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Remarks by Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in a Press Briefing, 03-30-20
It's time for today's episode of visionary leadership and nasty reporters, who work for networks that no one watches.
But first this word from our sponsor:
"For the best darn pillow in the whole darn world, go to My Pillow dot com."
And now, let's join our show, already in progress.
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in a Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: March 30, 2020
Rose Garden
5:12 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Very comfortable here. A lot of room. And we appreciate you being here.
Yesterday I announced that we would be extending our social distance guidelines through the end of April. This is based on modeling that shows the peak in fatalities will not arrive for another two weeks. The same modeling also shows that, by very vigorously following these guidelines, we could save more than 1 million American lives. Think of that: 1 million American lives.
Our future is in our own hands, and the choices and sacrifices we make will determine the fate of this virus and, really, the fate of our victory. We will have a great victory. We have no other choice. Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war. Every citizen, family, and business can make the difference in stopping the virus. This is our shared patriotic duty.
{snip}
And I think what I’d like to do is ask Secretary Azar, who’s done a fantastic job, to come up and just say a few words about the fact that we reached substantially now more than 1 million tests.
Please. Thank you, Alex.
SECRETARY AZAR: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership in marshaling all the resources that we have for this unprecedented testing effort. And thank you, Mr. Vice President, for leading a whole-of-economy approach to testing.
{snip}
So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership and thank you to everybody who’s played a part in getting us where we are today. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.
I’d like to ask Dr. Hahn to come up — FDA — because we have some really good stuff. First of all, the numbers have been incredible on testing, but in the days ahead, we’re going to go even faster. And we have something from Abbott Labs, which is right here, and that’s a five-minute test, highly accurate.
{snip}
And, Doctor, please say a few words. And this is the first one on the line of the five-minute test from Abbott.
DR. HAHN: Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership. Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for your leadership of the task force. I’m very proud of FDA staff’s work in the last few months to expedite the availability of testing in this country. I’m also incredibly appreciative of private industries’ ingenuity and willingness to work with us quickly to develop and distribute those tests.
{snip}
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Doctor. Great job too. Really great job. Thank you, Steve.
{snip}
And we’ve opened up — whoops, there goes our box. And my hair is blowing around, and it’s mine. (Laughter.) The one thing you can’t get away with. If it’s not yours, you got a problem, if you’re President.
{snip}
I’d like you to come up and say a couple of words, if you might, about your companies. Mike, come on up. Come on up, fellas, please. Come on up. You have to say what you’re doing because it’s been really incredible.
Go ahead, Mike.
MR. LINDELL: Okay, well, MyPillow is a U.S. vertically integrated company, which has been forced to adjust to the changing business environment as a result of the pandemic. MyPillow’s unique position as a U.S. company functions as a manufacturer, logistics management distributor, and direct-to-consumer. Given our current business lines, we are experiencing the effects of this pandemic firsthand.
What MyPillow has done — we’ve established an internal task force, which is monitoring future needs of companies across the country as a result of this pandemic. And given our position, we’ve begun to research and develop new protocols to address the current and future needs of U.S. businesses across multiple sectors, how companies are going to prepare themselves when they once again open up, and changes to their current operations in order to adjust to future threats and pandemics.
MyPillow has designated some of its call centers to help U.S. companies navigate the many issues that resulted from this pandemic. We’ve dedicated 75 percent of my manufacturing to produce cotton facemasks. In three days, I was up to 10,000 a day. By Friday, I want to be up to 50,000 a day.
I proud to manufacture our products in the United States, and I’m even more proud to be able to serve our nation in this great time of need. Thank you, Mr. President, for your call to action when — which has empowered companies like MyPillow to help our nation win this invisible war.
Now, I wrote something off the cuff, if I can read this.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay.
MR. LINDELL: (Laughs.) God gave us grace on November 8th, 2016, to change the course we were on. God had been taken out of our schools and lives. A nation had turned its back on God. And I encourage you: Use this time at home to get — home to get back in the Word, read our Bibles, and spend time with our families.
Our President gave us so much hope where, just a few short months ago, we had the best economy, the lowest unemployment, and wages going up. It was amazing. With our great President, Vice President, and this administration and all the great people in this country praying daily, we will get through this and get back to a place that’s stronger and safer than ever.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s very nice. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it.
Please come on up. I did not know he was going to do that, but he’s a friend of mine, and I do appreciate it. Thank you, Mike, very much.
Please.
MR. ADAMCZYK: First of all, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, the entire administration, and all the agencies, thank you for your strong leadership during this time of crisis. It is noticed and it’s making a difference.
{snip}
MR. HAYES: Mr. President. Good afternoon. I’m Greg Hayes from United Technologies, and on behalf of the 240,000 employees of United Technologies and the 70,000 employees at Raytheon, which will join together with UTC this Friday, I want to first of all say thank you to the President and the Vice President for your leadership during what is really a war. It is a different war than anybody has ever fought before, but it’s a war that we’re uniquely qualified to help.
{snip}
ADMINISTRATOR VERMA: Thank you, Mr. President. And let me start by saying, I want to convey my deepest sympathies to those that have lost loved ones to the coronavirus. We’re all thinking of you.
Today is Doctors’ Day and, even without it, I want to send a message of gratitude to the foot soldiers in this war: men and women that are providing care and comfort to Americans that have been affected by the virus. Your country is grateful.
And, in short, as the President has said, we are engaged in a war against an invisible enemy. In wartime, the assumptions of peacetime must be revisited and adjusted to meet the demands of the moment. And so, under the President’s leadership, CMS is waiving a wide and unprecedented range of regulatory requirements. Now, many healthcare systems won’t need these waivers and they shouldn’t use them if they don’t need them, but the flexibilities are there.
{snip}
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Seema. Fantastic job. And you’re doing a great job.
{snip}
So, thank you very much. And if you’d like, we’ll take a few questions. John, please.
{snip}
Please.
Q The DMV has issued stay-at-home orders, but Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia took it pretty far. He issued a 70-day stay-at-home order. Is that constitutional, first off? And secondly, do you think it’s warranted to go ahead and issue a 70-day guidance at this point?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re letting the governors do in their states pretty much what they want with our supervision, and they consult with us in all cases. Some go further than others, as you know. I mean, I could give you plenty of examples, but I’m not going to do that because we never want to be controversial. But some of the governors have taken it a step further.
Q Did he consult with you at all?
THE PRESIDENT: And people are questioning — people are questioning that. But, look, staying at home, with respect to what we’re talking about, doesn’t bother me at all. People should be staying at home. That’s what we want.
OAN, please. OAN.
Q Two thousand four hundred and five Americans have died from coronavirus in the last sixty days.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Meanwhile, you have 2,369 children who are killed by their mothers through elective abortions each day. That’s 16 and a half thousand children killed every week.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Two states have suspended elective abortion to make more resources available for coronavirus cases. That’s Texas and Ohio. Do you agree with states who are placing coronavirus victims above elective abortions? And should more states be doing the same?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think what we’re doing is we’re trying to, as a group, governors — and that’s Republicans and Democrats — you know, we’re just working together to solve this problem. That’s been a — what you’re mentioning has been going on for a long time, and it’s a sad event. A lot of sad events in this country. But what we’re doing is now we’re working on the virus. We’re working on that hidden enemy, and I think we’re doing a great job on — as good a job as you can possibly do.
When Tony and Deborah came up with numbers yesterday to say that, if we did nothing, you could lose 2.2 — up to two point — and maybe beyond, I don’t know. Maybe beyond. But 2.2 million people if we did nothing. And I can’t tell you what the unfortunate final toll is going to be, but it’s going to be a very small fraction of that. So we’re doing an awfully good job, I think, with what we’re doing.
Q Do you support Texas and Ohio?
THE PRESIDENT: Please go ahead. Please.
Q Are you considering at all a nationwide stay-at-home order? I know there’s a lot of states that have put them in place, but some haven’t. I’m just wondering if you were considering some sort of broad stay-at-home order. And then I have a question for Dr. Birx, too, if you don’t mind.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Well, we’ve talked about it. We — you know, there are — obviously, there are some parts of the country that are in far deeper trouble than others. There are other parts that, frankly, are not in trouble at all. So, hopefully, we’re going to be able to keep it that way by doing what we’re doing.
So we talked about quarantine, as you know, the other day. A group came to me and they wanted to do the quarantine. And I said, “Let’s think about it.” And we did. And we studied it. And by the time the evening came, it just was something that was very unwieldy, very tough to enforce, and something we didn’t want to do. But we did an advisory and I think that’s doing well. I mean, I see — I look at the streets. You look at New York, where there’s — I looked down Fifth Avenue today. They were showing a shot of Fifth Avenue in, sort of, prime time, and there was almost nobody on Fifth Avenue. I’ve never seen that before. There was no car. There was no anything. So I think the people of this country have done an incredible job.
If we do that, we will let you know, but it’s pretty unlikely, I would think, at this time.
{snip}
Q Sir, what do you say to Americans who are upset with you over the way you —
THE PRESIDENT: Here we go.
Q — downplayed 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 infected.”
March 10th: “We’re prepared. We’re doing a great job with it. It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
THE PRESIDENT: Well, isn’t it true? It will go away.
Q What do you say to Americans who believe that you got this wrong?
THE PRESIDENT: 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 away, and it will go away. And we’re going to have a great victory.
And it’s people like you and CNN that say things like that. That — it’s why people just don’t want to listen to CNN anymore. You could ask a normal question. The statements I made are: I want to keep the country calm. I don’t want to panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you. I could do much — I would make you look like a minor league player. But you know what? I don’t want to do that.
I want to have our country be calm and strong, and fight and win, and it will go away. And it is incredible the job that all of these people are doing — putting them all together — the job that they’re doing.
I am very proud of the job they’re doing, that Mike Pence is doing, that the task force has done, that Honeywell and Procter & Gamble and Mike, and all of these people have done. I’m very proud. It’s — it’s almost a miracle, and it is — the way it’s all come together.
And instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question. And other than that, I’m going to go to somebody else.
Please, go ahead. Please.
Q You expressed some concern in the past that medical supplies were going out the back door —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — and that, perhaps, some hospitals were doing things worse than hoarding.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I expressed what was told to me by a tremendous power in the business. He said that, at a New York hospital, for a long period of time, he was giving 10,000, maybe maximum 20,000 masks over a short time. And all of a sudden, he’s giving 300,000. And I said, “No matter how bad this is, could that be possible?” He said, “No.” So there’s only a couple of things that could happen. Is it going out the back door?
And I’ve reported it to the city and let the city take a look at it. But when you go from 10,000 masks to 300,000 masks, Mike, over the same period of time, there’s something going on. Now, I’m not making any charges, but when everyone is looking for masks — and, by the way, that’s another thing: We’re making a lot of masks. And the sterilization process is going to save a lot of time and a lot of masks.
But when you have the biggest distributor of product that distributes to many of the big hospitals and hospital chains, and he brings up a statistic like that — and I know you’re trying to make a big deal out of it, but you shouldn’t be. You should actually go over to the hospital and find out why. You shouldn’t be asking me. I’m just saying that’s the way it is.
Q Are you —
THE PRESIDENT: You should go over there as a great reporter. I have no idea who you are, but that’s okay. You should go over there, go to the hospital, and find out: How come you used to get 10,000 masks and you had a full hospital? New York City — always full. And how come now you have 300,000 masks? Despite the virus and all, you have three- — how do you go from 10 [thousand] to 300,000? And this is very serious stuff. I mean, I could see from 10 to 20, or from 10 to 40 or 50 or something. But how do you go from 10 [thousand] to 300,000 masks?
So what I think you should do as a — I’m sure you’re a wonderful investigative reporter. You should go to the hospital and find out why.
Okay, yeah.
Q Are you asking your DOJ to look into it, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Steve, please.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. You said several times that the United States has ramped up testing. I’ll just talk a little quicker — or a little louder.
Mr. President, 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?
And Dr. —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, it’s — it’s very much on par.
Q Not per capita —
THE PRESIDENT: Look — look — per capita. We have areas of country that’s very tight. I know South Korea better than anybody. It’s a — very tight. Do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is?
Q But the question is about (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: Thirty-eight million people. That’s bigger than anything we have. Thirty-eight million people all tightly wound together.
We have vast farmlands. We have vast areas where they don’t have much of a problem. In some cases, they have no problem whatsoever. We have done more tests. What I didn’t — I didn’t talk about per capita. We have done more tests, by far, than any country in the world, by far.
Our testing is also better than any country in the world. And when you look at that, as simple as that looks, that’s something that’s a game changer, and every country wants that. Every country.
So rather than asking a question like that, you should congratulate the people that have done this testing, because we inherited — this administration inherited a broken system, a system that was obsolete, a system that didn’t work. It was okay for a tiny, small group of people, but once you got beyond that, it didn’t work.
We have built an incredible system to the fact, where we have now done more tests than any other country in the world. And now the technology is really booming.
I just spoke to — well, I spoke to a lot. I’m not going to even mention. I spoke to a number of different testing companies today, and the job that they’ve done and the job that they’re doing is incredible.
But when Abbott comes out and does this so quickly, it’s really unreal. In fact, one company, I have to say, that stands out in the job — and I think I can say this; I don’t want to insult anybody else — but Roche. Roche has been incredible in the testing job they’ve done. And they’re ramping it up exponentially. It’s up, up, up, up. And you should be saying congratulations instead of asking a really snarky question, because I know exactly what you mean by that.
You should be saying congratulations to the men and women who have done this job, who have inherited a broken testing system, and who have made it great. And if you don’t say it, I’ll say it. I want to congratulate all of the people. You have done a fantastic job.
And we will see you all tomorrow. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
END
6:09 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in a Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: March 30, 2020
Rose Garden
5:12 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Very comfortable here. A lot of room. And we appreciate you being here.
Yesterday I announced that we would be extending our social distance guidelines through the end of April. This is based on modeling that shows the peak in fatalities will not arrive for another two weeks. The same modeling also shows that, by very vigorously following these guidelines, we could save more than 1 million American lives. Think of that: 1 million American lives.
Our future is in our own hands, and the choices and sacrifices we make will determine the fate of this virus and, really, the fate of our victory. We will have a great victory. We have no other choice. Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war. Every citizen, family, and business can make the difference in stopping the virus. This is our shared patriotic duty.
{snip}
And I think what I’d like to do is ask Secretary Azar, who’s done a fantastic job, to come up and just say a few words about the fact that we reached substantially now more than 1 million tests.
Please. Thank you, Alex.
SECRETARY AZAR: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership in marshaling all the resources that we have for this unprecedented testing effort. And thank you, Mr. Vice President, for leading a whole-of-economy approach to testing.
{snip}
So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership and thank you to everybody who’s played a part in getting us where we are today. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.
I’d like to ask Dr. Hahn to come up — FDA — because we have some really good stuff. First of all, the numbers have been incredible on testing, but in the days ahead, we’re going to go even faster. And we have something from Abbott Labs, which is right here, and that’s a five-minute test, highly accurate.
{snip}
And, Doctor, please say a few words. And this is the first one on the line of the five-minute test from Abbott.
DR. HAHN: Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership. Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for your leadership of the task force. I’m very proud of FDA staff’s work in the last few months to expedite the availability of testing in this country. I’m also incredibly appreciative of private industries’ ingenuity and willingness to work with us quickly to develop and distribute those tests.
{snip}
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Doctor. Great job too. Really great job. Thank you, Steve.
{snip}
And we’ve opened up — whoops, there goes our box. And my hair is blowing around, and it’s mine. (Laughter.) The one thing you can’t get away with. If it’s not yours, you got a problem, if you’re President.
{snip}
I’d like you to come up and say a couple of words, if you might, about your companies. Mike, come on up. Come on up, fellas, please. Come on up. You have to say what you’re doing because it’s been really incredible.
Go ahead, Mike.
MR. LINDELL: Okay, well, MyPillow is a U.S. vertically integrated company, which has been forced to adjust to the changing business environment as a result of the pandemic. MyPillow’s unique position as a U.S. company functions as a manufacturer, logistics management distributor, and direct-to-consumer. Given our current business lines, we are experiencing the effects of this pandemic firsthand.
What MyPillow has done — we’ve established an internal task force, which is monitoring future needs of companies across the country as a result of this pandemic. And given our position, we’ve begun to research and develop new protocols to address the current and future needs of U.S. businesses across multiple sectors, how companies are going to prepare themselves when they once again open up, and changes to their current operations in order to adjust to future threats and pandemics.
MyPillow has designated some of its call centers to help U.S. companies navigate the many issues that resulted from this pandemic. We’ve dedicated 75 percent of my manufacturing to produce cotton facemasks. In three days, I was up to 10,000 a day. By Friday, I want to be up to 50,000 a day.
I proud to manufacture our products in the United States, and I’m even more proud to be able to serve our nation in this great time of need. Thank you, Mr. President, for your call to action when — which has empowered companies like MyPillow to help our nation win this invisible war.
Now, I wrote something off the cuff, if I can read this.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay.
MR. LINDELL: (Laughs.) God gave us grace on November 8th, 2016, to change the course we were on. God had been taken out of our schools and lives. A nation had turned its back on God. And I encourage you: Use this time at home to get — home to get back in the Word, read our Bibles, and spend time with our families.
Our President gave us so much hope where, just a few short months ago, we had the best economy, the lowest unemployment, and wages going up. It was amazing. With our great President, Vice President, and this administration and all the great people in this country praying daily, we will get through this and get back to a place that’s stronger and safer than ever.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s very nice. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it.
Please come on up. I did not know he was going to do that, but he’s a friend of mine, and I do appreciate it. Thank you, Mike, very much.
Please.
MR. ADAMCZYK: First of all, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, the entire administration, and all the agencies, thank you for your strong leadership during this time of crisis. It is noticed and it’s making a difference.
{snip}
MR. HAYES: Mr. President. Good afternoon. I’m Greg Hayes from United Technologies, and on behalf of the 240,000 employees of United Technologies and the 70,000 employees at Raytheon, which will join together with UTC this Friday, I want to first of all say thank you to the President and the Vice President for your leadership during what is really a war. It is a different war than anybody has ever fought before, but it’s a war that we’re uniquely qualified to help.
{snip}
ADMINISTRATOR VERMA: Thank you, Mr. President. And let me start by saying, I want to convey my deepest sympathies to those that have lost loved ones to the coronavirus. We’re all thinking of you.
Today is Doctors’ Day and, even without it, I want to send a message of gratitude to the foot soldiers in this war: men and women that are providing care and comfort to Americans that have been affected by the virus. Your country is grateful.
And, in short, as the President has said, we are engaged in a war against an invisible enemy. In wartime, the assumptions of peacetime must be revisited and adjusted to meet the demands of the moment. And so, under the President’s leadership, CMS is waiving a wide and unprecedented range of regulatory requirements. Now, many healthcare systems won’t need these waivers and they shouldn’t use them if they don’t need them, but the flexibilities are there.
{snip}
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Seema. Fantastic job. And you’re doing a great job.
{snip}
So, thank you very much. And if you’d like, we’ll take a few questions. John, please.
{snip}
Please.
Q The DMV has issued stay-at-home orders, but Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia took it pretty far. He issued a 70-day stay-at-home order. Is that constitutional, first off? And secondly, do you think it’s warranted to go ahead and issue a 70-day guidance at this point?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re letting the governors do in their states pretty much what they want with our supervision, and they consult with us in all cases. Some go further than others, as you know. I mean, I could give you plenty of examples, but I’m not going to do that because we never want to be controversial. But some of the governors have taken it a step further.
Q Did he consult with you at all?
THE PRESIDENT: And people are questioning — people are questioning that. But, look, staying at home, with respect to what we’re talking about, doesn’t bother me at all. People should be staying at home. That’s what we want.
OAN, please. OAN.
Q Two thousand four hundred and five Americans have died from coronavirus in the last sixty days.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Meanwhile, you have 2,369 children who are killed by their mothers through elective abortions each day. That’s 16 and a half thousand children killed every week.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Two states have suspended elective abortion to make more resources available for coronavirus cases. That’s Texas and Ohio. Do you agree with states who are placing coronavirus victims above elective abortions? And should more states be doing the same?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think what we’re doing is we’re trying to, as a group, governors — and that’s Republicans and Democrats — you know, we’re just working together to solve this problem. That’s been a — what you’re mentioning has been going on for a long time, and it’s a sad event. A lot of sad events in this country. But what we’re doing is now we’re working on the virus. We’re working on that hidden enemy, and I think we’re doing a great job on — as good a job as you can possibly do.
When Tony and Deborah came up with numbers yesterday to say that, if we did nothing, you could lose 2.2 — up to two point — and maybe beyond, I don’t know. Maybe beyond. But 2.2 million people if we did nothing. And I can’t tell you what the unfortunate final toll is going to be, but it’s going to be a very small fraction of that. So we’re doing an awfully good job, I think, with what we’re doing.
Q Do you support Texas and Ohio?
THE PRESIDENT: Please go ahead. Please.
Q Are you considering at all a nationwide stay-at-home order? I know there’s a lot of states that have put them in place, but some haven’t. I’m just wondering if you were considering some sort of broad stay-at-home order. And then I have a question for Dr. Birx, too, if you don’t mind.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Well, we’ve talked about it. We — you know, there are — obviously, there are some parts of the country that are in far deeper trouble than others. There are other parts that, frankly, are not in trouble at all. So, hopefully, we’re going to be able to keep it that way by doing what we’re doing.
So we talked about quarantine, as you know, the other day. A group came to me and they wanted to do the quarantine. And I said, “Let’s think about it.” And we did. And we studied it. And by the time the evening came, it just was something that was very unwieldy, very tough to enforce, and something we didn’t want to do. But we did an advisory and I think that’s doing well. I mean, I see — I look at the streets. You look at New York, where there’s — I looked down Fifth Avenue today. They were showing a shot of Fifth Avenue in, sort of, prime time, and there was almost nobody on Fifth Avenue. I’ve never seen that before. There was no car. There was no anything. So I think the people of this country have done an incredible job.
If we do that, we will let you know, but it’s pretty unlikely, I would think, at this time.
{snip}
Q Sir, what do you say to Americans who are upset with you over the way you —
THE PRESIDENT: Here we go.
Q — downplayed 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 infected.”
March 10th: “We’re prepared. We’re doing a great job with it. It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
THE PRESIDENT: Well, isn’t it true? It will go away.
Q What do you say to Americans who believe that you got this wrong?
THE PRESIDENT: 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 away, and it will go away. And we’re going to have a great victory.
And it’s people like you and CNN that say things like that. That — it’s why people just don’t want to listen to CNN anymore. You could ask a normal question. The statements I made are: I want to keep the country calm. I don’t want to panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you. I could do much — I would make you look like a minor league player. But you know what? I don’t want to do that.
I want to have our country be calm and strong, and fight and win, and it will go away. And it is incredible the job that all of these people are doing — putting them all together — the job that they’re doing.
I am very proud of the job they’re doing, that Mike Pence is doing, that the task force has done, that Honeywell and Procter & Gamble and Mike, and all of these people have done. I’m very proud. It’s — it’s almost a miracle, and it is — the way it’s all come together.
And instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question. And other than that, I’m going to go to somebody else.
Please, go ahead. Please.
Q You expressed some concern in the past that medical supplies were going out the back door —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — and that, perhaps, some hospitals were doing things worse than hoarding.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I expressed what was told to me by a tremendous power in the business. He said that, at a New York hospital, for a long period of time, he was giving 10,000, maybe maximum 20,000 masks over a short time. And all of a sudden, he’s giving 300,000. And I said, “No matter how bad this is, could that be possible?” He said, “No.” So there’s only a couple of things that could happen. Is it going out the back door?
And I’ve reported it to the city and let the city take a look at it. But when you go from 10,000 masks to 300,000 masks, Mike, over the same period of time, there’s something going on. Now, I’m not making any charges, but when everyone is looking for masks — and, by the way, that’s another thing: We’re making a lot of masks. And the sterilization process is going to save a lot of time and a lot of masks.
But when you have the biggest distributor of product that distributes to many of the big hospitals and hospital chains, and he brings up a statistic like that — and I know you’re trying to make a big deal out of it, but you shouldn’t be. You should actually go over to the hospital and find out why. You shouldn’t be asking me. I’m just saying that’s the way it is.
Q Are you —
THE PRESIDENT: You should go over there as a great reporter. I have no idea who you are, but that’s okay. You should go over there, go to the hospital, and find out: How come you used to get 10,000 masks and you had a full hospital? New York City — always full. And how come now you have 300,000 masks? Despite the virus and all, you have three- — how do you go from 10 [thousand] to 300,000? And this is very serious stuff. I mean, I could see from 10 to 20, or from 10 to 40 or 50 or something. But how do you go from 10 [thousand] to 300,000 masks?
So what I think you should do as a — I’m sure you’re a wonderful investigative reporter. You should go to the hospital and find out why.
Okay, yeah.
Q Are you asking your DOJ to look into it, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Steve, please.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. You said several times that the United States has ramped up testing. I’ll just talk a little quicker — or a little louder.
Mr. President, 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?
And Dr. —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, it’s — it’s very much on par.
Q Not per capita —
THE PRESIDENT: Look — look — per capita. We have areas of country that’s very tight. I know South Korea better than anybody. It’s a — very tight. Do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is?
Q But the question is about (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: Thirty-eight million people. That’s bigger than anything we have. Thirty-eight million people all tightly wound together.
We have vast farmlands. We have vast areas where they don’t have much of a problem. In some cases, they have no problem whatsoever. We have done more tests. What I didn’t — I didn’t talk about per capita. We have done more tests, by far, than any country in the world, by far.
Our testing is also better than any country in the world. And when you look at that, as simple as that looks, that’s something that’s a game changer, and every country wants that. Every country.
So rather than asking a question like that, you should congratulate the people that have done this testing, because we inherited — this administration inherited a broken system, a system that was obsolete, a system that didn’t work. It was okay for a tiny, small group of people, but once you got beyond that, it didn’t work.
We have built an incredible system to the fact, where we have now done more tests than any other country in the world. And now the technology is really booming.
I just spoke to — well, I spoke to a lot. I’m not going to even mention. I spoke to a number of different testing companies today, and the job that they’ve done and the job that they’re doing is incredible.
But when Abbott comes out and does this so quickly, it’s really unreal. In fact, one company, I have to say, that stands out in the job — and I think I can say this; I don’t want to insult anybody else — but Roche. Roche has been incredible in the testing job they’ve done. And they’re ramping it up exponentially. It’s up, up, up, up. And you should be saying congratulations instead of asking a really snarky question, because I know exactly what you mean by that.
You should be saying congratulations to the men and women who have done this job, who have inherited a broken testing system, and who have made it great. And if you don’t say it, I’ll say it. I want to congratulate all of the people. You have done a fantastic job.
And we will see you all tomorrow. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
END
6:09 P.M. EDT
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