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Remarks by Trump, Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, 04-10-2020
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: April 10, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:52 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much everybody, and good afternoon. Today is Good Friday. And this Sunday, millions of Christians celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this holy time, we pray that God will heal the sick and comfort the heartbroken and bless our heroes. As American families look forward to Easter, we’re reminded that our story ends not in despair, but in triumph and renewal. Very appropriate, isn’t it?
I’d like to provide Americans an update on our ongoing efforts in the war against the invisible enemy. Before I do that, I’ll have a couple of notes. The United States, in discussions last night with Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and –dealing with OPEC nations — we are trying to get Mexico, as the expression goes, “over the barrel.” And Mexico is committing to do 100,000 fewer barrels.
The President and I spoke last night. We have a great relationship, great friendship. They’re helping us very much at the border. They have 27,000 soldiers — Mexican soldiers — on our border right now, stopping people from coming into our country as our wall goes up. We’re up to about 168 miles of wall.
And in speaking with the President, they have a limit. The OPEC nations have agreed to a different limit: a reduction of about 23 percent. So what I thought I would do — and I don’t know that it’s going to be accepted; we’ll find out — the United States will help Mexico along and they’ll reimburse us sometime at a later date when they’re prepared to do so.
And we had a great conversation, but we’ll find out how that all works out. As you know, they’re trying to get rid of the glut of oil. There’s a tremendous glut of oil. And we don’t want anything to hurt our incredible industry. We’re actually the largest producer in the world now, so we don’t want anything to hurt those jobs — those great jobs in Texas and North Dakota, in Oklahoma, and everywhere. We have a tremendous energy — New Mexico — tremendous energy business. And we want to keep those jobs.
So we’re — we’re working on it. I think, eventually, it’s going to work out. It may work out quicker than what most people thought possible. And maybe it won’t, but it’ll work out eventually.
{snip}
In addition, we passed the largest emergency economic relief package in American history to save the U.S. economy and protect the American worker. As you know, this past week, which was four active days on the stock market — Good Friday today is not — is not included; the markets are closed. In four days, we had the biggest market increase — stock market increase that we’ve had in 50 years. That tells you that there’s a pent-up demand. That tells you they want to get back. There’s something good going to happen. I really believe that. There’s something very good going to happen. We have to get back.
So think of it: In this horrible period, this horrible, dark period where this — this monster came and worked its horrible, horrible spell over the world — 184 countries as of this morning. A hundred and eighty-four countries.
We’ve done well, and I guess the market thinks we’ve done well, because we hit the biggest stock market increase without one day — we’re talking four days instead of five — that we’ve had in 50 years. Fifty years. Think of that. More than 50 years, actually.
In short, the American people have launched the greatest mobilization of our society since World War Two, deploying every scientific, governmental, medical, and military resource to defeat the virus.
So I want to just start then with — we’re going to answer questions later. We’ll have time. I think we have a lot of time today. A lot of people are off, as they should be. Good Friday.
{snip}
SURGEON GENERAL ADAMS: Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon, everyone. I started off the week talking about the challenges that lie ahead, and I want to finish the week just by reiterating what you’ve heard. Mitigation works. It definitively and quantitatively is working. And I want to say thank you to America for your efforts to help flatten the curve and to save lives.
{snip}
Stay at home, if possible. If you must go out, maintain six feet of distance between you and everyone else, and wear a mask if you’re going to be within six feet of others. Wash your hands more often than you ever dreamed possible. Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. And call your friends and family. Check in on your mother; she wants to hear from you right now.
And speaking of mothers, we need you to do this, if not for yourself, then for your abuela. Do it for your granddaddy. Do it for your Big Mama. Do it for your Pop-Pop. We need you to understand — especially in communities of color, we need you to step up and help stop the spread so that we can protect those who are most vulnerable.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Great job. Thank you.
Okay, it’s Good Friday. Let’s be nice. Okay? Let’s be real nice. Yeah, please. Go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Can you clarify a little bit what the U.S. offer to Mexico, in order to agree to that oil deal?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q And then also go into detail about what you spoke about on oil with President Putin this morning?
THE PRESIDENT: So all of the OPEC nations met, and others, and they’re all agreeing to cut back because there’s a tremendous glut. We don’t even — we’re filling up our strategic reserves. We don’t even have room to store it. In fact, they’re using ships to store oil. There’s never been anything like this.
It was being overproduced to start off with, and then you had the virus and that took off 40 percent right there. So we have — there’s a glut of oil like nobody has ever seen before. It’s good in many ways and, depending on where you are, who you are, it’s bad. We have a tremendous energy business with hundreds of thousands of jobs. We’re doing great. Number one in the world.
So, they all got together and they said, “We’re going to cut it, because we have to get rid of this tremendous supply.”
Now, the good news is, gasoline prices — I’m seeing 90 cents, 85 cents, in different parts of the country, a gallon. Nobody has ever seen that. I guess you have to go back to the 1950s where they had the big large dollar bills, remember? You don’t remember; you’re too young. But the fact that you have to go back a long ways to see it.
{snip}
And I don’t know whether or not that’s going to be — for Mexico, it was acceptable. I don’t know whether or not that’s going to be acceptable to the other oil-producing nations. We’ll find out. But it’s something that would certainly be acceptable to me to get it over the back. So Mexico is going to reduce by 100,000 barrels, and that would mean that they’re 250 to 300 barrels short. We’d make up the difference. They would reimburse us at a later date. Okay?
{snip}
So we’re helping Mexico out. We will be reimbursed, in a form, sometime in the future.
Please.
{snip}
Q Can I ask about the new federal projections? There’s new reporting today — the new federal projections suggest —
THE PRESIDENT: Let you ask who?
Q I’d like to ask you, if I can, about the new federal projections that suggest lifting the 30-day shelter-in-place orders would lead to a spike in infections. Have you seen those new projections from your Department of Homeland Security and HHS, first of all?
THE PRESIDENT: I have not. When did they say this would take place? When?
Q They said that it would take place if the 30-day shelter-in-place were to be removed. They’re three different example —
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, well, we’ll talk about that. Doctor, would you like to talk about that?
Q So does that impact your thinking though that those —
DR. BIRX: We haven’t seen the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: I haven’t — they haven’t seen it. I guess, you’re seeing — I guess they leaked it to NBC.
Q They didn’t leak it to us. It’s being reported by others.
THE PRESIDENT: Nobody has it. And they’re the ones that do it, so.
Q It’s your administration, so I asked. It’s from the HHS and DOJ.
Q I’ll circle back in a sec- —
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll find out about it. They don’t know about it.
{snip}
Q Thank you, Mr. President. You may have seen this, but JPMorgan came out with a forecast about GDP growth in the second quarter, and they’re saying a 40 percent decline in the second quarter of this year. Do your economic advisors share that view?
THE PRESIDENT: I think my economic advisors are interested in the third quarter and really the fourth quarter. And I think we have a chance to do record fourth quarter numbers, because there’s a tremendous pent-up demand. And you see it this week — I mean, what reason would there be, other than faith in us and in this country? Faith in this group — and me, and our Vice President, and everybody. Governors, perhaps. You can add them into it also. What reason would that be for — in a shortened week, four days instead of five — to have the biggest stock market gain in over 50 years? So, I think that — you know, to me, there’s a sign.
Hey, look, with all we’ve been down — I mean, we’ve — we’ve never been hit — I don’t know, has this country ever been hit like this? Probably not. 1917, but that was different, and it was a different time, and, frankly, Europe took the brunt of it. We didn’t, but it was a terrible time also. But, probably, never been hit like this, right?
Somebody was saying — in fact, I was speaking with Governor Cuomo about it. Because we were in New York City — a place we love, New York State — with the World Trade Center. And that was approximately 3,000 people. Well, we’ve doubled that. In this same area, we’ve doubled that — more than doubled it, substantially more. And it’s obviously going. You know, we had our highest number yesterday and the day before.
Okay. With all of this news, what would lead you to believe that we’re going to have the best stock market week — shortened week — in 50 years? Almost broke the all-time record. You know what that is? That’s a pent-up demand. Now, that’s my opinion.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Brand new. Yes, please.
Q So can you explain why it is appropriate, in the middle of a pandemic, to be talking about cutting or eliminating funding for the World Health Organization?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to talk about the WHO next week in great detail. I didn’t want to do it today — Good Friday. I didn’t want to do it before Easter. I also didn’t want to do it before we have all the facts.
But over the years, many years, we’ve been paying them from 300 to 500, and even more, million dollars a year. China has been paying them less than 40 over the years. So we’re paying them more than 10 times more than China. And they are very, very China-centric, as I said during the week. China-centric.
China always seems the to get the better of the — the argument, and I don’t like that. I really don’t like that. I don’t think that’s appropriate. I don’t think it’s fair to the American people. And, you know, I tell that to President Xi. I tell that to Dr. Tedros. I spoke to him one time. I think he’s a very nice man. I liked him.
But we’re going to be talking about that next week in great detail. We’re looking at it very, very closely. We want to make sure money is properly spent.
But again, why is the United States paying $500 million a year? It’s a lot. And why is — okay? That’s a lot. And why is China paying — last year, this year — $42 million? But generally under $40 [million]. So it’s in the 30s.
So we’re at 500, 452, 400, 401 — different amounts, different years. And they’re at 40, 38, 36, 35, 32, 31.
Q But why now —
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. But — but you have to ask yourself that question. And then the answer always turns out to be in China’s favor. Well, I have the same thing with the World Trade. Isn’t it interesting? World Trade. So we have World Health and we have World Trade. So we have the World Trade Organization. And until I came along, we were losing cases — so many cases. It was ridiculous. We were always losing these cases. I mean, almost every case. And now we’re winning cases. We just won $7 billion because they know I’m not going to put up with it.
China has been — unbelievably taken advantage of us and other countries. You know, for instance, they’re considered a developing nation. I said, “Well, then make us a developing nation too.” They get big advantages because they’re a developing nation. India, a developing nation. The United States is the big developed nation. Well, we have plenty of development to do. Okay?
And now we’re winning cases because they know that if we’re not treated fairly, I’m going to pull out. Now, you never heard this before because nobody ever talked about the World Trade Organization. But the World Trade Organization has treated us very unfairly. But they know I’m not going to put up with it because all of these countries are taking advantage of the United States.
Now, in the courts and the court system, we’re not approving new judges over the last year. We’re not going to approve them. And Bob Lighthizer is working very hard on that.
But we had always a minority position, meaning numbers of judges. So we’d have a minority number of judges. I said, “How do you win with a minority number of judges?” But all of a sudden, we’re winning. And the reason we’re winning is they know if they don’t treat us properly — and we won $7 billion just this very recently. And the money is pouring in. And we won other cases too. We won a lot of cases.
But you know from covering it — I know you know — that the United States was taken advantage of by the World Trade Organization.
And, by the way, speaking of China: If you look at the history of China, it was only since they went into the World Trade Organization that they became a rocket ship with their economy. They were flat-lined for years and years. Frankly, for many, many decades. And it was only when they came into the World Trade Organization that they became a rocket ship because they took advantage of all there is. I’m not even blaming them. I’m saying, how stupid were the people that stood here and allowed it to happen? But we don’t allow that to happen. And if they don’t treat us fairly, we’ll leave. But now we’re starting to win cases.
How about somebody new for a change? Come on.
{snip}
Q If you reopen the country in May and there is a new outbreak or a spike in infections, are you open to the idea of shutting the country down again?
THE PRESIDENT: Depending on the outbreak, yeah. Depending.
Q You would be open to it?
THE PRESIDENT: And that’s happened, as you know, with a couple of countries.
You know what I’m doing? I’m watching other countries. In many cases, they’re ahead of us from the standpoint that it attacked them before us. It hit them first. And I’m watching what’s happening with respect to certain other countries — some of them obvious, some of them less obvious — and what they’re doing and the success that they’re having. And that’s going to play a large part of the role.
I’m also — we’re also setting up a council of very, very great doctors and business people. We’re going to be announcing it on Tuesday — of some great people. The —
Q Is this the economic task force?
Q As a second task force?
THE PRESIDENT: Beyond — this is beyond economic. This is really — I call it, “The Opening Our Country Task Force” or “Opening Our Country Council,” so we don’t get it confused with Mike’s task force, which has done so great. And we’re going to have the great business leaders, great doctors. We’re going to have a great group of people.
We’ll probably do it by teleconference, because we don’t really want them traveling in, for their own purposes. I don’t think it would look good, also. But we don’t want them traveling in. So we’ll do teleconference.
We did one the other day with the banks, and it was very successful — the teleconference itself.
{snip}
Okay, in the back.
Q Yes, sir. Gordon Lubold from the Wall Street Journal. I wondered if you could expand a little bit on your — like the form that Mexico would take the reimbursements. Like, what form would that take? Do you essentially to the tab for the wall that you mentioned? And I have a second question, if I may.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, there’s no real cost because we’re agreeing to produce a little bit less. So, number one, it’s staying in the ground. You have it. You have it for another day. It’s actually cheaper than storing it, where you take it out and you deliver it to a massive well, like the Strategic Reserves — our National Strategic Reserves where it has to be brought there. And that’s, you know, an expensive process in itself.
But oil is getting to a point where, I mean, there are some areas — some people would say the water is more valuable than the oil. You never thought you’re going to see that. You never thought having covered — I know you cover it — you never thought you’d be seeing oil at $20 a barrel, but how about $10 a barrel? That, you never thought you’d see.
So we are looking at it very strongly. There is no real cost. I was helping Mex- — I want to help Mexico out. We have a great relationship with Mexico, a great relationship with the President. I really like him a lot. He’s been terrific to us on the border because he stopped — he stopped — you don’t see the caravans coming up anymore. You don’t see all the problems. When I took office, it was unbelievable what was going on.
And they are really — they have been helping us a lot, and we’ve been helping them a lot. You know, they make product for us, they sell it to us, and it’s fine. It’s a good relationship. It’s — and sometimes it’s a great relationship.
So, he could not have done any more than that. And I think there was political reasons for that — for him — that other — other nations don’t have. They don’t have that. You know, the nations that we’re talking about — the 22 other nations that we’re talking about — they just don’t have that problem.
So, it doesn’t cost us anything, and yet it’s very valuable. We will be reimbursed in the future — maybe in the near future, maybe in the more distant future. But we’ll be reimbursed by Mexico in a certain way, and it’ll be fine. But we get Mexico over the hump.
Now with all of that being said, that doesn’t mean the deal is going to happen anyway, because they still have a lot of different states. But this was one of the stumbling blocks. Okay?
Go ahead.
Q If I may, China and some other countries that have been particularly active — seen as maybe taking advantage of the U.S. during this process, during this period. China particularly acted in the South China Sea. Got a carrier down, obviously. What’s your message to some of these adversaries and competitors?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, the way I view it is this: China has taken advantage of the United States for 30 years. Okay? I mentioned the World Trade Organization. China has taken advantage of us through that and using rules that are unfair to the United States. And they should have never been allowed — this should have never been allowed to happen.
{snip}
And, as you know, we’ve taken in tens of billions of dollars. They targeted our farmers. But we took in so much money that I was able to give back. One year it was $12 billion. One year was $16 billion. I was able to give back our farmers the money that they were targeted — hurt.
China bought $12 billion and bought $16 billion — one year, 12; one year, 16. I was able to give them back the 12, and then give them back the 16 — the farmers. And they weren’t targeted, and they’re all in business. Now we’re doing it because they got targeted in a different way.
Now, I’m going to be very interested to see. So we signed a deal with China. And under that deal, they’re supposed to buy substantially in excess of $200 billion from us. That’s not only farm product, it’s manufacturing product, it’s lots of different things. They’re going to buy a lot. I just want to see if they live up to that deal.
I know President Xi. I would say he would live up to the deal. But remember this: I never took off the tariff. It’s still 25 percent. That’s a big — 25 percent of $250 billion dollars.
So, for the first time — and you saw also — now again, I’m going before the virus hit. Because that’s sort of like — that’s like, “Let’s start all over again.” Okay? I can’t tell you that yet, because that chapter hasn’t been written yet. But go up a few weeks ago, the deficit with the United States and China was coming way down. Nobody has seen that. Nobody has ever seen that before. But the deficit has come way down.
{snip}
Go ahead, in the back. You haven’t gone yet.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Two questions, if I may. Do you have a message to those pastors who are still planning to have Easter services, defying the Public Health’s guidelines?
THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to have to say it louder. To those what?
Q To those pastors who are still planning to have Easter services in person.
Q Pastors who are defying —
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, the pastors. I didn’t understand your word. Okay, you have a very nice voice but it’s a little bit low, and you’re far back.
I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree — and this is a very complex subject, let’s face it, you know, for the obvious reasons. I don’t have to go into it. And most of the pastors agree that they are better off doing what they’re doing, which is distancing. They feel that, “Let’s get this over with,” and they want to get back to church so badly.
I mean, can you imagine? We have Easter Sunday and I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy, that I tell you. He’s been a great guy, and I’m going to be watching on a laptop. Now, a laptop is not the same as being in his church or being in another church. It’s not, no matter what you say. You know, we can say, “Oh, isn’t it wonderful?”
But I’ve done this for three weeks, and they’ve had tremendous — I let people know who it is. They’ve had the biggest audiences they’ve ever had. They have millions of people now watching, and people are really liking what they’re hearing.
So I’m going to be with, on Easter, Pastor — I don’t even know if he knows it yet, but he will soon. I think he will in about two minutes. Pastor Robert Jeffress. And he’s a terrific guy, a terrific man. I’ve gotten to know him very well. He’s a man of great compassion. He loves our country. And I’m going to be with him on Easter — meaning I’m going to be with him, watching on a laptop. Doesn’t sound good, but it’s, you know, it’s one of those things — it cannot be church. You know, I’m not going to get into it. It cannot be church.
Most pastors and most people of faith — people that we listen to and respect and admire. Franklin Graham is a person I have great respect for. Most people will — and who’s done an incredible job in New York on Central Park, where they put up Samaritan’s Purse. He’s done an incredible job.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Incredible.
THE PRESIDENT: The son of the late, great Billy Graham. His family is incredible. He’s incredible. Franklin Graham, the job he’s doing on — I mean, he loves to do it. He has such a passion. And that’s why he’s so good at it. He does it with — with incredible love.
And he will tell you — we’re all saying, “We’ve got to get our country cured.” I know there are some pastors and ministers and others that want to get together. I would — and I have great respect for them. Two of them I know.
But I would say first heal — I’m a Christian — heal our country. Let’s get healed before we do this. And there’s time to do that. We’ll do it for hopefully the rest of our lives.
Please.
{snip}
This is a very brilliant enemy. You know, it’s a brilliant enemy. They develop drugs like the antibiotics. You see it. Antibiotics used to solve every problem. Now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it. And they’re constantly trying to come up with a new — people go to a hospital and they catch — they go for a heart operation — that’s no problem, but they end up dying from — from problems. You know the problems I’m talking about. There’s a whole genius to it.
We’re fighting — not only is it hidden, but it’s very smart. Okay? It’s invisible and it’s hidden, but it’s — it’s very smart. And you see that in a case like a Denver.
But, you know, I think we’re doing well, and they’re on Denver like you wouldn’t believe. I came in this morning; it was a flurry. I said what’s going on? They said, “Denver.” I said, “What happened to Denver?” Because Denver was doing pretty well. And they’ve got that under control. But, yeah, that would be a case where you do some very big testing.
Peter.
Q Mr. President, we’ve learned that more than 16 million Americans filed for unemployment over the past three weeks. It’s Good Friday. It’s payday. We are seeing troubling, paralyzing lines at food banks around the country. What do you say to those Americans in need right this moment?
THE PRESIDENT: Number one, I love them. Number two, we’re working really hard. It wasn’t their fault, what happened. Sometimes they don’t do a good job and they lose their job. That’s one thing. This is a case where we take the strongest economy in the history of the world, which is what we had. More people working in the United States, Peter, than ever before. Almost — I mean, look at the numbers: 160 million people, almost. Just short of 160.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me.
So, we have the greatest economy we’ve ever had. And, by the way, black unemployment, Hispanic unemployment, Asian unemployment — the best numbers we’ve ever had in virtually every way. And then you get hit like this, and it’s traumatic.
{snip}
Q What authority do you have to reopen right now? The same way that it’s up to the states to shut it down, it’s up to them to reopen. What authority do you have?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have — I have great authority if I want to use it. I would rather have the states use it. I would rather —
Q What does that look like?
THE PRESIDENT: And this is so shocking for me. A lot of people are saying, “Wow, he’s really very reasoned, isn’t he?” A lot of people are shocked. They think I do a — I have absolute authority to use it. But, so far, our relationship with governors and the job they’re doing, I haven’t had to do it. Would I do it if I saw a state that was out of control and they didn’t have the stay-at-home policy? I would do it in a heartbeat.
{snip}
Q Can you say, sir, what metrics you will use to make that decision?
THE PRESIDENT: The metrics right here. (Points to head.) That’s my metrics. That’s all I can do. I can listen to 35 people. At the end, I got to make a decision. And I didn’t think of it until yesterday. I said, “You know, this is a big decision.” But I want to be guided. I’m going to be guided by them. I’m going to be guided by our Vice President. I’m going to make a decision based on a lot of different opinions. Some will maybe disagree, and some I’d love to see it where they don’t disagree.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: This is the saddest — these are the saddest — these are the saddest news conferences that I’ve ever had. I don’t like doing them. You know why? Because I’m talking about death. I’m talking about taking the greatest economy ever created — we had the greatest numbers we’ve ever had in almost every aspect of economics, from employment, to companies doing — look at the airlines. They were having the best year. Now, all of a sudden, we have to save them. Okay?
There’s no happy talk, Jim. This is the real deal. And I’ve got to make the biggest decision of my life. And I’ve only started thinking about that. I mean, you know, I’ve made a lot of big decisions over my life. You understand that. This is, by far, the biggest decision of my life, because I have to say, “Okay, let’s go. This is what we’re going to do.”
Q But when you have doctors, when you have hospitals administrators —
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. But you have many doctors that say “unbelievable job.” I watched this morning, and I watched a certain network, and it wasn’t Fox, and you had doctors saying that we’ve done an incredible job. You just read off these “no, no, no.” Well, we have ventilators. We have equipment. We have beds. How about beds? I mean, Governor Cuomo just told me, a little while ago, he’s got plenty of beds. In fact, they’re having a hard time filling Javits Center. We built them 2,900 beds.
So that’s not a fair question.
Q But when you’re — when you’re sanitizing masks —
THE PRESIDENT: Jim, look — Jim.
Q — and you’re talking —
THE PRESIDENT: Jim.
Q — about reusing —
THE PRESIDENT: Jim.
Q — PPE, obviously, you don’t have enough of —
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. No, excuse me. We have masks. We have everything. And we were trying to get ready for the surge. And a lot of people said it will never happen. Deborah said it: “You’ll never need that many beds.” They said we needed 40,000 ventilators. Forty thousand. It’s like building a car. Forty thousand ventilators. People said — I felt it too. You’ll never need that many.
Guess what? We have tremendous — we have — we’re the envy of the world, in terms of ventilators. Germany would like some. France would like some. We’re going to help countries out. Spain needs them desperately. Italy needs them desperately. Mexico needs them desperately. He asked me last night, “Would it be possible to get 10,000 ventilators?” Within a short period of time, I’ll be able to help out Mexico.
No, Jim — just the opposite of your question. It’s not, “No, no, no.” It’s, “Yes, yes, yes.” We’re in great shape. And you know what? What’s happening now is those numbers are horrible, but take a look at the number of beds. We have beds available all over New York. New York really being the epicenter. New York — New York has experienced something that has been absolutely horrific.
I saw Hart’s Island yesterday. I saw those people being buried yesterday. Fortunately, we have the beds. And you can speak to Mayor de Blasio. You can speak to Governor Cuomo. People are — people can’t even believe the job we’ve done. They can’t even believe it.
And I give tremendous credit to the military. This has been a military operation, with private people.
Q Do you —
THE PRESIDENT: But wait a minute — wait, wait. I give tremendous credit to our military, to the Army Corps of Engineers, to FEMA, to these people. The job they’ve done is incredible.
And you shouldn’t be —
Q But do you accept the criticism that —
THE PRESIDENT: — asking that kind of a question. Jim, honestly.
Q — had the country been better prepared —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Look, I really don’t believe you’re that bad of a guy.
Q — onset of this —
THE PRESIDENT: You shouldn’t be asking that kind of a question. You should say, “You know what? It’s been really incredible what’s been happening.”
Q That’s the reality, Mr. President. That’s the reality.
THE PRESIDENT: Jim, nobody is asking. What governor —
Q You got 2 million tests. That’s not enough —
THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you this: What governor —
Q — tests for everybody around the country.
THE PRESIDENT: We have more tests than anybody in the world. We have every —
Q But that’s not enough for what’s needed right now.
THE PRESIDENT: We have virtually every country in the world calling us, asking us: “How do we get these tests that you have? Your testing is the best in the world. How do we get it? They’ve done a fantastic job.”
And when you ask a question like that, it’s very insulting to a lot of great people.
Okay, one more, please.
{snip}
Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.
END
4:06 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: April 10, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:52 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much everybody, and good afternoon. Today is Good Friday. And this Sunday, millions of Christians celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this holy time, we pray that God will heal the sick and comfort the heartbroken and bless our heroes. As American families look forward to Easter, we’re reminded that our story ends not in despair, but in triumph and renewal. Very appropriate, isn’t it?
I’d like to provide Americans an update on our ongoing efforts in the war against the invisible enemy. Before I do that, I’ll have a couple of notes. The United States, in discussions last night with Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and –dealing with OPEC nations — we are trying to get Mexico, as the expression goes, “over the barrel.” And Mexico is committing to do 100,000 fewer barrels.
The President and I spoke last night. We have a great relationship, great friendship. They’re helping us very much at the border. They have 27,000 soldiers — Mexican soldiers — on our border right now, stopping people from coming into our country as our wall goes up. We’re up to about 168 miles of wall.
And in speaking with the President, they have a limit. The OPEC nations have agreed to a different limit: a reduction of about 23 percent. So what I thought I would do — and I don’t know that it’s going to be accepted; we’ll find out — the United States will help Mexico along and they’ll reimburse us sometime at a later date when they’re prepared to do so.
And we had a great conversation, but we’ll find out how that all works out. As you know, they’re trying to get rid of the glut of oil. There’s a tremendous glut of oil. And we don’t want anything to hurt our incredible industry. We’re actually the largest producer in the world now, so we don’t want anything to hurt those jobs — those great jobs in Texas and North Dakota, in Oklahoma, and everywhere. We have a tremendous energy — New Mexico — tremendous energy business. And we want to keep those jobs.
So we’re — we’re working on it. I think, eventually, it’s going to work out. It may work out quicker than what most people thought possible. And maybe it won’t, but it’ll work out eventually.
{snip}
In addition, we passed the largest emergency economic relief package in American history to save the U.S. economy and protect the American worker. As you know, this past week, which was four active days on the stock market — Good Friday today is not — is not included; the markets are closed. In four days, we had the biggest market increase — stock market increase that we’ve had in 50 years. That tells you that there’s a pent-up demand. That tells you they want to get back. There’s something good going to happen. I really believe that. There’s something very good going to happen. We have to get back.
So think of it: In this horrible period, this horrible, dark period where this — this monster came and worked its horrible, horrible spell over the world — 184 countries as of this morning. A hundred and eighty-four countries.
We’ve done well, and I guess the market thinks we’ve done well, because we hit the biggest stock market increase without one day — we’re talking four days instead of five — that we’ve had in 50 years. Fifty years. Think of that. More than 50 years, actually.
In short, the American people have launched the greatest mobilization of our society since World War Two, deploying every scientific, governmental, medical, and military resource to defeat the virus.
So I want to just start then with — we’re going to answer questions later. We’ll have time. I think we have a lot of time today. A lot of people are off, as they should be. Good Friday.
{snip}
SURGEON GENERAL ADAMS: Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon, everyone. I started off the week talking about the challenges that lie ahead, and I want to finish the week just by reiterating what you’ve heard. Mitigation works. It definitively and quantitatively is working. And I want to say thank you to America for your efforts to help flatten the curve and to save lives.
{snip}
Stay at home, if possible. If you must go out, maintain six feet of distance between you and everyone else, and wear a mask if you’re going to be within six feet of others. Wash your hands more often than you ever dreamed possible. Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. And call your friends and family. Check in on your mother; she wants to hear from you right now.
And speaking of mothers, we need you to do this, if not for yourself, then for your abuela. Do it for your granddaddy. Do it for your Big Mama. Do it for your Pop-Pop. We need you to understand — especially in communities of color, we need you to step up and help stop the spread so that we can protect those who are most vulnerable.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Great job. Thank you.
Okay, it’s Good Friday. Let’s be nice. Okay? Let’s be real nice. Yeah, please. Go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Can you clarify a little bit what the U.S. offer to Mexico, in order to agree to that oil deal?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q And then also go into detail about what you spoke about on oil with President Putin this morning?
THE PRESIDENT: So all of the OPEC nations met, and others, and they’re all agreeing to cut back because there’s a tremendous glut. We don’t even — we’re filling up our strategic reserves. We don’t even have room to store it. In fact, they’re using ships to store oil. There’s never been anything like this.
It was being overproduced to start off with, and then you had the virus and that took off 40 percent right there. So we have — there’s a glut of oil like nobody has ever seen before. It’s good in many ways and, depending on where you are, who you are, it’s bad. We have a tremendous energy business with hundreds of thousands of jobs. We’re doing great. Number one in the world.
So, they all got together and they said, “We’re going to cut it, because we have to get rid of this tremendous supply.”
Now, the good news is, gasoline prices — I’m seeing 90 cents, 85 cents, in different parts of the country, a gallon. Nobody has ever seen that. I guess you have to go back to the 1950s where they had the big large dollar bills, remember? You don’t remember; you’re too young. But the fact that you have to go back a long ways to see it.
{snip}
And I don’t know whether or not that’s going to be — for Mexico, it was acceptable. I don’t know whether or not that’s going to be acceptable to the other oil-producing nations. We’ll find out. But it’s something that would certainly be acceptable to me to get it over the back. So Mexico is going to reduce by 100,000 barrels, and that would mean that they’re 250 to 300 barrels short. We’d make up the difference. They would reimburse us at a later date. Okay?
{snip}
So we’re helping Mexico out. We will be reimbursed, in a form, sometime in the future.
Please.
{snip}
Q Can I ask about the new federal projections? There’s new reporting today — the new federal projections suggest —
THE PRESIDENT: Let you ask who?
Q I’d like to ask you, if I can, about the new federal projections that suggest lifting the 30-day shelter-in-place orders would lead to a spike in infections. Have you seen those new projections from your Department of Homeland Security and HHS, first of all?
THE PRESIDENT: I have not. When did they say this would take place? When?
Q They said that it would take place if the 30-day shelter-in-place were to be removed. They’re three different example —
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, well, we’ll talk about that. Doctor, would you like to talk about that?
Q So does that impact your thinking though that those —
DR. BIRX: We haven’t seen the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: I haven’t — they haven’t seen it. I guess, you’re seeing — I guess they leaked it to NBC.
Q They didn’t leak it to us. It’s being reported by others.
THE PRESIDENT: Nobody has it. And they’re the ones that do it, so.
Q It’s your administration, so I asked. It’s from the HHS and DOJ.
Q I’ll circle back in a sec- —
THE PRESIDENT: We’ll find out about it. They don’t know about it.
{snip}
Q Thank you, Mr. President. You may have seen this, but JPMorgan came out with a forecast about GDP growth in the second quarter, and they’re saying a 40 percent decline in the second quarter of this year. Do your economic advisors share that view?
THE PRESIDENT: I think my economic advisors are interested in the third quarter and really the fourth quarter. And I think we have a chance to do record fourth quarter numbers, because there’s a tremendous pent-up demand. And you see it this week — I mean, what reason would there be, other than faith in us and in this country? Faith in this group — and me, and our Vice President, and everybody. Governors, perhaps. You can add them into it also. What reason would that be for — in a shortened week, four days instead of five — to have the biggest stock market gain in over 50 years? So, I think that — you know, to me, there’s a sign.
Hey, look, with all we’ve been down — I mean, we’ve — we’ve never been hit — I don’t know, has this country ever been hit like this? Probably not. 1917, but that was different, and it was a different time, and, frankly, Europe took the brunt of it. We didn’t, but it was a terrible time also. But, probably, never been hit like this, right?
Somebody was saying — in fact, I was speaking with Governor Cuomo about it. Because we were in New York City — a place we love, New York State — with the World Trade Center. And that was approximately 3,000 people. Well, we’ve doubled that. In this same area, we’ve doubled that — more than doubled it, substantially more. And it’s obviously going. You know, we had our highest number yesterday and the day before.
Okay. With all of this news, what would lead you to believe that we’re going to have the best stock market week — shortened week — in 50 years? Almost broke the all-time record. You know what that is? That’s a pent-up demand. Now, that’s my opinion.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Brand new. Yes, please.
Q So can you explain why it is appropriate, in the middle of a pandemic, to be talking about cutting or eliminating funding for the World Health Organization?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to talk about the WHO next week in great detail. I didn’t want to do it today — Good Friday. I didn’t want to do it before Easter. I also didn’t want to do it before we have all the facts.
But over the years, many years, we’ve been paying them from 300 to 500, and even more, million dollars a year. China has been paying them less than 40 over the years. So we’re paying them more than 10 times more than China. And they are very, very China-centric, as I said during the week. China-centric.
China always seems the to get the better of the — the argument, and I don’t like that. I really don’t like that. I don’t think that’s appropriate. I don’t think it’s fair to the American people. And, you know, I tell that to President Xi. I tell that to Dr. Tedros. I spoke to him one time. I think he’s a very nice man. I liked him.
But we’re going to be talking about that next week in great detail. We’re looking at it very, very closely. We want to make sure money is properly spent.
But again, why is the United States paying $500 million a year? It’s a lot. And why is — okay? That’s a lot. And why is China paying — last year, this year — $42 million? But generally under $40 [million]. So it’s in the 30s.
So we’re at 500, 452, 400, 401 — different amounts, different years. And they’re at 40, 38, 36, 35, 32, 31.
Q But why now —
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. But — but you have to ask yourself that question. And then the answer always turns out to be in China’s favor. Well, I have the same thing with the World Trade. Isn’t it interesting? World Trade. So we have World Health and we have World Trade. So we have the World Trade Organization. And until I came along, we were losing cases — so many cases. It was ridiculous. We were always losing these cases. I mean, almost every case. And now we’re winning cases. We just won $7 billion because they know I’m not going to put up with it.
China has been — unbelievably taken advantage of us and other countries. You know, for instance, they’re considered a developing nation. I said, “Well, then make us a developing nation too.” They get big advantages because they’re a developing nation. India, a developing nation. The United States is the big developed nation. Well, we have plenty of development to do. Okay?
And now we’re winning cases because they know that if we’re not treated fairly, I’m going to pull out. Now, you never heard this before because nobody ever talked about the World Trade Organization. But the World Trade Organization has treated us very unfairly. But they know I’m not going to put up with it because all of these countries are taking advantage of the United States.
Now, in the courts and the court system, we’re not approving new judges over the last year. We’re not going to approve them. And Bob Lighthizer is working very hard on that.
But we had always a minority position, meaning numbers of judges. So we’d have a minority number of judges. I said, “How do you win with a minority number of judges?” But all of a sudden, we’re winning. And the reason we’re winning is they know if they don’t treat us properly — and we won $7 billion just this very recently. And the money is pouring in. And we won other cases too. We won a lot of cases.
But you know from covering it — I know you know — that the United States was taken advantage of by the World Trade Organization.
And, by the way, speaking of China: If you look at the history of China, it was only since they went into the World Trade Organization that they became a rocket ship with their economy. They were flat-lined for years and years. Frankly, for many, many decades. And it was only when they came into the World Trade Organization that they became a rocket ship because they took advantage of all there is. I’m not even blaming them. I’m saying, how stupid were the people that stood here and allowed it to happen? But we don’t allow that to happen. And if they don’t treat us fairly, we’ll leave. But now we’re starting to win cases.
How about somebody new for a change? Come on.
{snip}
Q If you reopen the country in May and there is a new outbreak or a spike in infections, are you open to the idea of shutting the country down again?
THE PRESIDENT: Depending on the outbreak, yeah. Depending.
Q You would be open to it?
THE PRESIDENT: And that’s happened, as you know, with a couple of countries.
You know what I’m doing? I’m watching other countries. In many cases, they’re ahead of us from the standpoint that it attacked them before us. It hit them first. And I’m watching what’s happening with respect to certain other countries — some of them obvious, some of them less obvious — and what they’re doing and the success that they’re having. And that’s going to play a large part of the role.
I’m also — we’re also setting up a council of very, very great doctors and business people. We’re going to be announcing it on Tuesday — of some great people. The —
Q Is this the economic task force?
Q As a second task force?
THE PRESIDENT: Beyond — this is beyond economic. This is really — I call it, “The Opening Our Country Task Force” or “Opening Our Country Council,” so we don’t get it confused with Mike’s task force, which has done so great. And we’re going to have the great business leaders, great doctors. We’re going to have a great group of people.
We’ll probably do it by teleconference, because we don’t really want them traveling in, for their own purposes. I don’t think it would look good, also. But we don’t want them traveling in. So we’ll do teleconference.
We did one the other day with the banks, and it was very successful — the teleconference itself.
{snip}
Okay, in the back.
Q Yes, sir. Gordon Lubold from the Wall Street Journal. I wondered if you could expand a little bit on your — like the form that Mexico would take the reimbursements. Like, what form would that take? Do you essentially to the tab for the wall that you mentioned? And I have a second question, if I may.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, there’s no real cost because we’re agreeing to produce a little bit less. So, number one, it’s staying in the ground. You have it. You have it for another day. It’s actually cheaper than storing it, where you take it out and you deliver it to a massive well, like the Strategic Reserves — our National Strategic Reserves where it has to be brought there. And that’s, you know, an expensive process in itself.
But oil is getting to a point where, I mean, there are some areas — some people would say the water is more valuable than the oil. You never thought you’re going to see that. You never thought having covered — I know you cover it — you never thought you’d be seeing oil at $20 a barrel, but how about $10 a barrel? That, you never thought you’d see.
So we are looking at it very strongly. There is no real cost. I was helping Mex- — I want to help Mexico out. We have a great relationship with Mexico, a great relationship with the President. I really like him a lot. He’s been terrific to us on the border because he stopped — he stopped — you don’t see the caravans coming up anymore. You don’t see all the problems. When I took office, it was unbelievable what was going on.
And they are really — they have been helping us a lot, and we’ve been helping them a lot. You know, they make product for us, they sell it to us, and it’s fine. It’s a good relationship. It’s — and sometimes it’s a great relationship.
So, he could not have done any more than that. And I think there was political reasons for that — for him — that other — other nations don’t have. They don’t have that. You know, the nations that we’re talking about — the 22 other nations that we’re talking about — they just don’t have that problem.
So, it doesn’t cost us anything, and yet it’s very valuable. We will be reimbursed in the future — maybe in the near future, maybe in the more distant future. But we’ll be reimbursed by Mexico in a certain way, and it’ll be fine. But we get Mexico over the hump.
Now with all of that being said, that doesn’t mean the deal is going to happen anyway, because they still have a lot of different states. But this was one of the stumbling blocks. Okay?
Go ahead.
Q If I may, China and some other countries that have been particularly active — seen as maybe taking advantage of the U.S. during this process, during this period. China particularly acted in the South China Sea. Got a carrier down, obviously. What’s your message to some of these adversaries and competitors?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, the way I view it is this: China has taken advantage of the United States for 30 years. Okay? I mentioned the World Trade Organization. China has taken advantage of us through that and using rules that are unfair to the United States. And they should have never been allowed — this should have never been allowed to happen.
{snip}
And, as you know, we’ve taken in tens of billions of dollars. They targeted our farmers. But we took in so much money that I was able to give back. One year it was $12 billion. One year was $16 billion. I was able to give back our farmers the money that they were targeted — hurt.
China bought $12 billion and bought $16 billion — one year, 12; one year, 16. I was able to give them back the 12, and then give them back the 16 — the farmers. And they weren’t targeted, and they’re all in business. Now we’re doing it because they got targeted in a different way.
Now, I’m going to be very interested to see. So we signed a deal with China. And under that deal, they’re supposed to buy substantially in excess of $200 billion from us. That’s not only farm product, it’s manufacturing product, it’s lots of different things. They’re going to buy a lot. I just want to see if they live up to that deal.
I know President Xi. I would say he would live up to the deal. But remember this: I never took off the tariff. It’s still 25 percent. That’s a big — 25 percent of $250 billion dollars.
So, for the first time — and you saw also — now again, I’m going before the virus hit. Because that’s sort of like — that’s like, “Let’s start all over again.” Okay? I can’t tell you that yet, because that chapter hasn’t been written yet. But go up a few weeks ago, the deficit with the United States and China was coming way down. Nobody has seen that. Nobody has ever seen that before. But the deficit has come way down.
{snip}
Go ahead, in the back. You haven’t gone yet.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Two questions, if I may. Do you have a message to those pastors who are still planning to have Easter services, defying the Public Health’s guidelines?
THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to have to say it louder. To those what?
Q To those pastors who are still planning to have Easter services in person.
Q Pastors who are defying —
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, the pastors. I didn’t understand your word. Okay, you have a very nice voice but it’s a little bit low, and you’re far back.
I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree — and this is a very complex subject, let’s face it, you know, for the obvious reasons. I don’t have to go into it. And most of the pastors agree that they are better off doing what they’re doing, which is distancing. They feel that, “Let’s get this over with,” and they want to get back to church so badly.
I mean, can you imagine? We have Easter Sunday and I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy, that I tell you. He’s been a great guy, and I’m going to be watching on a laptop. Now, a laptop is not the same as being in his church or being in another church. It’s not, no matter what you say. You know, we can say, “Oh, isn’t it wonderful?”
But I’ve done this for three weeks, and they’ve had tremendous — I let people know who it is. They’ve had the biggest audiences they’ve ever had. They have millions of people now watching, and people are really liking what they’re hearing.
So I’m going to be with, on Easter, Pastor — I don’t even know if he knows it yet, but he will soon. I think he will in about two minutes. Pastor Robert Jeffress. And he’s a terrific guy, a terrific man. I’ve gotten to know him very well. He’s a man of great compassion. He loves our country. And I’m going to be with him on Easter — meaning I’m going to be with him, watching on a laptop. Doesn’t sound good, but it’s, you know, it’s one of those things — it cannot be church. You know, I’m not going to get into it. It cannot be church.
Most pastors and most people of faith — people that we listen to and respect and admire. Franklin Graham is a person I have great respect for. Most people will — and who’s done an incredible job in New York on Central Park, where they put up Samaritan’s Purse. He’s done an incredible job.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Incredible.
THE PRESIDENT: The son of the late, great Billy Graham. His family is incredible. He’s incredible. Franklin Graham, the job he’s doing on — I mean, he loves to do it. He has such a passion. And that’s why he’s so good at it. He does it with — with incredible love.
And he will tell you — we’re all saying, “We’ve got to get our country cured.” I know there are some pastors and ministers and others that want to get together. I would — and I have great respect for them. Two of them I know.
But I would say first heal — I’m a Christian — heal our country. Let’s get healed before we do this. And there’s time to do that. We’ll do it for hopefully the rest of our lives.
Please.
{snip}
This is a very brilliant enemy. You know, it’s a brilliant enemy. They develop drugs like the antibiotics. You see it. Antibiotics used to solve every problem. Now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it. And they’re constantly trying to come up with a new — people go to a hospital and they catch — they go for a heart operation — that’s no problem, but they end up dying from — from problems. You know the problems I’m talking about. There’s a whole genius to it.
We’re fighting — not only is it hidden, but it’s very smart. Okay? It’s invisible and it’s hidden, but it’s — it’s very smart. And you see that in a case like a Denver.
But, you know, I think we’re doing well, and they’re on Denver like you wouldn’t believe. I came in this morning; it was a flurry. I said what’s going on? They said, “Denver.” I said, “What happened to Denver?” Because Denver was doing pretty well. And they’ve got that under control. But, yeah, that would be a case where you do some very big testing.
Peter.
Q Mr. President, we’ve learned that more than 16 million Americans filed for unemployment over the past three weeks. It’s Good Friday. It’s payday. We are seeing troubling, paralyzing lines at food banks around the country. What do you say to those Americans in need right this moment?
THE PRESIDENT: Number one, I love them. Number two, we’re working really hard. It wasn’t their fault, what happened. Sometimes they don’t do a good job and they lose their job. That’s one thing. This is a case where we take the strongest economy in the history of the world, which is what we had. More people working in the United States, Peter, than ever before. Almost — I mean, look at the numbers: 160 million people, almost. Just short of 160.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me.
So, we have the greatest economy we’ve ever had. And, by the way, black unemployment, Hispanic unemployment, Asian unemployment — the best numbers we’ve ever had in virtually every way. And then you get hit like this, and it’s traumatic.
{snip}
Q What authority do you have to reopen right now? The same way that it’s up to the states to shut it down, it’s up to them to reopen. What authority do you have?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have — I have great authority if I want to use it. I would rather have the states use it. I would rather —
Q What does that look like?
THE PRESIDENT: And this is so shocking for me. A lot of people are saying, “Wow, he’s really very reasoned, isn’t he?” A lot of people are shocked. They think I do a — I have absolute authority to use it. But, so far, our relationship with governors and the job they’re doing, I haven’t had to do it. Would I do it if I saw a state that was out of control and they didn’t have the stay-at-home policy? I would do it in a heartbeat.
{snip}
Q Can you say, sir, what metrics you will use to make that decision?
THE PRESIDENT: The metrics right here. (Points to head.) That’s my metrics. That’s all I can do. I can listen to 35 people. At the end, I got to make a decision. And I didn’t think of it until yesterday. I said, “You know, this is a big decision.” But I want to be guided. I’m going to be guided by them. I’m going to be guided by our Vice President. I’m going to make a decision based on a lot of different opinions. Some will maybe disagree, and some I’d love to see it where they don’t disagree.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: This is the saddest — these are the saddest — these are the saddest news conferences that I’ve ever had. I don’t like doing them. You know why? Because I’m talking about death. I’m talking about taking the greatest economy ever created — we had the greatest numbers we’ve ever had in almost every aspect of economics, from employment, to companies doing — look at the airlines. They were having the best year. Now, all of a sudden, we have to save them. Okay?
There’s no happy talk, Jim. This is the real deal. And I’ve got to make the biggest decision of my life. And I’ve only started thinking about that. I mean, you know, I’ve made a lot of big decisions over my life. You understand that. This is, by far, the biggest decision of my life, because I have to say, “Okay, let’s go. This is what we’re going to do.”
Q But when you have doctors, when you have hospitals administrators —
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. But you have many doctors that say “unbelievable job.” I watched this morning, and I watched a certain network, and it wasn’t Fox, and you had doctors saying that we’ve done an incredible job. You just read off these “no, no, no.” Well, we have ventilators. We have equipment. We have beds. How about beds? I mean, Governor Cuomo just told me, a little while ago, he’s got plenty of beds. In fact, they’re having a hard time filling Javits Center. We built them 2,900 beds.
So that’s not a fair question.
Q But when you’re — when you’re sanitizing masks —
THE PRESIDENT: Jim, look — Jim.
Q — and you’re talking —
THE PRESIDENT: Jim.
Q — about reusing —
THE PRESIDENT: Jim.
Q — PPE, obviously, you don’t have enough of —
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. No, excuse me. We have masks. We have everything. And we were trying to get ready for the surge. And a lot of people said it will never happen. Deborah said it: “You’ll never need that many beds.” They said we needed 40,000 ventilators. Forty thousand. It’s like building a car. Forty thousand ventilators. People said — I felt it too. You’ll never need that many.
Guess what? We have tremendous — we have — we’re the envy of the world, in terms of ventilators. Germany would like some. France would like some. We’re going to help countries out. Spain needs them desperately. Italy needs them desperately. Mexico needs them desperately. He asked me last night, “Would it be possible to get 10,000 ventilators?” Within a short period of time, I’ll be able to help out Mexico.
No, Jim — just the opposite of your question. It’s not, “No, no, no.” It’s, “Yes, yes, yes.” We’re in great shape. And you know what? What’s happening now is those numbers are horrible, but take a look at the number of beds. We have beds available all over New York. New York really being the epicenter. New York — New York has experienced something that has been absolutely horrific.
I saw Hart’s Island yesterday. I saw those people being buried yesterday. Fortunately, we have the beds. And you can speak to Mayor de Blasio. You can speak to Governor Cuomo. People are — people can’t even believe the job we’ve done. They can’t even believe it.
And I give tremendous credit to the military. This has been a military operation, with private people.
Q Do you —
THE PRESIDENT: But wait a minute — wait, wait. I give tremendous credit to our military, to the Army Corps of Engineers, to FEMA, to these people. The job they’ve done is incredible.
And you shouldn’t be —
Q But do you accept the criticism that —
THE PRESIDENT: — asking that kind of a question. Jim, honestly.
Q — had the country been better prepared —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Look, I really don’t believe you’re that bad of a guy.
Q — onset of this —
THE PRESIDENT: You shouldn’t be asking that kind of a question. You should say, “You know what? It’s been really incredible what’s been happening.”
Q That’s the reality, Mr. President. That’s the reality.
THE PRESIDENT: Jim, nobody is asking. What governor —
Q You got 2 million tests. That’s not enough —
THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you this: What governor —
Q — tests for everybody around the country.
THE PRESIDENT: We have more tests than anybody in the world. We have every —
Q But that’s not enough for what’s needed right now.
THE PRESIDENT: We have virtually every country in the world calling us, asking us: “How do we get these tests that you have? Your testing is the best in the world. How do we get it? They’ve done a fantastic job.”
And when you ask a question like that, it’s very insulting to a lot of great people.
Okay, one more, please.
{snip}
Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.
END
4:06 P.M. EDT
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