sin africa -- countries in africa got it. paycheck protection program -- h ost: senior research director and the former general of the public health institute of liberia. thank you for your time today. uest: thank you, a privilege being with you.

dataow the scientific indicated it was transmission from an original animal host, probably a horseshoe bat, by an intermediate host to human beings. that was the transmission early on of the coronavirus. we know the chinese commonest party covered up reporting in the early phases of the spread within china and a weight that caused tremendous subsequent damage in china and possibly around the world. china covered it up. we don't know what china's numbers are now, but that kind of cover-up was a characteristic governmental way to suppress bad news. the chinese government subsequently became more open and more responsible in coming down in china. his story of very complex

causality that involves animal host, transmission because of chinese cultural practices and the bad practices of the chinese government, at least in the -- otherhases covers countries have also failed to cover it. host: it was said it was created in a lab in wuhan and let out. guest: evidence of that. said, it wasirst the theory that it was a bioweapon it was manufactured. it was disproven that this was a manufactured virus. so the area shifted activists was natural and then released. and then the theory went to it was natural in accidentally been released, all of which may have happened. but the list of things that may

be true is infinite. it is no evidence to date of that. the way evidence was that this was natural transmission and zero tragedy was the cover up in china in the early phases. host: during the briefing yesterday, the president made did in china. pres. trump: there are a lot of ways you could hold them accountable. we are doing serious investigations, as you probably know good we are not happy with china and that will situation. we believe it could have been stopped at the source and stopped quickly and would not have spread all over the world and we think that should have happened. we will let you know at the appropriate time but we are doing serious investigations. host: what about those remarks from the president? guest: it is essential that there be open international

investigations into how the coronavirus spread, especially in the early phases in the united states and we need to be a part of that. we cannot have an effective investigation unless the world health organization and especially china is also part of it. our powers from the united states investigate what happens in wet markets and variola g virology labs-- in china and have to work with china. the difficulty for china is when they are accused of having done this deliberately to harm the world and when they are threatened with sort of lawsuits and the need to indemnify everybody who suffered, how are we going to conduct this estimation. the president is right to call for one. it is hard to see where it is going to go. there is also a question about

the claim that china could have nipped this in the bud. complex, bothis within china and internationally. that china must indemnify everybody who suffers because in an ideal world is china had reacted perfectly, we know they didn't, this could be nipped in the bud, i'm not sure that will get wide support around the world. this is not to excuse china. it was a cover-up which has cost many lives in china and around the world, but it is not the only mishandling of this has caused lives around the world -- cost lives around the world. it has been mismanaged in numerous other countries. there was misconception that had china been perfectly transparent and open that the rest of the world, including the united states of course would have been perfectly wise and strategic in its response, and we know that

not to be true. china, but in this global crisis, the causality is very complex. i think the focus should be on a scientific investigation, which the president is calling for, and not political condemnation. until we know a great deal more about the facts, we are dealing with speculation, a plausible a width, and more than of conspiracy theory and some of these accusations. host: this is robert daly joining us. and) 748-8000 for eastern central time zones. (202) 748-8001 four mountain and pacific time zones. when it comes to political condemnation, the ministry of china sent out a tweet on its account saying this, growing doubts of the us government's handling of the covid-19. when did the first infection

occur and are they hiding something? why are they out to blame others? the international community needs an answer from them. you are not surprised by this, i suppose? chinese -- childish tit for tat. to thena does this deaf irony that they are doing this via twitter, which is banned in china. they are taking and vantage -- they are taking advantage of openness in the west that they don't allow in china. you can see why they are seizing on this approach. the crisis has been mishandled at a number of stages in the united states and we continue to learn that americans at the cdc were in close contact early on americans atr and

the who were transmitting information to the united states government. we know from a report yesterday that in early january and february, men of the -- many of the presidents daily briefings include warnings about the coronavirus. it is not the case that this came out of nowhere and nobody saw this coming. this is not to excuse china. i want repeating that. we are talking about a complex chain of poor decisions, wishful thinking, coverups, and i we have a tit for tat the sort that you mentioned, which the chinese attitude, and they don't have any evidentiary basis and they are preventing us from cooperating to learn what we need to know about the virus and to try to get a vaccine. host: what do we need to learn from the chinese government? what is the likelihood we will get that kind of information? guest: we need to get teams of

epidemiologists into wuhan together with chinese and international researchers to see if many of the early samples as we possibly can. the key thing is to know and i am not an epidemiologist, so this comes from my reading of some of the literature on this, but i am not medically trained so don't take me as the final word, but we need to know how this made the leap from animal carriers, i will be a horseshoe bat, but we don't, by some intermediate carrier and we don't know what it might be. it could be eight anteater or other animal that brings it to markets or animals that are widely slaughtered and eaten can transmit the virus to human beings. if we don't know the oranges in the path of transmission of the virus, we will not to prevent it the next time around. this happened in china so we have to cooperate with china.

just as today the president announced the nih that it was cutting off funding for an american metal and geo has historyngo that and wuhan. it is cutting that also no american taxpayer money goes to the variola g lot -- virology wuhan.who hand -- lab in it cannot be a political investigation. it is time for politics and for blame, but it is a separate endeavor from the scientific which has to come first if we are going to save lives and has to be cooperative. daly is joining us from the wilson institute and

taking your question on china's role in the coronavirus. for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. the house of representatives about to come in for its daily session. when it does, we will momentarily pause the segment and pick up again. seconds, before the house comes in, what other international body should be leaning on to gain the information? guest: the world health organization is the most important one, which we have withdrawn funding. right after we withdrew the funding, china stepped in with an additional $30 million. an opportunity to increase its own global influence. we need a global body and it exists. it may very well need to be investigated and improved but it

is the kind of mechanism we need and already have and that is the way to do it, together with american institutions like the cdc. host: our first call comes from carol in royal oak, shaken. go ahead with your question or comment. : maybe i'm over some the fine, but it seems to be that china is killing the world with their vile eating habits of dogs and bats. [applause] pres. trump: thank you very much

this is a great honor. i see you have social distance on your mind, and that is a very good thing. congratulations, tremendous job you are doing. i want to thank everyone for being at the white house, a very special place. matter where you go in the world, the love the white house. and being in the east room in particular was so many important functions have taken place over the years. today we are celebrating american workers and small businesses. we have done a job you and we are going to make it so as we open of our country you are going to be in good shape instead of losing your businesses and binding -- finding employees. we made it possible for you. we are delighted to be joined by representatives of several incredible small businesses from across our country. also with us is