down. [closing bell rings. liz: tom lyden, of, great to see you, tom. thank you so much. by the way, everybody join me in just two hours, 6:00 p.m. eastern, liz claman on twitter. that is when futures trading begins and i bring it all to you, @lizclaman on twitter. i will see you then. connell: recovering some of this week's losses. stocks with a rebound today following that historic plunge in oil prices that we saw earlier in the week. so nice little bounce back for the market. good to be with you, i'm connell mcshane. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." the major averages up more than 2%, closing near session highs, just minutes from you no. we are going to get reaction from white house economic advisor larry kudlow. but we're going to begin with fox business team coverage. blake burman with the latest from the white house. lauren simonetti watching the markets and edward lawrence is in washington. let's kick it off with lauren.

lauren: hey, guys a two-day sell i don't have was reversed. major averages closing near the highs of the session. nasdaq leading the major averages gaining almost 3% today. the nasdaq was led by big cap tech which was down for this week. three reasons for rally. first more rescue funding from the government is likely on the way after the senate approved yet another relief package. second oil prices recovering. take a look where crude closed the session today, above $13 a barrel. that is much better than it had been. a gain of almost 18%. with that reis big gains for halliburton, chevron, exxon and the energy sector in general leading the overall market higher today. and third, investors look to earnings report that continue to pour in from guidance on the coronavirus effects on the economy. here is the trends we're seeing and we're seeing it for chipotle after earnings report showed 81%

increase of people ordering online getting food delivered. that is with we're doing. that stock is up 14%. snap up 36% on the day. turns out social distancing makes the heart grow fonder. we're connecting more on line. daily active users surging. here is another story, guys, united airlines those shares down sharply. the carrier is offering shares to raise more money, a billion dollars as its planes remain grounded. unite and american as you see here are among the nasdaq worst performers but overall, finally first time this week stocks ending in the plus column. back to you. melissa: we'll take it, thanks, lauren. the white house coronavirus task force briefing is expected to begin in less than an hour. let's check in with blake burman live in washington with the latest. blake? reporter: hi, there, melissa. we'll see at that briefing if the president or members of the administration unveil this new executive order they have been talking about that would halt issuing new visas, new green

cards, rather, for the next 60 days. nancy pelosi saying earlier today of the president, it is distraction from his failure on testing though the white house is saying this executive order is to protect american workers. >> the president has promised for a temporary halt for 60 days on immigration. this larry order will focus on that. they're focusing on non-immigration visas. true to his word the president promised to halt an immigration and undeed that is what he is about to deliver. reporter: earlier today, new york's governor andrew cuomo said in the oval office meeting in his office yesterday the two discussed the need for additional funding for the states. some are calling for that figure to be as high as five hundred billion dollars. the treasury secretary telling stuart varney earlier this morning that the president is not committing to a specific number just yet. >> he heard from both republican governors and democratic

governors and he is taking that into consideration. so what he said is, in the next bill we will look at this, we will address this. he hasn't made any decisions in regards to the size or the amount. reporter: melissa, we reported earlier today the immense pushback that harvard university was facing because within the $2.2 trillion cares act there is a 14 billion-dollar pot that is set to help out universities and colleges of all sizes, all across the country. harvard was set to receive some $8.6 million even though their endowment is over $40 billion. we bring that up, because harvard certainty us a statement in the last few minutes they will not take the $8.6 million. as well stanford university, princeton university, were set to receive 7.3 and $2.4 million. also said they will not tap into those fund, starting to get some focus and some pushback on some of the funding and exactly who needs it and now some who are

saying they're not going to take it. back to you. melissa: all right, blake, thank you. connell. connell: you know there has been outrage, melissa, building here in recent days as we learn of more large companies receiving funding for the first round of small business loans. this all cops as the house prepares to vote on additional money. edward lawrence is following all the developments from washington with the very latest. edward? reporter: connell, those larger companies are really taking a look at their situation now because treasury secretary steve mnuchin on this network offered a warning saying larger companies can giver back the money with no issues or an investigation can be opened to see if they actually fit the criteria laid out for this program. now how this happen? how did the big companies able to get some of this money here? in the haste to get money out to small businesses the bill did not exclude publicly trading companies or exclude, or limit

the market capsize of companies. any company over 500 employees, no matter how much cash it had in the bank, could show any loss due to the virus qualified. that opened door a lot of big firms that could have received help from the federal reserve or pulled from their cash reserves. restaurants also saw a loophole in this because each individual location is under 500 employees, so a chain could get the forgivable loans. shake shack became the poster-child for this. the company is returning the money. morgan stanley research shows that 69% of the first round ppp money went to well-funded publicly-traded companies. those involved in the process say it was an oversight. >> i take some of the blame too because i'm on the economic council. i gave them some suggestions i didn't think, to tell them to eliminate companies that are public, eliminate, asset hurdle above what you could not apply. i will get smarter. the council will get smarter and

hopefully the next tranche which will be necessary, we'll be smarter how we distribute it. reporter: mark cuban saying that the goal was to get money to small businesses as quickly as possible. a source with the small business administration tells me the next round of money go flow to the small businesses this weekend. sba is taking an advanced look at the bill, even though it hasn't passed yet to come up with guidance for banks. once the president signs the bill it takes around day 1/2 for office of management and budget to get money deposited into the small business administration. the sba is hoping to offer guidance on friday for banks. that puts, this, if the president signs it on thursday after if passes the house, puts the it looking this weekend, saturday, sunday, to start money for second round of small businesses. back to you. connell: edward lawrence, live in washington. thank you, edward. melissa? melissa: here now is white house

economic advisor larry kudlow. and larry, i know your time is precious. i want to focus what is in the future what is coming down the pike. let me ask you originally you guys said you felt like we might see recovery in the third quarter. do you still feel confident about that timing? >> well i do. i mean one thing that is so important, all the phases that we're going through, and all the guidelines are data dependent. then you get into best practices for testing and so on but i will say this, the rate of new cases, melissa, which is really a very important indicator, the rate of new cases has dropped down now to 3%, maybe a month ago it was over 40%. and that's a terrific leading indicator. so i saw that because if the data show it and if the states abide by the guidelines which are a road map for reopening we should see quite a lot of reopening in the next few weeks,

maybe before may 1st. certainly may will be a transition month. then it will not happen overnight but if you're talking third quarter, july, august, september, i think we will see positive economic growth. let me just say this, i'm an optimist, you know that. i am hopeful we can get there. it may be more of a prayer but i'm still very hopeful because i think, all this mitigation work that's been done, testing and therapies is having a very positive impact. it looks like we should really be positive about this and hopeful. it looks like the case rate has really dropped sharply and probably more to come. melissa: okay. i know you're a mustard seeds kind of guy. >> yes. melissa: i smile that you say you're hopeful. you're a positive person i know, god blows you. let me ask you -- blood bless you. the idea if there are no

customers around everyone stops paying everyone, if there are not customers, the business doesn't pay rent, the landlord doesn't pay mortgage to the bank, it gained of all goes back to the banks. the recourse the big banks have. big banks end up owning every house, airplane, business, hotel. that doesn't work. then there are no customers. have there been any conversations when they talk about treasury secretary steve mnuchin and talking to yourself, jamie dimon and others have there been any conversations about where this is headed? if everybody stops paying at once, are there going to be a wave of foreclosures? is there some sort of forbearance? how do you see that playing out? >> you nailed it there, that clause before that last sentence, forbearance. think of that forbearance. forbearance is a much better word than foreclosure. really with respect to banks and other lenders, almost doesn't

matter what industry, the key is forbearance. forbearance and deferring. okay, we're deferring payroll, with the payroll tax holiday. we have deferred income taxes for several months, right? instead of april 15th, july 15th. we put out notices in the housing area, mortgage area, more recently in the mortgage servicing area, forbearance and for people in trouble. let's remember we're in the rescue part of this economic policy. very, very important. a lot of hardships out there. a very brutal economic contraction from the virus. it is not economic driven, it is virus driven but roughly 175 million people will be getting loans, direct loans, payroll loans, unemployment loans. as i say, deferred student loans and income taxes. 175 million people. so, there is on going act tip of the. we're just trying to stay afloat and bridge into the next phase of this thing when we get the reopening.

by the way, we will hopefully be shifting to more pro-growth policies at that point. melissa: yeah. but is there a conversation or would there be one at one point where you see like the treasury, or federal reserve backstopping big banks or giving them sort of credit, something along the way because they're the ones kind of left holding the bag? you know, they're not going, maybe they will not earn interest on these paints or something, you know, it all goes back to them? any coverings like this or any banks asking questions of treasury or you guys? >> not that i know of. we have lots of conversations. the big banks, by the way, have been very cooperative. so have the middle banks and the community banks. by the way, i just want to put a plug in, in this latest rescue package, the portion for ppp, there is a big set aside for small lenders an community banks. very important area. now, this is really, you know,

melissa, this is not about insolvency. this is just a different kind of correction because of the virus. liquidity issues and cash issues, yes absolutely and we're trying to literally float the economy until the point where the virus lets up and we can reopen and begin the process of economic growth but i don't think solvency is the issue and again coming back, it has become one of my favorite words, forbearance. there is nothing wrong with it, in an emergency, in an emergency. that is what governments are there for. we give guidance. doesn't mean everybody will follow our guidance but most have. i think private companies, not just banks, but all kind of private companies have had this kind of lenient attitude. they understand what's going on and so. of this, and this is i think a testimony to president trump, his handling in this emergency, this is a government part, absolutely, but we have relied very heavily on the private

sector, on free enterprise to help us get it done and the free enterprise folks, the actual businesses and private banks, they're doing as good of a job as they can. so we will get through this. melissa: larry, let me ask you before we run out of time very quick. you mentioned the pro-growth policies. you're the king of the v-shaped recovery. what can we look forward to that would fa till sate that? >> well i know the president talked a lot about a infrastructure bill. he talked about a payroll tax holiday. he talked about restoring full deductions for businesses, meals, entertainment, sports events, things like that. we're looking at a wave of deregulation. we're probably going to have some pro-growth tax reforms to make sure it pays to work and invest. don't forget, seems like a long time ago, only a few months ago this economy was roaring. first three months of the year,

better than 3% growth. we got through through deregulation and lower tax rates and energy independence and good trade deals. if we got there once through those good policies, let's extend those very same policies. let's make sure incentives are not only continuing but we can enhance them and improve upon economic growth incentives. that is some of the things. i would like to see some liability protection, liability insurance protection. i don't want small businesses who play by the rules, right, states and cities will tell them what they must do to deal with the threat of the virus but i don't want a million lawsuits to put them out of business because they will never even go into business. those are the kinds of things we're looking at. melissa: yep. god bless you. larry kudlow. thank you so much. good luck to you. i know you guys are working hard. we appreciate it. >> thanks, melissa, appreciate it. connell: covered a lot of ground. in a moment we will continue our coverage and we look at numbers on a day-to-day basis.

2.6 million caress worldwide confirmed of the coronavirus, 835,000 or thereabouts here in the u.s. speaking of numbers, more than 70 covid knit having scenes -- vaccines. we'll talk about some of their plans going forward. leaders are grappling how they reopen the economies. a few states are getting out ahead. we'll talk to the senator lamar alexander from the state of tennessee. the senator has a specific plan for what we need before we get 100% back to normal. we'll be right back. ♪. this is an athlete, twenty reps deep, sprinting past every leak

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♪. connell: more on the idea of getting back to work. tennessee will be states reopening economy next week. for the entire nation to get back on track, we need tens of millions of tests. that is according to the senator from tennessee republican lamar lamar alexander. he joins us on the telephone. i read your op-ed, you said we need a model, funny we had a sound bite from mark cuban a few minutes ago, a model like tv

show "shark tank" in order to ramp up testing. how do you envision that working? >> they are already working at the nationalness statutes of health. they have two dozen early stage concepts for different way of determining whether you have covid-19. and so what we'll do, the most important billion dollars in that 400 something billion we approved yesterday in the senate was a billion for that "shark tank," to say let's accelerate all those ideas and let's see if we can begin to produce millions of tests a day by august, when we have 50 million kids going back to public school and 20 million going back to colleges, everybody trying to go back to work. then you can test the whole class if you have to or a factory if you need to or, you can test an entire nursing home or nub in your family, and it will relief the panic and encourage people to get out of their homes and feel safe. connell: you're talking about a timeline that says let's get this done by august.

i understand the back to school part of that. the governor of your state in tennessee, letting the stay-at-home order lapse at the end of the month. as i said at the top the state is getting back at it, at least to some extent getting back to work. is that getting little ahead of themselves in the state of tennessee given what you said about testing. >> we hope not. the governor says we have enough tests in tennessee to take care of anyone who has symptoms. we're one of the highest testing states per capita in the country. he opened up a number of drive-by testing places which were very popular last weekend. for phase one, we have enough tests for people who are sick. for phase two, going back to school, i don't think we do and we're going to need a new technology to do it. i mean it is a pretty simple concept. either you identify and quarantine the 5% or so of us

who are sick, or you quarantine the 95% of us who aren't in order to contain the disease and to quarantine the 5% who are sick and the people they might have exposed, you have got to have a lot of tests. connell: what happens though, if there is a, you think they have enough tests to get started in tennessee if, there could be asymptomatic people going around in nashville or knoxville or somewhere where it is fairly dense in the state and the cases spike up again, then what here in the next you know, few weeks? >> if that happens again you have to, you have to slow things down. i think the hope is, and it is a little bit after balance between the pain caused by just shutting down the economy and all the agony caused by that and risk you take, so the hope is with certain industries that if you wear your mask, if you stay six feet apart, if you wash your hands and particularly if we

have tests to identify anyone who might be sick or random tests, for example, in one part of tennessee a nursing home operator tested all 2500 of her residents. she found one staff member and a handful of residents who had covid-19. none of them had symptoms. so we'll have to do some of that in order to be able to go back to work. i think, i think we can, i think we'll have a test. for example, one of these tests that is in the "shark tank" would allow to you go down to the pharmacy, buy it, either do it there or take it home, put a little swab of saliva or in your nose and take a photograph of that with your cell phone. if it lit up you're positive, if it doesn't, you're negative. it sends information to the health officials so they well follow you. that's a screening test and we should have millions of those a day available. connell: yeah. you're right about parents and

everybody else would probably feel a lot better by the fall if we had those going back to, going back to school. senator, thank you for your time. we'll follow up on these ideas. senator alexander from tennessee. melissa? melissa: now to one state leading the charge. businesses across texas are preparing to reopen within days as some officials are warning that the rollout is premature. plus flipping the campaign playbook. how the nationwide shutdown is forcing candidates to rethink the 2020 money race.

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presumptive democratic nominee, joe biden is still trailing president trump and the rnc. here now is noelle nikpour i hope joining us because i've just lost about everything in the studio. do we have know well nikpour? >> hey, melissa. melissa: great, i'm hoping she is standing by. forgive me, everything i have just went blank. so i'm trusting that you're there. >> yes. melissa: let me ask you, so the fund-raising rules have really changed right now. i would imagine, as all the money around the world has disappeared, that if you don't have the money in your bank account, and i'm saying in terms of the parties, that it might be hard to collect it even if people have promised you money just because of the financial situation. on the republican side, how much have you actually collected and banked versus what has been promised, do you know? >> yeah. you know that is a very interesting question because as you know a lot of pacs, a lot

of people deal on pledges. they will pledge a certain amount, whether it is in increments or in full. melissa: right. >> who knows because let's just look at oil trading in the negative. some of the biggest donors to the industry are in that space. they're in the oil and gas and energy space. so they got hurt a lot. melissa: great point. >> another thing look at is, another thing to look at is, what is going to happen in this environment as far as spending the money. so even though a lot of people, let's say they don't fulfill their pledges, they have to delay them a bit or whatever, what about spending the money? you know, these entities, these super-pacs, these pacs, these campaigns, they spend on advertising. there is not a lot of advertising politically going on right now. so they're also not spending a lot. they're not raising as much as they thought they would, and they are not spending a lot. melissa: yeah. in terms of democrats versus

republicans, obviously president trump has been a money-raising machine. joe biden had a good month in march, kind of expected as democrats consolidated behind him. a democrat recently was trying to make the point to me, democrats in the house and senate have wildly outraised republicans. i don't know if it is wildly as i look and check the numbers. on the senate side, it looks like it is 281 million for the dems, versus 275 million for the republicans. if you look on the house side, it is a little, i guess disparity is a little more, although pretty close, 480 million, versus 421 million. do the democrats, are they having easier time raising for their campaigns in the house and senate and do you think that continues? >> i think they had a bump. i think whether that continues going to be anyone's guess, just like us trying to guess what is going to happen in the future of the economy, and when we'll be actually full swing open. that is the big thing.

the other thing to look at, you and i touched on the big donors, and what is going on with these major pledges, what not. what about that small donor? i feel like the small donor is dwindling. think about how obama did that huge fund-raising deal with the small donors. that middle class, that guy may, if he hasn't lost his job, he certainly will not be spending, 20, $30 a month on his credit card as a revolving donation to a candidate right now. so they're really hurting in that space too with the small donor. i see that really dwindling. so it is going to put more and more pressure for these big guys, and i looked up on open secrets this afternoon. the top 10 individual donors, out of 10, number one was tom steyer at $34 million to superokay. the only two gopers i saw on that is stephen schwartz man, he

was at 14 million. and tim mellon at 12 million. at very end of the list was george soros at seven million. this will put a lot of pressure on these big major donors to pick up the slack. where will jeff bezos go? he and amazon, they are doing very well. where is that money going well and is michael bloomberg still going to put in money he promised? melissa: i don't know. it would depend from person-to-person how much of their wealth evaporated. even if it is only temporary, everyone is making decisions where, how i will allocate my resources and where do i have to leave money in the market or inmy investment hoping that it comes back, rather than pulling it out and spending on a campaign. i think there will be a lot less money than people think. noelle, thanks very much. >> sure. connell: we have another disruption to the food supply chain.

tyson foods made announcement it will indefinitely suspend operations at its largest pork processing plant in the united states. it is trying to cut down on the spread of the virus. a lot of people sick there and the company says workers at this plant in iowa will still be compensated during the closure, forever how long it lasts. they will introduce mass testing at the plant. they will begin that later in the week. that will determine how long they will be closed for. that is a big deal from tyson foods. a plan meantime to stem the outbreak. andrew cuomo, governor of new york, revealing a big step he calls a way to reopen new york's economy. we're at mount sinai hospital. coronavirus briefing should be beginning in a few moments. we'll bring you to the white house live. remember this? >> i was laid off on march 15th. for the next two days i was constantly trying to apply

online. so the website kept on crashing t made me feel really helpless because with no income coming in, it is hard for me to plan. connell: but now, after six long weeks, we have an update on this brooklyn resident finally receiving her unemployment benefits from the new york department of labor. so there you go. monica, who was on with us, laid off restaurant worker, almost doesn't feel real to her after waiting this long for the relief. yet she plans to use it, for rent and for groceries. we'll be right back. ♪. so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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♪ connell: "fox business alert." just in from oklahoma. that state announcing it will begin a reopening nail salons and barbershops on friday, friday of this week, with restaurants, movie theaters, sporting venues and gyms reopening on 1st of may. they will reopen with some restrictions. from what we understand and bars will remain closed. that is from oklahoma. melissa. melissa: calling it a necessary step before reopening, governor andrew cuomo announcing a tri-state program to test and trace covid-19 contacts. fox news's david lee miller is outside of mount sinai hospital in manhattan with the latest. david lee.

reporter: melissa, the governor today unveiled the plans, the efforts that will be underway to restore the state's economy and get back to business. the governor said the process is going to require testing, tracing the whereabouts of anyone inspected and then isolation. he said former new york mayor michael bloomberg volunteered to help set up the tracing program. it will be coordinated with neighboring new jersey and connecticut and will require thousands of so-called disease investigators. >> we have never done anywhere near this scale. so it is an intimidating exercise. but i say so what? who cares that you have never done it? that's really irrelevant. it is what we have to do now. so figure out how to do it. what we have to put together a tracing army. reporter: some new yorkers meanwhile are growing impatient with the statewide shut down that remains ineffect until may 15th. como in his daily briefing, he

understands the economic hardship, the alternative, loss of human life was more costly. more recent statistics the virus claimed 475 lives in new york. the third day in a row the fatality rate is less than 500. more than 15,000 statewide lost their life due to the virus. during his meeting yesterday with president trump the governor agreed to return the u.s. navy hospital ship comfort, at it is home base in virginia to be deployed to other locations. the governor warns the crisis here is not over. he said the recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. melissa. melissa: hopeful signs though. david lee miller, thank you. connell? connell: from new york, melissa we shift now to texas, a state that is already taking steps to reopen its economy, and governor greg abbott on fox business earlier in the day talking about the state's plans. let's take a listen. >> we want to make sure we open

as many businesses as possible, stuart, however we want to make sure we do it in a very safe way that does not stoke an expansion of covid-19. connell: joined now from the state of texas by karl rove, former advisor to president george w. bush, fox news contributor. what do you think of the way governor abbott has been handling things there in texas, karl? >> i think very prudent. i think your viewers need to understand he has a committee of business and community leaders and health care professionals. some of the state's leading people in the business sector and community leaders but he also has on that committee the head of the department of health and human services dr. john hillerstat. he has very respected former state legislator of the vice chance lore of the university of texas system in charge of their health care system. he has dr. parker hudson, a leading epidemiologist who is an

expert in infectious disease. and he has dr. mark michelle mcclellan former fda commissioner under president george w. bush. the committee will head steps to methodically open up the texas economy, show how to do it. the steps have to be approved not only over all committee but the subcommittee of health experts. this is a very smart way of going about doing it. connell: right, a balanced approach. everybody says in situations like this, although we haven't had, thank goodness, many situations like this, when there is turmoil, people say we don't want to consider politics at all but i have to think they're considered to some degree and as they are, is there a sense that leaders like governor abbott are considering more the risk of keeping the economy closed, the political risk of doing that, versus the risk of opening up too soon and then having, you know, some problems crop up if there is resurgence in cases?

how are they balancing that politically? >> absolutely he is concerned about that. that is why he has the health care experts helping frame the decisions and improve these decisions. one of the members of the task force, the strike force, they call it a couple days ago, one of major hospitals in dallas focused on covid-19, obviously like a lot of other hospitals were not involved in elective surgeries, they were down to three patients in covid-19, out of hundreds and hundreds of beds in the hospital. yes, we ought to be at a place figure out how to deal with it, carefully monitor, test. we have a big challenge on testing. that is parker hudson, dr. hudson's expertise is on testing and we clearly got a lot of work to do there. the governor is looking at, what is the balanced approach? how are we prudently reopening the economy? light like a lot of states you can call a restaurant to order a

meal to pick up. on friday, committee said retail stores can do puck up. you can call into the hardware store. i need following items i will be by to pick them up. or i need this from a retail outlet. i need office supplies. they will be able to put together that order for you, charge your credit card, have them waiting for to you pick up, just like you do with a dinner meal. so you know, they're doing it thought fully, prudently. we're all in new territory. so nobody will get it perfect, no state will get it exactly perfect but i think the governor is moving exactly, the right, proven way. connell: so many of those business owners are hutting so much economically. if you can find the balance, help them out a little bit. karl, thank you very much much. always good to talk to you. melissa. >> all right. the coronavirus task force is getting ready to meet a short time from now. we'll bring that to you live just as soon as it happens. we'll be right back.

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♪. melissa: searching for answers as reports claim that kim jong-un's health is in grave danger. here now to discuss is chris harmer, retired navy commander. thank you so much for joining us.

i mean we've heard so many things on this front, i don't know what to believe. what do you think is going on? >> hey, melissa, a pleasure being with you. first thing, kim jong-un is obviously in deeply, deeply bad health. he is extremely obese. you never see him engaged in physical activities. he poses for pictures on boats, planes, horses. he doesn't move around. he is obese. reports are he is diabetic, alcoholic, drug addict. i think there is a chance he is looking on death's doorstep. maybe not today, maybe not next week but long term this guy won't be with us. the big question comes how is north korea set up to manage succession or change in leadership. that is a question nobody has a firm answer on. anytime you deal with dictatorial or totalitarian regime, every especially one

with nuclear weapons. it has to be monitored closely. melissa: does it feel like his sister, we've seen her in photos, the president said at his press conference yesterday, yes he has asked kim jong-un about a succession plan but he said it is not appropriate for me to share that here and now with the public, what are your thoughts on that? >> it seems to be he is positioning his sister to be his successor. that may be an indication he knows he is not in good health. it may be an indication he is trying to buttress support within the regime. even though he is a dictator, he still have has to have people he appeals to and people he assuages. i think most plausible scenario at this point he is positioning his sister to be successor. i caution anybody who thinks that is ipso facto a good thing. everybody thought when kim jong-un took over because he had some exposure to the west that he might be open to modernizing or reforming the north korean society and that just has not been the case and there is no indication his sister would do anything differently than he has done.

melissa: there is also not an indication that the kingdom would collapse. others pointed out whether it was the soviet union collapsing or whether it was his father's death, they carried on through a lot of things, right? your thoughts on that. >> that is great point, melissa. i've been monitoring north korea basically my entire adult life. i joined the military 1984. this has always been a live topic for us a lost people hoped the north korea would collapse, at least the authoritarian regime. a lot of people hoped that north korea would modernize and join the community of civilized nations. typically, counterintuitively the kim dynasty built this totalitarian police and prison state survived all attempts at reform. i think the at this point the most reasonable outcome or reasonable expectation that the kim dynasty will be continue and

kim jong-un is positioning his sister to take over. it is wishful thinking that she will engage in any meaningful reform that he is has not. melissa: chris harmer. thank you so much. connell. >> thank you. connell: in a moment we have a live briefing from the white house. we will tyke you there as soon as coronavirus task force gets set up. that is straight ahead. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ..

♪ ♪ and you say ♪ as long as i'm here ♪ no one can hurt you ♪ don't wanna lie here ♪ but you can learn to ♪ ♪

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it's not so bad for the refiner. it's the drillers, the ones who have given us our energy independence. the problem for the drillers is they are tremendously highly leveraged. $86 billion coming due between w and 2024. the pipeline companies even wore off. $123 billion worth of debt. with prices like this there is o way to pay it back. steven mnuchin says he thinks ol will get to $30 a barrel by aug. but can some of these companies hang on until august. nabors was a $20 stock. it's now 21 cents.

it's very tough in the oil patc. connell: a quick note. the president tweeting the white house task force briefing 5:45. we'll see you tomorrow. [♪] lou: good evening. we are turning right now to breaking news. secretary of state spike in pomo sent a -- mike' pompeo sent a direct warning to return saying there will be repercussions for their launch of a satellite into space and they must be held accountable. >> there is an obligation to goo the united nations and look at whether this missile