tremendous, tremendous capacity that we need now. so, yes, he's right on all of that. he is right that we ask for cooperation and assistance, and he's right that he delivered. i've said that all along. but this mutineers -- it can't exist. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> i don't have anything specific to talk to him about today. there is no action item for us to talk about. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> it will be my pleasure to speak with him, but we don't have anything that is -- do we have anything pending? no, i did speak to the white house this morning about a hospital matter. other than that, we don't have

anything immediate. >> reporter: [inaudible] have you heard from the president about the role in the reopening? he said yesterday that he hadn't given governors any guidance in their role. >> no, we haven't had that conversation. and, look, this is a shift in federal position, which is also fine, by the way. we are entering a new phase. the "reopening phase." on the first phase, which was the close down phase, the president took a different tact. the president did not close down the economy. he did do the travel ban with china, and he was right on the travel ban with china. the close-down of the economy was left to the governors. i closed down new york, governor pritzker closedown illinois, governor lamont

closedown connecticut. we did it different times, different ways. he left that responsibility of closing down the economy to the governors. you get to the reopening of the economy, the governors close it down, with the governors reopen it? the president says, "no, i have a different model i'm envisioning." that's okay, too, but it's a shift. but it's okay. then what is that model? let's talk about who does what, which is the intelligent conversation we have to have. how do we do this testing? how does that come up to scale? i can't do it. how do we do this technology? and i understand, he's right, it raises constitutional questions. do you really want that cell phone in your pocket to be a tracking device? right? okay, so, let's talk through how we do that. how do we disinfect a public transit system?

that has to be understood. how do we have masks for every new yorker? how do we do that? how do we get 10, 20 million masks that we have that added protection? how do we get gloves? god forbid there is a second waiver we have another uptick, with that we have the medical equipment we need after we just went through this horrendous hurry-up exercise. where is the funding for states to help do this? i'm broke. [laughs] you know? there is no fancy way to say that. we have a $10 billion deficit. "the state should do this, and do this, and do this, and do this." i don't have two nickels to rub together. the pass federal legislation didn't give us anything. the only thing they gave the states with some medicaid money. that doesn't give us anything to do any of this. they've talked about it in the

next package of legislation, if there is one. but that's the intelligent conversation to have. >> reporter: will he have this conversation with you? >> i've always had an open line of communication with him. at different times in the past, when he hasn't been happy with me and i haven't been throwing bouquets to him, we've always communicated. i'm sure we will communicate now. i just want to make my position clear, i am not going to fight with him. i don't want -- this is no time for any division between the federal government and the state governments. and the governors who i work with, democrats, republican governor in massachusetts. it's not a political conspiracy. governor baker is a republican.

this is not about democratic or republican. it's just not. this is about new york, 10,000 lives lost. these were not 10,000 democrats or 10,000 republicans, these were 10,000 people, period. forget the darn politics. everyone is tired with it. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> okay. do you want to speak to that, jim? >> we put out the nursing home death data by county yesterday. as you can see, a couple of them had one case. what we are worried about his personal privacy protection, we are working the department of health. there is about 600 nursing homes in the state. this goes for hospitals, as well. there are some very small hospitals with a put out one or two deaths a day. you just want to go through the data and make sure we're not seeing any potential personal information. as soon as that's done, that will be made available to her

people. that's why we put the aggregate numbers out by county. that's what we're going through. >> reporter: [inaudible] are there any nursing homes that are huge problem? >> we are seeing issues, like i talked about yesterday, and hospitalizations in different parts of the sea. we look at total beds being used, we look at deaths, we look at all of that. in certain downstate parts of the region, new york city and the outer boroughs and nassau county, we seen increased cases. but that's whether it's hospitalizations or nursing homes, as well. that's part of the county data you do see. >> reporter: early you said there's been 60,000 cases that you guys have -- one, is that true? 60,000 per month? event, mayor de blasio said they are going to start being able to do 100,000 tests a week.

50,000 homegrown efforts, 50,000 purchased from an indiana company. so, how does that coordinate with state efforts? again, is that 50,000 capacity correct? >> signed on the dotted line, what's happening with the testing companies is the same thing that happened with medical equipment, ppe and ventilators. there are just a handful of companies that produce the private tests, and they are all private tests, by the way. a handful of companies that do it, and now every state is going to those companies to buy the tests. i've spoken to the head of several companies myself, and they have a limited production, and now they have to allocate it to 50 states. we are, again come in a bidding war. competition with other states. i would say, federal government, you take that piece. don't replicate the 50-state

pandemonium. you want to talk about an increased federal role, let fema do the testing. fema should have, in my opinion, done all the purchasing of the medical equipment, and they should have allocated it. why am i now competing for private testing capacity and private testing machines with illinois and california? i want to get out of the ebay competition business for vital medical equipment, and now vital testing. i would say to the president, you take it. god bless you. because you have different bids and different promises from companies to different governments all across the country. like, i bought 72,000 ventilators, and then i didn't get -- we only got about 302,500. the same thing is going to happen with the testing. >> reporter: the city can get --

>> well, they are told that from the company. do i believe we are going to see those numbers actually produced? know. i think the same thing is going to happen that we just worked through for the past month. where there's companies get over prescribed, they are then going to bid up the price, and it's going to go to the highest bidder. we have learned this lesson. i saw this movie, i just lived it for the past month. it cost taxpayers tremendous amounts of money. private companies got very rich. you want to talk about going through a new phase with a different model, let's inform it from the past model. tell fema, "you buy all the tests for the country, allocate them by me." this is where the cases are. new york, x percent of the cases. illinois, you are y percent of the cases.

massachusetts, you are z percent of the cases. the federal government buys them and they are going to allocate them. not this. let's give each government, or level of government, functions that they perform best. one of the really painful lessons was all this crazy competing by states and cities for medical equipment. [laughs] we are going to do that again? that makes no sense. >> reporter: the serological tests, what's the plan if those can't get scaled up in the way you need to reopen? >> what is the accuracy? >> it varies. there are different tests they are. we are looking at tests with over 95% accuracy. we are working to scale this up with by our public lab, which is our state lab, the private sector labs, as well as the hospitals which have labs, as well. >> reporter: if someone goes back to work but they don't have

antibodies -- >> we are looking at that. for example, our state lab, the test we've developed is basically six standard deviations out, which basically means you are way out there, 99% accuracy if not higher. >> but you are right. you are right, there are different private sector tests with different accuracy rates. that's one of the other complications. go buy tests. whose test, which test, what level of accuracy? and that, i think, it's something we have to figure out when we were the other. i would say that is something the federal government should take. >> reporter: what is the capacity on that at this point? you mentioned a couple of -- >> of the state, the be by next week at 2,000 tests we will be able to do per week. i'm sorry, 2,000 tests.

>> that still sounds like a long way to go for 19 million people. >> that's part, but we are also working with private sector companies to be able to get in the tens of thousands of tests, as well as several hospitals that have developed tests. there are different ways to do these tests. he could do a blood test, we are looking at a fingerstick test, as well. where you just do a little blood spot, and this technology for that, as well. >> look, you could have a whole symposium on testing. there are two types of tests. the antibody test in the diagnostic test. the antibody test, the state health department as a test. you're right, they are limited capacity. you said 2,000 a day. so it's 14,000 a week. what is 14,000 a week going to do for you? and, by the way, the whole -- what can the antibody population really be, in the scope of things?

antibody population, people who had the illness and have recovered. okay, that's important to know, and we are very aggressive on antibody testing. but how many people are going to test positive? what percent of the population at this point do you think had the coronavirus? what kind of numbers? >> 20%. >> 20%, 10%? okay, you want to find that 10%, 20%. but then that's not enough to restart and get back to normalcy. that diagnostic test is going to be key. now, think of the volume on that diagnostic test. we are 19 million people. how many diagnostic tests do you want to buy for 19 million people? and then multiply that by the nation. look at the need. i'm telling you, you literally have a handful of private sector companies that do this now. "well, how do you scale that up?" i don't know. how did you get a rocket ship

220,000 miles back from the moon 50 years ago? but if you could figure that out, you can figure this out. if the federal government wants to know a valuable role, this is going to be a key element to all of this. >> reporter: testing everybody for coronavirus in the entire state, is it a prerequisite? >> no, he would never get there. if you said that was the prerequisite, you'd be closed ad infinitum. but you want testing capacity as a tool, where businesses can use it as a tool. you want temperature-taking. right? you open up a business, they are going to say, "i want to take everyone's temperature as they walk in the door." all right, how do you take the temperature of 500 people walking into a business, you know? just think of all the things you have to do and then divided between the federal government and state government. you have to clean all the buses at all the trains.

we want to clean all the park benches. we want to have a disinfectant solution, where we have a cleaning protocol that we've never had before. we want the technology to do the tracing, once we find the person who is positive. and we can retrace them through the technology. how do we balance that with individual liberties? there's a lot to do, here. the states cannot do this on their own. i'm not shy about capacity. i'm very proud of what we do in the state government. when i tell you i can't do something, it's the first time you've heard me say that since i've been governor. but i'm telling you, we can't do this. >> reporter: earlier, you said that covid is like fire to dry

grass. it's one of the first areas where there was a complete lockdown, people couldn't come in and out. what is that we are seeing hundreds of people dying in nursing homes from covid? >> you cannot stop it. you cannot stop it. look, we have no visitors going to a nursing home. you want to talk about a harsh policy, no visitors -- it must be close to a month. you're in a nursing home, you can't get visitors. the staff has to be checked when they come in, every day. by the way, taking somebody's temperature, that's not a foolproof mechanism. any one of those staff members could be walking in with a spark in their pocket to torture the metaphor. and that population is so vulnerable, it just takes one -- >> melissa: we are listening to the new york governor right

now, governor cuomo, saying the president is clearly spoiling for a fight. that was one of his quotes. with america's governors, to determine when and how to open the u.s. economy. governor cuomo saying he will, "have no fight with me." although it felt a little different doing that press conference, didn't it? he insisted he has total authority over governors and the issue. cuomo shooting down that claim, saying the president is not a king. we have ari fleischer with us, as well. the battle over territory. i want to include one more quote from the president. he said, "tell democrat governors that "mutiny on the bounty" was one of my favorite movies. a good old newton every now and again is exciting and invigorating to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the captain. too easy." ari, that "too easy" at the end. he see baiting the governors, are they having a little fun in a very serious situation?

how do you take things that are going on right now? >> ari: is the exact wrong conversation for these two leaders to be having. for any leader to have. this is a time where the nation and its leaders have to rise above. all of them. and to be engaged in this tit-for-tat, tat, back-and-forth, the president is actually wrong about his powers. he does not have those unilateral powers. to the government is a hypocrite. when he says "i won't fight with president trump," he did so all morning long, referring to the president as a king, talking about a comedy sketch. that's hypocritical for governor cuomo now to act like he won't fight with president trump when, of course, he will. both of them need to knock it off. they need to beat this virus, and that's what this should be about. >> melissa: one interesting outcome of this, ari, the president does get the governors to own the reopening. by insisting that it's their

decision, the president has been criticized for thinking about business, for putting money in people's livelihoods out of health. now, is it possible that he has tricked them into owning the situation? they are the ones to declare it. if they do it too quickly, you can't criticize the president, you end up criticizing governor. i'm just asking. >> ari: melissa, when a nation is in crisis, with the american people want as their leaders to work together. it is not about getting one person or the other to own anything. it's about democrats and republicans actually doing something good for america. in this case, saving lives and getting the economy back. i'm telling you, it will end up being a joint decision. no one has the power to do it unilaterally. governors need other governors. they all need the white house. they need the federal government. it will end up that way, but this rhetorical back-and-forth is just so unwise and unhelpful, where we are right now.

>> melissa: yeah. jessica, both sides are being ridiculous. is that fair? >> jessica: [laughs] that's pretty fair, melissa. obviously the tone needs to be set by the president of the united states. i think yesterday's press conference was disturbing on a number of levels for people on both sides of the aisle. getting into this back-and-for back-and-forth, "i have abilities likened to a king," and going back to an op-ed that ted cruz wrote, for instance, about barack obama saying we don't have an appeal presidency. because barack obama wanted to raise the wage for federal contractors. he puts it into perspective, with this president, donald trump, is trying to do here. i don't like the back and forth. i think andrew cuomo has tried very hard to be bipartisan in this, and has said many times, "i don't want to fight with the president." he's been knocking him this morning, but i hope everyone will take their foot off the gas in terms of the back-and-forth and cutting at each other and work on curing the virus. >> melissa: harris, real

quick, your thoughts? >> harris: you know, there's another whole coast of governors who have done the same thing. so, it'll be interesting to go forward and see who speaks up next and all of this. i agree with ari, though. just keep it low grade. yeah. >> melissa: we'll hear from dr. saphier on the other side of this break. we'll be right back. it's a new day for veterans all across america. home values are up, and mortgage rates are at record lows.

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>> harris: well, there is a live event going on right now. the cabinet room inside the white house, the president via remote is talking with covid-19 survivors. they are unique and an important part of the story right now. there are antibodies in their blood could hold answers for people. also, their journeys, to tell us what it's like on all ends of the spectrum. whether you had a really bad

symptoms were not. we will hear from people who have recovered from the coronavirus. as soon not videotaped -- which will play out live for you, you'll get to see for the very first time, because there are cameras rolling in there -- as soon as that's available we will show that to you live on fox news. we'll move to this. >> i am so proud to endorse joe biden for president of the united states. choosing joe to be my vice president was one of the best decisions i ever made, and he became a close friend. i believe joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now. he is someone whose own wife has taught them how to persevere, how to bounce back when he been knocked down. >> harris: big news for joe biden. that's former president, obviously, obama, finally endorsing his former vice president for president. this, just one day after senator bernie sanders endorsed biden, as well. it took sanders until july to

back hillary clinton back in 2016, but, as biden looks to appeal to both the left and more moderate wings of the democratic party, he is already facing some pushback from some former bernie sanders staffers. one of them tweeted this. "with the utmost respect for bernie sanders, who is an incredible human being and a genuine inspiration, i don't endorse joe biden. i supported bernie sanders because he backs ideas like medicare for all, canceling all student debt, and a wealth tax. biden supports none of those." wow. ari fleischer, it is on. what you make of this? >> ari: not much. political routine. >> harris: really? >> ari: when president obama was a sitting president of the united states, with all the power of the white house, he endorsed hillary clinton. didn't make much of a difference. americans don't measure their politicians based on who

endorses them. they value politicians on the basis of, "is that politician any good, or not?" that's the measure and that's why biden has to stand on his own two feet. for joe biden, he's got the obvious endorsement, it really doesn't make a hill of beans. >> harris: yeah. you know, i look specifically, jessica, at that tweet from that bernie sanders supported. look, there may not be 50 million of them, but there are millions of them and they vote and they count. potentially vote. what do you make of the road ahead for joe biden, to scoop up that support of progressive's? >> jessica: well, i think he's doing his best, as one could imagine. it's has certainly been a great couple of days, covid aside, with the biden campaign with bernie sanders' endorsement and president obama releasing the video. they're going to be progressives, just like they were in 2016, who are not interested in voting for a moderate democrat. i don't know if they will be a jill stein effect, that some

candidates could rise up from the ashes and be pulling people in a certain direction. i think biden is in a really good position right now. as we've seen across the primaries that have already been held, he is outperforming hillary clinton and almost all of them. and with a lot of progressives. so, i am not that concerned about it. it seems like bernie sanders really understands what this moment means for the future of this country and why his endorsement has come early and emphatically for joe biden. i'm sure that biden made a number of concessions to him about policy areas that he will be in charge of, and, as barack obama highlighted in his endorsement video, biden had the most progressive platform of any candidate be seen in american history. he's going for the $15 minimum wage. he has a bold climate plan. he's going to get us a public option. these are all things that i know are not the full tilt of the bernie sanders proposal platform, but are very good things. i think it's a great thing, and it was wonderful to hear from

barack obama, quickly to note that both barack obama and joe biden now have not mentioned trump by name. that's something they do specifically. i thought that was an important element of obama's video. >> harris: interesting. it's nearly 12 minutes long, that video. i do point out that the former president obama endorsed hillary clinton on june 9th, sanders endorsed hillary clinton on july 12th. decidedly, this time around, the candidate who it looks like will be joe biden, under any estimation, on the democratic side. we have a lot more time than hillary clinton did in the past to get ready to unite. normally i don't go to a doctor on politics, but, dr. saphier, i missed the sound of your voice. this may have something that is actually in your lane. that is, how much covid-19 -- this whole pandemic -- weighs in on our ability going forward to even get to the polls. november will be here before me know it. what do we need to get done if people want to head to the polls and not sent in by mail, in your

estimation? >> dr. saphier: thank you very much, we all know i'm not a policy expert by any stretch of imagination. but i do have an opinion. listening to jessica, i think she's absolutely right in everything that she's saying. i will say that i think they had to come out, they had to do these endorsements early on, because this is like no other election cycle we've ever had before. they have to have this media push now, and it's all in the digital format, because people are not going out. they are not going to rallies and they are not doing any doorknocking. they have to have this media push which, in my opinion, is why this endorsement had to come out earlier. we are already hearing there's going to be a federal recommendation on how we're going to start opening up the economy soon. i do think there's going to be a strong push to try and get things open so that people can go out and they can continue with the normal election cycle. so, hopefully by mid-to-late summer we are going to have some small congregations of getting together. they may not be the exact same as they have been in the past, but they're going to have to do

this. because the 2020 election is coming. >> harris: it is. dr. saphier, thank you. melissa, sit by. i just want to get to this. eight survivors with the president right now inside the cabinet meeting, not via remote as i had previously said. i will be anxious to see the video, as will everybody else. these are people that have recovered from covid-19. ♪ with va mortgage rates suddenly

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>> melissa: all right, we are just hearing right now the president of the vice president both meeting with eight people inside the white house who have survived the coronavirus. they are evenly spaced throughout the room, we are told. nobody is wearing a mask except for those who are members of the pool, members of the press. one of them telling the president, thanking him for getting him off the diamond princess, where 11 other passengers died. we are getting other comments from folks, some saying they didn't have fever and chills, it wasn't as bad as they thought

predifferent comments. we'll bring you the rest of them just as soon as we get them. in the meantime, doctors across the country are raising different concerns about a preventable spike in illnesses once the pandemic recedes. this, as top health officials have been advising the public to avoid regular checkups, elective procedures, and routine cancer screenings. dr. saphier, i'll start with you. my family, we had a number of follow-ups and appointments that were all canceled by physicians who said, wisely, "we don't want to bring people in, we don't want to risk exposure to people who aren't exposed." but you do have to draw that line. where is it that you needed to see someone and they weren't seen? they bid they are missing the routine care they really need. what do you think about all th that? >> dr. saphier: well, melissa, this absolutely is a huge concern of mine from a medical and surgical perspective. we've been told people should be going to the regular checkups at some level, they have been

saying the hold on all nonelective surgical procedures. however, the guidance as to what is considered elective is not very clean. unfortunately it is causing a lot of issues. i can tell you, from myself, i know cancer patients who are saying they don't want to undergo their chemotherapy because they don't want to be immunocompromised with covid-19 going around. i can tell you that delayed cancer care will actually have a higher mortality rate than covid-19 itself will. my husband, his specialty is brain aneurysm repair. people will get a brain aneurysm embolus to prevent it from rupturing. a brain aneurysm rupturing can have a mortality of up to 90%. of course you want to preemptively and belies these andersons. that's considered an elective procedure because it hasn't ruptured yet. this is the big problem i have with legislators and government telling doctors what they can and cannot do. let me tell you, while i know there are nefarious bad actors that really can give doctors a bad name, all health care

professionals are doing what they think is in the best interest for patients, and we should not be shackled by these state-level legislators telling us what we can and cannot do. people staying at home right now out of fear from covid-19, it's going to have severe long-term consequences. >> melissa: the flip side of that coin, dr. saphier, is this idea that there's a lot of people that came in with covid-19 and, in fact, were suffering and had the underlying conditions they didn't know about. maybe that's one of the things we will take away from this, is the number of people walking around with underlying conditions that don't know it. for example, 1.5 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed annually. those are people who didn't know they had it before. what has this taught us about wellcare? about our annual physicals? about keeping a better health? what are your thoughts on that? and handed off to harris. >> dr. saphier: well, melissa, this obviously is something i care deeply about. my book is coming up next week,

it's all about tackling the chronic illness epidemic going across our country right now. so, yes, preventative care is the best way to make us all healthy and live a healthier life. that involves the lifestyle modifications, diet, exercise, but also routine checkups. establishing care with a physician new trust, they are able to see. if you do those routine checks, cancer screenings, cholesterol screenings, everything else, balance of the healthy lifestyle, not only are you going to live a happier and healthier life, you're going to see the cost of medical care to going down. but, yes, i hope people embrace this. that they don't lose the enthusiasm of health care behaviors with covid-19 is done. we do know these chronic illnesses have rendered us vulnerable to covid-19, but let's not just stop when covid-19 is a thing of the past. let's continue being healthier. >> harris: real quickly, on march 6th a lot of seniors may not know that medicare has waived the telehealth cost. so those particular who have a pre-existing condition are

talking about, dr. saphier, they can do the telehealth, and the cost of setting up a hospital visits other types of visits they had that for down the road or even more expeditiously, at least for those seniors and medicare, it's there for them. >> dr. saphier: harris, let me tell you why this is important. telehealth is underutilized prior to covid-19. i can only hope that it continues to be utilized as much as it is right now in the future. this is an incredible way to streamlined health care and keep overall cost of care down, as well as increase accessibility to certain populations. such as rural america, or where it's limited in some of the specialists they can see. they have to slash the red tape we've been dealing with so we can have telehealth and provide adequate care to a lot of people. let me tell you, it's very difficult for someone with chronic illness to drive maybe an hour or two hours to go see a specialist. they skip appointments because they don't have a ride. they are exposing themselves to

others sometimes to go there. it's just not fair, and therefore telehealth has to stay. i really hope it stays once we are passed covid-19. >> melissa: all right, president trump right now meeting with coronavirus survivors inside the white house. we are going to bring you that just as soon as we get it. ♪ we're finally back out in our yard, but so are they. scotts turf builder triple action. it kills weeds, prevents crabgrass and feeds so grass can thrive, guaranteed. get everything you need for spring at scotts.com order today.

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>> harris: all right, we are awaiting video from president trump's meeting right now at the white house with covid-19 survivors. that's going on, cameras are in there. the first time we will see what happens in that cabinet room will be when we roll it out for you. together, we'll watch. this comes after an especially heated press briefing yesterday when the president played a campaign style video touting his response to the pandemic, including praise from democratic governors. that video also hit the media over its coverage of the

pandemic, and it led to some explosive confrontations between the president and some of the reporters in the room. watch. >> what do you do when you have no case in the whole united states? excuse me. he reported it. zero cases, zero deaths, januar. >> reporter: [inaudible] >> i said in january. on january 30th -- >> reporter: what did your admeasure should due in february? >> a lot. in fact, we will give you a list. what we did. in fact, part of it was up there. we did a lot. you know you're a fake. you know that. your whole network, the way you cover it, is fake. >> harris: the president and a reporter there. others, those 6 feet of distance away, also chiming in at some point. you know, this is a conversation that ari is said is tough for america to watch when you get that kind of venom in the room. melissa?

>> melissa: yeah, i mean -- [sigh] i guess as americans we don't want to see people fighting at a time like this. we are trying to pull together. we are trying to come together as a country. at the same time, there are definitely people who feel like the criticism of the president hasn't been fair. when so many of us did not knowe accurately predicted how devastating this pandemic was going to be. i'm interested in ari's point of view. you have set there, you've been at that podium. what did you think of the way the president, the manner in which he pushed back? what did you think of that? is it appropriate? there was of course the response from some networks, go ahead. >> ari: two points. let me start with a reporter, i think the reporter was out-of-bounds. it's a perfectly legitimate thing to say to the president, "mr. president, can you tell us

we did in february? will you walk us through it? close to perfectly legit. it's another for the reporter to act like resistance, giving a statement, making a speech advocating against the president. the reporters bait the president, the president takes the bait, and we have a barroom brawl. speaking of barroom brawl's, i've been recommending for a while that the briefings go no more than 50 minutes with the qs and as. reporters run out of questions in 30 minutes. it also reminds me of being in a bar after 2:00 a.m. a lot of good stuff has already happened. probably the only thing left to happen after 2:00 a.m. is the bad stuff. >> harris: [laughs] >> ari: and the briefings about 30 minutes, get out of the bar by 2:00 a.m. otherwise you will get in trouble on the way home. >> harris: what i love about live remote television, we have that delayed laughter. but what you said was right on the money, too, ari. not just funny, but that idea that the president and his team come out, they make their statements, and from that, if

you are listening carefully, you should have that next question to advance the conversation. bret baier and i had this conversation on air yesterday, to take it forward. press briefings -- boy, we're getting a lot of access to this president right now. i'm curious, ari, is there some room now for them not to have these? what do you think? >> ari: well, my recommendation would be for the president to come out 2-3 days a week. monday, wednesday, friday. opening statement, statements by others, 30 minutes of q&a. and then all the statements and questions are to dr. fauci and dr. birx and other people. i think that would serve the country better. i think the process to do its part. the speeches reporters are given, it's almost always the tv people. they are useless. just ask a straightforward question, get them an answer. you don't have to like the answer, but it's the president's answer. and keep moving. that's what i would do, i would limit the qs and as. i've stood at the podium, i know

what happens after 30 minutes. they do relate run out of good questions. spew in your analogy of what happens at a bar after 2:00 a.m., we understood that. we are inside of a minute warning from being able to go in without cameras and see the presidents meeting inside the cabinet room. eight people in there, spatially apart, socially distance income if you will. dr. saphier, just real quickly, you are your thoughts or maybe a question or two you would want to ask a survivor in that room? >> dr. saphier: i want to touch on what ari was saying, and especially what you were saying, harris. those questions from reporters need to advance the conversation. i'm not interested in the tit for tat. i'm not interested in scrutinizing with the end administration did two months ago. that's for november 2020. what i want to know during these press briefings are what we are doing to open up the economy and what we're doing to protect our health care workers who are still dying, as well as patients who are still dying, as well pay that's what i want to hear. anything more than that is really, really -- i'm not interested in it.

to ask the survivors, i want to know, i want them to tell their story. i want to hear about the recoveries. those are the stories of hope that will quell some of the fear and anxiety that people are having with covid-19. because i don't want people to be so afraid of this illness that they do halt life as they once knew it. i want people to get back to healthier and happier place. mental healthy air and physical healthier. >> harris: dr. saphier, we're getting pretty close. we do know, from our notes coming out of there, in answer to your question, we are going to hear with their journeys wear. the president of the united states has invited eight people. a couple of them are partly from the diamond princess cruise. he a lot of detailed questions for the survivors. let's watch. >> president trump: well, thank you very much, everybody. this is a group of people who come in many cases, become quite famous because they went through

a lot having to do with the coronavirus. a tremendous amount. a lot of them were covered, and we know them from the media. they've all got very interesting and very different stories to tell. what i would do is go around the room. it's an honor to have them at the white house. they very brave. they were at the edge, they thought it was over. it's a rough plague. i caught the plague, i call it the scourge, whatever you want to call it. it's rough. it's bad. a woman that i've really found fascinating, she is from a state that the great state, and a city that has been hit very hard. really, very, very hard. detroit. highly respected, she's a political person. she doesn't happen to be a republican. that's okay. when things aren't going good and you get a little help from a republican, we will think that, too. but your story was just a fantastic story. we are going to go around the room, each of you. this man was an nfl football

player for ten years, a friend of tom brady. and he was hit hard. you were so strong when he got hit by that. >> i wasn't strong at all in that moment. >> president trump: you are saying you didn't feel too powerful. so, if we could come we will go around the room. if we could sit with you, representative. and congratulations, it's an incredible story. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. vice president. it is such an honor to be here, and such an honor to be here amongst all you survivors. i just can't say how wonderful it is to see your faces. thank you for everything you have done. i did not know that saying thank you had a political line. i didn't know that. i thought saying thank you mitt thank you. i do, i sincerely appreciate that. how do you not brought this to the forefront of the hq come of being able to put this out there, i wouldn't be able to have this conversation with you, to talk about the needs of

detroit and talk about the people who really need this. and they need help. you are here to address that. i sincerely appreciate that, from the both of you, from the bottom of my heart. from the people of my city. >> president trump: you were so incredible as a representative, both in terms of how you got better and what you went through. and your husband sounds like a great gentleman. he went down there and he took care of things, right? he took care of it. that means he loves you. some husbands would say, "eh, let's not bother." he'll do whatever he has to do, right? >> yes. >> president trump: that was later that evening you did that, right? we had the drug store stocked with medicine, and that's fantastic. what got you to go late at night to the drugstore? >> what got me to go late at night, we were trying to do everything we could. she is real slick, so we were kind of in a panic. she's making phone calls.

once we got to the doctor, to put in the 'scrip -- >> president trump: the doctor did a good job? >> the doctor is amazing. he is a well renowned doctor in the state of michigan. >> president trump: is he a doctor from a hospital, a local doctor? >> he's a local doctor, but he is in charge of the ama in michigan. he has nine urgent care clinics, and he has been -- the doctor is amazing. he is taking care of my family, as well. i've lost several family members to covid, all in one household. my cousin, cheryl fowler, was in the icu. she lost her husband. he was turned away from numerous hospitals, as was she. over four times. within six hours, she lost her father-in-law, who was turned away numerous times. her whole family had to be tested, and those seven family

members, three of those test positive. and that is her children. >> president trump: how are they doing? >> thanks to our doctor and what you have done, they are doing great. but it can't be -- >> president trump: so they took the hydroxy, then? >> they did. it can't just be based on my name and your name. >> president trump: that's right. >> he needs to be something readily available to everyone in the city of detroit. >> president trump: i hear the governor has gone all out for it, from being totally opposed to it. now she's all out for a pair that's in a hearing. that's a good thing. i think it's a good thing. >> it's a great thing. >> president trump: when you started that walk or run, "what the hell do i have to lose?" my expression, "what do i have to lose?" she was in bad shape. i understand. congratulations, it's incredible story. i like democrats. i especially liked this democrat, though, you have a beautiful presence and you are a beautiful couple. thank you for coming.

>> thank you for having us. >> president trump: i have a feeling she's going to go very much up. she's a great representative right now, but i have a feeling, politically -- do you have any further polygonal ambitions, do you think? >> i didn't even aspire to be a state representative, to be perfectly honest. >> president trump: i may have to cross party lines. i may have to work with her across party lines. thank you very much, great honor to have you. please, tell us your story. >> my story is we were on the diamond princess, ground zero, and i didn't get the virus they are. although i tested positive there, i didn't learn about it until later. we were flown back, thanks to you. we were flown back by the state department. >> president trump: nobody would take the diamond princess. no other country would take it, nobody wanted it. it was like -- you know, they call it a ghost ship. not good. so we took it. >> we were stuck there, it was like we were on the floating

petri dish. we were watching the bodies get off daily, ambulances, taken it one by one. a total of 750 of us over time were taken out. we were more than double the amount of outbreak, if you added everyone in the world at the time, other than china. and china wasn't giving us any information. if you added all that up, we doubled the amount of people who have the virus. >> president trump: how many people died, ultimately, on the ship? >> the ship, 11 people died from the diamond princess. on the plane ride back, on the 747 military plane, i woke up with a high fever. over 103. they put me in a quarantine area, next to about eight other people. we landed in sacramento, at travis air force base, and then they saw me and so i had a condition, a precondition of

gleaned bar syndrome. >> president trump: you did have a precondition? >> i had a precondition. flew me, they had three of us in quarantine. my wife and two others who didn't have the virus, my wife never had the virus. she should be the one studied right now. >> president trump: you are together, no six with a current nothing. you are together and you didn't catch it? >> they started taking yesterday, providence health and service has just started to do a study. >> president trump: a study of you? do you think you had it before and there's immunity without knowing it? >> we'll find out. >> president trump: wow, that's fantastic. >> i don't think she had -- >> president trump: it's amazing to be together like that and not catch it. >> not only that, we have two friends. we were going back and forth