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Remarks by Trump, Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, 03-23-20
PRESS BRIEFINGS
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: March 24, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
March 23, 2020
6:11 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And I see we have fewer people because of the virus problem, and we appreciate you being here. And this is getting to be more and more social distancing, and that’s fine. That’s the way it should be, and it’s too bad. We extend our best wishes to the person affected. And we feel sure that he or she will be better very soon.
And thank you for being here. America continues to mobilize every segment of our society to turn the tide in the battle against the virus. I want Americans to know that we will get through this challenge. The hardship will end; it will end soon. Normal life will return. And our economy will rebound very, very strongly. But, right now, in the midst of this great national trial, Americans must remain united in purpose and focused on victory.
To every single American, please know that the sacrifice you’re making at this time is saving lives — many, many lives. It’s very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States and all around the world. They’re amazing people, and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape, or form. They’re working closely with us to get rid of it. We will prevail together. It’s very important.
{snip}
ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR: Let me start by thanking you, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, for your decisive leadership in this unprecedented battle to save American lives. At the Department of Justice, we’re working hard to protect the health and safety of our personnel, while at the same time keeping our enforcement efforts at full throttle.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, just quickly, a second question: What prompted you to say at the beginning of your — beginning of your comments that you’re going to take care of the Asian Americans? Has there been something in particular that was prompting you?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because it seems that there could be a little bit of nasty language toward the Asian Americans in our country, and I don’t like that at all. These are incredible people. They love our country, and I’m not going to let it happen. So I just wanted to make that point —
Q Do you think you contribute to the (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: — because they’re blaming China. People are blaming China —
Q — by calling this the “Chinese virus”?
THE PRESIDENT: — and they are making statements to great American citizens that happen to be of Asian heritage. And I’m not going to let that happen.
{snip}
Q Both you and the Vice President have been tested for the virus, also Mrs. Pence. Has the First Lady been tested?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q And?
THE PRESIDENT: She’s great. She’s fine.
Q Negative?
THE PRESIDENT: Negative. Okay? Negative.
Q What are the sticking points on the stimulus? Who is going to hold Treasury accountable for this 500-billion-dollar corporate rescue fund?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you need that to help all of these companies that have a chance of not being companies anymore. And that’s going to be a good thing for the country because deals will be made. And we’re talking to certain people — some of the greatest people in the history of Wall Street, frankly, where, when they do a deal, we’ll have stock for the — for America. We’ll take back stock for the United States. We’ll do —
At the same time, most importantly, we’ll keep those companies healthy. But we can also make incredible deals for the country so that that number will increase exponentially.
I mean, that’s a great —
Q But the concern isn’t about the fund, it’s about the lack of oversight of Treasury having this unilateral authority to dole out all of this money.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Look, I’ll be the oversight. I’ll be the oversight. We’re going to make good deals. We make good deals. But these companies need it. Even it was just a simple loan, which would be — but we can do better than that. And the companies are willing to do better than that. I mean, they got hit. Most of these companies, it was through no fault of their own. There are a couple where it was — you know, they were troubled before they came in. We talked about one. They had trouble; nobody can believe it, actually, in that one.
But these companies are — through no fault of their own, they have difficulty. I mean, two weeks ago, these companies were among the most solid institutions in the world. You’d want to buy their bonds; their bonds were rated AAA, or whatever their highest rating is today. And now, all of a sudden, they have difficulty because they’ve been closed up.
So you need something to keep them going. But that money is not going to be wasted money. That money is going to be seen. And we could multiply that number by many times coming back to the American public. That could be a phenomenal thing. But most importantly, it’s going to keep these great engines of jobs and ingenuity going. Very important.
Yeah. How about one or two more, and we’ll go? Go ahead, please. And then Jeff.
Q Thank you, sir. Are there things you regret in the way you handled the crisis so far? Are there words you regret?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so. You know, I’m looking forward. I don’t look back. I guess there’s always something everybody regrets. There are things in your life you regret. We all regret things. But I really like to look forward. I’m a person that looks — a forward thinker, I guess they would say.
No, I think that we’ve handled it really well. It seems to be — the American public thinks that we’ve handled it well, if you look at polling data.
But I’m not interested in myself. I’m interested in the American people. We have to get this going. We have millions and millions of jobs that were solid as a rock three weeks ago. And today, there could be questions.
And the faster we get it going, the more likely it is that those stores, little businesses, big businesses, medium-sized businesses open up. And we’ll get it going very fast. I really believe this is a pent-up demand. I think that as soon as we say, “Let’s go” — and it’s going to be pretty soon. It’s going to be pretty soon. It’s going to be sooner than people would think. We’ve — again, we’re in a position to take care of our country, but at the same time, to have the country really — really go up like a rocket ship economically. And that’s great for jobs, it’s great for everything else.
{snip}
Well, I want to thank everybody very much, and we’ll see you tomorrow sometime. And we’ll get this going, I think, really well. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.
END
8:01 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: March 24, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
March 23, 2020
6:11 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. And I see we have fewer people because of the virus problem, and we appreciate you being here. And this is getting to be more and more social distancing, and that’s fine. That’s the way it should be, and it’s too bad. We extend our best wishes to the person affected. And we feel sure that he or she will be better very soon.
And thank you for being here. America continues to mobilize every segment of our society to turn the tide in the battle against the virus. I want Americans to know that we will get through this challenge. The hardship will end; it will end soon. Normal life will return. And our economy will rebound very, very strongly. But, right now, in the midst of this great national trial, Americans must remain united in purpose and focused on victory.
To every single American, please know that the sacrifice you’re making at this time is saving lives — many, many lives. It’s very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States and all around the world. They’re amazing people, and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape, or form. They’re working closely with us to get rid of it. We will prevail together. It’s very important.
{snip}
ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR: Let me start by thanking you, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, for your decisive leadership in this unprecedented battle to save American lives. At the Department of Justice, we’re working hard to protect the health and safety of our personnel, while at the same time keeping our enforcement efforts at full throttle.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, just quickly, a second question: What prompted you to say at the beginning of your — beginning of your comments that you’re going to take care of the Asian Americans? Has there been something in particular that was prompting you?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because it seems that there could be a little bit of nasty language toward the Asian Americans in our country, and I don’t like that at all. These are incredible people. They love our country, and I’m not going to let it happen. So I just wanted to make that point —
Q Do you think you contribute to the (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: — because they’re blaming China. People are blaming China —
Q — by calling this the “Chinese virus”?
THE PRESIDENT: — and they are making statements to great American citizens that happen to be of Asian heritage. And I’m not going to let that happen.
{snip}
Q Both you and the Vice President have been tested for the virus, also Mrs. Pence. Has the First Lady been tested?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q And?
THE PRESIDENT: She’s great. She’s fine.
Q Negative?
THE PRESIDENT: Negative. Okay? Negative.
Q What are the sticking points on the stimulus? Who is going to hold Treasury accountable for this 500-billion-dollar corporate rescue fund?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you need that to help all of these companies that have a chance of not being companies anymore. And that’s going to be a good thing for the country because deals will be made. And we’re talking to certain people — some of the greatest people in the history of Wall Street, frankly, where, when they do a deal, we’ll have stock for the — for America. We’ll take back stock for the United States. We’ll do —
At the same time, most importantly, we’ll keep those companies healthy. But we can also make incredible deals for the country so that that number will increase exponentially.
I mean, that’s a great —
Q But the concern isn’t about the fund, it’s about the lack of oversight of Treasury having this unilateral authority to dole out all of this money.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Look, I’ll be the oversight. I’ll be the oversight. We’re going to make good deals. We make good deals. But these companies need it. Even it was just a simple loan, which would be — but we can do better than that. And the companies are willing to do better than that. I mean, they got hit. Most of these companies, it was through no fault of their own. There are a couple where it was — you know, they were troubled before they came in. We talked about one. They had trouble; nobody can believe it, actually, in that one.
But these companies are — through no fault of their own, they have difficulty. I mean, two weeks ago, these companies were among the most solid institutions in the world. You’d want to buy their bonds; their bonds were rated AAA, or whatever their highest rating is today. And now, all of a sudden, they have difficulty because they’ve been closed up.
So you need something to keep them going. But that money is not going to be wasted money. That money is going to be seen. And we could multiply that number by many times coming back to the American public. That could be a phenomenal thing. But most importantly, it’s going to keep these great engines of jobs and ingenuity going. Very important.
Yeah. How about one or two more, and we’ll go? Go ahead, please. And then Jeff.
Q Thank you, sir. Are there things you regret in the way you handled the crisis so far? Are there words you regret?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so. You know, I’m looking forward. I don’t look back. I guess there’s always something everybody regrets. There are things in your life you regret. We all regret things. But I really like to look forward. I’m a person that looks — a forward thinker, I guess they would say.
No, I think that we’ve handled it really well. It seems to be — the American public thinks that we’ve handled it well, if you look at polling data.
But I’m not interested in myself. I’m interested in the American people. We have to get this going. We have millions and millions of jobs that were solid as a rock three weeks ago. And today, there could be questions.
And the faster we get it going, the more likely it is that those stores, little businesses, big businesses, medium-sized businesses open up. And we’ll get it going very fast. I really believe this is a pent-up demand. I think that as soon as we say, “Let’s go” — and it’s going to be pretty soon. It’s going to be pretty soon. It’s going to be sooner than people would think. We’ve — again, we’re in a position to take care of our country, but at the same time, to have the country really — really go up like a rocket ship economically. And that’s great for jobs, it’s great for everything else.
{snip}
Well, I want to thank everybody very much, and we’ll see you tomorrow sometime. And we’ll get this going, I think, really well. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.
END
8:01 P.M. EDT