return their call. I mean, he pointed to Washington and Michigan as examples. Is that something that you're experiencing? I certainly hope not.

SISOLAK: No, I've certainly have not experienced that. I mean, any time I've called, they've been very responsive to us. Like I said, responsive in so much as they'll return phone calls and they'll talk to us. We haven't gotten our orders filled.

But then again, I mean, the requests are so enormous coming from all these states. You know, we're talking 30, 40,000 ventilators. I have 838 ventilators in the state of Nevada. That's what we have. Forty percent of them are in use right now.

We watch this every single day. How many of our ventilators are in use? I hope I don't get to where I've got 100 percent usage, but that day could potentially come.

LEMON: Well, I hope you don't either as well. Listen, I want to talk to you something about that you limited here the use of that the governor -- that the president -- Governor, the president has touted the use of anti-malarial medication as a possible treatment for coronavirus, despite it being based on anecdotal evidence. But you actually signed a regulation to limit their use in your state. Why did you do that?

SISOLAK: I did. I base all my decisions, whether as you brought on early at the beginning, shutting down the strip or central businesses or whatnot. I base it base on medical experts that have come to me and scientists that have come to me with information.

This was based on our pharmacy board, a group of professionals that came to me and said, governor, we need to institute this for the following reasons. We've got a lot of folks, and there are some anecdotal stories where this drug -- these drugs have been effective in fighting coronavirus.

Unfortunately, we've had some concierge doctors that were prescribing this drug with the idea that their patient might get it later on down the line. So, they're sitting on this drug and stockpiling it. And I don't have it available for patients that had been using it, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus patients.

I've got lupus patients that have used this for five to ten years and go to their pharmacy, and they're out because there isn't enough of the supply of this drug.

So, if you're in the hospital and your doctor prescribes this for you, wants you to use these drugs, you can use them.

LEMON: Yes.

SISOLAK: But you can't just get a prescription and sit on it because your concierge doctor says look, you might need this if you get coronavirus.

LEMON: Look, as we look at the images of the Las Vegas strip, you know, gaming and tourism big in Nevada, what has this done to the economy in your state, the coronavirus?

[22:24:57]

SISOLAK: We had, you know, 100,000 people have already filed for unemployment. Well, I know -- I know when I made the decision to shut down the strip, we put 205,000 casino workers out of work with one stroke of the pen. And I had a lot of sleepless nights going into that. But we will rebuild Las Vegas. We will rebuild it. People will come

back. Our economy will pick back up. Now my number one business is saving lives.

If everybody lives, we can rebuild what we had. But I need to focus on keeping people alive right now, and that's our number one focus. That's what we're -- our energies are going towards.

LEMON: Good luck. Best of luck to you. If you need anything you know how to get us. Governor Sisolak in Nevada, thank you so much.

SISOLAK: I do. Thank you. Stay home for Nevada.

LEMON: Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, governor.

The coronavirus spreading across this country, including Congress. I'm going to speak with one of several members of Congress who tested positive, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, here's where we are right now. Two -- today two members, two more members of Congress testing positive for the coronavirus. Republican Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania confirming his diagnosis after experiencing flu-like symptoms.

[22:30:00]

And Congressman Joe Cunningham of South Carolina saying that he tested positive after not being able to smell or taste, which can be a symptom of the coronavirus.

Congressman Cunningham joins me now. Congressman, thank you so much. Listen, I have two friends here in New York City, same thing. They said they weren't able to taste or smell, and that's how they knew that they had it. And sure enough, they did when they got tested. Thank you so much for joining us. How are you holding up?

REP. JOE CUNNINGHAM (D-SC): Great, Don. Thanks for having me on. Yes, I feel good. And right now no symptoms. But still in quarantine, as per the doctor's orders.

LEMON: So you have been for one week now since you had contact with another member of Congress who tested positive. So, what's going on? Tell us what's next? How long are you going to be in?

CUNNINGHAM: Yes. Well, so I was supposed to be quarantined until tonight at midnight, actually. And, you know, was just having to take a test yesterday, because, you know, I had this symptom of not being able to taste or smell anything. And I really wasn't on anyone's radar as far as symptoms go. Everyone kept on saying well, do you have a fever? Do you have body aches? You go through this litany of what the typical symptoms are.

And over the past week, I started seeing more and more articles pop up about how people have just been testing positive from having a lack of taste or smell. And I'm thinking well, that happened to me about a week and a half ago. There were a few days where I really can't taste or smell anything. So, you know, I took an online survey with MUSC.care, our local hospital and got registered to take a test and got the test results back today, and yeah, came back positive.

LEMON: That must have been really odd.

CUNNINGHAM: No, I know it's strange, you know, but Don, I think that goes to like the breadth of this virus, how powerful it is and how broad it is. Because I was talking to a colleague of mine tonight, Congressman Ben McAdams. And you know, he had some serious health issues as a result of the coronavirus. Me, I lost my taste and my smell for a few days. And that was it. But I think, you know, a lot of people who may have the same symptoms as me probably should be a little bit concerned. And maybe should be pushing for an exam themselves. Because this virus has broad impacts.

LEMON: Yes. It's interesting, because not many people, again, knew of the symptom that you're talking about. Trying to look at the conversation that I had with my friend. But he said it wasn't out there, but he started looking online as you did. And that's how they figured out. And that's when they went to get a check. And sure enough, they were exactly right about that.

Congressman, you are among five people in Congress who have tested positive. More than two dozen others have self-quarantined. Are you worried that this virus could spread further through the Congress?

CUNNINGHAM: Yes. This is obviously not just Congress, but throughout our country. I think it's something that everybody needs to be taking very seriously. The businesses and community here in Charleston is taking very seriously. I think you seen states and governors and mayors step up to the plate and recognize how significant this is.

And, look, we're going see some short-term pain I imagine. But I think we all, if we hunker down, if we're socially responsible, and we follow the CDC guidelines, I think we can flatten this curve, you know, see the less spread of this virus and hopefully, god willing, you know, move on here in several weeks and get this back to normal.

LEMON: Some members of Congress were scrambling to get back to Washington after Republican Congressman Steve -- Thomas Massie threatened to force an in-person vote on this historic stimulus package. Are actions like that putting your colleagues at risk, do you believe?

CUNNINGHAM: Yes, I think they could be. And look, you know, I don't think there is any room for theatrics at a time like this. I mean, stunts like that, what happened today or the reason why people hold Congress in such low regard. It's the reason why, you know, in polls, nickel back is more favorable than Congress. When politicians pull stunts like that, it doesn't bode well for the system. It doesn't bode well for our democracy.

And yes, to your point, you also have to think about the fact that people are flying back in from various parts of the country into a contained area. So, you know, yes, you have to take that into consideration. And the fact is people, you know, Americans aren't looking for a political acts or political theater. They want results. When I talk to low country business owners like Michael (inaudible), here who owns restaurants in Charleston, they need help yesterday with their employees, you know, and with their businesses and keeping their doors open. SO, people aren't interested in D.C. theatrics. They want results.

[22:35:06]

LEMON: Yeah. I'm looking down because I was just looking at the number of cases. I had to keep a list here of the number of cases of people and states around the country. And South Carolina has more than 500 cases total. More than 80 new cases today. Your district includes Charleston. Are you worried that the number of cases could explode?

CUNNINGHAM: Yes, I'm concerned how quickly this can spread. I'm also concerned with, you know, other people like me who may not have a fever, may not have body aches, those typical signs, but they may have lost taste or smell and have not thought to get checked or got tested. So, yes, those are all concerns for me. And like I said, we all need to be focused on flattening this curve, being socially responsible, distancing ourselves from people.

Those are all things we need to take into consideration. At the same time, I think Congress has a responsibility to act like it did today and passing that bill. And we're already going to start to work on another bill as well to help, you know, low country businesses, to help small businesses, you know, to help anyone who has been impacted by this virus.

LEMON: Yes. Hey, listen, before I let you go here, it says -- he was talking to me about speaking doctor, he was saying he had G.I. issues right before. And I said, well, I didn't think G.I. was a symptom. He said, some cases report day prior one time having diarrhea, may or may not have been associated. But the loss of smell is real. I was sauteing garlic and onions last night and stuck my nose right in the pan and couldn't smell it one bit.

So, there you go. And I've heard from a number of people after that, after I checked with doctors. And they say the loss of taste and smell is certainly real. And at first, they didn't know that. So Congressman, listen. We thank you for giving us some information that a lot of people didn't know about. And we thank you for joining us. And we wish you the very best. If you need us, you know where to get us. Thank you so much.

CUNNINGHAM: Thanks, Don. I want to thank the first responders out there who are putting their lives on the line every single day, nurses, doctors, and everyone making this country better.

LEMON: Absolutely. Thank you Congressman Cunningham.

President Trump claims the system was broken and there was no testing when he took office. Next, I'm going to talk to someone who led an exercise with his national security team on how to handle things like a pandemic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:40:00]

LEMON: With the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. now over 101,000, and with nearly 200 million Americans ordered to stay at home, President Trump's hinting tonight that he may have to drop his goal of reopening the country by Easter, saying that he'll discuss social distance guidelines with his task force early next week. And they may advise him to keep the current guidelines in place.

So, I want to bring in CNN's senior national security analyst Lisa Monaco, a former assistant to President Barack Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. Lisa, good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us this evening.

LISA MONACO, CNN NAIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good to be with you, Don.

LEMON: Absolutely. I just want to play something that we heard from President Trump tonight at the task force briefing. And I want to get your reaction. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are prepared for things that nobody has any idea that we'd be prepared. And you know what? When I took this over, it was an empty box. We didn't have testing. We didn't have anything. We had a broken system there. We had a broken system stockpiling. We had a lot of broken systems. And I'm not just blaming President Obama. You go long before that, but in all fairness to all of the former presidents, none of them ever thought a thing like this could happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So President Trump is claiming no other president thought something like this could happen. Not true, or true?

MONACO: Not true, Don. And, look, this isn't about partisanship. This is about facts. And the fact of the matter is that the Intelligence Community as recently has just -- the last few months has been warning about the danger of contagious disease, about the potential of a pandemic. The fact is that in 2019, just last year, President Trump's own health and human services and pandemic preparedness officials ran an exercise, a simulation called Crimson Contagion where they modeled exactly the type of crisis that we are facing right now, including issues about lack of PPE, overwhelming hospital capacity, stress on ventilators.

And the fact of the matter is that over three years ago, I led an exercise, a simulation about three hours long with the outgoing national security team sitting side by side with the incoming national security team of the Trump administration, and we sat down and we talked through exactly the type of scenario that we're facing today, an overwhelming of our hospital capacity, the need to anticipate and get ahead of needs that governors and mayors would be facing from a -- at the time we were thinking about a novel flu, but the same issues were presented. So this was not a black swan event, Don. This is not a surprise. And we should have been better prepared.

LEMON: Yes. And again, we're three years in, and still blaming someone else. The president was also asked about his classified briefings related to all of this. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Among those governors, you and your team have obviously had classified briefings on the pandemic I assumed for a while now. Were the governors included in those briefings that you would have gotten in January and February? Why didn't you warn the governors as you would have had the information first?

[22:45:00]

TRUMP: Well, they say I had classified briefings a long time ago, which wasn't true. But we've had briefings. And as I know it, the governors have also had many briefings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So he says it isn't true that he has had classified briefings a long time ago on this. Does that make sense to you?

MONACO: Well, it doesn't make sense, and look, all I know is what I've read in the public reporting, which is that the Intelligence Community had been briefing the president and senior advisers about exactly this covid-19 virus emerging from China just in January, December and January.

But you don't have to only look at that. The fact of the matter is the Intelligence Community for the last several years has ranked the danger of pandemic disease amongst the top threats that we face as a nation. And that's an unclassified format. So you don't have to even go to the classified set of briefings.

LEMON: Lisa Monaco, thank you. I appreciate it.

MONACO: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: New York City's currently the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., but there are other hot spots flaring up. We're going to go to New Orleans where they're experiencing a crisis.

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[22:50:00]

LEMON: As New York City struggles to cope with more than 26,000 coronavirus cases, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans all experiencing a sharp increase in cases, and the surgeon general says next week is likely to get worse. In Louisiana, the number of deaths jumped by 40 percent just today to 119 total. In New Orleans, a famous convention center is soon to be converted into a makeshift hospital.

So, joining me now, someone on the frontlines of this crisis in New Orleans is Dr. Meredith Clement. She is an infectious disease specialist at LSU. Doctor, thank you so much for doing what you do, first off, and secondly, thank you for joining us tonight. I am anxious to get your perspective on this. I know you only just got off your rounds tonight. Can you tell us what it is like in the hospital, how you and your colleagues are holding up now?

DR. MEREDITH CLEMENT, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AT LSU: Yes, so thanks for having me. As you were just pointing out, New Orleans is -- it has become clear is an epicenter for this infection. So just in less than three weeks, we've gone from I believe zero cases to 2800 cases. And right now of the 800 cases that are hospitalized, about 35 percent of those patients are on ventilators.

And so, I would say what we're seeing in the hospital is mirrors that pretty closely. So that of the patients we see who come in with suspected covid-19 infection or confirmed covid-19 infection, about 30 to 40 percent of those patients do ultimately require ventilator support and ICU level care.

LEMON: So you talk a lot about ventilators. How are you doing on ventilators?

CLEMENT: So, at the moment we do not have a shortage of ventilators. We're opening up more ICU bed at our hospital so as we speak. But we are anticipated to have a shortage as we continue to see this sort of rapid uptick in cases and the need for patients who need hospitalization and need ventilator support.

LEMON: Yes. The governor of Louisiana is warning about a surge. I had the governor on earlier in the week, warning about a surge of beds and ventilators early next month. And making plans for that. So when I introduced you, you know, I noted that the 40 percent jump in deaths in just a day. And according to The New York Times analysis, New Orleans is seeing one of the highest death rates per capita in the country. And I read an article earlier in the week saying that in the world that you guys were having the fastest growth rate or something like that. Why do you think New Orleans is being hit so hard, doctor?

CLEMENT: Well, so in terms of just overall case, there is speculation that Mardi Gras played a role. We had an influx of a million people into the city, and I think thereafter we started to quickly see community spread. And again, just this rapid uptick in cases. In terms of the overall mortality we're seeing, I think we're at about 4 percent. Which may really be less than that once you adjust for a lack of testing everyone.

But to say -- to say we have a high rate of mortality, I think is very true. And I do think that what we've seen in Asia in terms of this studies that showed that certain conditions are associated with poor outcomes from covid-19. So specifically, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, we sadly have a high proportion of our population in who has those chronic diseases or conditions, again, diabetes, hypertension, obesity. And certainly what I'm seeing in the hospital is that folks with those conditions tend to have worse outcomes.

[22:55:00]

LEMON: Yes, those are preexisting or underlying conditions. Listen, real quickly, I just got a couple of seconds left here, because I have to get to the top of the next hour. But we have this breaking news tonight about the new coronavirus test that the FDA is green lighting, providing results in less than 15 minutes. And they're going ship out a bunch of them. Would that help you in what you're doing on the front lines?

CLEMENT: Yes, absolutely. I think that would be game-changing. I think having more tests would be incredibly beneficial to our efforts to diagnosis, quarantine, and be able to act a little bit sooner. So yes, absolutely. .

LEMON: Well, doctor, listen. Really, thank you. You guys are real heroes. I appreciate what you're doing. You know, Louisiana is my home state. But everybody is in need. So, you know, America is my home country. So, we're all in this together. You guys are doing really fantastic job. Continue to do what you do, and you be safe. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

CLEMENT: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

LEMON: The United States reaching a terrible milestone today. Well over 101,000 cases of coronavirus. And there are fears that things are going to get worse next week.

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