@loudobbs. like me on facebook, follow me on instagram @loudobbs tonight. thank you for being with us, see you tomorrow. fox business continues our coverage of the coronavirus task force. good night from sussex. >> managing the voice of america, very important and if you heard what's coming out of the voice of america, it is disgusting. the things they say are disgusting towards our country and michael pack, would get in, do a great job but he has been waiting for two years. can't get him approved. the senate has left washington until at least may 4th. the constitution provides a mechanism for the president to fill positions in such circumstances. the recess appointment it's called. the senate's practice of gaveling into so-called pro-forma sessions where no one

is even there has prevented me from using the constitutional authority that we're given, that we're given under the recess provisions. the senate should either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn so that i can make recess appointments. we have tremendous number of people that have to come into government and now more so than ever before because of the virus and the problem. we have to do it and we have to do whatever we have to do. they have made it very, very difficult to run government. i don't think any administration has done anywhere near what we've done in 3 1/2 years but every block, every week, they put up roadblocks, whether it is russia, russia, russia, or whether it's impeachment hoax or whatever it may be it is always roadblocks and a waste of time. if the house will not agree to that adjournment, i will

exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of congress. the current practice of leaving town while conducting phony pro-forma sessions is a dereliction of duty that the american people cannot afford during this crisis. it is a scam, what they do. it's a scam and everybody knows it and it has been that way for a long time. and perhaps it has never been before, never been done before, nobody even sure if it has. we're going to do it. we need people here. we need people for this crisis and we don't want to play anymore political games. i've been waiting for 2 1/2 years, three years, some of these people and they're great people. they left law firms. they left jobs. they gave up everything to do it and they have been waiting for three years, 2 1/2 years, two years, one year to get approved.

it is ridiculous. everyone knows they're going to be approved but there is only so many hours in the day when you go through judges and you go through lengthy hearings on judges that they know should be approved immediately and they could do it in one session, one, and they could do it in one hour. and instead it takes them many days. in order to advance the health and security of our nation and all nations as we announced yesterday the u.s. government has put a hold on funding to the w.h.o., world health organization, pending a review of the organization's coverup and mismanagement of the coronavirus virus outbreak. over objections of the we took decisive action and early life-saving action to stop travel from china. they didn't want to do it. they were angry that we did it. it took a long time to have them

boeing but i have a feeling they knew exactly what was going on. tragically the other nations put their you trust in the w.h.o. and they didn't do any form of ban. you see what happened to italy. you see what happened to spain. you see what happened to france. w.h.o. guidance failed to control the borders at crucial phase, quickly unleashing the contagion around the world t was a horrible, tragic mistake or perhaps they knew. i'm sure they didn't know the gravity of it but perhaps they knew. because if they knew the gravity, that would be an even worse offense. to ease the economic pain of millions of american families we have now processed $300 billion in loans to more than one million small businesses through the paycheck protection program. this action has saved millions of american jobs. it has been an incredible

success, and they want to replenish it now but again the democrats don't want to do that. this is money that goes to the workers of our country. phase one was $350 billion and now phase two, we want to do 250 billion. this goes to workers and it goes to small businesses so we can save all the small businesses around our nation. mike mcfarland from nebraska recently said this historical relief has been a godsend for his small factory and the 136 americans who work there. saved those jobs. another small business owner, tim miller, from oklahoma, called the program a total lifesaver for his auto repair shop's four employees. stories like these underscore why congress must replenish the paycheck protection program immediately. the republicans want to do it immediately. they want to do it immediately, they want to do it now and the democrats are stopping it.

a short time ago cdc issued public health guidelines for critical industries. in a few moments agricultural secretary sonny perdue will elaborate on how these guidelines apply to our nation's dedicated workers in the food processing profession, because it is a profession. it is incredible what they do. god -- food processing and they're keeping grocery stores full. the shelves are not bare like the shelves i inherited when we took over the stockpile, the medical stockpile where the shelves were bare. the cupboard was bare i say. tomorrow i will also be leading a call with elected officials who will consult with my administration as we work to restore our economy to full speed and we really think with all the stimulus and all the pent-up demand we'll have an economy that really comes back quickly and would like to see it

more than match what we had before. what we had before was a miracle and we think this will be even more than a miracle. we are going to do it because we have the greatest people in the world. we'll also be speaking to america's governors tomorrow and then we'll be announcing exactly what's happening. you already know we'll be opening up states, some states much sooner than others. we think the states can open up before the deadline of may 1st. and i think that will be a very exciting time indeed. governors are looking for it, they're chomping at the bit to get going. again not all states are the same. they're very different. some are verying very little problem. some have done such a good job they're having very little problem and they're ready to go. vice president pence and you will be speaking with the governors tomorrow. we'll be discussing procedures. today i spoke with the leaders of many of our nations most reknown companies and organizations how to achieve the full resurgence of the american

economy. my discussions included top leaders in health and health care, transportation, technology, financial services, food, beverages, hospitality, real estate, retail, agriculture, construction, energy, labor, manufacturing and sports industries. we want to get our country open again. we want to have our sports leagues open. you want to watch sports. it is important. we miss sports. we miss everything. we want to get back. these experts and innovators provide extremely productive feedback how to safely reboot our economy. they gave us a lot of great ideas. we spoke to a lot of very, very smart people, the highest of the high-tech. the level of i.q. on some of those calls was about the highest you ever seen on a phone call, that i can tell you. but we have a lot of great thought went into those calls and a lot of questions came out

and also statements, very strong statements, as to what they recommend. it was, i think it was a great day. i, we did a lot of calling with a lot of very prominent people but more importantly very smart people and people that love our country. they talked about the vital importance of our wide array of relief measures to address the present crisis and they provided valuable insights how to move forward including on the role of protective gear where we have tremendous amounts of protective gear coming in. we have robust testing and the future use of therapies and treatments. they also underscored the crucial importance of strong supply chains and communications infrastructure. we're talking about infrastructure for the middle of our country. talking about broadband and things that, frankly they don't have and haven't had for a long time because a lot of politicians forgot about them.

can't forget about them. they're really the heart and soul, can't forget about them. and we're talking about the telemedical, a new thing and it's incredible what they have been able to do. this is an industry that is just growing but it has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five weeks. people are learning so much, without the ability to see a doctor they're learning so much. a lot of good things are happening. that's something that is really going forward i think going to be very important for our country. as we've seen throughout our proud history america has never greater than when our people are working in unison toward a common goal. that is what is happening right now. we'll go ahead, we'll forge an even brighter future today than we had and will be, along with other nations hopefully. we're working with other nations. we'll be the comeback kids, all of us, all of us. it's incredible what's going on. i'm very proud of the people of this country.

i'm very proud of the people i spoke to today. these are truly great, brilliant people. and we gained tremendous insights. tomorrow will be a very big day. we'll be speaking with the governors. we'll have some information on some openings. again we'll have some openings that will be, will exceed our expectations and they will be safe. they will be strong but we want to get our country back. we want to get our country back and we're going to do it and we're going to do it soon. with that i would like to ask dr. birx to come up and say a few words. and then secretary sonny perdue. and then vice president pence. thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you, mr. president and thank you for summarizing the states and what we're seeing. so over the last five to six days we've seen declines in cases across the country and this has been very reassuring

for us. at the same time we know that mortality and the fatalities that we're facing across the united states continue. we know the number of people who are still in the hospitals, in the icus, we want to continue to recognize the health care workers who are on the front loons and really recognize how low the united states case fatality rates are compared to other countries and this is really due, not only to our technology but how that technology is utilized to save lives. at the same time i'm inspired by the american people who continue social distancing. these cases continue to decline because of the strong work of the american people. also wanted to let you know we do have nine states that have less than 1000 cases and less than 30 new cases per day. so we're looking at states and metro areas as individual, individual areas. we talked before about how each of these curves are different.

each of the cases experiences are different. we have some states like california and washington state, oregon, that never really had a peak because of so much work that their populations did to decrease and keep the new cases down. so each much these individual states and individuals metros are being studied. it is very specifically. i do want to highlight. we are remaining concerned and we have been having discussions with rhode island. rhode island and providence are in unique situation. they had increasing cases from new york city area. they have increasing cases from the boston area. they're caught between two incredible hot spots in the country. they're doing extraordinary job caring for individuals on the front line but providence continues to have new cases.

we're working with states that have individual occurrences. i remind the american people again, this is highly contagious virus. coming together there is always a chance that asymptomatic person can spread the virus unknowingly. no one is intending to spread the virus. we know if you're sick you stay home. all of you would like to join together, have the dinner party for 20, don't do it yet. continue to follow the presidential guidelines. we really appreciate the work of the american people. we see as a country we're improving we see as metro areas we're improving. we see as communities, counties, states, we're improving but that also still requires everyone to still continue to social distance. in the end we have states with very few cases and very new few new cases. these are the ones that the

president is referring to, that have been silent, relatively silent throughout this epidemic and pandemic many of us faced. these are the groups working with very specifically and each much these governors and each of these mayors will have to make decisions after generalized guidelines are put out so that they can do what's best for their communities. they are at the front line. i wanted to conclude by really thanking my pet -- pepfar teams throughout the world, working tirelessly throughout the world that africa and asia doesn't experience levels we have seen here. they turned overcapacities of their embassies. our u.s. hires throughout the world, our ambassadors are on the front line with the local staff, working with ministries how to confront this virus around the globe and i assure you they're continuing to invest in the health structures, the laboratory, the front line care to insure all of the work that

we have done against tb, hiv and malaria continues but that we use our capacity, our laboratories, our clinics, our hospitals that have been built by the american people and the generosity of the american people to really combat this covid-19 around the globe. thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you, doctor. sonny, please. >> thank you, mr. president. for the opportunity to be with you here today and to, i want you to know it is an honor to represent you leading the department of agriculture and represent constituency who are crucial in maintaining our nation's food security, enabling us to keep food on the table of our american families, not only just food, but wholesome and safe food as well. i would like to start my remarks today by echoing what my colleagues, the cdc, have been saying regarding the health and safety of our essential employees across the united states. cdc's provided strategies there

that are aimed at helping our most critical workers both in health care and in food processing, quickly and safely return to work after potential exposure to covid-19, provided those workers are symptom-free and this guidance will help these critical industries in the food sector protect the health and safety of essential workers while keeping critical functions working throughout the covid-19 response. as we know any employee who develops symptoms while on the job should go home up immediately and interim guidance is in line with cdc's recommendations for health care workers, caring for those sick with covid-19. we appreciate the dedication and commitment of all of the brave men and working women working to keep their communities fed. we'll continue to work with the cdc to keep those individuals as safe as possible during these challenging times. in that vein there has been a lot happening this week as

covid-19 is impacting food processing facilities as you know. for americans who may be worried about access to good food because of this, i want to assure you the american food supply is strong, resilient, and safe. in fact our food supply chain has shown tremendous agility and shifting production and logistics, suddenly from restaurant and institutional settings to retail settings. to all the employers out there in this sector, it is critical that you follow cdc guidelines and guidance and best practices to keep all of your employees and people safe and healthy. to employees and local public health officials, advising them, the cdc has issued guidelines on how to mitigate a situation, if you have a positive case in one of your facilities. we need our local health authorities and our state health authorities to do everything they can to balance the demand of keeping our facilities operational and our critical

industries going while at the same time keeping the health and safety of employees as a top priority as well as our communities. so i want also to take this time to thank all of our critical essential food supply chain workers. the entire country is counting on these patriotic individuals by doing the work in our food supply chain. these dedicated workers include obviously farmers and producers but also processers, truckers and grocery store workers as you know. america is depending on whether you have the food we need to feed our families and you're the ones making that happen, thank you. as an entire nation we're truly thankful for the work you're doing and we recognize you're the true patriotic heroes during this national emergency along with our health care workers. before i sign off here, mr. president, i want to remind you, all of us of one more thing. in the united states we have plenty of food for all of our citizens. i want to be clear. the bare store shelves you may

see in some cities in the country are demand issue, not a supply issue. the way food is prepared and packaged to be sold in a restaurant or a school is significantly different than the way it is packaged for you to buy in the grocery store. our supply chain is sophisticated, efficient, integrated and synchronized and it has taken us a few days to relocate the miss alignment between institutional settings and grocery settings but that does not mean we don't have enough food in this country to feed the american people. you might think of it as an interstate. when it is flowing along well and you have a crash in one place, it backs up and that is what happened in the food supply chain but we're working through that. all this, through all of this our food supply chain has proven to be very resilient just like american people. to the extent we have challenges, we have and continue to work through it all together and we can and we will get through this with a whole of

american approach, mr. president, critical partnership between state and local health officials, management of companies and the employees and we will meet any challenges we face by working together. thank you, sir, for the opportunity. >> thank you very much, and before the vice president comes up i just wanted to say, speaking of sonny, china has paid us billions of dollars, many, many billions of dollars in tariffs which we've distributed, some to the farmers because they were targeted. we have many billions of dollars being held by sonny, i told him to distribute much of that money to the farmers. our farmers were targeted and now they're benefiting by the amount that they were targeted. and we are very honored to do that and sonny, you will start that process very soon. you will let the farmers know? nobody can take advantage of our farmers. so we have a lot of money we've taken in from china we'll be distributing that money from

from sonny to the farmers and there is tremendous money over and above that that money was paid directly into the treasury of the united states. this has never happened to china before. they never gave us 10 cents. now they're paying us billions of dollars and we appreciate it so thank you very much, sonny. great job. mike, please. >> thank you, mr. president. the white house coronavirus task force met today. it is reported to us that we've conducted and completed 3,324,000 tests across the nation. more than 619,000 americans have tested positive but as you reflected yesterday when we welcomed coronavirus survivors here to the white house from across the country, more than 45,000 americans have fully

recovered. sadly we mourn the loss of more than 27,000 of our countrymen. our hearts are with their families and with the families of all of those that continue to struggle, with serious consequences of this illness but as dr. birx just reflected despite the heartbreaking losses, we're getting there, america. because of the efforts of people all across this country to put into practice the president's coronavirus guidelines, because of their adherence to the direction of state and local authorities, as dr. birx just reflected, we see great signs of progress from the west coast to the east coast. president trump has directed our team to develop new guidelines so that we'll be presented tomorrow, to our nation's governors and released to the american people thereafter. the american people will be encouraged to know that as we

stand here today, 24% of the counties of this country have no reported coronavirus cases. in fact, half of the states in america have less than 2500 cases per state. this is a great tribute to the efforts by the people of those communities. but as the president suggested when we unveil the guidelines that the team has been working to present tomorrow to our nation's governors, we're going to reflect on the fact that as the president said there will be areas of the country that will require continued mitigation and strong efforts and there will be other areas of the country that will be given guidance for greater flexibility. the president has so directed our team. when we think of more than 619,000 americans having tested positive, more than 45,000 having recovered, we wanted to

announce today that the fda recently announced efforts to facilitate the development and access to convalescent plasma, mr. president. you've spoken about this people who have recovered from the coronavirus have antibodies in your bloodstream that can attack the virus. the mayo clinic today is working with the red cross to make sure that coronavirus patients have access to the convalescent plasma treatments and over 1000 institutions across america have joined this program and we want to urge every american who has recovered from the coronavirus for at least two and preferably four weeks, to contact your local blood or plasma donation center and arrange to donate. it is one more way that the american people can do their part and step forward and, thousands have already done so and we know that tens of thousands will join them. on the subject much supplies, mr. president, i will be very brief because you detailed a

great amount. as the president mentioned the air bridge is completed 44 flights, 56 more are scheduled but on the subject of facial masks which are so important for the protection of critical infrastructure, pleased to report that the average daily delivery through the commercial networks of our air bridge is 22 million facial masks coming into the marketplace. the average inventory in the network over a seven-day period is 80 million masks and fema is actually working as we speak to move facial masks to priority infrastructure, food supply, first-responders. there will be 6.5 million masks that go out before the end of this week. an additional 20 million before april the 20th. then we'll be adding 6.5 million each and every week. at the president's direction we're going to insure all of those that work in food supply, all of those first-responders have access to masks and we're

increasing those every day. finally, i know i speak for the president when i say how proud we are of all of our healthcare workers across the country and how proud we are of the men and women in uniform. our medical professionals who have been deployed across the nation, literally by the thousands. in fact as we stand here today, 576 doctors, nurses and other military medical professionals have been deployed to 13 hospitals across the nation, 10 in new york, and one in connecticut, texas, louisiana each and as the president reflected a few days ago, because of we did not have the, happily did not have the demand on the javits center around on the comfort in new york city, at president's direction we have deployed doctors and nurses from those two facilities to hospitals. in fact the president and i were just speaking to mayor de blasio just before we came out and he expressed his great admiration

and appreciation for the relief that these medical military personnel have provided to incredibly dedicated people in our hospitals, 258 medical personnel just yesterday were deployed off the ship and out of the javits center into new york. with that, mr. president, i will step aside but it is remarkable to think of all we accomplished over the last month since you first issued the presidential guidelines for america. the truth is, because of what the american people have done over the last 30 days, we are slowing the spread. we are insuring that every american family have access to the health care that we want any member of our family to have with the greatest health care proeggs professionals in the world. we're saving lives and healing our land. we have want to thank the american people for all you have done and tomorrow we'll be presenting new guidance to the governors of this country, how we build on our progress and

reopen america in a safe and responsible way. reporter: recess appointsment, if i could? >> steve please. reporter: you mentioned possibility of adjourning both chambers about of congress. can you explain what you meant by this. >> very simple if they don't act on people we need, we need them anyway, we need them because of the pandemic, we do something i prefer not doing which i should do i will do if i have to. kaitlin, go ahead. reporter: question for you, call with business leaders today they said testing has got to be ramp up significantly before the feel comfortable reopening stores and restaurants, what not. isn't that what health officials and state governors are -- >> that is what i want to. we have great states. we have want the state to administer these tests for the most part. we're standing behind them. we have great tests. we have more testing than any country in the world by far. we have the best tests of any country in the world nobody has the quality of tests, if you

look at abbott what they have come up with in a short period of time. they have been incredible. roche has been incredible. we have the best tests in the world. we're working very much with the governors of the states. we want them to do it. we're not running a parking lot in arkansas. we'll not be running a parking lot where you have a walmart which has been great by the way, walmart has done a fantastic job but where you have a testing center and running that pro washington, d.c. the states are much better equipped to do it. we're working with the states. we're standing behind the states. we're working closely with the governors in terms of that, getting additional equipment. it used to be three, four weeks ago, two weeks ago, could we get more ventilators, more ventilators, right? we got them ventilators, and you don't hear that anymore. pretty amazing what we've been able to do. go ahead, john. reporter: [inaudible] first-responders, health care workers who have -- when will it

be widespread enough so companies feel comfortable enough being open? >> i think companies will determine that. the governors will determine that. and federal government. if we're not happy we'll take very strong action against a state or a governor. if we're not happy with the job governor is doing we'll let them know about it. as you know we have very strong action we can take, including a closedown. we don't want to do that. we're working with governors and working closely with the governors. the relationship has been very good. the vice president had a lot of conversations over the last two weeks with either 50 or almost 50 governors on every conversation and they have been really positive conversations. reporter: [inaudible] >> we have the right to do whatever we want but we wint do that. we have the right to close down what they're doing if we want to do that but we don't want to do that. i don't think there will be any reason to do that but we have the right to do that. steve? reporter: mr. president, why did

you have name added to coronavirus relief checks? >> i don't know too much about it, but i understand my name is there. i don't know where they're going, how they're going. i do understand it is not delaying anything and i'm satisfied with that. i don't imagine it is a big deal. i'm sure people will be very happy to get a big be fat, beautiful check and my name is on it. go ahead, please. go ahead, please, please. go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president, dr. birx said rhode island is seeing increase in cases people coming from boston and new york. you said you would like to reopen states before may 1. how will you stop a second -- people traveling between states, how will you control the flow of people -- >> well the governors can control that flow as an example. i saw a little while ago it was reported that certain borders are being controlled already by states. they're starting to take control of their borders which is good. so they will be controlling. they may do testing for people wanting to come in. i read that about rhode island. so they have to watch it.

they have to be very careful. yeah, please? reporter: mr. president, reopening the country again you said along with other nations, what form would it take? are you considering also relaxing the border between canada and u.s.? >> so our relationship with canada is very good. we'll talk about that. it will be one of the early borders to be released. canada is doing well. we're doing well. we'll see. after the some point we'll be doing that. meantime nations that are heavily infected, we have a lot of nations heavily infected. some are getting better. some are still on the way up unfortunately. we're keeping strong borders with those nations but with canada we're talking about different things. yeah, please. reporter: you said evidence suggests that nationwide we passed peak on new cases? what are your evidence for that? >> we're looking at numbers. we're looking at our graphs. we're looking at models. we're getting a great response from deborah and tony and from many professionals working. we have great professionals

working with us. i think based on that we're doing very well. based on that, it looks like we're headed absolutely in the right direction but some states are looking at other states an they're saying, i can't imagine what they're going through because they're not in that position. they're in very good shape. i would say we have 20 states at least but you have really 29 that are in extremely good shape. you have others getting much better. i think with almost few exceptions you have every state that is either doing better on the way to doing better. yeah, please. go ahead. reporter: thank you, mr. president. on your threat to adjourn or congress, clearly you have the power, article 2, section 3, but that would be quite radical to do. earlier last month you were in the oval office talking about now is not the time for partisanship. how will that act lower the partisanship in this town and could it potentially hinder your ability to get something done on coronavirus? >> well it is, look, it has been

a very partisan government for a long period of time, not just this administration. you can go back until the last two administrations, you've seen a lot of partisanship. you would know you would think we wouldn't have. as an example with the paycheck plan, that is going so well, it is so smooth, so beautiful, almost without a hitch, all of that money is being distributed to small businesses. they're giving it to their employees. it is keeping them ready viable, when we open and now it has been so good, it is almost depleted and we want to replenish it. around we can't get the democrats to approve it. that is a program they and everybody else admit are great. so you do have partisanship. we have been trying for years to get people approved for positions. people have left, one man left a law firm. one man left a big chain. he was very successful executive. he left. it was two years ago. we have people that have been waiting for three years.

and we can't get them approved by the democrats in the senate because they're taking so long to approve our judges. now you have to tell you, that i'm totally in favor of what mitch is doing with judges because that is always seems to be a priority and it is a very important priority. i think it is one of the great trademarks of this administration. we've approved record numbers of federal judges and appellate judges and two supreme court judges, but rather than approving somebody who is highly qualified, somebody that everybody knows is going to be approved, rather than going quickly, they take the maximum amount of time, whatever that time may be and what they're doing by doing that is taking days to approve somebody that could be approved in a quick vote. people that get phenomenal reviews in committee are going maximum number of hours and what they do, there is only so many hours in a day. now we could have said, let's stay. i would have been in favor of

that. they didn't choose to do it. but i have a very strong power. i would rather not use that power but we have way over 100 people that we very badly need in this administration, that should have been approved a long time ago and one of them is the head of voice of america. if you look at what they're doing, and what they're saying about our country, it is a disgrace, the people that are running that. we have somebody that is really good, really talented and that loves our country. and i want to get these people approved. that is one of many. we have professionals. sonny you've been waiting how long have you been waiting for the man we're talking about coming in? 2 1/2 years. so sonny purdue happens to be here talking about something else, you've been waiting for one of the most important positions as secretary of agriculture is the position. it is distribution. we need it now. we're talking about shelves. we're talking about cupboards. he needs it.

he has been waiting, he didn't know he would get this question, you've been waiting 2 1/2 years. the person is exceptional. that person left a very good job and it is embarrassing to me. he say do you think you get that man approved? he has been saying that for a long time. it is because of the democrats and what we're doing and i think anybody here would do it, judges are a priority. federal judge is going to sit for 50 years potentially, young judge, will be sitting, that is always going have to be a priority but because they're taking so much time in approving -- they're trying to put us through the mill. that is, when you talk about partisanship and it has never ever happened before. you can look at every administration in the history of this country, nobody, nobody has ever had hundreds of people not approved after 3 1/2 years. go ahead, please. reporter: timeline for that. we'll -- >> they know. they have been warned an being warned right now f they don't approve it we'll go this route.

we'll be challenged in court. we'll see who wins but when the occur hears that we are not getting people approved as sonny would say 2 1/2 years of person position we needed this crisis. we needed these people before but now we really need these process. reporter: back to the numbers for a second, talk about the numbers, jobless claims will come out tomorrow, likely five million more americans putting their names in for employment benefits yet there are still a couple thousand people as well dying a day because of coronavirus. when you talk about opening up the american economy, at least in parts now, how do you balance that decision out given both of those figures? >> well, we are. there has to be a balance. you know, there is also death involved in keeping it closed. i have gone over this with you. i believe this so strongly. when you look at mental health, when you look at suicides, suicide hotlines, which are exploding. people losing their jobs.

you look at drugs, people didn't take drugs, now they're becoming drug-addicted. they're going through a problem, they have no job, they have no money coming in other than money we're getting them. we opened up the coffers to a large extent. we're helping people. i wish the democrats would help us a little bit with it because they should. it is purely partisan what they're doing. it is bad for our country, you know there is death by doing, by having this strongly-closed country. we have to get back to work. with all of that being said, we're going to start with states and with governors that have done a great job and they are going to open it up as they see fit. we'll be right line them. we'll be working, supplying them with things if we don't have them. we want them to have them. we'll be helping them with ventilators after this is over so they can't say, oh the federal government, we want them to have, they have had a lot of options, many of the governors had a lot of options over the years to buy ventilators.

they didn't choose to do it. we'll be helping them fill up their stockpiles. we'll have plenty. and as i said i'm very proud to do it. we'll be helping other nations. we'll be helping italy, spain, france, other nations. and we're going to be helping them strongly. i think russia is going to need ventilators. they're having a hard time in moscow. we're going to help them. we'll help other countries that need ventilators. we have a lot. you see it with general motors. you see it with other countries that are producing -- we'll have hundreds of thousands of ventilators a great thing to have. in the back, please. is anybody freezing? you know it is very cold out here. we can leave early, right? couple much more, go ahead, please. reporter: thank you, mr. president, why do we have 20% of the world's death from the coronavirus and only 4% of the world's population? >> you don't know what you have. you think you're getting honest numbers from some of these countries. do you believe the numbers in the vast country called china

and certain number of cases? does anybody really believe that? here's the story. we report everything. we're reporting cases and our reporting is god. we're reporting every death. i see this morning new york added 3,000 deaths because they died and they're now saying rather than it was heart attack, they're saying a heart attack caused by this so they're adding if you look at it, that's it. and everything we have is documented, reported. and what they are doing is just in case, they're calling it, and that is okay, that's okay. but we have more cases because we do more reporting. we have more cases because everything is down. but does anybody really believe the numbers of some of these countries that you've been watching and you've been reporting on and then it is like, they didn't have the big thing? there have been some really, really bad, heavily, really, some countries that are in big,

big trouble an they're not reporting the facts and that's up to them. all i know is we report the facts and we're a country that is getting better. john, go ahead. reporter: mr. president, multiple sources are telling fox news today that the united states government now has high confidence that while the coronavirus is a naturally-occurring virus it eminated from a virology lab in wuhan. because of lax safety protocols an intern was infected who later infected her boyfriend and then went to the wet market in wuhan where it began to spread. does that correspond what you have heard from officials? >> i don't want to say that, john, more and more we're hearing story. when you say multiple sources that is case where you can use sources but we're doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened. go ahead, please. reporter: in your many conversations with president xi, mr. president, did you ever discuss with them state

department concerns lax safety protocols reported to the state department from the embassy in beijing about the laboratory? >> i don't want to discuss with him what i discussed about laboratory. it is inappropriate. go ahead. reporter: from australia. there are have been calls in our current through for prime minister scott morrison make funding for w.h.o. conditional on reforms to the organization. i wanted to get your thoughts on that, and if you have any advice for mr. morrison? >> i feel very badly about the world health organization but it has been a tool of china. it has been as i say totally china centric. you take a look everything that has happened. they have been wrong. i was all for it at beginning. what do i know? world health organization, isn't that wonderful. then you start to see all the mistakes. they didn't want us to close our borders to china, to wuhan specifically. they didn't want our borders closed. you take a look. mike was there. we're all there and they're

crist sizing me for closing the border. i did that very early. i did that very early while nancy pelosi was trying to have in san francisco parties in chinatown because she thought it would be great. she wanted to show this thing doesn't exist. these are people, we have some politicians on the other side that don't know what they're doing. look at timelines. you have to look at some timelines, but the world health organization just like the world trade organization, i'm telling you i call them, they have been treating the united states for decades so badly and they have been so in favor of china. china took off when it joined the world trade organization. because of what's happened. think of it, they're considered a developing nation and because and we're not. we're a developing nation too in my book, okay? we're developing too. but the fact is we have been treated so badly by these organizations, and believe me, i'm looking at that one too. we're winning a lot of lawsuits right now that we never won

before in the past. we're winning a lot of money that we never won in the past. that is with the world trade. but with the world health organization, what's happened there is a disgrace. here is the other thing. we pay 400 to $500 million a year, china is paying 38, 39 and $40 million a year. and, it us like they control this group. i could do that too if i wanted devote full time to it or have very capable people dealing with dr. tedros, okay? i could do it too. i could do very well with that but there is something going on, something going on that is very bad. now the 500 million we save we'll determine, we'll make a determination over a little period of time. but they're going to either have to make massive changes, i don't even know if they will be automobile to do that or we're going to give money to people, we want to help people. what we do in africa with aids,

people have no idea what we do and money we spent. we were talking about it the other day, doctor. we are spending billions of dollars to help people in the case of, one that dr. birx is very much involved in, aids, billions of dollars. you know what it is a great thing. nobody talks about it. nobody gives us credit. we do that and do it very directly but we're spending billions of dollars to help people live and all over the world but we're spending $500 million to the world health organization and they're something very bad going on. you know what? i've gotten very much involved. it has been going on for a long period of time and we don't want to be the suckers anymore. so it is cold out. we'll talk to you tomorrow. big day tomorrow. very big day. reporter: if dr. tedros is removed would you change your mind? >> that's a good question. liz: okay, that is the president wrapping up the coronavirus task

force presser. i'm elizabeth macdonald. welcome to "the evening edit. for reaction white house press secretary sarah sanders. basically -- sarah, great to hae you on. nine states with less than 1000 cases. half the country has less than 2500 cases. the reopening plan may be announced tomorrow. the president says ramping up protective kits, personal protective gear, phase opening of churches schools, restaurants. your take on the plan that could come tomorrow? >> look i think the president is doing all the right things in terms of taking in massive amount of data both from health care professionals and health care experts like dr. birx, dr. fauci as well as taking in information from his economic advisors. the president is very focused on doing two things, saving

american lives and saving american livelihoods. we've seen that in every action that he is taking. he continues to do that. i have no doubt that he is going to continue going through this process over the next 24 hours. maybe they roll out the plan tomorrow, maybe they push it off but one thing i know for sure they will do everything they can to make sure they are making the best decision to protect the american people both in terms of health care as well as in terms of just overall economic impact. liz: we're hearing that germany is looking to reopen, possibly by april 20th. governor cuomo moving on an executive order today, for people to wear facemasks when they're outside in new york. we know about the big constitutional tenth amendment fight but, sarah, we're seeing pushback in various states in places like mississippi, in florida, in michigan, massive protests against the democrat governor whitmer there for

draconian shelter at home orders. she is being accused after major power grab. she banned gardening and stopped businesses from selling non-essential goods. so your take, there is push back inside of states right now against what various governors have done. >> i think that the most important thing we need to do as americans is remember the tremendous pressure that our leaders are under. they are trying to make the best decisions possible. this is an unprecedented time and they're trying to do everything they can to make sure they're protecting individuals. certainly nobody wants their rights unfringed upon. at the same time we want to do what we can to protect the most vulnerable in our society and i think the actions that you're seeing from the president and from governors is to do that. and i think a sometime right now, the best thing we can do, instead of attacking one another, trying to fine a vision, look for reasons to come together. we've seen remarkable moments across this country of neighbors

helping one another, kepts stepping -- companies stepping up big and small, to help business across this country. we need to look at a lot more opportunities like that. let's look for ways america can come together. pray for our doctors, nurses, our president, our governors. this is time to come together, not look for reasons to fight one another or tear each other apart. liz: as former white house press secretary you have been at the forefront of a lot of fights and you've been involved in fights too. democrat house speaker nancy pelosi is attacking the president over cutting funding to w.h.o., saying it was quote, almost sinful the problems of nationwide testing. democrat adam schiff is talking about wanting to probe the administration response still. congressman jim jordan, republican, is saying there is a big task force not working, it is congress. fighting inside of congress right now, your reaction? >> i'm not surprised. there is never a moment when

there isn't fighting in congress. unfortunately we learned a long time ago a lot of democrats in congress care a lot more about destroying this president than they do building this country up. we saw it day after day in the time in the white house every day since. democrats like nancy pelosi and adam schiff have a singular focus. they wake up every morning and go to bed every single night looking for ways to destroy this president. instead of waking up every morning, instead of going to bed every night looking for ways to build the country up, looking for ways to help the president. they have to stop coming after him every single time he tries to do something to help people. instead find out ways they can join in, being part of the solution, instead part of an attack squad that spends every single second going after the president. liz: the senate homeland security run by ron johnson, senator ron johnson is probing both the w.h.o. and china.

china is now rebuking the president for pushing back to suspend funding to the w.h.o. china is not saying whether it will step in and help fund the w.h.o. your reaction on what we just heard from john roberts and fox news, his question, to the president? the president is saying he is not going to discuss right now what he discussed with the leader of china, when it comes to growing concern that this coronavirus, sars cov-2 came from wuhan or another lab in china or may have been reverse engineered and has different genetic strains inside it, what we thought to be from the wuhan wet market. so your reaction to the joint chiefs of staff, saying there is concern about that. secretary of state, mike pompeo saying china will not release any details about the virus and its origin? >> i think certainly one the

important factors here we have a president who is tough on china and if anyone is to blame in this process china has certainly not stepped up they have not been coming forth with information. there were a lot of things they could have done on the front end to prevent this becoming global pandemic it is today. president has been tough and holding china accountable for any actions that they took or didn't take for that matter that could have prevented the situation that we're all in right now. you've seen him do that time and time again even smaller eschews. much less, how tough he will be on china as well learn more and more about ways they could have prevented where we are right now. liz: sarah sanders, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. thanks for having me. liz: for his reaction, same here. for his reaction, let's bring in former navy seal, he is an author, he is republican from

texas dan crenshaw. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> great to be with you. thanks for having me. liz: congressman this is turning now into a story of reopening our economy, it is a story what is exactly going on in laboratories in china. studying pathogens at unsafe, biosafety levels. there is growing concern that this virus looks like it may have escaped from a lab if you listen to scientists writing in various medical journals and scientists around the world. certainly in places like asia and, out, countries in asia are pushing back against china's narrative that it is natural in origin. your reaction to that story? >> looks like it has a lot of legs to it. i wish democrats and media would push back against china's lies. we are as republicans in congress. ultimately it came out after lab or not, here is what we do know. china deliberately hid the virus and deliberately allowed the spread of it around the world.

we could have prevented a lot of death and destruction that we have seen. we do know that for sure. you asked about reopening the economy. that is not an option. we have to. and we can. we have to tell people the truth about what is about to happen. we have to be able to live our lives and reopen society alongside fighting pandemic. you can do that. we have to remind people why we flattened the curve in the first place t was to allow the health system to catch up and not get overwhelmed. it was strained but not broken. related here in houston, our health care system is empty. our hospitals are completely empty. we're looking at peaks obsessing when the peak is reality that peak is very, very low and weren't overwhelm the hospital system. we have to encourage leaders to take data into account and make better judgments accordingly. i worry greatly that we're not striking that balance. i'm glad to hear that the white house is coming out with a staged reopening plan.

our own governor plans the same thing. local leaders across the country have to think harder about what makes sense and what doesn't. talking about michigan a week ago banned the sale of seeds and gardening. that is insane. she deserves people protesting her. we have to be smart about this, be honest with people. how to mitigate the risk and live with recivilian sy as american people. we can do it. i see it every day the ground level and we're going to do it. liz: here is the next shoe to drop in this developing story. this is going to turn into a emerging debt crisis story. we're seeing countries 100 countries to reach out to the imf to access one trillion dollars in loan. we had rolling debt crisis hit mexico, hit russia in decades past. mexico has a severe, central

america, growing covid-19 outbreak. are you for restricting our borders permanently until all of this is under control? because we see china doing that? we see countries in asia doing that. we see countries in europe saying we'll sit tight and restrict our borders from now? >> that is one of the first actions taken and probably will be one of the last to be lifted, for obvious and good reason. so you know, again, the i'm absolutely in favor of what we need to do to keep the american people safe and prevent further outbreaks seeding into the united states. liz: we are, i want to turn back to china. will you or are you hearing anybody on the house side doing what ron johnson is doing in the senate, and that is investigating both china and the w.h.o.? because state department officials had warned about poor security at the wuhan institute of virology in 2018 and an

article in, a group of scientists reported in the journal "nature medicine" last month that they cannot rule out that it could have been an accidental release of this virus by chinese researchers. congressman, we saw that with the sars virus in 2003. it accidentally escape ad lab in china and killed eight people. >> off the top of my head i can't tell you who is sponsoring those bills in the house but i assure you there will be companion bills to that. there should be an investigation into china panned how they hid the virus and why. i will be sponsoring a bill that would give executive authority to disallow chinese officials into the united nations if they had been a part of propaganda techniques that they did. liz: okay. congressman, thank you so much. we have a hard wrap there. great to see you. i'm elizabeth macdonald. thanks for joining "the evening edit." we'll stay on the developing story tomorrow night.

we hope you have a good evening. ? are we there yet? [♪] lou: good evening, president trump spending much of his time and energy on preparation for the reopening of america's economy. president trump speaking to a number of members of his economic revival institute. a list of 200 industry leaders encompassing financial services, retail, healthcare, big tech and more, the president's discussions a precursor on a larger meeting tomorrow on the opening of the economy with the governors of all 50 states attending by telecould be forensic and about when -- by