of the show. lou dobbs is next. have a good evening. lou: president trump taking decisive action to protect america and americans from con steconoo -- from con step threat the united states. the president invoked the defense production act to give him authority to compel american businesses to manufacture and produce much-needed medical equipment and supplies for short ands caused by the wuhan virus. president trump: i will be

invoking the defense production act in case we need it. it can do a lot of good things if we need it. we'll have it all completed, signing it in just a little while of after i'm finished with this conference. it's prepared to go. we'll be invoking the defense production act. lou: president trump meeting with doctors and nurses at the white house. they committed to an increase in safety equipment including masks for healthcare workers. president trump: american manufacturers are repurposing factories. one major manufacturer has doubled capacity and we asked construction companies to donate unused masks, and they have

quite a few of them, the construction companies. who would think that. but they will be donating unused masks. the defense department is making millions of masks available for healthcare workers. lou: healthcare workers across the country taking matters into their own hands at the headquarters of the providence health system. workers convening in conference rooms where they awwemble makeshift facemasks. also making their own surgical masks. our first guest tonight is the top aide to vice president mike pence who is leading the u.s.-china task force. mark, great to have you with us. this is quite a day.

the -- one of the president's chief aides here on the corona task force making it clear there are a number of anti-virals that are showing great prop is and that hasn't gotten lots of attention in the media. what can you tell us? >> i think that the president will have more announcements on that top when he joins with the fda commissioner to talk about progress with therapeutics. we know the challenges getting to the vaccination we are confident we'll have within 12-18 months. but we should have therapeutics on the market by the supper. coronavirus leads to respiratory illness. so having therapeutics on the market will be beneficial to the patients of this virus.

lou: dr. birx is letting us know. chloroquine as well as today -- as kaletra. u.s. hospitals running out of medical supplies. we have heard about an inadequate supply of particularly the respirator mask. the president addressed that, but we don't have a sense as to how soon that short and is going to be closed. >> i think there is actually self con pope interest to this. the president has leaned in and asked the private sector to lean in and solve some of these problems as well. he met with doctors and doctors

from the medical association said they have a large number of masks that can be provide to other doctors. but they need a change in regulations. they have been working to free up the regulatory problem. you saw secretary is -- esper. a few weeks ago the vice president took a trip to 3m in minnesota. what we learned in that type, list when i have a crisis of this nature, there are liability protections and waivers given. but the democrats didn't want to give those protections in the first bill that went through for

protection. the vice president worked with several democrat governors who leaned on democrats in congress and it was included in the most recent bill on the supplemental. we are hoping to get many more masks on the market. lou: the bureaucracy is what it is. this is government. we are all faced with it. you have to work with it every day. your sense about how willing the bureaucracy is to turn to and move ahead in this crisis? we are starting to see democrats move towards the president. are we starting to see the bureaucrats understand this is the time for action as the president has demanded it since the onset of this crisis? >> yes. one of the most disheartening things, the vice president and the president called on people to come together not just in a

bipartisan manner in different krcht. you are seeing churches and the private sector. how is amazon contributing a lot of the masks they have in storage. how are we coming together to solve one of the problems with testing we initially had. i think we have seen an enormous american spirit that we'll steer through this. i think we look at what the timetable is for this, lou. what we have seen with the virus joe seas, some the data we have seen coming out of korea suggested it was a six-week outbreak there. we know this is something we are asking all americans to come together and follow the guidelines donald trump put out. we know there are inconveniences and sacrifices there. it's intended to lower that curve and shorten the distance of how long this outbreak is

going to last. >> it's encouraging to watch this where we began with more unknowns than at any time in our history. a natural disaster with this' unknowns and this severe a threat. i think the progress has been remarkable. and thank you for all you, the vice president and the president, the entire administration are doing. thanks so much. >> thank you, lou. lou: on wall street stocks again falling, a loss of 6% on the day. the dow down just about 10%. the s & p 500 lost 131 points. we'll have more on this period of volatility, we can expect.

communist china trying to shed tear responsibility for spreading the wuhan virus throughout the world. there are a number of reports pointing to a major cover-up by china's leaders in the early days of the virus. in a release from health officials in hubei province the first patients are shed to have hat an onset of symptoms december 8. in the following days a handful of workers at a seafood and wild life market in wuhan fell ill and were admitted to local hospitals. one of them, a 65-year-old deliveryman. the head of the emergency department said fluid samples were taken to the man's lungs. the laboratory had a genome

sequence for most of the virus and they said he had a new virus, new to mankind though similar to sars. there was knowledge in china about the virus wreaking havoc on the globe and the world community. some doctors used chinese social messages, the app wechat. one of the directors was threatened before police tear wasly contracting the virus and dying of it as a result last month. the chinese government waited until december 21 before they alerted the world health organization. the chinese governor put a gag

order on laboratories, telling them to hand over biological samples. but the orders came too late to stop by logical samples from wuhan to shanghai university. his team created the sequencing for the virus. the health lab was shut down the next day. if it weren't for that shipment making its way to shanghai we may never have had critical information needed for the world to start on the vaccine and therapeutics for the wuhan virus. a story the chinese government doesn't want you to hear. but we'll be discussing the communist chinese cover-up later in the show. the gatestone institute's gordon

chang will be joining us. up next, scientists say the wuhan virus can last days on certain surfaces, hours only on others. we'll tell you what they are and take it up with dr. nicole sapphire. supermarket shelves clearing out in some parts of the country. the agriculture department says we have plenty of food and don't horde. please stay with us. ♪ it's surprising how the bigger a city gets... the smaller it starts to feel. which makes it even more surprising, how big it feels in here. with sliding rear seats... and more available second row legroom than say... a chevy suburban.

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tomorrow? who knows. age is just an illusion. how you show up for the world, that's what's real. what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website. make the world you want. lou: president trump said he's closing the northern border with canada to non-essential traffic. canada and the united states taking the action simultaneously to slow the spread of the wuhan virus. we are told it won't affect trade in the least. president trump we want to isolate. we don't want people coming into contact. that's how we are going to win this war. it's non-essential. it won't affect trade at all.

lou: the centers for disease control has a mission stating quote the cdc works 24/7 the protected americans from domestic and foreign threats to health, safety and security. the cdc also uses taxpayer dollars on political issues that go well beyond fighting disease and in some cases support leftist idealogies. the cdc has spent money studying gun violence. hosted a safe sex event with a porn star held a transgender beauty contest and built a visitor center filled with waterfalls and japanese gardens.

president trump wants to thank david horowitz for providing that list. the new data from the department of agriculture shows we have record high stockpiles of food ready for distribution. .3 billion -- 1.3 billion pounds of cheese, 38 million pounds of eggs. and more than 2 billion pounds of frozen vegetables. and more than a billion pounds of frozen fruit. joining to us talk about this is agriculture secretary sonny perdue. this is much on the mind of the american people. are we going to have food

without hoarding? >> we have plenty of food and we have some demand shortages based on people getting more than they need. the food supply is safe, healthy and sound. it's port for people of to look out for their neighbors. our food supply chain is very sounds. we are in touch with them on a daily basis and it's all healthy. lou: grocery stores are having to limit supplies to some customers. it's being managed well, i think despite the initial surge to

hoard. do you think you can get it under control and we'll see a higher level of reason among folks going to the grocery stores in particular? >> probably so. people understand the food supply chain is sound, it's stable and there is plenty of food available. this is not like a hurricane or tornado. so i think people have more confidence. the food supply chain is good. just relax and buy what you need on a weekly or two-week basis and leave something there for others. we have been spoiled as americans going to the grocery store. lou: my wife doesn't like me to go with her to the grocery store because i buy things she thinks

are not necessary to our you are swriefl precoronavirus. so i'm leaving that task behind. the idea that the food supply is in great shape is something that has to be reassuring tole all americans. -- to all americans. this is a difficult time. it's a burden we place on the grocery stores. i think they have done an amazing job not to have us create a serious shortage. while many workers are socially distancing and telework. they are stocking the shelves, driving the trucks, and to our own usda employees inspecting everything they always did to make sure we have a safe, healthy food supply. those are the real heroes.

we thank them internally, externally. but i hope we can recognize them as the people keeping us fed and healthy. thanks so much. come back soon. more on china's disinformation campaign against the united states. the origin of the china virus that began in china. gordon chang will join me later. president trump giving an update on possible new tests for the wuhan virus. dr. nicole saphier joins me after these quick words.

the count: ah, the census! a special time when we count every person in each home in every neighborhood. rosita: do kids count? the count: of course! counting everyone in your home helps support your neighborhood by funding things like schools, hospitals, and buses. complete the census by calling or going online. or return your form by mail. rosa: it's easy, secure, and most important, it's totally private. all: make your family count! announcer: this year, make sure every child counts. visit 2020census.gov [♪] lou: a new study from the new england journal of medicine shows the with you shan virus

can survive up to three days on steel and plastic. the same study suggests it falls apart over the course of a day when it's on the surfaces of cardboard. that raises concerns about the virus spreading through packaging. speshts think that the risk to contracting the virus by touching materials is low. dr. nicole saphier, good to have you with us. i want to start, if i may. these amazing therapeutics, anti-virals moving to, i think public attention.

chloroquine. and virals. >> remdesivir has been utilized for sars and it's undergoing trials in nebraska. it's been used forward compassionate use. people who are severely ill or dying, they are saying what can we try? they are getting pretty creative. the important thing is it's trial and error. when you have people dying and you have all of these medications it's a great idea to see what we can do. until we have robust studies, we are not able to say they work.

buff it does seem to be having some positive response. lew i think president trump deserves great credit for pushing through with the fda. the reality is when people are on their death beds and being -- i think all bets are appropriate, don't you? >> president trump has been a firm supporter of compassionate use of trial medications since he took office. it caused controversy from some people. but now people are jeeg we do this. when you have people of dying, and you potentially have a medication that may work but the big study hasn't worked yet. for these people of you do want to try. of course, there are some caveats when it comes to use non-fda medications. but the bottom line is we are

trying to save lives. lou: this president is proved right in creating efficiencies from the laboratory to the patient. a host of drugs, as you well know. the coronavirus the "new england journal of medicine" is saying this virus can survive three days on steel and plastic. i would have expected it to be different than cardboard where it goes away much quicker. your thoughts why it's not contracted have often about it surface materials. >> first, this study came because they were testing the virus. it wasn't because it's been proven people are infected the this way. they aerosolled the virus and measured it. it makes sense the virus is still there. there are no external factors

getting rid of it. it shows the virus connections stay in the air three to four hours. and every one starts thinking of their amazon packages. and plastic and steel, 3 to 4 days. the most common way you will contract this virus is by being next to someone who is coughing and sneezing and you haven't got that 6-foot bubble. you wash everything down if you are getting deliveries. potentially open the packages outside. throw them away immediately. lou: take your vitamins, improve you'rimprove -- your immunity.

it is a whole of government effort to defeat this thing. thanks for being with us. thank you. be sure to vote in our poll tonight. how would you grade president trump's leadership in the nation's fight against the wuhan chinese virus. superb, great or very good. scientific answers we'll share with you tomorrow evening. another major sell-off on wall street. when does the volatility end? we'll take that up with economist john lonski. gordon chang is with us to take up china's propaganda war with the united states. ♪ limu emu & doug [ siren ] give me your hand!

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or call 1 800 red cross today. you can make a difference. wounded warrior project amadvocates for these heroes, are unstoppable. helping injured veterans achieve their highest ambition. they're unstoppable heroes. support warriors today at woundedwarriorproject.org. lou: earlier in the show we shared with you how china worked to cover up the wuhan virus as it moved from wuhan where it originated to the entire world. beijing is going further concocting a silly claim the u.s. army spread the virus in wuhan. china is driving the narrative that the term china virus is racist. a message picked up here by the

left wing national media. it gives them a chance to attack president trump. >> why do you keep calling this the chinese virus. there are reports of dozen of incidents of bias against chinese in this country. president trump: it's not racist. it comes from china. china tried to say at one point -- labor they stopped now -- -- be maybe they stopped now -- that it was caused by american soldiers. that can't happen. it won't happen as long as i'm president. it comes from china. lou: the journalist seems so sanctimonious. the white house press corps is quite an interesting lot. it has unique individuals within it. all the rest are of course

terrific. joining us tonight is gordon chang, senior fellow at the gatestone institute. this propaganda cap pai -- campy china. the chinese government is conducting a silly claim that the u.s. army brought the virus to wuhan. that's so on its face ridiculous. why are they resorting to absurd claims they know will have no credulity with americans or anyone else. >> i think the communist party is very sensitive about its secrecies. that it covered up the virus. the chinese people have been

calling for little ca -- callinr political change. what the party is trying to do is find an enemy. that enemy is the united states. they have come up with these dangerous claims that the u.s. army spread this to wuhan. so what we have gotten ourselves into is the party's unrelenting hostility towards the united states. lou: we have to acknowledge and i witnessed myself among the physicians we are talking with, the researchers and government officials working with the chinese on the wuhan virus. they have it sees to me, very good communication and cooperation even sharing ideas from the chinese with our doctors and researchers. >> yes.

on a doctor-to-doctor basis there is good cooperation. the problem is the political system in china identified the u.s. as an enemy. that's why it's important for president trump to make it clear this virus came from china. the confucius said the most important thing is names and this virus came from china. i'm a chinese-american. i don't see any racism in what president trump is trying to do. i see a president defending the united states of america against a dangerous, hostile, communist regime. lou: do you think this reached a point where it's endangering the historic trade deal the president put together with xi jinping? >> yes, the global times run by the communist party's people's

daily has been intimating this the last three or four days that china will not go forward with the phase one trade deal because it can't honor its $250 billion commitment. china attacked the dollar in a rhetorical piece. today they are suggesting the world is going into a depression because of the u.s. they are trying to collapse the american economy. lou: saying the united states china with corporate america and wall street and the accommodating politicians. your thoughts about the expulsion of those journalists by the chinese. the communist party making it

clear they are not going to tolerate openness and transparency and american journalists. >> what the party is trying to do is cover up a number of things including the origin of this virus. it doesn't want more journalists in china. we have seen the second round of expulsion of american journalists. there are so many chinese journalists in america. we know the chinese journalists here are members of the chinese state security. they are essentially spies. i'm glad the secretary of state has taken robust measures to protect us with regard to these quote-unquote journalists here. lou: matters seem to be going into the ditch between china and the united states when it was so promising.

their insistence on the origin of this virus to me is not surprising, but it's disappointing. further, we all know we have to deal with disinformation as well as information. and know the difference. once you control language as the left in this country is attempting to do, even resorting to aligning themselves with the communist chinese leadership in trying to create somehow that this is racist to call this the china virus, we call lyme disease named after a place. when we talk about zika. it just goes -- ebola, you name it. naming flus and viruses after places is quite common. >> it's especially important

after china tried to say this is an american disease. what beijing is doing is justifying in its own mind the use of force against the u.s. and preparing the chinese people for that. it's important for president trump to push back on this to deter the chinese from potentially dangerous conduct. we have a common enemy and they mean us harm, lou. lou: i understand. and i think he american should pay attention to the news organizations that absolutely refuse to call it the wuhan virus, the china virus out of some sort of condescension that to do so would be racist. this is an extraordinary to me to kowtowing to the propaganda of a communist state. also aligned with the american

left wing. gordon chang. as always, good to see you. >> thanks, lou. lou: u immigration and customs enforcement is temporarily halting interior enforcement in the united states because of the wuhan virus. it will focus its enforcement on public safety risks and criminalle illegal immigrants. they say individuals should not avoid seeking medical care because they fear civil enforcement. we'll have the latest with economist john lonski. stave with us. some people say "dress your age."

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[♪] lou: wall street having another rough day. the dow jones industrials down 1,338. volume 8.7 billion shares. the new york stock exchange, two

people tests there positive for the wuhan virus. the exchanges will continue to operate under normal trading hours. listen to my reports three times a day coast to coast on the salem radio network. researchers in japan and australia say they think they have found new ways to effectively treat the wuhan virus patients. a combination of chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug and kaletra helps some patients recover. in japan they have a new drug that causes patients to test negative for the virus in just four days. much more to be learned. but at least these companies are making extraordinary strides.

breaking news tonight. the senate passing the phase two coronavirus relief spending bill. expected to cost more than $100 million. phase two includes money for testing of the wuhan virus. expanded funding for food security, and sick leave. senators move on to negotiations for the so-called phase three relief bill that is expected to cost $1.3 trillion. joining me, john lonski, the chief managing director of moody's. you are used to numbers like that, 1.3 trillion. >> you have got to get used to it. the economy is worth 21 trillion. but it was just a month ago, february 18 the u.s. equity

market established a record high. since then the record value of common stock in the u.s. plunged by nearly 11 trillion. or 31%. that's just over half of gdp. these numbers are horrifying and staggering. and we have to do whatever it takes to minimize the long-term damage from this virus. lou: the president is pushing through everything he can get to restore this economy. >> that's exactly what you should do. we have the capacity in the financial system to shoulder an increase in government spending. interest rates are low. if we find that the added government spending, the expansion of the budget deficit

puts unwanted upward pressure on treasury bond yields. the effect will go ahead and undertake another round of quantitative easing, to buy up treasury bonds. just this evening it was announced the ecb was going to increase its bond buying by $820 billion. not only would the european central bank be purchasing government bonds in europe, they will be purchasing corporate bonds as well as commercial paper, short-storm business loans. -- short-term business loans. lou: it will be interesting to see where we go with these direct payments. i love the idea that the president will send out two waves of checks to americans just to deal with the early

difficulties and hardships imposed for whatever reason all because of the wuhan virus and how it affected this economy. don't you think that's a terrific idea? >> i'm sure a lot of these state unemployment benefit offices are being flooded with requests for compensation. we have a quick way of identifying the people losing their jobs because of the virus. lou: next i'll ask john lonski after we come back. what about not paying taxes as april 15 approaches. we'll be right back. stay with us. there's smart and then there's street smart, like a hybrid with best in class epa estimated range of more than five hundred eighty two miles. and ford co-pilot 360 technology to help you outsmart some of the things you'll encounter on the road.

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stop. there are better ways to dispose of your unused meds. to protect the ones you love. [male narrator] to find a medicine disposal site near you, visit www.safe.pharmacy. lou: we are back with john lonski. what do you think of the idea of a certain amount of income, maybe half a million, whatever it is, everyone below that being given a tax year holiday for 2019. >> well, we may have to do that. we do have a very rough second quarter. we wanted to have consumer spending, house hold spending start up quickly. that's an excellent idea. despite some recent earlier good news on housing data.

believe it or not, of late, an index share prices are getting clobbered. there is a great deal of concern about what happens with consumer spending. if consumer spending goes into a deep dive, that's bad news, you have got to cut taxes. despite -- it's worth noting. today the dollar exchange rate strengthens dramatically. if world markets were concerned about a wider budget deficit, the dollar exchange rate would not be strengthening so dramatically. we look forward to talking to you soon. that's it for us tonight. we look forward to seeing you here tomorrow evening. we'll have congressman doug

collins. kt mcfarland be kimberley strassel from the "wall street journal." we thank you for being with us this evening. good nighththththt cheryl: it is 5:00 a.m. here are your top stories at this hour. new developments overnight, president trump signed the first coronavirus relief package into law after the senate approved it and breaking just before midnight, the federal reserve made a big move to help stabilize u.s. financial markets and money market funds from the impact of the pandemic. right now, dow futures up by 38 points. lauren: help on the way and we might need it today, all eyes on first-time jobless claims from last week, they are due out a few hours from now. will the government response be enough to soften the blow for workers everywhere. cheryl: as young people are called on to do their part to help stop the spread of the