meantime, liz, not like yesterday but we are holding up pretty good. liz: you know what, how about that joe rogan. wow. that is major. charles: i can't wait to hear the details on that. liz: how about that. yeah. as soon as we get them, we will let people know. in the meantime, breaking news, markets are losing energy at the moment. now, we do have a bit of weakness in the dow heading back down but not exactly -- wait. okay. we are now at session lows. brand new session low here, down 223. but remember, we are coming off the blue chips' mammoth 911 point rally yesterday. we need to tell you here's what's going to happen in this hour. we are waiting for president trump's cabinet meeting to begin. we are told 3:00 p.m. straight up, that would be right now. it will be broadcast live from the east room of the white house. again, in the moment we will take it because the live cameras are set up there but while we are waiting, let's take a look

at the meat processing plants and meat suppliers at the moment. chicken and pork as well. these producers are losing a lot of steam here in this final hour of trade. sanderson farms down 4.6%. tyson down 3%. you can see the rest here. the administration in the last hour did pledge $19 billion to support the nation's ranchers and agricultural producers. $16 billion of the $19 billion will be in the form of direct payments but as we wait for the cabinet meeting to begin, let us bring in the ceo of restaurant brands, the parent of burger king, popeye's chicken, tim horton. let me just apologize in advance because we will hop to the president as soon as he begins that cabinet meeting, jose, but you are live at one of your burger kings in miami, florida. thank you for joining us. your restaurants which number some 10,000, you guys sell a lot of meat and chicken. give us your reaction to the news that $19 billion will go to the ranchers and agricultural

farmers there, but not exactly to that middle area, the meat plants that supply your restaurants. >> liz, good afternoon. thanks for having me. we have a very strong partnership with many of our meat and pork and poultry producers as well as raw material suppliers. we obviously think the support the government is providing is important for the ranchers. we work closely with our partners and suppliers and we feel good about our situation. it's been a tough couple months since the beginning of covid-19 and it's had an impact on supply chains but we are well positioned and given our relationship and strength of our supply chain to work through it, and we feel confident we will be able to continue to supply great products to our guests and all of our restaurants in the u.s., north america and across the globe. liz: i tell you, it's got to have been very tough these past couple of months. the coronavirus ruptured the nation's food supply chains but

the lockdowns really gave a gut punch to the entire country restaurant sector. you had a chance to speak to the president yesterday. what do you feel is the most important thing that you were able to convey to him? >> what was great about the opportunity yesterday was that not only was the president there but vice president pence, secretary mnuchin and secretary scalia from labor and several other economic advisers, and what we could tell very clearly from the beginning of the discussion is that the administration cared deeply about the restaurant industry and the threat of the impact of the restaurant industry on the economy, the millions and millions of employees that honor the system we have. we have over 650,000 restaurants in the u.s., small, independents, big names, and all of them employ tens of millions of people across the country and this industry has been hit really hard by the shutdown because of the pandemic.

so the administration -- liz: i want to let our viewers know -- >> i'm sorry? liz: i just want to let our viewers know we are still awaiting the president to start that cabinet meeting but to that end of what you were just discussing, what kind of shortages are your restaurants still experiencing? >> we have -- our restaurant has been open for business for quite some time, we have had people working in the restaurants delivering through the drive-through and our delivery platforms. what we thought was important about being in front of president trump and the administration was being able to share our appreciation for the cares act and ppp and trying to get an extension of the deadline by which those funds could be used to bring back additional labor and we thought there was a reception to the concept of an extension which we are hopeful will be able to take place in the coming days and weeks. we think it will be a benefit for all small businesses,

especially on the restaurant side. liz: just want to let our viewers know the dow jones industrials down about 166 points right now. low of the session is a loss of 221. the nasdaq is still showing a little bit of oomph here. what did you say, one minute? all right. we are still -- okay. we just got the shot. we can show on our screen exactly what is happening there. there is that big roundtable. usually they don't hold the cabinet meetings in the east room but as we await that, jose, it is great to have you. thank you very much. we would love to have you back on because i have a million questions to ask about the impossible burger because people are trying faux meat in the future. please join us again. i want to quickly shift to charlie gasparino. we have about a minute. you have breaking news on more stimulus? what will it look like? charlie: yeah. you know, they keep saying there's not going to be or maybe there won't be. we want to see how this is going. we do know that right now, our sources on capitol hill are telling us the democrats and

republican leaders are horse trading on the next stimulus plan. about $1 trillion likely to come in june, mid-june, we keep hearing that's when the rubber might meet the road. here's what's going to happen here. democrats and republicans agree on the need for stimulus, they disagree on key elements, but they are willing to horse trade. the horse trading on the democrats will be they are pushing for a lot of state aid, aid to states and cities being hammered by the pandemic shutdown. they may cut back on the exact amounts, as long as the republicans agree to something, they will agree on the republican side for some sort of liability protection. again, republicans might have to give on that, not a blanket liability protection but 90% so businesses don't get sued on every single case of someone coming down with covid as we reopen. also, the republicans want some sort of payroll tax cut and as we reported earlier, they are looking for some sort of tax incentives to get businesses to essentially relocate their supply chains in north america. that's where we are right now.

payroll tax cut for republicans, high on the agenda. tax incentives for bringing supply chains to the u.s. or north america. democrats want that aid to states and cities and that's where we are going to get the rubber meet the road. i will tell you this. i know what they're saying. they are all talking tough, democrats just passed this, republicans saying wait and see. from what i understand, behind the scenes they are clearly negotiating the next stimulus plan. it could be about a trillion. it's interesting that both sides agree they need it even though you see some public posturing now that maybe we'll have to wait and see, see if the recovery does a v-shape. as i'm saying here, they are horse trading right now. we'll have to see where it goes. back to you. liz: charlie, thank you. you can see why and understand what charlie is talking about with yet another trillion, we now have 4.1 million people who are skipping their mortgage

payments. this has become a very tense situation that still has the grip on many of the americans out there who have lost their jobs and we are watching all of this very closely. what we are going to do, we will fit in a quick break here, even as the dow falls 147. not that bad a picture considering as i said, we jumped 911 points. as we wait for president trump to begin his cabinet meeting, you saw a couple of aides perhaps wearing masks, getting it prepared. we are going to take you back to the white house as soon as it begins. we also want to let you know that we do have oil at fourth straight session to the upside. this is a five-week high for oil prices. a lot to kind of wrap our minds around but we are watching this situation unveil at the white house. spotify, by the way, up 10% on news that joe rogen's podcast has been bought by spotify. nice move for spotify technology. we'll be right back. to everyone navigating these uncertain times...

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faster than a call. easy as a tap. now that's simple, easy, awesome. liz: and the room has begun to fill. this is the east room at the white house. there will be a cabinet meeting. the president is walking in right now, greeting his cabinet members.

we should mention that for a moment there, the dow jones industrials fell rather precipitously on news from an outfit that looks at things like moderna's vaccine information, but as you can see, the dow stabilized just a bit. down now 96 points. let's get to the president. >> -- every member of my cabinet is working tirelessly to defeat the invisible enemy that should have never happened to our country, should have never happened to the world. it's a disgrace. could have been stopped at the source but they decided not to do that. but we're going to safely reopen our country and our economy and it's happening very rapidly, and it's happening interestingly where numbers are actually going down. you look at florida, the state of florida, the great job, you look at georgia, you look at others, they're open and some are doing extremely well, far beyond what people thought and the numbers are going down. the numbers that we have been

talking about for the last two months, they are actually going down so it's really terrific. in our drive to crush the virus, the u.s. has completed nearly 12 million tests and that number today is almost 14 million. nobody's close. germany would be second with approximately 10 million less than us and we also have the best tests. south korea's doing very well but we're 14 million. they're at numbers that are very small by comparison. what has been done with testing, what's been done with ventilators, what's been done with the distribution of product has been incredible. we've made a lot of governors look very good. we've actually maud ade all of governors look very good. some have done a good job but we made them look very good. we got them equipment and gowns and ventilators and their tests like nobody would have thought possible. vaccines are moving quickly into phase one and phase two trials. and trials of dozens of

therapies and cures are under way. we are making tremendous strides with therapies, cures and vaccines. i think we're way ahead of schedule. and you probably heard logistically, we have our military engaged and as soon as we have whatever it is that we're going to have, whether it's therapeutic or vaccine, it will be distributed very rapidly. our military is ready to go. they can deploy hundreds of thousands of men and women a day and now what they're going to be doing is they're going to be doing the vaccine which we are geared up for even before we have it, but the chances of us having it are extraordinary. secretary azar will update us on all that we're doing to sa safeguard americans. he will be talking in a second. to protect our people and defeat the virus, we must also defend the health of our nation's economy. secretary mnuchin will report on the economic recovery efforts and the good numbers that are

being produced ahead of schedule. secretary carson will update us on the white house opportunity and revitalization council and ben, you have done a fantastic job. we appreciate it. he's looking at hud much differently than people that would have been in the pure real estate business and he has a way of seeing things that's different and really good for our country. and ben's working on very hard, different plans to restore health and prosperity to disadvantaged and minority communities and that's really working out well. one of the things we're very proud of is opportunity zones. tim scott of south carolina came to me with a proposal and few people understand how successful the opportunity zones have been. it's a great tribute to tim and to others in the senate that helped us with that. the pandemic has shown once again the vital importance of economic independence and bringing supply chains back from china and other countries.

i probably got elected, one of the primary reasons was that, make america great again, america first, call it whatever you want, but we went way out of bounds. we built a car and we go to 12 countries to build a car. i want to build a car from one country. we make the parts. to achieve this goal, we've slashed red tape and bureaucracy and unleashed the largest industrial mobilization since world war ii, especially when it comes to big things like a ventilator. it's a very big clumsy highly sophisticated product and we have now assembly lines. we're the talk of the world. we're supplying them to other countries. we're helping other countries that are going through this plague and they're never going to be able to do ventilators so we are -- it's really been an incredible thing, what's happened. it's the biggest mobilization since world war ii. and we're fighting for the livelihoods of american workers

and we must continue to cut through every piece of red tape that stands in our way and that's why this is such an exciting meeting. beyond being a cabinet meeting which is always good, because with millions of americans forced out of work by the virus, it's more important than ever to remove burdens that destroy american jobs. in a few minutes, i will sign an executive order instructing federal agencies to use any and all authority to waive, suspend and eliminate unnecessary regulations that impede economic recovery and we want to leave it that way. we want to leave it that way. in some cases we won't be able to but in other cases, we will. you've heard me say many times, i've said it, i've said it very strongly that regulations, we've done more regulation cutting than any president in history, whether they're there for four years, eight years or in one case, more, we've done more regulation cutting.

i don't mean just in a year or two years, i mean in the three and a half years that we've been here, we've cut far more regulations by a factor of a lot than any other administration, any other presidency so that's really something. i'm directing agencies to review the hundreds of regulations we've already suspended in response to the virus and make these suspensions permanent where possible. i'm also instructing agencies to use the emergency authorities to speed up regulation cuts or new rules that will create jobs and prosperity, and get rid of unnecessary rules and regulations. we had cases where it would take 20 years to build a highway. you'd have to go through various agencies to get the same permit. i lived with it in the private sector so i know it better than anybody. for years and years and years, to build a simple roadway or simple building and it would end up costing an absolute fortune.

many, many times what it should cost. it would take years before you could even seek final approval. five years, seven years, 20 years, 21 years, a certain highway built recently, small highway. i would call it a road. 21 years to get it approved. then by the time they get it approved, it costs 100 times more, numbers you wouldn't even believe. we're getting rid of all of that. we're down now on roads, working with elaine and department of transportation. we're down to a two-year period. we want to see if we can do better. we have roads in there for 18, 17, 20, 21 years over the years. i'm not blame elaine for that. i'm just saying over the years, there have been roads that have gone through a process for many years, roads and highways. so we're going to be getting it done to a year and maybe it's not going to get passed for environmental reasons or safety reasons but we're going to know quickly. but if it does pass, it's going

to happen fast. acting omb director, soon to be permanent director, where's russ? did you hear what i said, soon to be permanent director? okay? that's a big statement. some people would say that's big news. he's done a fantastic job. so congratulations. but we have to get him approved. we will give you a congratulations just prior to approval, right? so you're doing great. thank you very much. so acting omb director russ vought will present details on this effort and we will go into that. so russ has done a great job on exactly what -- he used to come into my office and say i think we can cut a lot of different things in terms of regulation and russ, i think also very importantly, we'll have a better product that's actually going to give us a better result and we're adhering to environmental -- the environmental impact studies and all of the other things we have to do to get these permits. so russ vought, thank you very

much. i want to once again thank every member of the cabinet for your commitment in helping our nation reopen, to recover and rebuild. i would like to now ask a man who has done a fantastic job as head of the task force, he's worked literally, i mean, i think literally 24 hours a day sometimes to make sure everything's gone well. today we had a really great article by rich lowry who talked about the tremendous job that we've done in terms of the task force, in terms of the coronavirus and getting things going and getting people what they need, whether it's ventilators, testing or many other things, and i appreciated that article very much because there's been a very false narrative, people have no idea what an incredible job the people in federal government have done and that includes generals and admirals and lots of others. so i want to thank mike pence for the great job you've done, mike.

please say a few words. >> mr. president, and i think everyone around this cabinet knows that from the first day of this administration, you've made it clear that you have no higher priority than the safety and security of the american people. in january, when you took the unprecedented action of suspending all travel from china, before there was a single case of community transmission in the united states, it is inarguable, mr. president, that your decision bought us a critical amount of time to stand up a national response all across this country. at the same time, in january, you stood up the white house coronavirus task force and over the course of february, you began to suspend more travel, establish screening at more than 11 airports around the united states, again with the priority of protecting the health and

safety of the american people and from the first day, mr. president, that you asked me to lead the white house coronavirus task force, we have focused on the health of the american people. it would be on march 15th at your direction that we released the white house coronavirus guidelines for america. we asked a lot of the american people and the american people responded. 15 days would become 45 days and in that time, it was our objective, mr. president, as you made clear, to save lives, to slow the spread and to flatten the curve, and because of what the american people did, because of the direction that you gave and all the dedicated members at hhs and fema and all of those around this table who served on the task force, because of the partnership that you forged with every governor of both political parties across the country,

we've made great progress. that being said, mr. president, i know that you believe as we all do that one life lost is too many and we grieve today for the loss of more than 90,000 americans to the coronavirus. at a time like this, first cabinet meeting that we have had since the advent of this epidemic, it's important to remember that when we ask the american people to make all of those sacrifices, the estimates before you were that if we did nothing, we could lose between one million and 2.2 million american lives. in fact, even by taking the steps that we took, the estimates were still clear that even if we flattened the curve, that we could still lose 100,000 to 240,000 americans. so while we grieve the loss of those more than 90,000 americans

and their families are in our hearts today, we recognize -- we recognize the progress that we have made. among the progress we have made, mr. president, in flattening the curve and slowing the spread was preserving as you directed the capacity of our health care system. one of the great concerns that we had early on was that our health care system, our hospitals would be overwhelmed by the coronavirus. that did not occur, mr. president. truth is as you have reflected many times, because of the ingenuity of the american people, because of our partnership with states, because of the great logistics team that worked with the task force, no american who has needed a ventilator was ever denied a ventilator in the united states. it is an extraordinary accomplishment. the report i received today is that the national stockpile now has more than 15,000 ventilators and because of the public/private partnerships that you forged, we will actually see

american companies manufacture more than 110,000 ventilators in 100 days. over 13 billion supplies and critical ppe were also delivered to doctors and nurses and first responders and to americans on the front lines of this pandemic and on the subject of testing, mr. president, when you tasked me to lead this task force, we had fully done under the old system of public labs, we had fully done only 8,400 coronavirus tests at the end of february, but as you just reflected, because of the public/private partnership that you formed with commercial labs across the country, we have now performed nearly 12 million coronavirus tests and more than 400,000 in a single day this past weekend. mr. president, as i will share with the team, as we are increasing testing, the good news to americans is nevertheless, cases are going down. you reflected on that in your

visit to the capitol today and in your opening remarks and in that, i hope despite the heartbreak and hardship that we have all endured, i hope the american people can sense that they have made progress and that as we continue to scale testing all across the country, our team with admiral giroir and with fema at the helm, we will be able to conduct maybe 40 to 50 million tests a month by this september. even as testing is expanding across the country, we are seeing cases coming down and that's a tribute to the american people. but it's not just been the health of the american people that's been challenged, as you rightly observed. businesses large and small who have had to shutter their operations, we heard from restaurant owners earlier this week and with the great work of our secretary of the treasury and your leadership, mr. president, $188 billion in loans have been approved to small businesses, nearly $583 million

have been awarded for community health centers in all 50 states. we have been there at the point of the need for businesses large and small. we have been there for vulnerable populations and at your direction, mr. president, we will continue to lean forward in that fight. the action you're taking today with signing the executive order is going to make it even more possible for us to build this economy back again for the american people. it was in that spirit that one month ago, mr. president, as i close, you directed the white house coronavirus task force to release guidelines to open up america again. and i'm proud to report to the cabinet today that our best information is that all 50 states as of today are partially reopening their economies. the american people are responding and breathing that free air again. they are doing it responsibly. they are enjoying the opportunity to be out, in many states to enjoy restaurants, businesses opening back up. the big three auto makers went

back to work this last monday. in ben carson's hometown of detroit. and america is on its way back through a great, great season of hardship. it's a testament to the resilience of the american people. so mr. president, you charged the white house coronavirus task force to have one mission and that was save lives, to have one team and that was to forge relationships all across the country. because of your leadership, because of the great work of this cabinet, because of governors around the country but mostly because of our incredible health care workers and the cooperation of the american people, we have slowed the spread, we flattened the curve and we are reopening america. mr. president, i'm proud to report to you that we are on our way and i promise you this entire team is going to continue to work with governors around the country at your direction until we bring the american economy all the way back as you often say, bigger and better

than ever before. so thank you, mr. president. >> thank you very much, mike. again, thank you very much for doing a great job. i'm going to sign this now and then bannon, steve will speak and then we will go around the room a little bit and we'll say what we want. i would like to congratulate rick grenell for doing such a fantastic job as acting. i don't think you want to be permanent. i think you are very happy to be acting. what a job. i think you will go down as the all-time great acting ever at any position. so thank you very much. thank you very much. would you like to say something? go ahead, please. >> sure. i would just say greetings from an intel community that is very interested in providing policy makers, everybody around this table, with raw intelligence that is not politicized in any possible way. i have to tell you, mr. president, that i have heard

from hundreds of members of the current intel community who are extremely pleased with transparency of their work and that's what they are shooting for. that's what they want to provide to policy makers is information that is not politicized by politicians in any way on any side of the aisle, but to be able to protect their intelligence estimates. we all know that they're estimates and they are proud to give them when not manipulated by others. >> we appreciate your great work. thank you, rick, very much. i'm going to sign this now and so this is regulations are going to be cut and the potential is that you're going to find regulations that nobody has ever thought of before because you are going to be doing it yourselves and this gives you great authority to cut regulations so we have already had the record by a lot. it's not even close. but you'll have a chance to cut regulations. when i look at epa sitting here

and i look at the veterans sitting here and i look at all of the different people, homeland security, i look at all of the great talent around this table, you'll have a right to do something that nobody would ever have thought you would have the right to do that. so i just want you to go to town and do it right, do it proper, make sure everything is safe and make sure it's environmentally good for those of you that are in that category, but it's very important. elaine, you can do things that nobody would believe in your department, department of transportation. so good luck. i'm signing this, it gives you tremendous power to cut regulation. here you go, ben. take that. [ applause ]

>> okay. ben, would you like to say something? >> yes, sir. thank you, mr. president. a big thank you to all the cabinet members. almost everybody has been deeply involved in the refocusing of the opportunity and revitalization council and jared and christian and brooke also, big, big help. just as was done during the greatest generation, many sectors of our society are being reconfigured to meet the singular goal of winning our war against this invisible enemy. companies that make bedding linen are now making masks and plants that produce vehicles are now producing ventilators. i worked at some of those plants growing up in detroit. now the white house opportunity and revitalization council, which was formed by you to help long-forgotten communities

achieve economic opportunity, will refocus and expand to help america's hardest-hit communities and achieve economic recovery, overcome health disparities and thrive through educational advancement. education being the ticket, doesn't matter where you came from, you get a good education, you can write your own ticket. since your historic tax cuts and jobs act, billions of dollars from the private sector have been invested in these designated opportunity zones which are home to nearly 35 million people. through this initiative, we foster partnerships between people who seldom sit down together. we are talking about business leaders, community leaders, faith-based leaders, housing advocates, investors, builders, state and local and federal officials. the revitalization council which i had the privilege to chair alongside our executive director, scott turner, who is here in this room somewhere --

there he is over there. okay. has played a big role in the success identifying more than 270 different federal actions to support an increased investment in opportunity zones through things like grant preference points, loan qualifications, reduced fees, eligibility criteria, modifications and a number of other incentives. at your direction, we are now taking our considerable capacity to discover opportunity and drive recovery in disadvantaged and minority communities that are disproportionately affected by covid-19. based on our work and analysis, the revitalization council is identifying diverse policy approaches in areas including housing, education, technology, broadband, work force, entrepreneurship, health and long-term community development. under your leadership, this

administration has shined a light on the forgotten men and women whose job prospects and health disparities are often hidden in the shadows. mr. president, you have been a champion for all americans, especially our low income and minority communities. and we are committed to continuing your work not only to restore but to advance the historic gains in prosperity many enjoyed before this global epidemic. your council will not only continue its focus to bring more jobs and better jobs, but it will also expand to better fortify public health services that will improve medical and social health outcomes and uplift our most distressed communities. the american people will come out the other side of this crisis stronger and more determined than ever. thanks to the authority you have vested in the revitalization

council, we will leverage these powers to heal america's hardest-hit communities and return to prospect and safely and swuftiftly as possible and thank you for not giving in to the naysayers and to the people who use fear to control people and instead, giving people hope, not with just your words but with your actions. thank you. >> well, thank you very much. i had to run against him and he was very tough. he was even tougher when he would run on to a stage holding a bible up in the air. that was tough. i said that's tough to beat. but i said if i'm ever so lucky, i have to get him in the administration so that's what happened and you have done a great job. thank you very much. steve, where are we, what are we doing? >> thank you, mr. president. i'm pleased to report your administration has been hard at work implementing the cares act. we have really made incredible progress over the last month working on putting over $3 trillion into the economy.

unprecedented amount of support for american business and american workers and i just want to highlight a few of the things. working with sba, we were able to develop the paycheck protection program from scratch. that's now impacted over 4.3 million companies, impacting over 50 million workers, $513 billion, having 5500 lenders working and we are extremely pleased that we have increased the number of cdfis and minority lenders and fintech lenders now making sure we get this across the country with an average loan size of 118,000. so this program is really impacting american workers. working with the federal reserve, i have approved nine special facilities totalling about $2.5 trillion. that's about half of our capacity. in particular, i would just like to highlight the main street lending program which is for

small and mid-market companies. we will be up and running by the end of this month. then i would just comment on the economic impact payments, mr. president, have really had a big impact. we delivered over $239 billion to 141 million americans. i want to highlight, we couldn't be more pleased, 114 million of those, we did direct deposit into people's accounts. we did 27 million checks and mr. president, we now have developed debit cards so in an effort to expedite money to people even quicker, in a very safe way, i'm pleased to show you what a debit card looks like with your name on it, mr. president. now, there's no money for you on it. this is a blank debit card but i want you to see what many americans will now get so that we can get their money to them even quicker and going forward, we think debit cards are a safe

and secure way of delivering refunds. >> do i sign the letter again? >> the next time we send money, you will get to send another letter. >> all right. thank you, steve. steve's had a great career, had a great educational career, tremendous student and went on to very very tremendous business success and all of that experience was necessary for what you're doing, right? but there's nobody better with money and controlling money and handling money so i want to thank you very much. thank you. alex, please. say a few words. >> well, thank you, mr. president. you know, your top priority has always been the health, safety and wellbeing of the american people as we have been going through this pandemic and that's been our priority throughout this crisis. we've got to get life back to normal and we've got to restart the roaring trump economy and we have the tools to do that. the right mindset for reopening is not about balancing health versus the economy. it's actually about balancing

health versus health. by one estimate, the virus induced recession will see an extra 65,000 deaths from suicide, drug overdose, alcohol abuse in the coming years, possibly even more. states are seeing a decline in the reporting of child maltreatment because kids aren't at school, they're not seeing doctors and teachers who would otherwise report maltreatment in the home environment, so it goes unaddressed. mammograms are down 87%. colonoscopies are down 90%. approximately 1.7 million new cancer cases are diagnosed per year in our country and if we are seeing an 80% drop in cancer cases identified, we could already have 300,000 or more undiagnosed cancer cases as a result of this crisis. the cdc report found a 60% reduction in vaccine administrations including for our kids, pediatric vaccinations. millions of kids not getting vaccinated. the good news is that under your

leadership, we built a path forward so that we could have safe reopening. we have the surveillance tools. we have the testing tools. we have the containment methodologies and resources. we are developing therapeutics and we are developing vaccines so we have the strategy and the recipe to support the safe reopening of our economy. and for the sake of americans' health and wellbeing, we've got to support this and move ahead with safe reopening. i mentioned some of the physical health risks of keeping our country closed down, but we have here today with us our assistant secretary for substance abuse -- for mental health and substance abuse, the psychiatrist and first-ever psychiatrist to lead samsa and she will say a couple words about how extended stay-at-home orders can impose really lasting mental health challenges for us, if that's okay. >> we would love that. please, doctor.

>> mr. president, vice president pence, members of the cabinet and colleagues, as i listen to states and communities struggle with mental illness issues that have arisen as a result of the virus, i wanted to ensure that governors yesterday heard these concerns from a medical perspective. as my physician colleagues on the task force have been careful to rightly note, their perspective and advice centers on one aspect of the pandemic, virus containment. however, even medically it is not the sole perspective. i felt that it was important to offer the governors a differential bedifferent albeit equally important medical perspective. as such, i made the following remarks. it is my privilege to serve as assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse but today, i really speak to you more as a psychiatrist who also happens to hold a ph.d. in

infectious disease epidemiology. never did i imagine the nation would be experiencing the coinciding of mental health issues and infectious disease that my training addressed. the research literature is clear on the effects of quarantine and stay-at-home practices on mental health. we know that the longer the duration of these orders, the greater the intensity of the mental health problems experienced. we also know that these symptoms persist for years to come, even once quarantine is lifted. the data tell us that when the lives of adults, children and families are drastically changed for extended lengths of time, for many, anxiety, depression and stress disorders will become manifest and will persist. these are real health conditions with potentially long-lasting consequences that must be taken seriously. to put all of this in perspective, i believe it is important to point out that pre-pandemic, we lose 120,000 lives a year to drug overdose

and and suicide. how many more lives are we willing to sacrifice in the name of containing the virus? when we look at strategies to reopen, as a medical doctor, i ask that you take into account whole health, not just one narrow aspect physical health. we continually ask ourselves what the health costs and risks may be of reopening, but i ask what might they be of not reopening, or reopening in such a restrictive way that american lives are not restored. of course, containing the effects of coronavirus are critically important but so, too, is preventing suicide. so, too, is keeping a person from being terrified to ever leave their home. so, too, is protecting the mental health of our nation's young people. i ask you to remember that not every home is a safe home. not every individual can withstand the trauma of not seeing our interacting physically with loved ones. not every parent can survive the mental anguish of not being able to feed their children because

of lost employment. not every child can exist in a healthy way without the structure and support of school. we have to take a step back and recognize the other effects of our policies, while we contain the virus, are we increasing the risk for suicide and drug overdose? are we creating a future of substance use and addiction for millions of additional americans? and if we are doing those things, why have we decided collectively that this is okay? we have worked so hard in states and communities across this country to combat epidemics like the opioid crisis. why are we willing to forget those efforts now or deem them less important? as a psychiatrist, i would argue that a life lost to suicide is just as important as a life lost to coronavirus. a family who loses someone to drug overdose experiences the same grief as a family who loses a loved one to coronavirus. let's not forget that all american lives are precious.

our citizens count on us to remember their health and safety in all aspects of life. the preservation of americans' health and the health of our citizens cannot be measured by only one metric. virus containment cannot be our only goal, no matter the cost to americans. if we ignore the reality of the enormous mental health strain we have put on our citizens, on the backdrop of an already overburdened mental health care system, i'm saddened but certain that the next major public health crisis of our time will be that of mental and substance use disorders and it is not far behind. i urge you to factor this reality into your planning and i thank you for the work you've done thus far, on behalf of the millions of americans with mental and substance use disorders. >> thank you very much, doctor. appreciate it. very sobering. that's tough. that's very tough. but we're getting there. we're getting back. that's very important. thank you. i would like to ask chad wolf from homeland security just to

say, maybe discuss the record low numbers we have of people crossing the border, our southern border in particular. >> absolutely, mr. president. i think we are taking at your direction, the vice president's direction, the task force, we have taken a number of measures at protecting public health proactive and prudent measures at the border. those include nonessential travel restrictions that we have with both canada and mexico. those also include continued construction of the border wall system. perhaps most importantly, new measures that we have instituted along that southwest border regarding illegal border entries. those are the numbers you are referring to. last month in april, we had over 17,000 folks that crossed the border illegally. compare that to a year ago, april of '19 was over 120,000 individuals. >> they were all brought out, right? >> that's right. so -- >> 17,000 crossed but 17,000 were brought out? sent back? >> 80% of those 17,000 were

removed within 120 minutes, two hours. the rest took just a little bit longer but are continuing to be removed as well. >> that's a first. that's a first in the last 40 years. >> that's absolutely right. again, at your leadership, the task force leadership, we continue to make progress on that border. >> thank you very much. also, mark meadows, our chief of staff, he's been around washington for awhile. he's very popular in north carolina. he had a seat that was easy for him to keep and i talked to him long and hard for awhile, for a long while, but he's a friend of mine but he's going to go down as the ultimate hopefully chief of staff so mark, it's really nice to have you. would you like to say a few words? >> thank you, mr. president. obviously your work and the work of this cabinet on behalf of the american people is very evident. it's critical that we make sure that americans are healthy, safe, secure and prosperous, and because of the work of everyone around this table, and more importantly, your leadership, we

are setting the example of how not only to tackle one of the most difficult silent killers we have ever faced in our history, but also how to come out of that more united and because of your executive order, we are not only ready to reopen our country, we are open for business once again. i thank you for your leadership. it's an honor to serve you and the people of this great country. >> thank you very much, mark. you are doing really, really well. appreciate it. and bob lighthizer is working on the trade deal with uk, united kingdom. i hear they want it very much to do it and we would like to do it. how are you doing? >> thank you, mr. president. we are doing well. so we will see how that works out. i would like to report, though, that on july 1st we will have usmca fully in effect which is

just in time for the reopening. we'll have the new rules that will help american workers, farmers, ranchers, and we are now beginning to see some substantial new sales in the agricultural area and a variety of others, because of this and the other deals that you've done. but in terms of the uk deal, we are just beginning that and we will see how that -- as you said to me 1,000 times, we'll see how that turns out. but we'll see how that turns out. >> you never know. you never know, do you. we usually do, and actually, we have signed a great deal with japan, $40 billion. we have created a new deal with south korea which was many, many billions of dollars. it was a defective deal. now it's a very good deal. but usmca is actually the largest trade deal ever made anywhere in the world. people don't realize the amount of business that we do with canada and with mexico is monumental. it's the biggest trade deal in

world, bigger than the deal we made with china. most people don't know that. and the china deal is kicking in, they are buying a lot but i feel differently now about that deal than i did three months ago, and we'll see what all happens, but it's been a very disappointing situation. very disappointing thing happened with china, because the plague flowed in. that wasn't supposed to happen. it could have been stopped. i want to thank you very much, bob. you're doing really a fantastic -- you have a lot of records and one of the people i wanted to get when i was elected was bob lighthizer because he had the record and really had the reputation as being the best trade negotiator anywhere in the world. everybody respected. he was the authority. so i got him and you've lived up to your reputation. now let's see if you can exceed it. you have plenty of work to do. how is it going with uk? >> four more years to do it.

>> i know. the first thing boris did when he got, when fortunately he was better because he's a great guy, boris johnson, prime minister, he called me and he wanted to talk about the trade deal. how's it going. it was his first words to me, how's the trade deal going. i said how are you feeling? it was really something. but great job. mike pompeo has done a fantastic job at state. he's been doing a lot of traveling, working hard. anything to say, mike? >> i would just add that in the course of this, we brought 93,000 americans back home who were stuck because travel had ceased. state department's done fantastic work getting these americans back to their family. there are still a few more out there. we still have work to do. we want to make sure the global economy gets back on its feet, too, along with the department of homeland security, department of transportation, trying to make sure we have all the processes in place so people can travel again in the way that they did before this virus hit this entire world. >> good, mike. thanks. great job. i would like to maybe ask scott turner to finish. he's somebody who is young and

strong and powerful and he's done an incredible job with opportunity zones and other things and maybe you could finish it off, and we could take a couple of questions from the media, if you would like. but scott, make the media so crazed that they say boy, are they doing a great job. >> well, thank you, mr. preside president. for your leadership and secretary carson. as i'm sitting here listening to all the remarks, i'm very encouraged and i was reminded of [ inaudible ]' the last time i was with you was last summer. we had traveled to 21 cities in

12 weeks and you encouraged me greatly. [ inaudible ] with the opportunity zone and the council. and much fruit came about in america because of white house revitalization council and many of your staff members and teams from your agencies have been tremendous and it has been a great team effort. not one man, not one person, it's been a great team. because of opportunity zones in america [ inaudible ] i'm so humbled by that. we have a lot of work to do. our job is still the same, our spirit is the same, our fortitude is even stronger. the president has refocused the council so our business is broader and because of that, we will not quit. i want to thank all of you for your leadership, thank you for your vision, thank you for your encourageme

encouragement, but in the huddle it was a time to refocus. it was a time to reset and to encourage one another. i know you got beat we have your back. we are a team. the enemy was on the other side of the ball. in america we are a team, that the enemy is covid and i want to remind everybody in the room and everybody listening in america, we're all on one team. this is the hope today. we're encouraging each other. we have each other's back. we know to anticipate what is happening on the next play. we have a great gameplan. we have got grade leadership. all around the team is a tremendous team as part of the united states of america. covid will get whooped. it will. but it is going to take all of us. and i say that, mr. president,

this is a blessing for me to be in this hall. when we say enemy needs to look out because we're going to be victorious against the enemy and long-term sustainability and long-term vision for america. long after we're gone the people come behind us will be blessed. be encouraged. thank you, mr. president. thank you, dr. carson and mr. vice president. i thank you for your leadership and encouragement. [applause] >> so you know, we have a couple of seats available, congressional seats. we're not overly impressed with the candidate, and i think, would you like to move to a little different section of the united states because i i can guarranty this guy would be in congress in two minutes.

i knew somebody who knew scott in the nfl, he said he was fast but more than anything else he is mean and tough. that's what he want, he is tough. he has got a great heart. he has got a great heart. i've known him for a long time, scott. we're lucky to have you. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> you're tough. okay any questions, please? steve, go ahead. reporter: about the china trade deal, could you amplify on that a little bit? >> no, it means less to me. we did this great deal with china. they have to buy billions and billions of dollars of product, farm product and other product and it was very exciting, one of the biggest deals ever made. actually not as big as the usmca which surprises people but it could have been bigger over a period of time because the potential there is just beginning in sense t was very exciting but once the virus came

in, once the plague as i call it came in, i said how did they let that happen? how did they let that happen? and how come it didn't go into other sections of china? why did they block it from leaving wuhan but they didn't block it from going to the rest of the world including the united states? why is that? beijing doesn't have it. other places don't have it. so why is it that it was blocked very effectively from leaving that irarea and going into china but it went out to the rest of the world including the united states? and why didn't they let us go in and help them fix it. i'm very disappointing in china. yeah? reporter: mr. president -- reporter: just follow up, you've been talking about possible retaliation for for are you any closer to a decision on that? >> i don't talk about retaliation. go ahead. reporter: mr. president, why