Return to Transcripts main page

Don Lemon Tonight

U.S. Record Its Highest Cases In One Day; Governor Ron DeSantis Is Facing Criticism For Handling Of Crisis; Police Arrest Florida Pastor For Holding Church Services Despite Social Distancing Order; The President's Coronavirus Briefings Are Beginning To Sound A Lot Like His Campaign Rallies; A Look At The Emergency Field Hospital Setup To Fight Coronavirus and Save Lives; Newspaper Delivery Man Turns to Delivering Groceries Amid Coronavirus Crisis. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 30, 2020 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

Thank you so much for joining us.

The United States passing a very grim milestone as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. At least 500 new coronavirus deaths reported across the country today. And the most reported deaths -- it is the most reported deaths in the U.S. in a single day since the outbreak of the virus.

And as of this hour there are more than 160,600 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. More than 3,000 people have died from the virus in this country. Tonight, more than three quarters of Americans are under orders to stay at home.

At his press briefings in the Rose Garden President Trump saying that once the nation gets coronavirus under control, he hopes it does not return in the fall.

But Dr. Anthony Fauci quickly countering that. He anticipates the virus will return. And Dr. Fauci warning parts of the country with few cases they'd be making a mistake to let their guard down.

Joining me now is CNN's White House correspondent John Harwood and our resident fact checker Daniel Dale. Gentlemen, good evening to you. John, you first.

Today President Trump said that everyone who needs a ventilator will get one. The governor says that there's nowhere near enough. He also said a lot of areas aren't affected by the virus but his medical advisers disagree. Yesterday he seemed to embrace the science. So, John, what happened today?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, let me step back and do big picture here, and we talked a bit about it last night, credit where due. On the big one, on whether or not you're going to relax those guidelines or extend them he listened to the science and went forward and had his people like Deborah Birx and Tony Fauci make the case that you needed to even in the less populated areas with fewer cases, you need to watch it because their curves were similar.

However, having done that, having signed the big fiscal relief bill that Congress passed last week, what does Trump actually have to do in this crisis? There's a big and terrible thing happening in the country from a public health and economic standpoint.

Most of the actual work is getting done by the task force, by the corps of engineers, by all the doctors on the front lines. What Donald Trump's priority is at the moment is to try to avoid blame for an ineffective response.

And so what you see from him and I think you'll see for some time are efforts to blame other people, previous administrations, governors, reporters for asking nasty questions, China, various other actors trying to avoid the blame because he's the person in charge and a calamity is happening in the United States.

We may -- eventually we'll get out of the calamity and some good steps have been taken, but I think he's trying to avoid getting stuck with it.

LEMON: Daniel Dale, I'm going to bring in. President Trump has said today the U.S. has tested more people for coronavirus than any other country. He was asked about that. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said several times that the United States has ramped up testing, but the United States is still not testing per capita as many people as other countries like South Korea. Why is that and when do you think that that number will be on par with other countries?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yes. Well, it's very much on par. Look, per capita we have areas of country that's -- I know South Korea better than anybody. It's very tight. You know how many people are in Seoul? You know how big the city of Seoul is? Thirty-eight million people. That's bigger than anything we have. Thirty-eighty million people all tightly wound together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Daniel, what are the facts?

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: So, there's a lot here. I'll start with the funny or funny-ish part of this. There are not 38 million people in Seoul, Don. The city has a population of 10 million, the metropolitan area about 26 million. So, this was the usual Trump inflation.

[23:05:01]

On testing, more importantly, from the beginning of the crisis the U.S. still does lag behind other countries such as South Korea in the percentage of its population it has tested. That is still true. It still lags.

Now, Trump may have perhaps -- perhaps to be generous have been talking about what's been going on in the last few days. And it is true since early last week the U.S. per day has exceeded the per capita testing of South Korea. So, it still lags on the whole, but it has ramped up after a very late, slow, and problem plagued start and it is narrowing that gap with South Korea.

LEMON: Very good. And those are the facts. Thank you, Daniel Dale. Another question for you. I want you to take a listen first, though, to this exchange with President Trump and CNN's Jim Acosta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What do you say to Americans who are upset with you over the way you downplayed --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Here we go.

ACOSTA: -- this crisis over the last couple of months? We have it very much under control in this country, the coronavirus is very much under control in the USA, it's going to disappear. It's like a miracle, it will disappear.

March 4th, we have a very small number of people in this country affected. March 10th we're prepared, we're doing a great job with it, it will go away, just stay calm, it will go away.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, it is true it will go away.

ACOSTA: What do you say to Americans who believe you got this wrong?

TRUMP: And I do want them to stay calm, and we are doing a great job. If you look at those individual statements, they're all true. Stay calm, it will go away. You know it. You know it is going to away and it will go away and we're going to have a great victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All true statements, Daniel?

DALE: Those statements were obviously not all true. I mean, the president said in February as Jim said that the virus was under control. That wasn't true then. It wasn't true when he repeated in mid-March and still not true today. The virus is not under control.

On his claim that this will go away he is saying now that was correct when he said it weeks ago, well, he didn't say back then when he said it was go away that it would take thousands of deaths, thousands of additional illnesses and drastic society wide measures to make it possibly go away at some point.

And even if it does go away temporarily, experts, again, like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Trump's own former FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb have been very frank in saying even if it goes away now there may well be a second wave later in the year or next year.

LEMON: John, the president continues to suggest that New Yorker is asking for too many supplies or it's somehow mishandling them. Is this part of a strategy for the president?

HARWOOD: Yes, it's what we talked about earlier. He -- when people complain that things aren't going well, he will blame the governor he's dealing with or hospital workers for sending medical supplies out the back door or General Motors for dragging their feet on the ventilator production.

That is Donald Trump's style. He doesn't -- he can't handle being affixed with responsibility. It's why he gets mad at reporters like Jim Acosta or Yamiche Alcindor who he again tangled with today.

The president, his principle concern as the front man for this operation right now is to try to avoid being saddled with blame for what's happening to the country. He's running for re-election, and even if he weren't running for re-election, this is central to Donald Trump.

The idea within himself that he is a great man who's doing a great job. He has difficult with -- difficulty with bad results and accepting responsibility for them.

LEMON: Well, this is the difference between style and strategy. I get what you're pointing. But you think that is a legit strategy or is it just his style to -- it's just his natural reaction? He's just reactionary when he's doing that? That's my question.

HARWOOD: Yes, it's in his psychological make-up.

LEMON: Yes.

HARWOOD: That's the kind of person that he is.

LEMON: Yes. John Harwood, Daniel Dale, thank you both. I appreciate it.

Joining me now is Dr. Cornelia Griggs, she is a pediatric surgery fellow at Columbia University. Doctor, good to see you. I hope you're staying safe, as safe as you can without all the PPE that many of our medical experts and people on the front lines need. But thanks for joining us again. We spoke --

(CROSSTALK)

CORNELIA GRIGGS, PEDIATRIC SURGERY FELLOW, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Pleasure to be here.

LEMON: Yes. We spoke less than a week ago. There were nearly 53,000 coronavirus cases in the U.S., 704 deaths. Tonight, there are well over 160,000 cases, more than 3,000 deaths. You're on the front lines in New York City. It's getting worse by the day.

GRIGGS: It's getting worse by the day. I was on call for the whole weekend Friday through Sunday up until this morning, and it was one of the more discouraging weekends on call that I've had in my career.

[23:09:57]

And I know it's hard for everyone at home. It's even hard for me to wrap my head around those numbers and the numbers that we're facing over the coming week as we begin to approach what we think might be our peak in the coming week or two. And for those of us on the front lines they're not just numbers, they're faces.

LEMON: Yes. Well, I want to talk about this and then I want to get to this picture you posted. But talk about, about the governor who's been pleading for equipment and supplies for New York. Does your hospital have what it needs?

GRIGGS: I'm very appreciative to the governor for advocating for us especially the really hard-hit hospitals in New York. Brooklyn is drowning, Queens is drowning. My hospital is just keeping its head above water, but the situation feels more and more urgent every day.

We are seeing some relief in the form of regular masks. We still need more N95 masks, and we're optimistic that more of those are on the way, thanks to the effort of a lot of people donating and getting manufacturers to send more. But we're only going to start to run out of more things.

And ventilator is a huge concern, and it's not just ventilators. We're going to start to run out of the medications that we need to give patients to keep them comfortable while they're on the ventilator. And we're going to face supply chain shortages across the board.

LEMON: So, this is a kind of how you're doing question because and I'll ask it this way -- the governor asked health care workers in other states to come to New York and relieve exhausted doctors and nurses. Would you welcome some relief?

GRIGGS: Absolutely. I even personally texted a few friends of mine across the country. A handful of them I know have had COVID and are now recovering and are at home and feel OK but are still furloughed by their institutions, and some of them have even asked if they could volunteer and come to New York. But I think there's a lot of uncertainty and hesitation still. And I would welcome any help from any health care worker in any part of the country.

LEMON: OK. So, let's put this picture up that you posted of yourself at work, and you wrote this. You said my babies are too young to read this now, and they barely recognize me in my gear. But if they lose me to COVID I want them to know mommy tried really hard to do her job.

You are -- you are a hero as are the other medical workers putting themselves at risk every day. How concerned are you about your health? Pretty concerned I would imagine having posted this.

GRIGGS: Concerned enough that last weekend my husband who is also a surgeon, we sat down and we wrote our will, which I'm embarrassed to say we hadn't done before, but it felt like the responsible adult thing to do as two parents and health care workers at this moment in time.

And I think many doctors special in New York City are feeling the same way at this moment in time. But I posted that because I also wanted everyone to know that I'm still incredibly proud to be a doctor, and I feel privileged to be able to do the work that I do even when I'm scared and even when it feels like walking into the hospital every morning is like walking into the fire.

I can tell you that the camaraderie at my hospital right now among my colleagues, among everyone who works there is incredibly uplifting. And it's so kind of you to say that I'm a hero, but my heroes are all of the people that I work with at every level who are showing up and quietly doing their jobs and helping us fight this pandemic.

LEMON: OK. Just give me a moment here, producers. I want to -- just give me a minute. So, you said walking through the fire, right, when you get to work. We don't get to see -- we don't get to go to work with you. Take us there. When you get to -- tell us what it is like being in those hospitals.

GRIGGS: It feels like coronavirus is everywhere, and it feels like we have very little to protect us from getting sick ourselves as health care workers. But we are all trained and dedicated to the mission of saving lives, as many lives as we possibly can.

And I want everyone at home to know that even though it feels like staying indoors and staying home and isolating yourself is futile, it's not.

[23:15:02]

We need everyone at home to hold the line. Stay at home. Buy us time. Flatten the curve. Even though what you're seeing from our emergency rooms may look and feel apocalyptic, we are not failing. We are learning every day, and we're improving every day. And we're upscaling our ability to treat more and more patients.

I have two friends who are on the USNS Comfort, and it was a welcome relief to see that ship coming into the city. And it sounds like the Javits Center is going to be open for business soon. And we're improving and we're learning. And we are going to save lives. A lot of people are going to die, but we're also going to get better at this every day.

LEMON: You mentioned last week when you were on the show that you had a team member, one of your team members tested positive for coronavirus. How is that person doing, and are more of your colleagues becoming ill?

GRIGGS: Yes, more of my colleagues are becoming ill. And I'm grateful to say that my team member is on the mend and recovering and will probably be coming back to work this week, and we're so happy to have her back, but there are other doctors and nurses and health care workers across the board who are also falling ill.

And there's tragic news from across the city about a pediatric neuro surgeon who lost his life to coronavirus. And that's a huge loss for our community. So, we're going to hear horror stories but we're also going to hear uplifting stories of hope.

LEMON: Dr. Cornelia Griggs, thank you. Be safe. Take care of yourself.

The president saying today that one million Americans have been tested for the coronavirus, but is that enough? The truth about testing next.

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: On a conference call with governors today the president reportedly told them that he wasn't aware of any problems with testing. The New York Times reporting, he said, quote, "I haven't heard about testing in weeks. We've tested more now than any nation in the world. I haven't heard about testing being a problem."

Here with the truth about testing CNN's Drew Griffin. Drew, good evening to you. Thanks for joining us once again this evening.

Last night we talked about how the administration was boasting about testing even though it had promised millions of tests weeks ago. Now the president saying more than one million Americans have been testing. Is it enough?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It's not. These numbers really don't mean anything anymore when you're talking about big numbers of testing.

The fact of the matter is people who need and want to get tests aren't getting tested. We're still rationing tests, we still don't have the supplies. Just listen to the politicians today who were talking about the lack of testing in their areas still.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GINA RAIMONDO (D-RI): We're all continuing to struggle with testing, testing supplies and also procuring PPE. And that's a pretty regular refrain that all of the governors have when we talk to each other and when we talk to the president. At this point there just isn't enough out there.

MAYOR LORI LIGHFOOT (D), CHICAGO: No one anywhere in the country has access to enough tests. If you look at us on a per capita basis as you must, we're still way below other countries in the amount of testing that we're doing.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): At the federal level and with all the governors we still have this major issue of testing, and this pinch point about not enough ventilators and supplies and masks and PPEs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: I mean, Don, the fact of the matter is if you're sick and you're homesick and you call your doctor, your doctor is going to go through this screening process to decide if you can even qualify for a test.

So, are we testing, is testing getting better? Yes. I've called some labs today. Capacity is getting better. Things are improving, but we are so far behind in this testing that these numbers that the president announces, a million -- even if he said two million tomorrow it would still not be enough. We're that far behind.

LEMON: But we will take what we can at this point, Drew. You know what I mean? So, listen, the president addressing the approval of a test that only takes 5 to 15 minutes for result. Do we know when that will roll out?

GRIFFIN: It's supposed to rollout this week. It's Abbott Labs. And this is something that your doctor could actually have in her or his office and give you results quickly. That could relieve some of the pressure, but again this is rollout. The company was hoping to rollout 50,000 or so a day.

Those sound-like big numbers. They're actually small amounts and they're probably going to go to the hot spots not getting ahead of the situation. But as you say, don, every bit helps and this fast test is supposed to rollout this week.

LEMON: Yes. All the social distancing is about buying time, really, the spread of the disease and to get more testing done. What are medical experts saying about how critical that is, Drew?

GRIFFIN: The early testing, Don, is what was critical, and we blew it, OK? We'll find out why we blew it at some point, but that was blown. And explaining that right behind President Trump today was Dr. Fauci who was explaining why when this thing comes back in the fall, we will be so much more prepared. Listen to just this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you prepared for this to strike again, say, in the fall?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: In fact, I would anticipate that would actually happen because of the degree of transmissibility.

[23:24:58]

However, if you come back in the fall it will be a totally different ball game. Our ability to go out and be able to test, identify, isolate and contact trace would be orders of magnitude better than what it was just a couple of months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Don, I want your listeners to understand that that is what South Korea did. That is exactly the game plan South Korea did. The U.S. and South Korea had their first coronavirus cases on the very first -- same day, January 20th.

South Korea aggressively tested -- aggressively tested. The U.S. weeks and weeks went by. We had the failed test, we had problems testing. We didn't get out there and test.

Now on tonight when we're recording our 3,003 death in the United States, South Korea has a total of 162 deaths. The early testing, and what Dr. Fauci described is exactly how they did it. The testing was blown in the United States. We need to find out why. Dr. Fauci is saying we're going to get another chance at testing when the virus comes back in the fall.

LEMON: Drew Griffin reporting. Drew, thank you. I appreciate that.

A Florida pastor arrested for refusing to stop holding crowded services in spite of social distancing orders. I'm going to speak to the sheriff there and we'll take a look at how Florida's response to the crisis has been starkly different than other states.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The state of Florida has nearly 5,500 cases of coronavirus, one of the 10 hardest hit states in the country. But tonight, Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis, is facing criticism for his handling of the pandemic in his state. Here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We're going guns blazing, doing all that we can to be able to slow the spread of COVID-19.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Florida tonight, that assessment is up for debate. Governor Ron DeSantis started the day by dramatically escalating the state's response to coronavirus, signing an executive order urging residents of four South Florida counties to stay home through mid-May.

DESANTIS: This is the time to do the right thing, listen to all your local officials. We do this until the middle of May, and then we'll see where we're at.

ZELENY (voice-over): But three and a half hours later, the governor said he misspoke, insisting he actually meant mid-April, not May.

DESANTIS: I'm sorry. You know, April 15th. I'm sorry. Yeah. So we're going to go -- it is still April 15th, but we're going to be evaluating every day and seeing kind of what some of the trends look like.

ZELENY (voice-over): It's the latest example of confusion and criticism over the governor's response to the spread of coronavirus in Florida, which is among the states in the eye of the gathering storm with nearly 5,500 cases and 70 deaths.

For weeks, DeSantis has taken a far slower approach than many big state governors and often following the lead of the president with whom he speaks frequently.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just spoke with Ron DeSantis. We are thinking about certain things. Some people would like to see New York quarantine because it's a hot spot, New York, New Jersey.

ZELENY (voice-over): It was that weekend conversation that led the president to consider imposing such quarantine, a striking move he floated, yet ultimately backed away from. But it has fuelled rising feuds between states and also helped DeSantis blame Florida's growing case load on people fleeing from New York rather than on his decisions in recent weeks. As other states intensified their efforts, DeSantis left Florida's beaches open during the height of spring break.

DESANTIS: You have a family and they are just sitting out there in sunshine, heat and humidity in an open space. That's not as -- that's not as big of a problem.

ZELENY (voice-over): Now, he is taking a very different approach. He ordered checkpoints at the state's borders, causing traffic to back up for miles at the Florida-Georgia line and Alabama with troopers telling those who visited New York or Louisiana to self-quarantine for 14 days. The governor is also fighting to keep a cruise ship where four people have died and others are sick from docking in Florida.

DESANTIS: We think it's a mistake to be putting people in the Southern Florida right now given what we're dealing with. A lot of these are foreign nationals.

ZELENY (voice-over): But all actions stop well short of a statewide stay-at-home order now in effect at majority of states which many are calling for in Florida. State Senator Jose Rodriguez saying in a statement, "No corner of our state is immune and piecemeal/patchwork approach will not cut it. Because we remain so far behind testing, we cannot know how far behind we also are in trying to catch up with the virus as it spreads."

While the governor has received considerable backlash in Florida, he has not drawn the ire of the White House like many governors have. But few governors are closer to the president, who helped him win election in 2018.

DESANTIS: Welcome home to Florida.

(APPLAUSE)

D. TRUMP: We're very happy with Ron. He's doing a fantastic job.

(APPLAUSE)

ZELENY (voice-over): Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So the sheriff in one Florida County arresting a pastor who held two crowded services yesterday at his mega church, defying social distancing orders. He is charged with unlawful assembly and violating public health emergency rules.

I want to bring in now the sheriff who arrested him and that is Sheriff Chronister of Hillsborough County, Florida. Sheriff, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. We have video of one of the services listed. This is a crowded service. He said during the sermon that there was social distancing.

[23:35:00]

LEMON: But if you look at this, there were no signs that we can see. You said that you had no choice but to take action against Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne. Why was he arrested?

CHAD CHRONISTER, SHERIFF, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: We were repeatedly requested. We pleaded him. We stopped just short of begging him, to stop putting lives in danger by going ahead and encouraging his parishioners to come to service that day. And as you saw, there were more than 400 people gathered.

And he not only put their lives at risk, those hundreds of parishioners, but how about the thousands of people in the Tampa Bay area community that are now at risk as these parishioners return back to their neighborhoods?

LEMON: Mm-hmm. You are in direct contact with the church. The pastor was warned on more than one occasion about not having these large gatherings. I mean, you even tried to meet with him. What was his response, sheriff?

CHRONISTER: That he was protecting the freedom and the right to worship, which -- listen, I'll tell you the first one that's a man of faith and the last thing we want to do is take people's faith or the their right to worship. But you have to do so responsibly.

He had all the means necessary to be able to not only to put this out online but to broadcast on a television station that he pays for. There was absolutely no reason to put these lives at risk. This reckless endangerment -- I don't know how many lives that we may lose because of this reckless display.

LEMON: I want to read -- this is a statement from him. One of the pastor's attorneys released a statement today and it says that the River Church took extra health precautions for its services on Sunday, and he mentioned you.

"Not only did the church comply with the administrative order regarding six-foot distancing, it went above and beyond any other business to ensure the health and safety of the people. Contrary to the Sheriff Chronister's allegation that Pastor Howard-Browne was 'reckless,' the actions of Hillsborough County and the Hernando County sheriff are discriminatory against religion and church gatherings."

He says that you're discriminating against religion. What's your response, sheriff?

CHRONISTER: That's certainly not the case. Listen, I encourage worship and the freedom of religion, but you just have to do it safely. Anyone who watches that video sees that he wasn't complying with any type of safety guidelines. He was not only defiant of the president's orders, the CDC guidelines, the governor's orders, but the local orders here in Hillsboro County.

LEMON: It was supposed to be no more than 10 people. Is that correct? How many people did he have?

CHRONISTER: We counted at least over 400.

LEMON: Yeah.

CHRONISTER: At least. So -- and as you saw in that video, there was no social distancing. He said that he has this state-of-the-art sanitizing equipment that moves air at 100 miles an hour. Listen, I'm sorry, there's no exemption for that.

LEMON: Yeah.

CHRONISTER: But he bused those individuals in. Was that same sanitary equipment on the buses, those large groups that were bused into that church?

LEMON: Yeah. And I understand, as you have said, you would have done this even if it was a gym or any other gathering. It had nothing to do with religion, right? It was just he was breaking the law.

CHRONISTER: This had nothing to do with -- that's exactly right. This had nothing to do with the pastor or the church. If this was a gym owner, any type of other business or group that encourages large gatherings, it would have been in defiance of this law.

But, again, we pleaded with him. We talked to him. We talked to his attorneys. We talked to the church leaders. We did it since Friday through Saturday, into Sunday, into Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon, even went there to meet his legal staff and church leaders in person, pleading with them not to put people's lives in danger.

LEMON: Yeah. Sheriff, I understand that he has posted bond. He was only there for about 40 minutes. I think it was $250. But we'll see where this goes. Keep us updated, sheriff. Thank you so much.

CHRONISTER: We certainly will. Be healthy, everyone.

LEMON: Thank you, you as well. President Trump's daily coronavirus briefings are beginning to sound a lot like his campaign rallies. We'll dig into that, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Coronavirus has forced President Trump to abandon his political rallies, but he has found an outlet in the daily press briefings on the pandemic. Here's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

D. TRUMP: We should be saying congratulations instead of asking a really snarky question because I know exactly what you mean by that.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president on the attack. It's not the bully pulpit he wanted, but it is the one he has grabbed.

(APPLAUSE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): To be sure, the president's re-election team was planning on a torrent of big rallies from spring to fall, igniting headlines, energizing the base, and delighting the campaigner in chief.

D. TRUMP: North Carolina, thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): Now, pandemic updates have become the new rallying point.

D. TRUMP: We are doing a job the likes of which has never been done before.

FOREMAN (voice-over): The president leads the daily briefing far more often than Vice President Mike Pence, who is in charge of the team. He talks more too many times well over an hour praising his own performance, attacking political foes.

[23:45:00]

D. TRUMP: I think we've done a great job in the state of Washington, and I think the governor is a failed presidential candidate as you know.

FOREMAN (voice-over): He has falsely claimed the virus was under control, a vaccine was right around the corner, and trafficked in his customary lies and misleading claims.

D. TRUMP: In all fairness to all the former presidents, none of them ever thought a thing like this could happen.

FOREMAN (voice-over): In short, he does everything he used to do on the campaign trail, including ripping into the media with relish. It's no accident.

D. TRUMP: You're a terrible reporter.

They are fake news. Why don't you people act -- listen, why don't you act in a little more positive?

FOREMAN (voice-over): And despite all those complaints of slow action, supply shortages, and the deaths of thousands of Americans still climbing, the president is crowing about the viewership for his almost daily reality show.

D. TRUMP: Even they said that the ratings are like Monday night football ratings and that these are like bachelor finale.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Interesting. Tom, you mentioned that Trump himself put Pence in charge of a pandemic response, but now he pushes him aside and takes over the microphone. How often does this happen?

FOREMAN: Well, by our count, there have now been 23 of these briefings in roughly the last month. Only four times has Mike Pence been the guy, the main speaker of the day up there. So time and time again, Trump sees a camera, he jumps in front of it, and he starts talking and usually talks almost twice as long as Pence does when he's at the microphone.

LEMON: Tom Foreman. Thank you, Tom. I appreciate that. Up next, a look at the emergency field hospital setup to fight coronavirus and save lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A field hospital is about to open in just hours right in the middle of New York Central Park. CNN's Brian Todd has a look at how hospitals are trying to cope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW DUNCAN, NURSE IN BROOKLYN: We have to line them up, one after the other, bed by bed, trying to intubate anywhere we possibly can.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some doctors and nurses on the front lines say their hospitals are facing an overwhelming flood of patients.

ELIZABETH STACHTIARIS, EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR IN BROOKLYN: There are patients building up in all the corridors, on oxygen. Their oxygen tanks are running low. The rooms are short. The nursing staff is short. The doctors are falling ill, too.

FOREMAN (voice-over): These emergency room doctors say shortages are at dangerous levels.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are running out of medications, we are running out of equipment, and we're even running out of oxygen, which is something that patients that have COVID-19 need.

FOREMAN (voice-over): One of the most critical shortages, ventilators.

RAVI WETTASINGHE, EMERGENCY MEDICINE DOCTOR IN BROOKLYN: Think of it as your lungs being filled with fluid, like you're drowning. And once you get to that point where you're drowning, you need a ventilator to stay alive, and we are running out of that equipment for people.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Racing to fill the breach, New York is now urgently building emergency field hospitals at the Javits Center, in Central Park, and elsewhere. Around the country, cities bracing for impact are rushing to build out their capacity, in case they are hit by the same tsunami as New York.

ERIC TOSH, ER DOCTOR, MARY WASHINGTON HOSPITAL: So this is our field hospital.

FOREMAN (voice-over): In Fredericksburg, Virginia, about an hour south of Washington, Mary Washington Hospital has set up a field hospital in the parking garage, just a few feet outside its emergency room.

TOSH: We're going to start out with two triage stations but we'll be able to scale that up as we need.

FOREMAN (voice-over): ER Doctor Eric Tosh takes us through what looks like a MASH unit with portable x-ray machines, oxygen units, intravenous equipment. They saw what was happening in the hardest-hit facilities, Tosh says, and got this facility operational in a few days. There are now only a few coronavirus patients inside the main hospital, none in the field hospital. But Tosh is confident that will change.

TOSH: We hear from colleagues in New York and New Orleans that they're seeing as many as 200 to 400 percent of their normal daily volume. So this is designed for about that sort of influx.

FOREMAN (voice-over): It's required some creative ingenuity. The hospital took old waiting room area recliners and converted them into treatment chairs.

TOSH: And put old plant hangers that we are going to repurpose as IV bag holders.

FOREMAN (voice-over): They have installed a rather sobering feature that Tosh hopes his ER team will never have to use in case patients get violent.

TOSH: If the people need to get out, we would be able to get out through the back of the tent here and into the main treatment area.

FOREMAN (on camera): An escape passage (ph).

TOSH: Yes.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Tosh says right now, he is balancing being prepared with managing the fears and concerns of his staff over what may be coming.

TOSH: I don't know that anybody alive has ever seen anything like this. But we've had lots of training at being flexible and creative and doing things in the way that maybe they weren't meant to or designed to be done.

FOREMAN (on camera): One thing Dr. Tosh is now concerned about is a drop off in patients seeking emergency treatment outside of coronavirus. He's seeing much fewer patients come in here seeking treatment for heart attacks and strokes over the past few weeks. He says they're all fearful that they're going to get coronavirus.

Brian Todd, CNN, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Brian, thank you so much for that. Now, for our nightly taking care feature, highlighting people who are helping their communities during the coronavirus crisis. In Mercer County, New Jersey, newspaper deliveryman Greg Dailey is doing more than just delivering the morning paper. He is delivering groceries, too.

Greg began by putting a note in the papers that he delivered, offering to get those who can't or shouldn't leave their homes the groceries and household goods that they need with zero delivery fees.

[23:55:04]

LEMON: The response was immediate. And not just for delivery requests, but for people wanting to donate money for his expenses like gas. Greg isn't doing this alone. However, his services has become -- his service, I should say, has become a family affair with his wife, three kids, and even his mother-in-law all helping out to organize orders and to make sure it is all being done in a sanitary way.

Since he started this service, Greg has delivered goods to 43 homes in his community. In times like this, we need people like Greg and his family. So from all of us here at "CNN Tonight," I would like to say thank you to the Dailey family and others like them doing their part across the country and around the world.

Thank you so much for watching, everyone. Be safe out there. Our coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)