involved in it. it is a hoax. it started off with a russian hoax t it went to a ukraine hoax. it is a whole big disgrace. this country has better things to do. it is a disgrace. what they have done to this country with the phony investigations, the mueller investigation was a waste of time from day one. they knew it was a waste of time. it proved to be a waste of time. i think there are a lot of bad people involved and they should pay a very big price if they were caught. so we'll see what happens but i rely on the attorney general. he is a very honorable man. okay, any other questions? reporter: do you agree with peter navarro said the cdc let the country down in terms of testing? >> i think they worked very hard. don't forget, they have been here for many years. they don't work for me. they work for the country. they have worked very hard. we, when we took over in terms of you know, getting involved,

mike headed up the task force, he worked with cdc. i could ask mike to give you a part of it but i will say that they originally, they had no tests and one of the tests had a problem, very early on but that was quickly remedied. now we have the best tests anywhere in the world. i think, i give ourselves a lot of that credit, a lot of the brilliant people that worked on testing. a lot of brilliant people worked on ventilators to the point where we have the best testing in the world. we have the best ventilators, distribution of the most ventilators in the world, it is not even close. i can't tell -- i would like to ask mike that question. cdc you work with them all the time, certainly much more than i do, mike. >> we do, mr. president, let me say i think peter navarro's point was that cdc and our public health labs at the state level were operating with an arcane testing system and it was one of the reasons why early on

we brought in all of the commercial labs around the country. the president created a consortium of these commercial labs and we reinvented testing in america. that's the reason why at the end of february we had done a total of 8400 tests at that time using state public labs and cdc labs but because of the president's efforts with, with basically innovating testing in america we now reached 11 million tests. you heard the statistics, more than 400,000 tests yesterday and we're actually hearing as the president said earlier, we're hearing reports of excess capacity that, i think the state of new york, governor cuomo reportedly has the ability to test 15,000 people a day but they were only testing 5000 people. we heard the same reports from florida and other states around the country but again, it is all a testament to the fact that president trump essentially brought in the power of the

private marketplace, private laboratories, reinvented testing in america and that's how we have been able to be at a place as we talk about opening up america, every state in america today has the testing capacity and the supplies to be able to move into phase one reopening. and we're going to make that a reality. >> we made a lot of governors look very good, that i can tell you. i'm reading some of the reviews on some of the governors. they're getting these reviews. we were able to get them ventilators they didn't have. we were able to get them testing they didn't have. including helping them fill up their stockpiles which really they should had done. they weren't supposed to be using us for that. but we made a lot of governors look very good. frankly it is good for our country. okay? reporter: why did you pass up an opportunity to speak to the world health organization their

virtual meeting today. >> i chose not to make a statement today. i will give them a statement sometime in the near future. i chose not to give a statement. i think they have done a very sad job in the last period of time and again, the united states pays them $450 million a year. china pays them $38 million a year. and they're a puppet of china. china centric to put it nicer but they're a puppet of china. i think they have done -- even when i did the ban, mike remember this is very well, when i did the ban they thought it was inappropriate to do. i did a ban very early. if i didn't do that ban you would have lost hundreds of thousands of more people in this country t was a very important ban. people don't like talking about the ban. it was very important. i was only one wanted to do it. we did it. we saved thousands of lives. hundreds of thousand of lives probably. dr. fauci said that, other people said that. deborah said that, you know

that. but the world healthorg saying was against it. they were against me doing the ban. they said you don't need it. it is too much. it is too severe all of these things and they turned out to be wrong. "sleepy" joe biden said same thing. he came out said i was xenophobic. do you believe that one? i was xenophobic you can't come from china into our country very early. and china said i was xenophobic. >> -- town in san francisco at same time. >> this is my guy. always got along, didn't we? the twins, they call us. so, no, it's a very sad, very sad thing. so i'm not happy with the world health organization and guess what? some of the people around this table would understand being in a business in some cases international. i'm not happy with the world trade organization at all either. reporter: can you explain sir why you decided to fire the inspector general of the state department? >> yeah. i don't know him at all.

i never even heard of him but i was asked to by the state department, by mike. i offered most of my people, almost all of them, i said these are obama appointees. if you would like to let them to i think you should let them go. that is up to you. he is an obama employee. i understand he had a lot of problems with the dod. there was an investigation on him, on the inspector general. i don't know anything about it. so i don't know him. never heard of him but they asked me to terminate him. i have the absolute right as president to terminate. i have said who appointed him. they said president obama. look i will terminate him. i don't know what is going on other than that. but you would have to ask mike pompeo they asked me to do it. i did it. i have the right to terminate the inspector generals. i would have, i would have suggested and i did suggest, pretty much all cases you get rid of the attorney generals because it happens to be very political, whether you like it or not. and many of these people were

obama appointments. and so, i just got rid of him. reporter: you have got some criticism from democrats in congress who are saying this is a pattern of you trying to avoid having accountability. >> i know. if i didn't fire him, they would have criticized me too. they criticize no matter what you do. if you have too many ventilators, gee he has too many ventilators. if you don't have enough, they say he doesn't have enough. no matter what you do, partner and fake news media, they will find something. i don't know the gentleman. i was happy to do it. mike requested that i do it. he should have done it a long time ago, in my opinion. he is as an obama appointment. he had some difficulty but i just don't know who he is. i never heard of his name. reporter: do you believe there is a role for inspector generals to keep an administration like yours or anyone else's accountable. >> but i think they have to be fair and i think it is a death wish when you, i told my people, i think you should study your

situation but, let us know. i think we've been treated very unfairly by inspector generals. i can go into instances but i'm not going to do it now but the inspector generals when they're put in by obama, just like it could be if they were put in by me and it was somebody else's administration, especially the other party, you could very well be treated unfairly. we had a lot of cases where we thought that was unfair. so yeah, they asked me to do that. i think the big thing is they should have asked me to do it a long time ago. reporter: you said you doesn't know him, sir what was he doing that was treating you unfairly? >> i don't know. i don't anything about him. i don't know anything about him other than the state department, and mike in particular, i guess they weren't happy with the job he is doing or something. because it is my right to do it, i said, sure i will do it. i have gotten a rid of inspector generals. every president has. i think every president, probably more than i have. a lot of our people kept the

obama inspector general. i think generally speaking that is not a good thing to do but they have kept them. but i told them, for three years, i said anybody wants to get rid of their inspector generals because they were appointed by president obama, i think you should do so. some of them didn't. but now they're doing a couple of them are doing it now. reporter: mr. president, isn't there appearance of conflict of interest if secretary pompeo is asking you to fire an inspector general -- >> that i can't tell you. i don't think so. i think maybe he thinks he is being treated unfairly. again, he wanted to, he asked me if that would be possible. i said i will do that, sure. i think it should have been done a long time ago, frankly. this is a man that has had some controversy, this inspector general but, so again i don't know anything. i haven't even read much about him. he see a little bit after story, not much of a story, everybody agrees i have the absolute right to fire inspector generals. i think they have done it a long

time ago. yes, please. reporter: some executives said they expect the recovery to be a little bumpy, take a while. are you forecasting a faster bounce back? >> i think they're forecasting a bounceback. i see great optimism. these are big restaurant people up on the business. they are very successful. they have been very successful. i think they will be even more successful again especially if we get deductibility. and, no, i really enjoyed this. this was a long meeting for me. normally i wouldn't stay at a meeting this long but i liked hearing about your great basketball team. i didn't know those guys got paid 40. i thought they made 25. >> for the record, for, my casino in louisiana, opened up today, it opened up extremely, extremely business in louisiana. >> good. >> so that is good. other people are cog out. >> that's great. what you do works. i have watched you for a long time. what you do works. we're very proud of you. i. >> i appreciate that.

>> good job. reporter: generally surprised about the pp extension proposal? why was i surprised? that they asked for it? surprised that was all they asked for. i know too many of these people. i'm surprised all they asked for. what they're asking for is reasonable. we'll have to get it approved. again we've saved, and we'll continue to save the restaurant business and ultimately we'll be paid back many, many times because they pay a lot of taxes. and they really, they create tremendous numbers about jobs. think of that, 600, 650,000 restaurants who would think that is even possible. reporter: final decision to fully defund the, contribution to the w.h.o. going forward? >> well i have a concept because we paid 450,000, somebody came out, because we have different ideas. one was, that i mean i could ask

these brilliant people, so, we helped fund the world health organization. we use it like everyone else does. they gave us a lot of very bad advice, terrible advice. they were wrong so much, always on the side of china. china paid $40 million last year. and we have been paying $450 million a year for many years. somehow that doesn't work out too well. so i was bringing our 450 down to 40. some people thought that was too much. so, we're going to make a decision fairly soon. i think it is very unfair when we pay 450, for many years, we've been paying 400, 450, almost 500 sometimes. and we're not treated right. we're not treated by world trade. we're not treated right, the world trade organization. china there is considered a developing nation. if you're developing nation you get massive tax advantages and other advantages. well, i want the united states to be a developing nation then, okay? we should get the same advantages as china gets. why should china get advantages

over the united states because they got somebody to say they're a developing nation? and so that's under review also. reporter: secretary pompeo was reportedly under investigation both for having staffers do personal errands like walking his dog and picking up his dry cleaning. and concerns that he may have subverted the will of congress with saudi, deals with saudi arms deals. are you concerned that he may have made this request to avoid an investigation? >> i don't know anything about it. i heard about it same dime you heard about it. you mean he is under investigation because he have had somebody walk his dog from the government? i don't know? i don't think it sounds like that important. you have a man, he is brilliant guy, number one at west point, number one at harvard, harvard law school, close, but he was number one at west point.

number one at harvard law school or very close to number one and, they're bothered because he is having somebody walk his dog you're telling me? i didn't know that. i didn't hear that. i didn't know about an investigation but this is what you get with the democrats. here is a man supposed to be negotiating war and peace with major, major countries, with weaponry like the world has never seen before and the democrats and the fake news media they're interested in a man who is walking their dog? and maybe he is busy and maybe he is negotiating with kim jong-un, okay, about nuclear weapons. so that he would please walk my dog? you mind walking my dog? i'm talking to kim jong-un or i'm talking to president xi about paying us for some of the damage they have caused to world and to us. please walk my dog. to, who is a secret service person or something, right? i don't know.

i think this country has a long way to go. priorities are really screwed up when i read this. i don't know anything about the investigation but, you're just telling me about walking a dog. doing dishes? reporter: saudi arms deals? >> what saudi arms deals? reporter: congress passed a law to restrict sales to saw saud over certain arms. >> yeah. reporter: over the yemeni crisis. the question is whether secretary pompeo tried to subvert the deal with actions he may have taken? snoots. i mean i think when somebody pays us a fortune for arms, we should get the deal done. i will tell you that. i don't know what you're talking about. i know this, we have countries that want to buy our arms, we make it so difficult for them they end up going to russia and china. under my administration, if they're friendly countries i try to make it as easy as possible. if they want to buy our fighter jets and give us billions and billions of dollars, they have other alternatives including

china, russia and others we should make it as easy as possible for them, take the jobs and take the money because it is billions of dollars. in past administrations they waited so long people didn't even want to do business with us. one of the things we've done, we make the greatest equipment in the world by far, especially now under this administration because we upped the scale or not as you know, we bought a lot, totally rearmed the military, $1.5 trillion. but if somebody wants to give us billions of dollars to buy an airplane or number of airplanes and missiles and all of the other things we make better than anybody in the world we should take the money and make the deals fast. i would certainly say that. reporter: even if at least human rights -- >> why don't you take your mask off, for a second. don't worry about jeff. jeff, why don't you move out of the way so he doesn't infect you. i don't want you to become infected. reporter: even results in human rights abuses?

>> human rights? reporter: abuse. >> that i don't know. you know. you tell me something i never heard of. now you're talking about human rights abuses. you will figure something out i'm sure. look he is a high quality person. mike. he is very high quality, he is very brilliant guy. and now i have you telling me about dog walking, washing dishes, and you know what? i would rather have him on the phone with some world leader than have him wash dishes, maybe his wife isn't there or kids aren't what are you telling me? it is terrible. so stupid. you know how stupid that sounds to the world? unbelievable. okay. reporter: president obama's speeches over the weekend? >> i think he was an incompetent president. i think president obama was one of the worst presidents in the history of our country. i think he was an incompetent president. i know what left us. he left us a broken military. he left us a military isis was all over the place. i got rid of it. i knocked out 100% of the

caliphate. even you will admit that, john. i came in it was a mess. we had a broken military. we had a depleted military. we had little on the shelves if you talk about pandemics. we had a country that was a mess. we were paying high taxes. outside of this artificial event took place two months ago i will build a country stronger and better than it was even then. it is already happening. you can see it. you can see it today. take a look at the stock market. look what is going on. look at great numbers being called, medical companies calling in. we're talking about more than one. so many things are happening. but i think president obama was an incompetent president. he did a terrible job. and by the way, there was great division in our country with president obama. you didn't see it as much but there was tremendous division in our country. okay. reporter: there is division now, too, right? >> success brings.

we had success going, things were going along and china gave us a wonderful gift, it wasn't pretty. it came out of china, in case you had any questions, john, came out of china, spread to europe but also came here. the whole world became infected by this horrible thing that they unleashed one way or the other. not a good situation. not a good situation. i'm not a man that likes taking that, what happened to us, and it was totally preventable. they could have stopped it at the source. they knew it was happening. we wanted to go in. others wanted to go in. they winter let the world as you know, they wouldn't let, they wouldn't let other countries go in. they wanted, other countries wanted to. world health in all fairness to world health, they wouldn't let world health in. we're part of world health. they wouldn't let them in either. they could have stopped at the source but though chose not to.

yet they stopped them from going to wuhan into different parts of china. so you couldn't go into beijing. what do you think of that, tillman? you couldn't go into china but i better not get you involved in it. you have got enough problems with -- >> are back up. we're doing business. >> asking a interesting guy that question. seriously look. they wouldn't let him into china. but they would let him into europe and led him into all over the world including the united states. lucky i did the ban. that is all i can tell you, lucky i did the ban. how about one or two more? reporter: how you're going to specifically make china be held responsible -- >> i'm not going to tell you that question. why would i tell you? go ahead. reporter: will they be held responsible? will you take steps for china to be held responsible? >> they should be held responsible for what they have done. they have hurt the world very, very badly. they have hurt themselves also. but they hurt the world badly. yeah, they should be held responsible.

reporter: you tweeted recently this whole whistleblower racket is -- >> sure. i had a fake whistleblower. i had a fake whistleblower originally. when he looked at my, he wrote down a conversation that was totally different from the conversation i actually had with the president of ukraine. it was a fake whistleblower. by the way, everybody knows who he is. he is a political operative. you know that. john knows who he is. you know him better than anybody, john, right? he is a faker. and he was a fake whistleblower and it was a phony, disgraceful period of time. we came out well, you know why we came out well? because everyone recognized for what it was a political witch-hunt. but he was a fake whistleblower. he wrote a story that bore no resemblance to the conversation i had with the president of ukraine. nothing whatsoever. and by the way the inspector

general, he went by the whistleblower. he didn't want to see the conversation that i had. when he saw the conversation that i had, he said, well that bears no resemblance to what the whistleblower said. why did he look first before he ran to congress? he ran to congress like he couldn't get there fast enough with a whistleblower report. but when they offered him to see the actual conversation, we called the head of ukraine and we said, we would like to expose the conversation that we had, if you don't mind. he said what was wrong with that, that conversation? that conversation as i say was perfect, a perfect conversation. not a thing said wrong. why we had other than half a vote from romney. romney is a you know, loser. other than half a vote we had from romney, i got 52 1/2% to, in the house, we got 196 to nothing, 196 to nothing. republican were sew unified. not because they all liked me.

because they knew this was a horrible thing that happened but he was a fake whistleblower. he reported on a conversation that didn't happen. just like shifty schiff. shifty schiff went up before congress, because he has immunity, in other words you can't put him in jail if he lies because they have a immunity in the halls of great hall. sew made a statement, that was totally different from what i said. you know that. eight times quid pro quo. there were no quid pro quo, nothing, zero. eight times, over and over again. and he made it as though that was the conversation. but he knew that wasn't the conversation i had. and then any place else he would have been thrown out of office and put in jail for what he did but he had immunity because he made it in the halls. should be the opposite. if you make a statement like that, if you lie in congress you should get double penalties, okay? so, you know that is the way it goes. so you had a phony

whistleblower. this other guy, with the hydroxychlorquine, okay, well, he, he went out and he is the one that approved the hydroxychlorquine. he is the one that signed the application. he also happens to be, if you look, see whether or not, i won't put it on me, put it on you, see whether or not he was a big contributor to the democrats. see whether or not he wanted the democrats to win. no, it is a lot of bad things coming out about him but you people don't want to write the news. but, if you look, but he is the one that signed the application. the very important form. he signed it. now if he doesn't believe in it why would he sign it? a lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy, a lot of good things have come out. you would be surprised how many people are taking it, especially front line workers before you catch it. the front line workers, many, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it. i happen to be taking it.

reporter: you take hydroxychlorquine. >> i'm taking hydroxychlorquine. right now, yeah. couple of weeks ago. started taking it. reporter: why? >> because i think it is good. i heard a lot of good stories. if it is not good i will tell you right. i'm not going to get hurt by it. it has been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus, for other things. i take it. front line workers take it. a lot of doctors take it, excuse me. a lot of doctors take it. i take it. i hope to not be able to take it soon because you know, i hope they come up with some answer but i think people should be allowed to. i got a letter from a doctor the other day, from westchester, new york, around the area, he didn't want anything. he just said sir, i have hundreds of patients and i give them hydroxychlorquine. i gave them the zpack which is significant sit out of hundreds

of patients i haven't lost one. please keep pressing that, sir. i look at phony report put in, that report on hydroxy was given to people who were in in extraordinarily bad condition, extraordinarily bad. people were dying. i think for whatever it is worth i take it. i would have told you that three or four days ago, i never had the chance. you never asked me the question. reporter: did the white house doctor recommend you take that. recommend -- >> i asked him what do you think. well if you like it. i said i would like it. i would like to take it. a lot of people are taking. a lot of front line workers are taking hydroxychlorquine. i don't take it because, hey, people said, oh maybe he owns the company. i don't own the company. you know what? i want people of this nation to feel good. i don't want them being sick. and there is a very good chance that this has an impact, especially early on. but you look at front line workers. look at doctors and nurses a lot

of them are taking it as preventative. they're taking totally unrelated but take the zpack or asignificant azithromycin. you don't have to take it simultaneously but the zinc you do steak. i'm taking the two, the zinc and hydroxy and, all i can tell you is, so far i seem to be okay. reporter: can you explain why you started taking it? have you been exposed? >> no, not at all. i just said i have had so many letters from people like the one i told you about, i got it last week. would you like a copy of it. i would like to give you, ask molly i give you a copy. this is doctor, doesn't want anything, never heard of him. he treats people and out of hundreds of people he hasn't lost one.

he warranted me to know about it. he wasn't saying, gee, can i have dinwer you, mr. president, i want to come to the white house. i received many such letters. i received a lot of positive letters. it seems to have an impact. maybe it does, maybe it doesn't but if 2 doesn't you're not going to get sick or die. this is a pill that has been used for a long time, for 30, 40 years on the malaria and lupus too, even on arthritis i guess from what i understand. it has been heavily tested in terms of, i was just waiting to see your eyes light up when i said this, when i announced this. i have taken it for about a week 1/2 now. and i'm still here. i'm still here. reporter: can you explain, sir what is the evidence that it has a preventative effect. >> here you go. are you ready? >> here is my evidence. i get a lot of positive calls bit. the only negative i heard the study, va, people that aren't big trump fans gave it and we've done the greatest job maybe of

anything in the va i got va choice and va accountability both approved. accountability, tillman, where you can fire bad people that work in the va. that you couldn't fire them. we had thousands of people that were sadists that were stealing, that were robbers, that were horrible people. they would beat up our veterans. they couldn't do it in prime time but did it when they were sick. and we got accountability. nobody thought you could get it because of the unions and civil service. i got it passed so that now, you fire bad people in the va. we got rid of tremendously bad people that should have never been there, but also i probably even more importantly, if you can say that, maybe not, va choice. if you have to wait on line for a direction you go outside have a private doctor we pay the bill. we work out deals with doctors. we have pricing. you go out and pay the bill. it was a straight thing that we've done. we done a great job with the va. they had a results of the reports, very unscientific

report by the way, but i get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy and i say, hey, you know the expression i've used john, what do you have to lose? what do you have to lose? so i -- i have been taking it for about a week 1/2. reporter: every day? >> every day. i take a pill every day. after the some point i'll stop, what i would like to do i would like to have the cure and or the vaccine, that will happen i think very soon. reporter: do you have symptoms, sir? >> zero symptoms. i haven't had, i tested, i test every couple of days they want to test me for obvious reasons. i am the president. so they want to test me. i don't want to be tested but they want to test me. so every couple of days i get tested. and i have been, i have shown always negative, right? negative, is that the term you use for this, right, negative? totally negative. so symptoms. no nothing but no, i take it i

hear very good things. again you have to go to front line workers. many front line workers take it and they seem to be doing very well. reporter: any other members of your administration, vice president pence or your family -- >> no. i don't want do ask them because that is a personal decision as to whether or not you want to say. i want to be open with the american public. i happen to think it is good. i do want the letter given, because this letter made, may not in terms of my taking it but i thought it was a very well-crafted letter by a man who is a respected doctor up in westchester, maybe a little beyond westchester, maybe a little up meyer, in new york, he didn't want anything. he just wanted me to know results what he is doing as a doctor and he was so happy with the fact that i fight for this stuff. then we have this crazy whistleblower, this fake whistleblower get out and try and knock it. who signed the application? he did the signing. he was a believer at one point i

assume. otherwise he shouldn't have signed it. no matter who told him to he shouldn't have signed it. one more question. that's it? thank you all very much. thank you, fellows. hey, tillman, thank you, man. you take care. connell: president trump taking questions from reporters at a white house event said he is taking the drug hydroxychlorquine. said he is taking it as preventative measure from coronavirus. that is the headline that came at the end of the event. he took questions about a whole range of topics. we'll tell you about that. our big story, past the 4:00 hour, market rally. hopes of coronavirus vaccine, sparked a huge rally. the dow closed up 912 points. a lot to talk about. i'm connell mcshane. melissa: i'm melissa francis. thisthis "after the bell." fox

business team coverage. lauren simonetti watching markets, edward lawrence in washington. let's kick it off with edward. he has breaking news on fed chair jerome powell, edward. reporter: exactly. comments that federal reserve chairman jerome powell making tomorrow to the federal banking committee. he said this is the sharpest recession, sharpest downturn since any recession since world war ii. this has erased 10 years of job gains. he will also say that the federal reserve acted faster than it ever has in the past. he will list the things the federal reserve is doing. the credit facilities they are creating, including the main street credit facility where he says that will be up and running too soon. he says tools will only be put back when the financial conditions improve. he also says that he expects to maintain interest rates at near zero until the federal reserve is confident the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve maximum

employment and price stability. he is going to say that the coronavirus has created great uncertainty and they are navigating that uncertainty right now. he is also going to say the federal reserve taken unprecedented steps, faster than it ever has over the past few months. back to you. melissa: edward, thank you for that. now let's go to lauren simonetti on the market rally today. lauren: what a rally, melissa. the major averages recovered last week's losses and then some. the nasdaq bringing it annual gain, the gain this year to 3.2%. look at the dow up 911 points. s&p 500 finishing at a 10 week high. investors cheering reopening economy. everything jay powell said on "60 minutes." we'll get more good news from him tomorrow according to edward lawrence. hope for a vaccine.

moderna, their experimental coronavirus vaccine showing positive results in a phase one trial. they're looking to get to phase 3 in july. that is an all-time high for the stock. look at this, up 330% this year. hope of being able to return to normal that is boosting mow dern n. other companies as well. companies that depend on people feeling comfortable moving around again. that led the rally on wall street today, names that have been hard hit, travel stocks, norwegian cruise lines, united airlines, marriott, these were some of the biggest winners today, also financials, they put in a strong performance, citi, wells fargo, both sharply higher. just a handful of companies traded negative today. but the losers actually turned out to be winners during the pandemic. they put in such a strong performance this year. citrix systems, a technology company, also a staple like campbell's soup and domino's pizza, they were down today. that is not the case for the year. check out the price of oil, nearly $32 a barrel. that is the biggest gain since

march 11th. it comes as nearly every state in the country has started to reopen for work. i know, melissa, you're waiting for this, for play also. that could be happening soon. finally here, fedex and microsoft teaming up to combine their logistics and cloud technology because now more than ever you got to manage your supply chain better because customers are relying on fast shipping. back to you guys. connell: all right. melissa: thank you for that. connell. connell: lauren, thank you very much. let's talk a little bit about what lauren was reporting on there in terms of what drove the market higher, the hopes for a vaccine, the moderna news. a doctor joins us, johns hopkins university center for health security, infectious disease scholar. and i do, certainly, doctor, want to focus on the moderna news, the vaccines hopes with you, but let me ask you, about, i guess a piece of breaking news from president trump moments ago, seemed to surprise reporters at the white house

saying he is taking the drug hydroxychlorquine which has been controversial. he has been taking it, for last week 1/2 or so, not because he has coronavirus but as preventative measure. does that make sense to you? >> there is no evidence that hydroxychlorquine works as a preventative, that it steps you from getting infected there are clinical trials going on to see if that is the case. this is something a patient has to discuss with their doctor. they have to be monitored for side-effects. i hope it is being done in a safe manner. people should, if they're going to do this, consult with a doctor. we still want randomized control trial data to show it works as treatment or preventative but i think the the jury is out whether or not it is effective. we do know there are side-effects you have to monitor for. connell: that seems seems to be, president, wasn't suggestion from the white house doctor, the president asking the white house doctors that he wanted to take it if a patient came to you what would you say?

>> i would not prescribe it at this point. i don't think there is enough evidence. i think harms do outweigh the risks. there are heart rhythm problems. there are eye problems you have to monitor for. we don't know this actually works. i want to wait for randomized control data to do this effectively for a patient. connell: now. the moderna news, the hopes of a vaccine coming into the stock market today, no doubt, the dow up almost one thousand points on the day. and a lot of that was driven by this hope for moderna in phase one for the coronavirus had promising results. can you quantify these results, how big of a deal is this? >> this is a big deal because we're getting a positive results this is you have to remember, phase one clinical trial. it was small number of patients. phase one is safety and efficacy. which want to see this in phase two trial and ultimately a phase

three trial. there is optimism that the new technology moderna is using in a vaccine will be safe and effective. we need to see phase two and phase three trials in bigger populations to figure out how this will figure into the solution for the pandemic. connell: as someone looking in, completely as a layperson knowing nothing about this, what maybe makes you most optimistic you heard, at least i heard some speculation from doctors and other medical experts over the last week or so, you know what? let's not get crazy here, we might not even get to a vaccine. might have to go rely on treatments much like hiv/aids crisis where we never got to a vaccine but we had effective treatments. does this tell you, moderna news we'll get there, at some point we'll get to a vaccine. are you able to pull that away from it? >> definitely i think we will get to a vaccine and question is timeline and manufacturing to scale. remember we have coronavirus vaccine from avian species. there is no biological barrier to a coronavirus vaccine.

it is having will to do it and do it rapidly so we impact this pandemic, so if moderna says we're going to phase two and then we'll phase three, we're trying to expedite this as much as possible, is this year-end distribution of a vaccine realistic? >> to me i think that is a very ambitious goal and i don't think it is something we should wed ourselves to. i think vaccine development is always measured in years, not months. i think people are moving very rapidly. we want thinks done to be fast as possible. we need to be realistic about the timeline, probably think about 18 months to two years before we have a vaccine at scale to vaccinate the u.s. populace. maybe front line workers might get something early. maybe batches come out early but i think for the general population we're looking closer to two years. connell: okay. thank you for your insight today, but certainly encouraging news, nonetheless doctor. from johns hopkins. thank you very much. melissa?

melissa: florida taking a major step forward. businesses in all 67 counties reopening today under a full phase one plan. we are live from the sunshine state with where things stand there. plus a new jersey gym owner reopening his doors today in defiance ever the stay-at-home orders. he was met with supporters and the police. take a listen to this. >> you're all in violation ever of the executive order. >> what executive order. >> on that note, have a good day. everybody be safe. [cheering] melissa: there you go. the police had a peaceful exchange with everyone according to fox news's pete hegseth. the owner says they plan on opening up again tomorrow. we'll be right back. ♪ to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. plus, it freshens breath. biotène.

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connell: here is a "fox business alert." new data is in, showing how hard the pandemic is hitting homeowners. shares of loans in forbearance up to 8.16%. that is 4.1 million homeowners delinquent on their mortgages with an agreement in place with their lenders to avoid foreclosure. this according to a new survey out from the mortgage bankers association which started to track loans in forbearance last

month, compared to a baseline of early march before the pandemic hit. back then, just .19% of loans in forbearance, about 95,000 homeowners. wow. re/max, national housing report meantime also showing home sales dropping an average of 20.2% compared to a year earlier this is from the month of able, the first full month of coronavirus stay-at-home orders. melissa. melissa: so the texas governor just announcing phase two now to open in texas. under phase two restaurants can increase to 50% of capacity and public schools have the option to provide in person summer school as long as they follow social distancing practices, and health protocols. these classes could start as soon as june 1st. let's bring in byron york. he is the "washington examiner" chief political correspondent and fox news contributor and let

me read you a couple other things are opening now as part of this. they say that, wow, bars are opening. zoos, youth day camps, overnight youth camps. our camps just got canceled today. very interesting to hear in texas they will go ahead open it up. that is of may 31st. youth sports. certain professional sports without in-person spectators. byron, one thing strikes me about this, as you see states want to be the first to go forward, it will give us some pretty good data when you see the outcome, you can agree or disagree what you're doing but they have chosen to do it. they're doing it and we're going to see what happens as a result. what are your thoughts? >> i agree with you there. i was just reading this announcement. you're right, some things had been open earlier are now allowed to open a little more like restaurants going to 50%. the schools thing. for people cautious about this,

we should, i read this announcement, the governor said that five counties would still stay under a more closed regime. so we're not going to phase two. they have higher cases higher -- the governor accompanied announcement with graphs and statistics on cases in texas which are stable or going down a little bit. so you're absolutely right. this will be a really big laboratory but, he has followed a fairly careful pace right now. it is gradually getting bigger. and making sure that places are areas of concern or hot spots remain closed. melissa: are also brings forward the principle, it is an argument governor cuomo made a bunch of times, on one hand it doesn't make sense to have the one size fits all. can't put a whole nation on lockdown, different people,

different communities, different amount of exposure, doesn't make any sense. at the same time i am staring down the barrel of my kids have been locked inside all winter. i want them to go to camp outdoors. i want them to get some exercise. we're hearing about it all over the country being canceled. you hear something like this where you have another state saying we're going to open the hiking and camping, the things that kids should be doing during the summer. governor cuomo always made an argument about everything should be the same. then people are going to venue shop, they willowcation shop. how do you think you balance that if you're in charge? >> well, listen i think the idea that one size, there is no one size fits all policy. i think that is absolutely correct. not between states and not inside of states. there are states in geographically big places that may have trouble spots and other areas that are not. one big area of debate is outdoor activities. and you know, we've seen, i'm

not going to pass judgment on the science but we've seen a lot of reports, studies to the effect that people who are adequately spaced, who are outdoors, not doing anything risky, it is a good, healthy thing to be outdoors. it is a bad thing for people to be locked in their apartments in the city all of the time. so i think we're seeing more and more. people are seeing going to beaches. you've seen the controversy over beaches in the new york city area, that the mayor is threatening to close them down. so outdoor activities will be one of the kind of tip of the spear activities that we're going to see as people begin to open up. melissa: yeah, we're showing the market next to you. we obviously had a big banner day here in the markets. part of that had to do with this trial that went on with the vaccine. another part of that had to do with all of these announcements about more reopenings and about getting back to business. you know, i would say again, if

people are fearful, if they have health risks, you don't have to go out just because things are beginning to open up where you are. but there is more pressure, seems like every day, to let life resume to some extent. i mean, for some people it has been eight weeks. your thoughts on how much longer you can keep people inside? >> not a lot. as a matter of fact, except as you were saying, if a person has concerns about their own health, if they are elderly, if they have some sort of underlying condition there is nothing that prevents them from keeping the same routine they had developed during this lockdown. when a governor opens up some businesses, in his or her state that is not an order that those businesses open. it lefts them do it if they choose and it is certainly not an order that any citizen go out and patronize that business but, it has been two months and if

you do look at projections from some of the main studying organizations of where numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are projected to be by mid-june, into june, mid-july, supposed to be very, very low and if that can continue, and remember, this is not like the earlier part of this virus in which people weren't doing anything. they weren't taking extra care to wash their hand. they were not social distancing. they were not wearing masks. if people can open up with those precautions perhaps they can keep those numbers low. melissa: we're certainly going to have a lot of data to compare. when you compare what is going on with the reopening in texas and florida as we're seeing it. you hear l.a. they will be locked in for the rest of the summer, we'll have a lot of different things to compare and contrast afterwards, see what made sense. byron york.

thank you for that. connell. connell: a lot of news this hour as we talk about the reopening of the economy. just at this point every state is allowing non-essential businesses to operate in some capacity. you just had update on latest coming out of texas. next a live report own what is happening in florida. we'll be right back. ♪ e (vo) our communities need help like never before

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helping people stay in their homes through mortgage payment relief efforts and donating $175 million dollars to help hundreds of local organizations provide food and other critical needs... when you need us, wells fargo is here to help. melissa: a full phase one, all florida counties cleared to reopen, allowing businesses to lift certain restrictions to relaunch the state's economy. phil keating is in coral gables, florida, with the details. phil? >> reporter: hey, melissa. we are on the miracle mile, and things are getting back to businesses being open. the entire state's now in an expanded pause one, miami-dade and broward county joining the rest of the state how aring for nonessential retail and restaurants and salons and

barbershops to reopen and let customers actually come inside. and this place they're only doing it by appointment. you cannot just walk in off the street, and a lot of people have been here all day long. they've been slammed because, after all, it's been a coronavirus two months without getting your follicles trimmed. all this made for a very busy weekend getting prepared after two long months of locked doors and is/or very -- and/or very limited business. and all this made for a busy weekend, and you could only have 50% capacity inside. that is the one caf accurate to all of this. and around the state outdoor seating with tables 6 feet apart will be encouraged. customers are encouraged to wear masks as well but, clearly, you can't when you're eating and drinking. miami beach is waiting to reopen dining-in restaurants until after memorial day on the 27th,

same with the city of miami. restaurants are preparing, adding tall plastic barriers between booths and tables and the ability for patrons to order online at their table to reduce interaction with servers. florida's governor green lighting pro sports, all of them, to come down to florida. >> but any of these teams in other states where they're just not going to let them play, we have additional facilities here. they'd be fine if people want to -- we use facilities here. we welcome it. we think it's very important to do and to get back going. >> reporter: what'd you say? and, clearly, many in the public are ready to get back to life as it was back in january, but it is cautionary. over the weekend hundreds and hundreds of people have been to deland, florida, basically created a block party. when police showed up because the crowd was too big, people were actually throwing things at the cops. back to you, melissa.

melissa: wow. phil keating, very exciting down there in florida. we'll see when they are ready for phase two. thank you for that. and thanks to all of you for watching "after the bell" on this very big market day. that does it for us. "lou dobbs tonight" starts -- ♪ ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. we begin tonight with breaking news involving the prosecution of deep state actors. attorney general william barr today giving a pass to former president obama and vice president biden, saying there is nothing he has seen in john durham's investigation to suggest any wrongdoing of either follower president obama or former vice president biden. barr told reporters he has a, quote, general idea of how durham's investigation into obamagate and the conduct of the obama era intelligence community is going, and he