you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. that doe. thank you for watching. "lou dobbs tonight" starts -- ♪ ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. we gun with soar -- we begin with soaring and patriotic tributes today to all american workers on the front lines of the fight against the wuhan virus pandemic. [background sounds] lou: 12 high performance jets from the air force thunderbirds navy blue angel demonstration team staging flyovers above new york, new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania. the elite flight teams providing

a show of solidarity and american resolve, honoring all who are keeping this nation if moving forward through the global pandemic on the front lines of the battle in our health care and hospitals and clinics. today's mission the first of several across the country planned for the next few weeks. our thanks to the air force, the navy acrobatic teams and all they honored today, all the great health care workers battling against this pandemic. president trump and his administration preparing for parts of the country to get back to work as soon as it's safe to open for business. president trump today in the white house east room touted some of the success of the small business administration's paycheck protection program. that program, after having its funds replenished by congress, approving nearly half a million new forgivable loans worth $52 billion just since yesterday morning. president trump added the

program has saved 30 million jobs and will help this country's economy quickly, quickly bounce back. >> back, and we're coming back strong. we built the the greatest economy anywhere in the world two months ago, we're going to build it again, we're going to build it fast. it's going to go very quickly. lou: the president also meeting the oval office with florida governor ron desantis. he's expected to announce his state's plans to reopen tomorrow. and during that event, president trump sparring with a reporter from yahoo! news who, incredibly, insisted the united states was lagging behind south korea in testing for the virus. let's just say it didn't work out too well for the reporter. >> mr. president, overall south korea has done five times more tests than the u.s. per capita. why is that? >> i don't think that's true. >> that is true. you said e this morning, the white house said -- [inaudible] >> who are you with? >> yahoo! news.

it's not per capita. >> do you want to respond to that? >> south korea's testing was 11 per 100,000, and we're at 17 per 100,000. >> all right. are you going to apologize, yahoo!? that's why you're yahoo!. go ahead. go ahead. the point, nobody knows who you are, including me. go ahead. >> check it again. >> you ought to get your facts right. >> well, we have -- >> well, your facts are wrong. lou: incredible. it's just incredible what this president and the white house put up with day in and day out from the so-called press corps. it's an embarrassment not only to them, but to anyone who ever held a job. i can't imagine what they think of this, this mess in the briefing room or wherever they happen to be with the president of the united states. in this case it was yahoo! reporter hunter walker who did, by the way, apparently come to

his senses and later apologized, but on twitter. he said we passed south korea in the number of tests conducted per capita. i misread the mobile version of this chart, and i'm sorry about that,@real donald trump. our infection rate is far higher though, as i noted. this silly little addendum mars what could have been an appropriate and rare apology by the press. i have no idea what these people are thinking or where they learned their manners. well, while america's testing has far surpassed that of other nations, the white house yesterday unveiled new guidelines to increase that capacity and, at a minimum, test 2% of every state's population. these new guidelines will prove if vital in how states move ahead with allowing companies to return to business. how exactly will that plan be executed? jackie deangelis is in new york with a look at a few of the quickest tests now on the

market. >> reporter: good evening to you, lou. you know, testing is going to be key when you get people back to work here. if they can walk in, get a test if they're not feeling well and then be told go home and isolate or you need more intensive care, it will solve a lot of problems in terms of the spread of the virus. let's talk numbers for a second. in terms of what it's going to take to get back to business, a new state by state analysis by harvard researchers and staff shows right now 31 states and washington, d.c. doesn't test enough last week to isolate quickly enough those infected with the virus. there's 10 states that would need the increase daily testing by at least 10,000 to reopen on may 1st. that's on friday. in new york it's going to take 100,000 more tests per day, in new jersey 68,000 more per day, but 19 states do have enough testing capacity to get back to business. now, the key here is time and turn around of these tests. the three quickest tests currently approved by the fda, they're done by swabbing the

nasal cavity. the first one comes from abbott labs, and it's actually they have shipped more than a million tests to 50 states. now, abbott say it's manufacturing 50,000 tests a day, it plans to increase production to 2 million a month by june and go even farther in terms of numbers beyond that. it's called the id now test, and it can offer results in less than 15 minutes. then there's mesa biotech in san diego. those results come back in 30 minutes. but remember, this rapid response is so important because the physician can basically dictate treatment on the spot to the patient. finally, there's a test with results in less than an hour. one issue, lou, being flagged is false negatives. people don't want to have this false sense of confidence because sometimes the testing can be wrong. but even if you get a negative, you can walk out today and get the test tomorrow. so social distancing, washing your hands, all these practices are going to be really important. but i can tell you this here in new york city, i walked into

several urgent cares, and they actually will let you walk in and take a covid-19 test. that wasn't possible in new york city just a few weeks ago, so this is a major step in moving forward. back to you. lou: jackie, thank you very much. progress is critical these days of. jackie deangelis reporting, thanks so much. well, as the fight against the coronavirus pandemic marches on, there have been major new developments involving the deep state's efforts to overthrow president trump. there are new reports that christopher steele, the former mi-6 operative who admitted in a court hearing that parts of that dirty dossier he created, that fraudulent document, were based on a tip from an attorney at perkins coy who represents the dnc, did represent the hillary clinton campaign and many top-line democrats. steele used that tip from michael sussman to claim there was a secret communication

between the 2016 trump campaign and a russian bank that had ties to russian president putin. there's also rising speculation that recently unearthed evidence will prove that lieutenant general michael flynn was set up, even framed by the corrupt fbi agents who withheld exculpatory material. and joining us tonight is general flynn's attorney, sidney powell. she's also a former federal prosecutor, author of the new book "conviction machine: standing up to federal prosecutorial abuse," available everywhere, we recommend it highly. sidney, great to have you with us. straightforwardly, did the government and, most specifically, the fbi officials and justice department officials under the obama administration, did they frame general flynn? >> yes, sir, they did. there's no doubt about it. august 15, strzok and page

texted each other about the insurance policy they discussed in mccabe's office. the very next day they opened the, quote, investigation, end quote, on general flynn. and the day after that as we just learned from the i.g. report in december, they sent an agent into what was supposed to be a trusted presidential briefing solely because again flynn was going to be there, and they wanted to collect information on him, gauge his mannerisms in the event they needed to interview him later, i.e., if trump was elected to the presidency and flynn wound up in the white house. lou: it's stunning what we're learning three, more than three years now distant from these events, these criminal acts and the subsequent cover-ups that persist to this very day. because you are just now receiving evidence and documents that some had told you didn't exist and that apparently no one else believed existed either.

your thoughts. >> no one but me, apparently. [laughter] i've known the whole time they were hiding any number of things, and they had even produced summaries of documents they admitted were exculpatory to general flynn but only gave us three or four-line summaries. and inexplicably, judge sullivan would not order them to produce the whole document. you can't rely on a summary of a document by the government, it doesn't meet the qualifications, because a summary isn't evidence. they should have given us all those documents, and there are more notes and e-mails in our sealed filing last friday. the government has advised now they're working with the fbi to make some redactions to protect the names of the guilty. not their words, but mine. they should be ready to give us by tomorrow at the latest. lou: this is, this is simply if awful. because it raises into question question, obviously, we know

what the justice department and fbi leaderships were under president obama and those holdovers that president trump had the misfortune to inherit, but we are talking now about a justice department led by will qualm with barr -- william barr, and there isn't a person i've talked with who for a moment thinks barr should not have thrown this entire matter out and brought some sense of decency to a justice department that has lacked it for a very long time. >> well, he appointed mr. jensen from missouri to review the case file, i believe in january, and it's that nobody knew about it. and this is the result of him providing adult supervision to what our former members of the mueller hit squad, i.e. mr. van grack in particular, to produce the actual evidence of what they

did. lou: what's the next step? how in the world -- what in the world is this judge doing? the judge himself has the power to end all of this nonsense. he's chosen not to, so i don't know what to make of judge suggesting van. what is the -- sullivan. what is the next episode in federal court with him on the bench, at the bench? >> well, the latest development today is that covington, flynn's former law firm, produced to us an additional 17,500 pages from the flynn file that were not produced back last august when they certified that the entire file had been produced. so judge sullivan just issued a blistering minute order demanding that covington go back and do another search of all of its flynn files to make sure it has given us everything and do another certification by monday, may 4th. so that is in the works now. and he's ordered the government to respond to our motion to unseal by monday, but they're in the process of doing that hopefully by tomorrow, and then they have to respond to our

motion to dismiss by may 11th. lou: surely this judge is, he's a federal judge. he's been on the bench for some time. surely he understands that general michael flynn, a patriot, a man who serve offed his nation -- served his nation with distinction, is the victim here, and the perpetrators are are apparently the representative, his representation team that preceded you, the fbi and the justice department. why doesn't he just bring the hammer down op this mess -- on this mess and set general flynn free of this nonsense? this is an outrage, and it just goes on and on. it's as if whoever's not corrupt in the judicial system apparently is just stupid.

>> it is beyond an outrage, lou. it is a travesty of justice, it's a blight on the face of our entire country. but i do believe the department of justice under bill barr is going to produce the evidence that we're entitled to, and then the only result, the only possible result is for the entire matter to be dismissed. lou: you know, i sympathize and i applaud both your commiseration, your understanding. but, frankly, i have to tell you i have none of it. i'm so sick and tired of a judicial system, a justice department, an fbi that thinks nothing of taking year after year of a man's life and without cause, without so much as, apparently, any remorse or contrition. the hell with 'em, is sydney, that's all i've got to say, the hell with them. this is just not the way american justice is supposed to work. >> you're right. it's been far too --, it's been

far too long a fight and far too difficult to get to the truth, but we will get to the truth, and it will set him free. lou: well, a lot of people bear great guilt for not having already achieved that result. sydney powell, thank you for what you've been doing for general flynn and for justice. thank you. good to see you. >> thank you. lou: up next, one of the world's -- thank you, sydney. one of the world's topics perts on infectious diseases joins us, dr. ian lipkin. he's producting the most effective test to get people back to work. we'll be talking with him in this hour. also ahead, the head of the wuhan laboratory under fire for the virus, denying that that laboratory is in any way to blame, of course. dr. michael pillsbury joins us next.

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lou: the directer of the wuhan institute of virology once again has denied the virus had any the link to his laboratory despite numerous claims linking the virus to wuhan lab. the director says the origin of the virus remain a mystery. if isn't that interesting?

however, we should note that in 2018 the state department warned of safety issues at the wuhan lab including the potential for human transmission of a new sars-like pandemic, and that is exactly what we got. the united states now conducting an investigation of the origin of that virus. the chinese military accusing an american guided missile destroyer of intruding in chinese waterses saying the ship violated chinese sovereignty. members of the pla say the uss mary intriewlded in waters near islands in vietnam causing them to scramble air and sea patrols to, quote, monitor, identify and expel the ship. the u.s. navy if reportedly says the mary was -- well, we do know there's no reportedly, we know they did. the ship was on a mission for free navigation near the island chain, saying the operation proceed as planned without any

conflict. a lot of tension in the south and east china seas. well, joining us tonight to take all of this up, dr. michael pillsbury, director of the center for chinese strategy at the hudson institute, author of "the 100-year marathon." the origin of this, this virus is certainly a mystery as the wuhan laboratory officials have acknowledged. the president has ordered an investigation. how does one investigate if one can't get access to that laboratory? >> well, it's impossible. that's why secretary of state pompeo has been demanding for some time now that we need a sample of the virus, we need access to the laboratory for interviews. with we've got diplomats a few miles away in our consulate in wuhan. so far the chinese are saying no, but they, lou, they have begun to tell their side of the story. this laboratory's key

investigator, fondly known in her profile as bat woman. she's been making statements of great interest to me. she says the virus was wrought to her -- was brought to her december 30th. she checked the -- lou: let me, let me -- >> [inaudible] lou: there she is, the bat lady, as she is known. >> the yes. lou: i'm sorry. go ahead, michael. >> well, she's going to explain her side of, the laboratory side of it. but she's digging herself deeper and deeper -- lou: what is that side? i mean -- [laughter] >> she says -- lou: how? >> she's tweeting and giving interviews. she's got a friend in new york who's speaking for her. her story basically is, yes, i have held the virus hundreds of times in my laboratory which was set up in 2017.

it's bio-safety level iv. this is a good thing because i'm looking at a vaccine for sars. december 30th, she says -- lou: forgive me, michael -- >> -- they bring her the virus. lou: or forgive me, is there a specific point that she's made that somehow connects, gives us some sort of greater glimpse of the origin of this virus? what would that be? >> she admitted the virus was brought to her, she had it. that's what's new. lou: who brought it to her? >> well, she doesn't say. public health officials in wuhan city bring this virus to her lab and say, basically, you know what this is, do you have this here in your lab. now, she might have answered yes, but in fact she claims -- lou: this sounds like a massive, this sounds like a massive rabbit hole that we have entered here. it doesn't seem to answer much. it only raises more questions. let me is ask you this, is there

in your judgment any possibility that it was engineered? >> that's what part of the investigation the president has started. i think that's one of the crucial questions. does china have the capability to bioengineer a virus are. the answer's clearly, yes. are those who have examined -- [inaudible] they say this is not bioengineered, but that leaves a lot of area of unknown and mystery about the exact nature of the virus. that's why secretary pompeo keeps asking for a sample of it. not the virus in america, but the one in wuhan that the doctor says she had. now, what she did with the virus after it was given to her is another question. because patient zero, patient one may come out of her has been. so this is the beginning of the problem of reparations, chinese responsibility, are they telling the truth, how much of a

cover-up was there, when did this start. these are all topics for the president's investigation. lou: you know, i'm not one of those people who's a great fan of investigations. i mean, the american people have watched investigations by our department of justice, by the fbi, we've watched the cia and the intelligence community carry out some of the most maligned actions against a sitting president and his administration. i just don't know who the hell's going to conduct such an investigation from our side that the american people will trust. i sure as hell don't trust the justice department. i don't trust the fbi. i don't trust the cia. who's going to the carry out this investigation? and -- [inaudible] the fact that the chinese let a deadly virus loose on the world -- we can argue about whether it was engineered, we can argue about any thurm of

things -- any number of things, but i don't choose no to. i'm looking at the facts. president xi had the opportunity to tell the world that there was a deadly virus that he had unleashed on us. the he chose not to. that is an overt act, that is an overt act of evil. >> the evil cover-up seem to be confirmed. nobody's denying that there's been a cover-up that caused enormous loss of life around the world. the more legally-based question is before the cover-up, exactly when did the chinese know and how did they know it that they had a lethal pandemic on their hands -- lou: and why are we -- >> we don't know that -- lou: why are we ignoring? yeah. i don't care about the doctor anymore. i don't really care what she says. my guess is she's lying, and we don't have any proof of what she

says. so the next time let's take up the role of biochemical warfare on the part of the chinese, see where that the leads us. dr. michael pillsbury, always instructive. thank you very much. up next, we expose pose the deceit and lies on two attacks by the national left-wing media against the president. congressman doug collins joins us here next. i am robert strickler. i've been involved in communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

people at higher risk, must take extra precautions. you are at higher risk if you are over 65, or if you have any serious underlying medical conditions, like heart disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, or if your immune system is compromised for any reason. if you're at higher risk, wash your hands frequently with soap and water for twenty seconds. avoid touching your face. disinfect frequently touched objects. and wash up after being in public spaces. and when it comes to social situations...less is better. stay six feet or two arm lengths away from other people. better still, stay home if you can. if you're sick, please stay home and away from others. and if you think you've been exposed to the virus, call your health care provider before going to their office.

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♪ ♪ lou: the american red cross says its first donor of plasma from a recovered virus patient, coronavirus patient helped save two lives. marisa from pennsylvania donated last month, less z than two weeks after she had recovered from the wuhan virus. the plasma went to two new jersey patients on ventilators. her aunt and a 61-year-old man. their vitals stabilized within a few days, they were both released from the hospital last

week. the plasma therapy is working. and one of plasma therapy's great advocates is dr. ian lipkin. he is the director of the center for infection and immunity at columbia university. his research on using plasma drawn from recovered patients just approved for clinical trials by the fda, and it's worth noting he also is a recovered wuhan virus patient. i guess you're no longer a patient. i guess you're a veteran of this pan dem cantic, is what it makes you in so many ways. good to have you with us, doctor. >> likewise. lou: plasma works and it's having quite an impact. >> we think it's working -- lou: your thoughts. >> we haven't seen adverse effects. our clinical trial is just getting going. we've got less than 20 patients thus far. so far no problems either. we haven't broken the code.

once we get our numbers, we will. i anticipate it's going to be successful, but we'll see what the data show. lou: and these 2600 patients that have been treated with plasma, especially with states easing lockdown reactions, they're saying they've had absolutely no issue whatsoever with it. that's not the same thing as a stamp of medical approval, but it is certainly a positive sign, isn't it? >> it is a positive sign, it's very encouraging. i predict it's going to be successful, but that's not the same thing as proving it. so that's what we're doing at columbia, and that's how we're focused. and i think we'll is have the answers in a few weeks. so again, this was first described on your show s and you promoted it, and i'm sure you should be pleased. lou: i'm thrilled. anytime -- [inaudible conversations] excuse me, doctor, i just wanted to finish, if i may. i do want to take up a couple of

things here. and one of them is this, we're hearing all sorts of stories about folks who are working on this, billionaires, very bright scientists, nobel prize winners among them trying to come up with ideas and consulting with, if you will, counseling the administration. i just wanted to ask you if you're familiar with their work and your reaction to it. >> i am familiar with their work, very, very good people, complimentary disciplines. many of the same things that we're thinking about. there are many groups that are working on this independently. new york has a team that's trying to get the city back. the state, same sort of issue. and i'm working with a team now that's trying to make sure that something like this never happens again. so there's a lot of -- lou: i want to -- brain power is what's required, and we're glad

that you're in the fight, doctor. also, testing. we know it's going to be critical going forward. a number of tests have been started, they're on the market. you're working on a nucleic acid test. how does that work? >> so there are two major types of tests. one of them looks at -- we can't really measure virus, per se. it requires biocontainment, it's complicated, time consuming. so people use nucleic acid tests, question nettic material from the virus -- genetic material from the virus as a surrogate. then there are the antibody tests which have been quite triggered in their performance. so we're trying to improve those and trying to find tways in which -- ways in which we can find the virus at point of care so you can get information to people immediately. this is what we need to get america moving. lou: doctor? >> yeah.

lou: i want to ask you, if you will, to stay with us through the commercial break. we've got what's called a hard break here. we've got to take it. i'd like to get a little more from you on that nucleic test and how it works. we'll be right back with the doctor. stay with us. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ lou: we're back with dr. ian lipkin if from columbia university, working on nucleic

acid tests for the wuhan virus, covid-19 if you prefer. so where are you in developing this test, and how soon do you think reasonably you might have it ready for all of us? >> well, what we're trying to do, lou, is to find a way in which we can detect the virus itself. not just the nucleic acid, not the antibodies, but the actual virus itself. the idea would be that you would not have to do any of the complicated procedures that people have the use now, and you do the whole thing with a cell phone chip. that's what we're working on, very excited about it. because i think it's going to work. and the other thing that's intriguing is that we have all these people who are out of work right now. we could actually put them to work helping them do the track, tracing, everything we need to do to get america back to work again. so by adding the testing -- lou: that's an interesting idea.

>> yeah, we could get things moving again. so just as we have maga, we're going to have make america open again. that's sort of my next project. [laughter] lou: a noble project, indeed. we look forward to your success in developing the test. thank you so much, as always, dr. ian lipkin. we appreciate it. >> always a pleasure. bye-bye. lou: thank you. take care. breaking tonight, the trump campaign firing tonight at rino republicans -- if that's not a contradiction -- running the national republican senatorial committee. they're creating makes for more than a few people. the nrsc recently put out a memo urging republican candidates not to support the president's ponce to the wuhan virus -- response to the wuhan virus pandemic. that memo said, quote: don't defend trump other than the china travel ban attack china. the trump campaign warning if any republican candidate follows

the memo, they risk being reelected. i assume that he meant the part about don't run with trump. our next guest has been a target of the nrsc, being called a political kamikaze in his senatorial campaign against the establishment rino, senator kelly liveler, incumbent senator in georgia. senator doug collins, republican candidate for that senate seat. congressman, great to have you with us, and your reaction to the senate republican committee saying don't run -- i mean, this sounds like, to me, 2018 all over again when the republicans in the house got handed their heads. your thoughts. >>, my thoughts are not surprising, this is, you know, look, if they want to keep the senate, we want to continue, we work with a president who has actually worked for the country. this is not about putting out memos, it's about running your

own campaign. what we have seen is when you run on good ideas, you win. and this president has good ideas. this president has been leading, he's been out front, and as everybody knows, lou, as you well know, i've been on the forefront of defending him on the sham impeachments, and i'm going the continue to run with this president because he has put out leadership, and people recognize that leadership. nrsc, i mean, look, they need to do what they need to do, but what works right now is this president. lou: and your thoughts about attack china as a, a stratagem for senate republicans. >> look, lou, china needs to be held accountable. we've talked about how they were disingenuous with the world. they hid the facts that were going on. we need to look at that. i've got some issues that i'm looking at legislation that'll hold some of their officials accountable. we've got other things we need to do, and i think the president

has led the way. remember, lou, it was the president being made fun of when he said we wanted to do trade deals that got our supply chains and routes balanced with china. now this virus has shown this wt actually needed to happen, and unfortunately, a pandemic had to show that our the trade dealses and supply chains need to be secured here. lou: well, it's, i think we've got a long way to go before we're not dependent on china and india, because we have corporate america, you know, one of the things about attack china, why the hell didn't the senate republican campaign committee say attack the chamber of commerce and the business round table and wall street -- [laughter] because they're the ones who incentivize and encourage this mad idea that you talk a -- you that take a great superpower and headache yourself dependent -- and make yourself dependent on china, the largest communist nation in the world. that was sheer genius, sheer genius on their part speaking of

sheer genius, lindsey graham, why the hell isn't he holding hearings on spygate? why isn't he doing something more than the least he possibly could? >> well, i want to see more happen. we've been fighting in the house for over a year and a half on this from the mueller investigation to sham inimpeachment. and what we have found is do more than just look, we know that the fbi and comey and his corrupt cabal of mccabe and strzok and page, look, they were rotten to core. i'm so sick of captain america as he tries to portray himself, comey p as being the star. we're now seeing behind -- sydney powell, the attorney for general flynn, has revealed and pulled down the curtain on the problem that was happening during that time that they were out to get this president, they were out the get him as a candidate, and they failed. now we're seeing they were withholding exculpatory evidence. this is what i don't understand -- [inaudible] on fisa without making major changes to the fisa court.

it's time to hold the court accountable and hold the process accountable. lou: congressman doug collins running for the senate in georgia, thanks for being with us, congressman. good to see you. doug collins. well, the pentagon officially releasing three navy videos that show an unidentified aerial phenomenon, as the navy now calls it. previously released by a private company. here it is, watch this. [laughter] >> whoo hoo! lou this video shows what appears to be unidentified flying objects moving rapidly i caught by infrared cameras and startling navy pilots. if you can consider that startled. they looked to me like they were having a lot of fun and loved the idea. they are also flying f-18 hornets. but anyway, if you're wondering whether this video is real, if there are more videos, well, the fact is it is real and there are

more. up next, states like texas reopening again. dallas mavericks owner and member of the president's economic revival group mark cuban will be with us here right after these quick words. stay with us. ♪ ♪ there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network.

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♪ lou: businesses large and small across the country standing up and working hard, sacrificing and helping out working for health care workers all across the country with its shortage of gowns or face masks. one company in florida making child seat belts for shopping carts as a business is now making masks for health care workers. the head of safe strap company says about 30 of his employees are sewing from home, making about 3,000 masks every week. jim says safe strap has donated about 10,000 masks so far. he's paying his workers, by the way, out of his pocket while he waits for approval for a small business relief law are. so good luck and good on all of you doing so much for the people who are doing so much for the rest of us. joining us now is mark cuban, investor, entrepreneur,

owner of the nba's dallas ma ricks, also a member of the president's economic revival industry group. it's great to have you with us, mark, good to have you. >> thanks for having me, lou. lou: you betcha, great to have you here. your thoughts on getting business moving again, people back to work. your thoughts. >> obviously, we want to get as many businesses open as quickly as possible, and i think we've learned a lot. the fact that the president let restaurants offer delivery, pick-up and touch-free delivery trained us on things that worked, and i think that'd be a great idea to extend that nationally to any business. go for it, there are no reason why -- reasons why you can't be open right now. in terms of retail, i think that's a different issue because we're kind of leaving it up the each business to figure out what's safe and what's not, so i think we need to get protocols

in place first before we open up all retail. lou: and your thoughts about i guess it's federalism, we could describe it that way, but seeing states taking charge of their own programs and their own decisions about when to open. i, frankly, think that's a great idea the president had because the people who know best, you know, the old saying in journalism always go with the one on the ground because they are the ones who know best what to do. your thoughts. >> yeah, i think you're right. i think it applies not just to states, but to cities and communities and counties. everybody's different and in different circumstances, but i do think we need to have some health standards because this is so uncertain, and we know so little about this virus. it seems like every single day something new is popping up, and the scientists are teaching us something new. so i think we have to set some standards and for businesses that can adhere to those standards, if the city or state wants to allow them to open, go

for it. but, you know, i'll give you a simple example. somebody in a clothing store trice on a power of clothes, decides they don't want it and puts it right back on the rack, unless you have is some things in place that guide the retail ther on how to clean it again, can you clean it again, you know, somebody goes into a restaurant and sits at a table with a mask on, sneezes into the mask and leaves it on the table what can's the protocol for dealing with that? there's so many little nuanced things, and i actually think it's unfair to put all this stress on local businesses. i think, you know, whether it's state or federal, we need to help them so they can be confident, because if they're confident, then their customers will be confident, and it's that confidence that we need to get them back buying again. because unless consumers buy, it doesn't matter who's open, they're going to lose more money instead of less. lou: there's an old saying in business, it all starts with the sale. and if no one's selling, there's nothing happening.

mark -- >> amen. sales cure all, right, lou? [laughter] lou: amen. like to ask you to stay through the commercial break and let me ask you a little something about presidential leadership. i want to get your thoughts, if you don't mind. >> not at all. lou: we'll be back, we'll be back with mark cuban in just a moment. stay with us. ♪ ♪

lou: we're back now with mark cuban. i want to ask you first your sense of the president's leadership, what do you think of the way he leading and i want to ask you when the nba will get back, get back to business? >> you know, i don't think i'm going to give you the answer you like, lou. i think the president has ability to be a great leader. had the opportunity, at this time, facing this type of crisis, you can't criticize the media, criticize predecessors, criticize the other party. we need unified vision. you have to ignore those people. you have to give us a vision for the future. you've got to give us a path to get there. you have to give us a process to get there. all the negative stuff i think creates more anxiety. and so he has the ability, he is great at, you know, if, he has a great opportunity. i don't think he did it the right way. that is my opinion. lou: we have got, we've got about 15 seconds, when do you get back to the work in the nba?

>> as soon as it is safe. may 8th. we're allowed to have practice one player at a time. once we learn from that experience i think we'll be back out there. i'm confident we'll play a season this year, maria: and good morning, everyone, happy wednesday to you. i'm maria bartiromo. thanks for joining us. it is when april 29th, your top stories 6:00 a.m. on the east coast right now. u.s. cases of the coronavirus have surpassed the 1 million mark as more states ease lockdown restrictions and try getting back to work. pfizer to begin testing a vaccine next week. meanwhile president trump signing an executive order to keep meat processing plants as concerns of food supplies now grow. today we are taking a look at the impact the pandemic is having on the economy when gdp of the first quarter is released this morning. economists expecting contraction