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Remarks by Trump, Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, 04-06-2020
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: April 7, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
April 6, 2020
5:41 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. This week, America continues our aggressive effort to defeat the virus as we enter a crucial and difficult phase of the battle.
{snip}
I also want to send best wishes to a very good friend of mine and a friend to our nation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We’re very saddened to hear that he was taken into intensive care this afternoon, a little while ago, and Americans are all praying for his recovery. He’s been a really good friend. He’s been really something very special. Strong. Resolute. Doesn’t quit. Doesn’t give up.
We have made tremendous progress on therapeutics. I had a fantastic call today, which I’ll be talking about a little bit later. And I’ve asked two of the leading companies — these are brilliant companies. Ebola, AIDS, others. They’ve come with the solutions and just have done incredible jobs. And I’ve asked them to contact London immediately. They have offices in London. They’re major companies. But more than major, more than size, they’re genius.
And I had a talk with four of them today. And they speak a language that most people don’t even understand, but I understand something: that they’ve really advanced therapeutics and therapeutically, and they have arrived in London already. Their London office has whatever they need, and we’ll see if we can be of help.
We’ve contacted all of Boris’s doctors, and we’ll see what is going to take place. But they are ready to go. But when you get brought into intensive care, that gets very, very serious with this particular disease.
So, the two companies are there. And with what they are talking about — and it’s rather complex and has had really incredible results — we’re working with the FDA and everybody else, but we are working with London, with respect to Boris Johnson.
Across the country, we’re attacking the enemy on all fronts, including medical, scientific, social, logistical, and economic. We’re pressing into action the full power of American government and American enterprise. And our military has been incredible. We’ve just sent 3,000 public health personnel. They’re now deployed in the New York area, and they’ll be over at the Javits Center, over at the great ship.
{snip}
Because of my actions, under the DPA, I can also announce today that we have reached an agreement — a very amicable agreement — with 3M for the delivery of an additional 55.5 million high-quality facemask — facemasks each month. So that we’re going to be getting, over the next couple of months, 166.5 million masks for our frontline healthcare workers.
So the 3M saga ends very happily. We’re very proud to be dealing now with 3M and its CEO, Mike Roman. I just spoke with him and I thanked him for getting it done. And Mike was very happy to get it done. It’s a great company. So we’re getting 166.5 million masks, and mostly that’s going to be for our frontline healthcare workers. Okay? That’s 3M. Thank you, 3M.
{snip}
So again, we’re working very well with the governors. Now, they may see you and say, “Oh, we’re not happy.” But they’re very happy on the phone. And Mike Pence is a straight shooter, and he had a great phone conversation to them, with all of the governors. Teleconference. And they’re very happy, every one of them.
Were there any negatives?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: See? I told you. Mike is the greatest. Mike — and you have done a great job, Mike, and I appreciate it. The whole country appreciates it.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.
Anthony appreciates it, right? Aren’t you — see? Everybody appreciates Mike. A special man.
{snip}
So I want to — I want to say one other thing. Our farmers — we love our farmers — and, as you know, as of April 1st, the China trade deal — 250-billion-dollar — they purchased $250 billion from us, if not more. And of that, approximately $50 billion is expected to be with our farmers.
So it kicked in as of April 1st, and we’ll see how it goes. It seems like they’re buying. So we’ll let you know how that’s going. But they’re buying anywhere from $40- to $50 billion worth of our agricultural product. That should have a huge impact on our farmers — a tremendous impact on our farmers. But we’re watching it very closely.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, you mentioned that you were asking U.S. drug companies to provide treatment to the British Prime Minister.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q What sort of treatment is that? Is that something that’s available to the American public?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s a very — yeah, it’s a very complex treatment of things that they’ve just recently developed and that they have a lot of experience with, having to do with something else, but recent for this. And they’ll be — they’ve already concurred. They’ve already had meetings with the doctors. And we’ll see whether or not they want to go that route.
But when you’re in intensive care, it’s a big deal. So they’re there and they’re ready. I think we have — we have three of them. We have — I spoke with four. You know who the four would be. And you know the people within those — you probably — you’d know the companies if I told you the companies. But the people are the greatest — the greatest in the world.
So they’re at the hospital, and we’ll see. And they have — they have everything with them, should it be needed. Hopefully — hopefully it won’t have to be needed, but should it be needed.
{snip}
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Despite the nearly 1.8 million tests that you say the United States has done, the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services released a report today — a survey — of more than 300 hospitals across the country. And the number one complaint from those hospitals were severe shortages of testing supplies and a really long wait time.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s just wrong.
Q I mean, a week or longer.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s just wrong. Did I hear the word “inspector general”? Really? It’s wrong. And they’ll talk to you about it. It’s wrong.
Q But this is your own government.
THE PRESIDENT: Uh, it’s — well, where did he come from — the inspector general? What’s his name?
Q It came from the inspector general report —
THE PRESIDENT: No, what’s his name? What’s his name?
Q I don’t know his name off of the top of my head.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, find me his name. Let me know. Okay? If you find me his name, I’d appreciate it.
Q But, sir, these are hospitals that do not —
THE PRESIDENT: All I can tell you is this: We put up on the board —
Q Sir, these are hospitals —
THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to ask — you’re going to ask the Admiral. But we are doing —
Q Sir, these are hospitals who say that they’re waiting a week or longer to get their test —
THE PRESIDENT: Fine.
Q — results.
THE PRESIDENT: Then speak to the Admiral.
Q Why is it still taking so long?
THE PRESIDENT: But we’ve done more testing and had more results than any country, anywhere in the world. They’re doing an incredible job. Now they’re all calling us. They want our testing. “What are we doing?” “How do you do the five-minute test?” “How do you do the 15-minute test?”
So, give me the name of the inspector general. Could politics be entered into that?
Go ahead, please.
Q This is our —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Thank you, sir. Are you worried about retaliation to your decision to ban export of medical goods, like Indian Prime Minister Modi’s decision to not export hydroxychloroquine to the United States and other countries?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t like that decision, if that’s — I don’t — I didn’t hear that that was his decision. I know that he stopped it for other countries. I spoke to him yesterday. We had a very good talk. And we’ll see whether or not that is. I would be surprised if he would, you know, because India does very well with the United States. For many years, they’ve been taking advantage of the United States on trade. So I would be surprised if that were his decision. He’d have to tell me that.
I spoke to him Sunday morning. I called him. And I said, “We’d appreciate your allowing our supply to come out.” If he doesn’t allow it to come out, that would be okay, but, of course, there may be retaliation. Why wouldn’t there be?
Yeah, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. The Paycheck Protection Program has gotten off to a confusing start for small businesses because —
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so. I think it’s done very well.
Q Well, Wells Fargo has stopped taking applications. Bank of America initially prior- —
THE PRESIDENT: Not anymore, they haven’t.
Q — prioritized taking applications from clients that were already borrowers.
THE PRESIDENT: Bank of America has been the leader, taking tremendous numbers of applications, and, of course, there may have been — they wanted to have a slightly different application, they wanted to have a little different information. But Bank of America has been a leader. They had number one in terms of applications.
I wish you’d ask the question differently. Why don’t you say, “It’s gotten off to a tremendous start, but there are some little glitches” — which, by the way, have been worked out? It would be so much nicer if you’d do that. But you’re just incapable of asking a question in a positive way.
Q Sir, what oversight measures is the federal government putting in place to —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s already done. It’s already done.
Q — ensure that there is fairness?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s taken the measures. It’s taken the measures. And we may even do a different system. Not with this. We’re going to have to probably add more money to this, to save — and to keep our small businesses going and to keep the employees of those small businesses working.
But it’s such a positive event and you ask it in such a negative way. It’s just — I wish — I wish we had a fair media in this country, and we really don’t.
Speaking of unfair, go ahead.
Q Mr. President, the Acting Secretary of the Navy told the crew of the USS Roosevelt that Captain Crozier was either, quote, “too naive or too stupid” to be in command. Is it appropriate for the Chief Officer of the Navy to be speaking this way about this captain? Is this the right way to —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I haven’t heard it exactly. I haven’t heard. I heard they had a statement that was made. If that were the statement — it’s a strong statement.
Look, the letters shouldn’t have been sent, and certainly they shouldn’t have been leaked. This is a military operation.
I must tell you, I’ve heard very good things about the gentleman — both gentlemen, by the way — I will say this. But about both gentlemen. And I may look into it only from the standpoint that something should be resolved, because I’m hearing good things about both people.
Q What might you look into, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I may just get involved, if it’s okay with you.
Q (Inaudible), you mean?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because, you know what? You have two good people and they’re arguing. And I’m good, believe it or not, at settling arguments. I’m good at settling these arguments. So I may look into it in great detail — in detail. And I’ll be able to figure it out very fast.
But that was a statement — and it’s a rough statement. But look —
Q Might you reinstate him if you decide it was —
THE PRESIDENT: Look — look, letters should not have been sent to many people, unclassified. That was a mistake. It’s a mistake that shouldn’t have been made, because it’s unfair to the families of the people on the ship because they get nervous. And it shows weakness. And there’s nothing weak about us now. Not anymore. We have the strongest military we’ve ever had. And we’re not going to be showing weakness to anybody because we have — that ship is incredible — nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. And we don’t want to be doing — writing letters. We don’t want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter or gets a leak. We don’t want that.
So, the letter —
Q Would you consider reinstating him —
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. So the letter shouldn’t have been sent. With all of that said, his career prior to that was very good. So I’m going to get involved and see exactly what’s going on there. Because I don’t want to destroy somebody for having a bad day. Okay? Does that make sense?
Okay.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, if I can follow up on this question of the HHS inspector general. And, by the way, her name is Christi Grimm. And it wasn’t so much her opinion, but they interviewed 323 different hospitals.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it still could be her opinion. But when was she appointed? When was she appointed?
Q I’m not sure when she was appointed.
THE PRESIDENT: Would you do me a favor? Let me know.
Q I’ll — I’ll check on it.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, let me know now. I have to know now, Jon. Let me know now.
Q But the point is —
THE PRESIDENT: Because we are doing an incredible job of testing. We are doing a better job than anybody in the world right now on testing. There’s nobody close. And other nations admit this. Other nations have admitted it very strongly. Other nations are calling us, wanting to know about our testing. Let me know when she was appointed, would you?
Q But specifically, what she was saying —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.
Q Sir, is it —
Q — was that there had been a delay in the lab results.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. Go ahead, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Only last week, there were multiple flights coming from China full of medical supplies.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q Companies like Huawei and Alibaba has been donating to the United States —
THE PRESIDENT: Right. People I know very well.
Q — like 1.5 million N95 masks, and also a lot of medical gloves and much more medical supplies. So —
THE PRESIDENT: Sounds like a statement more than a question.
Q And Ambassador — Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai last night wrote an op-ed on New York Times, calling to cooperation with the United States. So are you personally working directly with China on medical supplies —
THE PRESIDENT: We just signed a trade deal.
Q — also fighting with the virus?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s the biggest deal probably ever made. And I hope they’re going to honor that trade deal. If they don’t honor the trade deal, then I’ll tell you a different answer, but I think they will. They’re going to spend billions of dollars for agriculture. They’re going to spend billions of dollars for many different things.
Whereas China never spent money in our country —
Q Specifically on medical supplies.
THE PRESIDENT: — we spent money. We had a deficit — a trade deficit — with China for years of $500 billion, $400 billion. We had the biggest trade deficits in the history of the world with China. Now China is going to spend a lot — has agreed to spend $250 billion — many billions of dollars in our country, much of it going to farmers and manufacturers.
So, I’ll let you know. I mean, I hope they’re going to honor the deal. We’ll find out.
Q (Inaudible) with China? Are you cooperating with China?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. Who are you working for? China? You work for China or are you with a newspaper?
Q I’m — no, I’m working for Hong Kong —
THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?
Q Hong Kong Phoenix TV.
THE PRESIDENT: Who owns that? China? Is it owned by China?
Q It’s based in Hong Kong.
THE PRESIDENT: No, is it owned by the state?
Q No, it’s not. It’s a private-owned company.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. Okay.
{snip}
Do you have one? Yeah, please. And we’ll get to you.
Q Yes, Mr. President. A national security question and then a question about Governor Cuomo. On the national security front, to the extent that you can comment on this: Your administration is making heavy preparations to move against the cartels in Latin America right now. And I — could you expand —
THE PRESIDENT: You said Latin America?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Could you expand on the reasoning of why now? Are their supply and logistics especially weak? Is it political? What’s the reasoning?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. It’s a good question. We’ve moved a tremendous number of boats and ships to the area of — you know, different areas of exactly where you’re talking about — because we are tired of drugs pouring into our country from other places. And we’re tired of seeing drugs pouring into different parts of Latin America, South America, and just coming into our country.
Now we’ve got them stopped at the border and they’re trying to do it by sea. So we stop them at the border with — and, frankly, with the help of Mexico. Mexico, right now, has 27,000 soldiers on our southern border. They never had any soldiers. They’re doing that because I’ve asked them to do it. That’s the only reason they’re doing it. They have 27,000 soldiers.
So now they’re trying to bring it in by boat and by ship — the drug lords and the people doing drugs — and trying to destroy our country from inside with drugs. And we’re hitting them very, very hard. And that’s why we’re doing that.
Q Are there other illicit activities that U.S. assets are targeting or —
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Is it beyond narcotics? Are there other illicit activities that U.S. assets are targeting?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, there are — there are the activities of human trafficking, and especially with respect to women. And, as you know, proportionally, it’s mostly women.
Q (Inaudible) —
THE PRESIDENT: And it’s a horrible thing. It’s a horrible thing.
Q — just particularly opportunistic?
THE PRESIDENT: And there’s never been a time like it. And it’s because of the Internet. And this is all over the world. But, for the most part, they’re coming through — in this country, they’re coming through the southern border. But we’re hitting them very hard. They have tremendous illegal trafficking in women — and children also, but mostly in women. And it’s illegal. And it’s horrible. And it’s disgraceful. And I’ve seen things that are an absolute disgrace. And we’re trying to knock them out, and we’re knocking them hard.
And again, I want to thank the President of Mexico because he has really stepped up to the plate. Twenty-seven thousand soldiers. They’ve never had any soldiers on our border. And I did that because the Democrats will not approve anything to stop — because they want to have open borders. They want to have all these people flowing through our border. And, in many cases, they’re sick. They have problems that we — you don’t want to know about. Or they’re criminals, in many cases. Not in all cases, but in many cases. And they don’t want to have bor- — they want to have open borders. They want to have sanctuary cities. So they protect criminals. And I don’t want to have it.
And Joe Biden does want to have that also, as you know, because he said that during numerous debates.
I want to have strong borders, and I don’t like protecting criminals with sanctuary cities. But we’re doing it for drugs. We’re doing it for human trafficking. We’re doing it because you have to do it. We either have borders or we don’t have a country.
All right. Go ahead, please.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Jeff, go ahead.
Q Mr. President, may I follow up on what you said?
THE PRESIDENT: A few more. We’ll do a few more.
Q May —
THE PRESIDENT: And then Mike is taking over, and you’re going to see some incredible work that’s been done.
Go ahead, please.
Q May I please follow up on what you said with regard to Captain Crozier before?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You said you didn’t want to punish him for having a bad day.
THE PRESIDENT: He had a bad day or a bad — bad week.
Q Would — does that mean —
THE PRESIDENT: But I — I don’t — yeah, I want to — I’m going to look into it.
Q What does that mean —
THE PRESIDENT: And I also — I also think our Navy Secretary — he’s a highly respected man. So sometimes that happens with people, and I’ll — I’ll take a look at it.
Q But what does — what do you mean by that? Would you consider reinstating him?
THE PRESIDENT: He had a bad day. When he sends a letter out and he sends copies all over the place and it’s not a classified letter. And it was very disconcerting to the families of the people on the ship — were very disconcerting. So, number one, they get worried and scared. It was weak. We don’t want weak.
But I’m going to take a look because he’s — I think he — you know, looks to me like he’s an outstanding guy. I looked — I looked at his whole — just a little while ago, I looked at his file. And people have bad days and we’ll take a look at it.
Q I guess my question is: What would you consider doing for him?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ll take a look. I want to look, I want to speak also to the Secretary. I also want to speak to the Secretary of Defense, who is Mark Esper, who is doing a fantastic job. And we’ll — you know, maybe I can help the situation out.
I mean, you guys are saying, “Why is the President getting involved and going…” Well, I like to solve problems. It’s a problem. You know? I — I don’t want to see men hurt, women hurt. I don’t want to see people hurt unnecessarily. Maybe we can solve it easily where, you know, it’s not life changing.
But he did — he did a bad thing, sending a letter out and many, many copies, as you know. I don’t know, I heard 28 copies. I heard a lot. That’s a lot of copies. Plus, the letter was five pages long. I haven’t read the letter, but I think it was five pages long, single spaced. That’s a lot of writing.
You know, he’s the captain of a ship. He’s the — he’s a very important person of a very expensive ship, a nuclear-powered ship. He shouldn’t be writing letters like that. But it happens. Sometimes, I’ll write a letter that I say, “I wish I didn’t send it.” Not too often, but it happens.
Q Can I follow up on that? Mr. President, can I follow up on that?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.
Q A quick follow-up on that, because the Acting Navy Secretary — and I know you were asked about this, but I just want to try one more time. He did say, in remarks to soldiers on the USS Roosevelt, that Crozier was, quote, “too naïve or too stupid” to be in command if he didn’t think that writing that letter was a bad idea.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t know want to comment on what he said. I — I understand.
Q Do you wish he had used different language, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s — it’s tough language, but I don’t want to — let’s not get into that. It’s tough language. Now, there are some people that think, “Oh, wow, he says it like it is.”
Look, he made a mistake. He should not have sent that letter or he should have gone through his chain of command, which is the typical way of doing it. You know, he’s in the military. He’s a very important person in the military. He knows it better than anybody in this room what he should have done and I’m sure he feels he made a mistake.
But I’m going to look into it, and I’m going to see — maybe we can do something, because I’m not looking to destroy a person’s life who’s had an otherwise stellar career, as I understand it. I looked at his file just now because I’ve been seeing what’s going on.
Q Potentially reinstate him?
THE PRESIDENT: If we can save — if we can save a person’s career — I don’t mind going after a person if they did something wrong. And, you know — but this was a mistake. He made a mistake. I’m not justifying what he did. He made a mistake. He shouldn’t be sending letters. He’s the captain. He’s a very important person in the military. You don’t send letters and then it leaks into a newspaper. Of all newspapers, that was a beauty. Right? So you just don’t do that. So, it was a mistake.
But I may get involved. I’ll call Secretary of Defense and find out a little bit about it. And if I can help two people — two good people — I’m going to help them.
Q Mr. President, your tone seems to have changed a little bit since Saturday.
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Your tone seems to have changed a little bit on the captain since Saturday.
THE PRESIDENT: On the captain?
Q Yeah. Has —
THE PRESIDENT: No, it hasn’t. I mean, look —
Q But is it the news coverage or did somebody speak to you on his behalf?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, ready? I — I said — when you asked me and when the question was asked the last time, I said, “Shouldn’t have sent the letter.” I haven’t changed. He shouldn’t have sent the letter. And it should’ve — if there’s a letter, it should go classified and it should go to his superior. And he shouldn’t be jumping over his superior.
Q Why did you look at his file, sir? Did somebody ask you to?
THE PRESIDENT: So, I’m — it hasn’t changed, in that regard. The only thing that has played right up here with me is that I looked at his record. And he’s been an outstanding person. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t even be talking about this. He’s been an outstanding person. He’s had a very exemplary military career.
I mean, you know, he started off as a helicopter pilot. They called him “Chopper.” His name was “Chopper.” He was a great helicopter pilot. It’s a tremendous skill. I know a lot about helicopters. And then he went to F-16s or F-18s, and he was a tremendous pilot. And then — he’s very smart. He studied nuclear energy and he was fantastic — and very few people have the aptitude, they have the mentality to do that. Nuclear energy is very complex. Very — it’s very hard. Very few people can do it. And he did it well.
And then he became the captain of a nuclear ship. Right? He became — of a — a replacement costs — if you look at replacement costs: $18 billion of replacement cost. Right? So he’s got — on a replacement-cost basis, an $18 billion ship. You know, the President Gerald Ford — very expensive. That’s, you know, the nearest thing I can think of. But they’re spending money on that one like nobody’s ever seen.
So, he made a mistake. He made a mistake. And maybe we’re going to make that mistake not destroy his life.
Q Does that mean you would reinstate him, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, a couple of more. A couple of more. Go ahead.
{snip}
Q This is more of a personal question. But, Dr. Birx, can you tell us if your granddaughter is okay? And —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I’d like to hear it too.
DR. BIRX: Well, thank you. Due to her — the great care of my 91-year-old nurse mother and my daughter, she’s down to like 100 to 99 now. But it was three days of 104 and 105, which is — you know, babies can do that, but it’s very scary, especially when I couldn’t assure myself that she was fine.
So it was just some sleepless nights for me, and I think them, as they kept her fever down. So thank you for asking.
Q Did she have this — the virus? Or —
DR. BIRX: Oh, no. I’m sure it’s roseola or something. They have not been out of the house. They are not allowed out of the house. (Laughter.) They’ve got two granddaughters under — one, two and a half almost; and one only 10 months. And my 91-year-old and 96-year-old. So no one is allowed in that house or out of that house because there’s too much precious cargo inside the house. (Laughter.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: How about — how about one more — one more question, and we’ll let you all —
{snip}
Thank you all.
END
7:51 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: April 7, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
April 6, 2020
5:41 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. This week, America continues our aggressive effort to defeat the virus as we enter a crucial and difficult phase of the battle.
{snip}
I also want to send best wishes to a very good friend of mine and a friend to our nation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We’re very saddened to hear that he was taken into intensive care this afternoon, a little while ago, and Americans are all praying for his recovery. He’s been a really good friend. He’s been really something very special. Strong. Resolute. Doesn’t quit. Doesn’t give up.
We have made tremendous progress on therapeutics. I had a fantastic call today, which I’ll be talking about a little bit later. And I’ve asked two of the leading companies — these are brilliant companies. Ebola, AIDS, others. They’ve come with the solutions and just have done incredible jobs. And I’ve asked them to contact London immediately. They have offices in London. They’re major companies. But more than major, more than size, they’re genius.
And I had a talk with four of them today. And they speak a language that most people don’t even understand, but I understand something: that they’ve really advanced therapeutics and therapeutically, and they have arrived in London already. Their London office has whatever they need, and we’ll see if we can be of help.
We’ve contacted all of Boris’s doctors, and we’ll see what is going to take place. But they are ready to go. But when you get brought into intensive care, that gets very, very serious with this particular disease.
So, the two companies are there. And with what they are talking about — and it’s rather complex and has had really incredible results — we’re working with the FDA and everybody else, but we are working with London, with respect to Boris Johnson.
Across the country, we’re attacking the enemy on all fronts, including medical, scientific, social, logistical, and economic. We’re pressing into action the full power of American government and American enterprise. And our military has been incredible. We’ve just sent 3,000 public health personnel. They’re now deployed in the New York area, and they’ll be over at the Javits Center, over at the great ship.
{snip}
Because of my actions, under the DPA, I can also announce today that we have reached an agreement — a very amicable agreement — with 3M for the delivery of an additional 55.5 million high-quality facemask — facemasks each month. So that we’re going to be getting, over the next couple of months, 166.5 million masks for our frontline healthcare workers.
So the 3M saga ends very happily. We’re very proud to be dealing now with 3M and its CEO, Mike Roman. I just spoke with him and I thanked him for getting it done. And Mike was very happy to get it done. It’s a great company. So we’re getting 166.5 million masks, and mostly that’s going to be for our frontline healthcare workers. Okay? That’s 3M. Thank you, 3M.
{snip}
So again, we’re working very well with the governors. Now, they may see you and say, “Oh, we’re not happy.” But they’re very happy on the phone. And Mike Pence is a straight shooter, and he had a great phone conversation to them, with all of the governors. Teleconference. And they’re very happy, every one of them.
Were there any negatives?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: See? I told you. Mike is the greatest. Mike — and you have done a great job, Mike, and I appreciate it. The whole country appreciates it.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.
Anthony appreciates it, right? Aren’t you — see? Everybody appreciates Mike. A special man.
{snip}
So I want to — I want to say one other thing. Our farmers — we love our farmers — and, as you know, as of April 1st, the China trade deal — 250-billion-dollar — they purchased $250 billion from us, if not more. And of that, approximately $50 billion is expected to be with our farmers.
So it kicked in as of April 1st, and we’ll see how it goes. It seems like they’re buying. So we’ll let you know how that’s going. But they’re buying anywhere from $40- to $50 billion worth of our agricultural product. That should have a huge impact on our farmers — a tremendous impact on our farmers. But we’re watching it very closely.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, you mentioned that you were asking U.S. drug companies to provide treatment to the British Prime Minister.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q What sort of treatment is that? Is that something that’s available to the American public?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s a very — yeah, it’s a very complex treatment of things that they’ve just recently developed and that they have a lot of experience with, having to do with something else, but recent for this. And they’ll be — they’ve already concurred. They’ve already had meetings with the doctors. And we’ll see whether or not they want to go that route.
But when you’re in intensive care, it’s a big deal. So they’re there and they’re ready. I think we have — we have three of them. We have — I spoke with four. You know who the four would be. And you know the people within those — you probably — you’d know the companies if I told you the companies. But the people are the greatest — the greatest in the world.
So they’re at the hospital, and we’ll see. And they have — they have everything with them, should it be needed. Hopefully — hopefully it won’t have to be needed, but should it be needed.
{snip}
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Despite the nearly 1.8 million tests that you say the United States has done, the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services released a report today — a survey — of more than 300 hospitals across the country. And the number one complaint from those hospitals were severe shortages of testing supplies and a really long wait time.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s just wrong.
Q I mean, a week or longer.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s just wrong. Did I hear the word “inspector general”? Really? It’s wrong. And they’ll talk to you about it. It’s wrong.
Q But this is your own government.
THE PRESIDENT: Uh, it’s — well, where did he come from — the inspector general? What’s his name?
Q It came from the inspector general report —
THE PRESIDENT: No, what’s his name? What’s his name?
Q I don’t know his name off of the top of my head.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, find me his name. Let me know. Okay? If you find me his name, I’d appreciate it.
Q But, sir, these are hospitals that do not —
THE PRESIDENT: All I can tell you is this: We put up on the board —
Q Sir, these are hospitals —
THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to ask — you’re going to ask the Admiral. But we are doing —
Q Sir, these are hospitals who say that they’re waiting a week or longer to get their test —
THE PRESIDENT: Fine.
Q — results.
THE PRESIDENT: Then speak to the Admiral.
Q Why is it still taking so long?
THE PRESIDENT: But we’ve done more testing and had more results than any country, anywhere in the world. They’re doing an incredible job. Now they’re all calling us. They want our testing. “What are we doing?” “How do you do the five-minute test?” “How do you do the 15-minute test?”
So, give me the name of the inspector general. Could politics be entered into that?
Go ahead, please.
Q This is our —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Thank you, sir. Are you worried about retaliation to your decision to ban export of medical goods, like Indian Prime Minister Modi’s decision to not export hydroxychloroquine to the United States and other countries?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t like that decision, if that’s — I don’t — I didn’t hear that that was his decision. I know that he stopped it for other countries. I spoke to him yesterday. We had a very good talk. And we’ll see whether or not that is. I would be surprised if he would, you know, because India does very well with the United States. For many years, they’ve been taking advantage of the United States on trade. So I would be surprised if that were his decision. He’d have to tell me that.
I spoke to him Sunday morning. I called him. And I said, “We’d appreciate your allowing our supply to come out.” If he doesn’t allow it to come out, that would be okay, but, of course, there may be retaliation. Why wouldn’t there be?
Yeah, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. The Paycheck Protection Program has gotten off to a confusing start for small businesses because —
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think so. I think it’s done very well.
Q Well, Wells Fargo has stopped taking applications. Bank of America initially prior- —
THE PRESIDENT: Not anymore, they haven’t.
Q — prioritized taking applications from clients that were already borrowers.
THE PRESIDENT: Bank of America has been the leader, taking tremendous numbers of applications, and, of course, there may have been — they wanted to have a slightly different application, they wanted to have a little different information. But Bank of America has been a leader. They had number one in terms of applications.
I wish you’d ask the question differently. Why don’t you say, “It’s gotten off to a tremendous start, but there are some little glitches” — which, by the way, have been worked out? It would be so much nicer if you’d do that. But you’re just incapable of asking a question in a positive way.
Q Sir, what oversight measures is the federal government putting in place to —
THE PRESIDENT: It’s already done. It’s already done.
Q — ensure that there is fairness?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s taken the measures. It’s taken the measures. And we may even do a different system. Not with this. We’re going to have to probably add more money to this, to save — and to keep our small businesses going and to keep the employees of those small businesses working.
But it’s such a positive event and you ask it in such a negative way. It’s just — I wish — I wish we had a fair media in this country, and we really don’t.
Speaking of unfair, go ahead.
Q Mr. President, the Acting Secretary of the Navy told the crew of the USS Roosevelt that Captain Crozier was either, quote, “too naive or too stupid” to be in command. Is it appropriate for the Chief Officer of the Navy to be speaking this way about this captain? Is this the right way to —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I haven’t heard it exactly. I haven’t heard. I heard they had a statement that was made. If that were the statement — it’s a strong statement.
Look, the letters shouldn’t have been sent, and certainly they shouldn’t have been leaked. This is a military operation.
I must tell you, I’ve heard very good things about the gentleman — both gentlemen, by the way — I will say this. But about both gentlemen. And I may look into it only from the standpoint that something should be resolved, because I’m hearing good things about both people.
Q What might you look into, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I may just get involved, if it’s okay with you.
Q (Inaudible), you mean?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because, you know what? You have two good people and they’re arguing. And I’m good, believe it or not, at settling arguments. I’m good at settling these arguments. So I may look into it in great detail — in detail. And I’ll be able to figure it out very fast.
But that was a statement — and it’s a rough statement. But look —
Q Might you reinstate him if you decide it was —
THE PRESIDENT: Look — look, letters should not have been sent to many people, unclassified. That was a mistake. It’s a mistake that shouldn’t have been made, because it’s unfair to the families of the people on the ship because they get nervous. And it shows weakness. And there’s nothing weak about us now. Not anymore. We have the strongest military we’ve ever had. And we’re not going to be showing weakness to anybody because we have — that ship is incredible — nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. And we don’t want to be doing — writing letters. We don’t want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter or gets a leak. We don’t want that.
So, the letter —
Q Would you consider reinstating him —
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. So the letter shouldn’t have been sent. With all of that said, his career prior to that was very good. So I’m going to get involved and see exactly what’s going on there. Because I don’t want to destroy somebody for having a bad day. Okay? Does that make sense?
Okay.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, if I can follow up on this question of the HHS inspector general. And, by the way, her name is Christi Grimm. And it wasn’t so much her opinion, but they interviewed 323 different hospitals.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it still could be her opinion. But when was she appointed? When was she appointed?
Q I’m not sure when she was appointed.
THE PRESIDENT: Would you do me a favor? Let me know.
Q I’ll — I’ll check on it.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, let me know now. I have to know now, Jon. Let me know now.
Q But the point is —
THE PRESIDENT: Because we are doing an incredible job of testing. We are doing a better job than anybody in the world right now on testing. There’s nobody close. And other nations admit this. Other nations have admitted it very strongly. Other nations are calling us, wanting to know about our testing. Let me know when she was appointed, would you?
Q But specifically, what she was saying —
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.
Q Sir, is it —
Q — was that there had been a delay in the lab results.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. Go ahead, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Only last week, there were multiple flights coming from China full of medical supplies.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q Companies like Huawei and Alibaba has been donating to the United States —
THE PRESIDENT: Right. People I know very well.
Q — like 1.5 million N95 masks, and also a lot of medical gloves and much more medical supplies. So —
THE PRESIDENT: Sounds like a statement more than a question.
Q And Ambassador — Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai last night wrote an op-ed on New York Times, calling to cooperation with the United States. So are you personally working directly with China on medical supplies —
THE PRESIDENT: We just signed a trade deal.
Q — also fighting with the virus?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s the biggest deal probably ever made. And I hope they’re going to honor that trade deal. If they don’t honor the trade deal, then I’ll tell you a different answer, but I think they will. They’re going to spend billions of dollars for agriculture. They’re going to spend billions of dollars for many different things.
Whereas China never spent money in our country —
Q Specifically on medical supplies.
THE PRESIDENT: — we spent money. We had a deficit — a trade deficit — with China for years of $500 billion, $400 billion. We had the biggest trade deficits in the history of the world with China. Now China is going to spend a lot — has agreed to spend $250 billion — many billions of dollars in our country, much of it going to farmers and manufacturers.
So, I’ll let you know. I mean, I hope they’re going to honor the deal. We’ll find out.
Q (Inaudible) with China? Are you cooperating with China?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know. Who are you working for? China? You work for China or are you with a newspaper?
Q I’m — no, I’m working for Hong Kong —
THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?
Q Hong Kong Phoenix TV.
THE PRESIDENT: Who owns that? China? Is it owned by China?
Q It’s based in Hong Kong.
THE PRESIDENT: No, is it owned by the state?
Q No, it’s not. It’s a private-owned company.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. Okay.
{snip}
Do you have one? Yeah, please. And we’ll get to you.
Q Yes, Mr. President. A national security question and then a question about Governor Cuomo. On the national security front, to the extent that you can comment on this: Your administration is making heavy preparations to move against the cartels in Latin America right now. And I — could you expand —
THE PRESIDENT: You said Latin America?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q Could you expand on the reasoning of why now? Are their supply and logistics especially weak? Is it political? What’s the reasoning?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. It’s a good question. We’ve moved a tremendous number of boats and ships to the area of — you know, different areas of exactly where you’re talking about — because we are tired of drugs pouring into our country from other places. And we’re tired of seeing drugs pouring into different parts of Latin America, South America, and just coming into our country.
Now we’ve got them stopped at the border and they’re trying to do it by sea. So we stop them at the border with — and, frankly, with the help of Mexico. Mexico, right now, has 27,000 soldiers on our southern border. They never had any soldiers. They’re doing that because I’ve asked them to do it. That’s the only reason they’re doing it. They have 27,000 soldiers.
So now they’re trying to bring it in by boat and by ship — the drug lords and the people doing drugs — and trying to destroy our country from inside with drugs. And we’re hitting them very, very hard. And that’s why we’re doing that.
Q Are there other illicit activities that U.S. assets are targeting or —
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Is it beyond narcotics? Are there other illicit activities that U.S. assets are targeting?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, there are — there are the activities of human trafficking, and especially with respect to women. And, as you know, proportionally, it’s mostly women.
Q (Inaudible) —
THE PRESIDENT: And it’s a horrible thing. It’s a horrible thing.
Q — just particularly opportunistic?
THE PRESIDENT: And there’s never been a time like it. And it’s because of the Internet. And this is all over the world. But, for the most part, they’re coming through — in this country, they’re coming through the southern border. But we’re hitting them very hard. They have tremendous illegal trafficking in women — and children also, but mostly in women. And it’s illegal. And it’s horrible. And it’s disgraceful. And I’ve seen things that are an absolute disgrace. And we’re trying to knock them out, and we’re knocking them hard.
And again, I want to thank the President of Mexico because he has really stepped up to the plate. Twenty-seven thousand soldiers. They’ve never had any soldiers on our border. And I did that because the Democrats will not approve anything to stop — because they want to have open borders. They want to have all these people flowing through our border. And, in many cases, they’re sick. They have problems that we — you don’t want to know about. Or they’re criminals, in many cases. Not in all cases, but in many cases. And they don’t want to have bor- — they want to have open borders. They want to have sanctuary cities. So they protect criminals. And I don’t want to have it.
And Joe Biden does want to have that also, as you know, because he said that during numerous debates.
I want to have strong borders, and I don’t like protecting criminals with sanctuary cities. But we’re doing it for drugs. We’re doing it for human trafficking. We’re doing it because you have to do it. We either have borders or we don’t have a country.
All right. Go ahead, please.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Jeff, go ahead.
Q Mr. President, may I follow up on what you said?
THE PRESIDENT: A few more. We’ll do a few more.
Q May —
THE PRESIDENT: And then Mike is taking over, and you’re going to see some incredible work that’s been done.
Go ahead, please.
Q May I please follow up on what you said with regard to Captain Crozier before?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You said you didn’t want to punish him for having a bad day.
THE PRESIDENT: He had a bad day or a bad — bad week.
Q Would — does that mean —
THE PRESIDENT: But I — I don’t — yeah, I want to — I’m going to look into it.
Q What does that mean —
THE PRESIDENT: And I also — I also think our Navy Secretary — he’s a highly respected man. So sometimes that happens with people, and I’ll — I’ll take a look at it.
Q But what does — what do you mean by that? Would you consider reinstating him?
THE PRESIDENT: He had a bad day. When he sends a letter out and he sends copies all over the place and it’s not a classified letter. And it was very disconcerting to the families of the people on the ship — were very disconcerting. So, number one, they get worried and scared. It was weak. We don’t want weak.
But I’m going to take a look because he’s — I think he — you know, looks to me like he’s an outstanding guy. I looked — I looked at his whole — just a little while ago, I looked at his file. And people have bad days and we’ll take a look at it.
Q I guess my question is: What would you consider doing for him?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ll take a look. I want to look, I want to speak also to the Secretary. I also want to speak to the Secretary of Defense, who is Mark Esper, who is doing a fantastic job. And we’ll — you know, maybe I can help the situation out.
I mean, you guys are saying, “Why is the President getting involved and going…” Well, I like to solve problems. It’s a problem. You know? I — I don’t want to see men hurt, women hurt. I don’t want to see people hurt unnecessarily. Maybe we can solve it easily where, you know, it’s not life changing.
But he did — he did a bad thing, sending a letter out and many, many copies, as you know. I don’t know, I heard 28 copies. I heard a lot. That’s a lot of copies. Plus, the letter was five pages long. I haven’t read the letter, but I think it was five pages long, single spaced. That’s a lot of writing.
You know, he’s the captain of a ship. He’s the — he’s a very important person of a very expensive ship, a nuclear-powered ship. He shouldn’t be writing letters like that. But it happens. Sometimes, I’ll write a letter that I say, “I wish I didn’t send it.” Not too often, but it happens.
Q Can I follow up on that? Mr. President, can I follow up on that?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.
Q A quick follow-up on that, because the Acting Navy Secretary — and I know you were asked about this, but I just want to try one more time. He did say, in remarks to soldiers on the USS Roosevelt, that Crozier was, quote, “too naïve or too stupid” to be in command if he didn’t think that writing that letter was a bad idea.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t know want to comment on what he said. I — I understand.
Q Do you wish he had used different language, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s — it’s tough language, but I don’t want to — let’s not get into that. It’s tough language. Now, there are some people that think, “Oh, wow, he says it like it is.”
Look, he made a mistake. He should not have sent that letter or he should have gone through his chain of command, which is the typical way of doing it. You know, he’s in the military. He’s a very important person in the military. He knows it better than anybody in this room what he should have done and I’m sure he feels he made a mistake.
But I’m going to look into it, and I’m going to see — maybe we can do something, because I’m not looking to destroy a person’s life who’s had an otherwise stellar career, as I understand it. I looked at his file just now because I’ve been seeing what’s going on.
Q Potentially reinstate him?
THE PRESIDENT: If we can save — if we can save a person’s career — I don’t mind going after a person if they did something wrong. And, you know — but this was a mistake. He made a mistake. I’m not justifying what he did. He made a mistake. He shouldn’t be sending letters. He’s the captain. He’s a very important person in the military. You don’t send letters and then it leaks into a newspaper. Of all newspapers, that was a beauty. Right? So you just don’t do that. So, it was a mistake.
But I may get involved. I’ll call Secretary of Defense and find out a little bit about it. And if I can help two people — two good people — I’m going to help them.
Q Mr. President, your tone seems to have changed a little bit since Saturday.
THE PRESIDENT: Say it?
Q Your tone seems to have changed a little bit on the captain since Saturday.
THE PRESIDENT: On the captain?
Q Yeah. Has —
THE PRESIDENT: No, it hasn’t. I mean, look —
Q But is it the news coverage or did somebody speak to you on his behalf?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, ready? I — I said — when you asked me and when the question was asked the last time, I said, “Shouldn’t have sent the letter.” I haven’t changed. He shouldn’t have sent the letter. And it should’ve — if there’s a letter, it should go classified and it should go to his superior. And he shouldn’t be jumping over his superior.
Q Why did you look at his file, sir? Did somebody ask you to?
THE PRESIDENT: So, I’m — it hasn’t changed, in that regard. The only thing that has played right up here with me is that I looked at his record. And he’s been an outstanding person. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t even be talking about this. He’s been an outstanding person. He’s had a very exemplary military career.
I mean, you know, he started off as a helicopter pilot. They called him “Chopper.” His name was “Chopper.” He was a great helicopter pilot. It’s a tremendous skill. I know a lot about helicopters. And then he went to F-16s or F-18s, and he was a tremendous pilot. And then — he’s very smart. He studied nuclear energy and he was fantastic — and very few people have the aptitude, they have the mentality to do that. Nuclear energy is very complex. Very — it’s very hard. Very few people can do it. And he did it well.
And then he became the captain of a nuclear ship. Right? He became — of a — a replacement costs — if you look at replacement costs: $18 billion of replacement cost. Right? So he’s got — on a replacement-cost basis, an $18 billion ship. You know, the President Gerald Ford — very expensive. That’s, you know, the nearest thing I can think of. But they’re spending money on that one like nobody’s ever seen.
So, he made a mistake. He made a mistake. And maybe we’re going to make that mistake not destroy his life.
Q Does that mean you would reinstate him, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, a couple of more. A couple of more. Go ahead.
{snip}
Q This is more of a personal question. But, Dr. Birx, can you tell us if your granddaughter is okay? And —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I’d like to hear it too.
DR. BIRX: Well, thank you. Due to her — the great care of my 91-year-old nurse mother and my daughter, she’s down to like 100 to 99 now. But it was three days of 104 and 105, which is — you know, babies can do that, but it’s very scary, especially when I couldn’t assure myself that she was fine.
So it was just some sleepless nights for me, and I think them, as they kept her fever down. So thank you for asking.
Q Did she have this — the virus? Or —
DR. BIRX: Oh, no. I’m sure it’s roseola or something. They have not been out of the house. They are not allowed out of the house. (Laughter.) They’ve got two granddaughters under — one, two and a half almost; and one only 10 months. And my 91-year-old and 96-year-old. So no one is allowed in that house or out of that house because there’s too much precious cargo inside the house. (Laughter.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: How about — how about one more — one more question, and we’ll let you all —
{snip}
Thank you all.
END
7:51 P.M. EDT
