"america's newsroom," ed. >> ed: hitting the ground running. looking forward to see you again early tomorrow. >> sandra: thanks for joining us, everyone. we will see you same time tomorrow morning, 9:00 eastern time. thanks for joining us. "outnumbered" starts now. >> harris: would begin with a fox news alert. we are awaiting new remarks on president trump who is now set to depart the white house right about now en route to pennsylvania. a medical supply distributed there. this, after newly declassified documents reveal the names of obama euro officials involved in the unmasking of former national security advisor michael flynn. it happened during the transition. period right before president trump took office. they include now presumptive 2020 democratic nominee joe biden. here's the list. along with former fbi director james comey, former cia director john brennan, president trump

hit the former vice president over the latest disclosure and e involved should pay a price. >> he said he didn't know anything about it, and now it just gets released right after he said that. it gets released that he was one of the unmaskers. meaning he knew everything about it. >> harris: meanwhile, the biden campaign is hitting back, saying, "all normal procedures were followed." it's telling that these documents were selectively leaked by republicans abusing their congressional powers to act as arms of the trump campaign, after having them provided by a partisan official installed for this very purpose." you're watching "outnumbered." i'm harris faulkner. here today, melissa francis. "town hall" editor and fox news contributor, katie pavlich. fox news contributor, jessica tarlov. in the center seat, there he is with her stomach with a very fine hanky pocket thingy, anchor and executive editor of "special report," bret baier is "outnumbered" today.

good to see you. >> bret: hey, how are you? >> harris: i'm great! you know, it's interesting to see how this is all unfolding and very quickly. both sides accusing the other in terms of theiming. why is that significant? >> bret: well, the timing of this, obviously when the unmasking happens -- and i know everybody has been following this on this channel, but there are people who don't really fully get it, who just tune in every once in a while. it is basically a request that has to be made through the intelligence community to unmask, reveal the name of someone, an american, who is kind of swept up in a wiretap that is ongoing with a foreign element. the unmasking of that name. understand they don't understand who the name is. that's where the pushback is

coming from. democrats say this is a normal event. it's not normal, it was very close to the inauguration of president trump. >> harris: the timing. >> bret: potentially, it's the leak of the information to "the washington post." david ignatius, the opinion writer who does the story first. >> harris: you know what? i want to just kind of lean and a little bit on that, because "the wall street journal" editorial board wrote this. let's put this up on the screen. "while unmasking isn't illegal," as bret just said, "leaking intelligence is. joe biden's unmasking request was made on january 12, 2017, the day "the washington post" reported on the flynn russia conversation. mr. biden has some explain them to do." again, that's the wall street editorial board. "the wall street journal." jessica, what do you say about this? >> jessica: i say that the trump campaign and the president himself would rather be talking about this than the 83,000 americans who died of coronavirus.

i do believe that he wants this to be an election issue. it's a red meat rallying cry for his base that loves russiagate, now you have obamagate, so the president himself couldn't answer when asked by a reporter what the actual crime was committed was. >> melissa: oh, i can. >> jessica: okay, well, what was the car that was committed here, melissa? >> melissa: leaking classified information to "the washington post." that is what is the crime, and that's what was illegal. you have president obama saying to his holdovers, after they leave, that they should consider not sharing information with the president. this is not our system works. i think, at the very least -- because you kind of dodged harris' question, they are -- at the least, joe biden needs to answer the question on the day e requested that unmasking, the day that "the washington post"

released that story. were you the source? were you the one that leaked it? if you wear, that's illegal. >> jessica: am actually completely -- i'm fine with joe biden answering that question. i think there is a 0% chance, maybe a 1% chance that the vice president of the united states of america called the david ignatius to leak a story like that. the timing is critical, based on new information we have about when the unmasking request are made. were actually three week dominic weeks prior to the call between michael flynn and the russian ambassador kislyak. this was mid-december. was this something going on in the middle east? some other foreign policy issue? we are moving into a world where we're talking about michael flynn as the victim of a deep state conspiracy instead of acknowledging that this man, a three star general knows better than to lie to the fbi and to lie to the vice president of the united states of america, did that.

he was working with the turks, first of all. a violation issue. then he also got a sweetheart deal from the mueller team, because he admitted that he lives in that he's guilty. if they want to make the election about leaking to "the washington post," go ahead. it's about health care, and the 83,000 americans who already have lost their lives. >> harris: okay. jessica, i'm going to step in with joe biden. on tuesday he was asked about what he knew about the flynn investigation. initially saying he knew nothing before changing his tune when pressed further. let's watch and then katie, i will come to you. >> i know nothing about those moves to invest get michael flynn, number one. number two, this is all about the version. this is the game this guy plays all the time. >> you said you didn't know anything about it, but you are reported to be at a january 25th, 2017 meeting where you and the president were briefed on the fbi's plan to question him over the questions he had with the russian

ambassador kislyak. >> i thought you asked me whether or not i had anything to do with him being prosecuted. i'm sorry. i was aware that there was -- that they asked for an investigation. but that is all i know about it. >> harris: katie, my one observation here is that joe biden better get ready. he is going to be asked about this. >> he is going to be asked about it. his argument is a weak one. it's not a diversion to ask questions about why the obama administration was talking about withholding information from the incoming administration and, quite frankly, asking questions about meetings that came to fruition during the transition that later, looking back, were used to develop plans into the future, about how to harm the incoming trump administration. if you want to talk about timelines, let's talk about timelines. in december, the fbi was told that there was no derogatory

information found on flynn because they were listening to his phone calls. on january 4th, the case was supposed to be closed and peter strzok said, "keep it open, the seventh floor is involved." that is code for fa director james comey. the next day, on january 5th, james comey went to the white house and had a meeting with barack obama, the former cia director john brennan, dni clapper, susan rice, joe biden, and the deputy attorney general sally yates, and after that meeting you had obama was -- he informed her that michael flynn was being listened to, and then january 12th rolls around, joe biden makes this unmasking request that shows up in "the washington post," and on january 24th the fbi agents, after flynn was cleared with no derogatory information, were sent by james comey after this meeting in the oval office going around all the protocols to ask flynn questions after writing

notes, "do you want to get him to lie? are we trying to prosecute him? are we trying to get them fired?" there is a timeline here. one more thing, if you extrapolate that out to what was said during the russia investigation, people like john brennan used information from the transition period to accuse the administration of doing things that they weren't doing. which is why his security clearance was pulled. >> harris: it's really interesting. we were up when she was some of these documents are what we would call, in layman terms, "the receipts." that's what people are looking at. we are watching this, too, it is breaking news right now. let's step in for a distant second. fox news alert on this, the top doctor formally tasked with leading the agency in charge of finding a covid-19 vaccine is testifying on capitol hill right now. we are streaming live on foxnews.com. the entire hearing. we wanted to show you a portion of it here with some commentary, because it's important to put this breaking news into perspective.

the warning our window of opportunity is closing came from this doctor. he said if we fail to improve our response right now based on science, the pandemic will be, in his words, "greatly compounded." bret? >> bret: this is a significant testimony today. obviously it has long history in the job he was in. the president calls him a "disgruntled employee," but whether he's that or not, he does have a lot of experience and he's telling a story about not being prepared for this pandemic. this is potentially politically damaging for the president as he is talking about trying to get a handle on the health crisis and open up around the country. he is not discredited easily, this rick breit. in fact, his whistle-blower report was very detailed to the point where the federal government itself said that he had standing to make this

testimony. i think it's one worth watching today. democrats obviously will pounce on this as an example of the administration dropping the ba ball. >> harris: you know, bret, from the very beginning -- and i watched just how things got started, because i'm always curious to know kind of the opening remarks, take the tone in the room. it seemed like there was some grandstanding. i know that's going to shock you, right? partisan? [laughs] but it was kind of an odd thing, because it was set up that way. then he gave this statement. i know how these things go. there were some complaints that there weren't name tags there, and it was really kind of chippy in the beginning. >> bret: yeah, and that doesn't help him making his case. >> harris: no. >> he's also represented by the lawyer who represented christine blasey ford when she came forward. all of the factors in. where he was in the job, he would be able to see what was

happening behind the scenes. unless there is some other counterpoint to what he's saying, there is substance to his testimony. >> harris: one of the things he has pointed out from his perspective is that we still have not caught up on personal protection equipment, that ppe. just moments ago he was talking about this on the hill. let's watch that section. >> i would never forget the emails i received, indicating that n95 respirators apply. he said, we are in deep -- the world is. we need to act." i push that forward to the highest levels i could and hhs. i got no response. >> harris: bret, how do you read this? i mean, he's got a job of going there and saying what he saw what he heard as a so-called

whistle-blower. tell me about how that room reacts. the room that you know well, those lawmakers. what are they looking for from him? >> bret: listen, from a partisan perspective, democrats are looking for the need to continue the attack on the indentation, saying they aren't getting things done, weren't from the beginning, and are now. republicans are looking for substance about where we are now, i think. possibly looking to discredit something he says. but also some of the questioning so far has been about where we go from here. it's a different motivation. a lot of times, with these hearings. we have seen there's a lot of speechifying from all of the lawmakers. >> harris: [laughs] you are being kind. >> bret: that it will make an ad to somewhere. >> harris: real quickly, "where do we go from here?" there's another audience for this. not just the lawmakers in that room, but a wider audience. they can tune in on

foxnews.com and see the whole thing streamed live today. that's the public. which part do you think they are focused on? knowing what happened or what's going happen? >> bret: what's going to happen. i think that's why they were focused on the fauci senate hearing the other day. what's next? how do you get through this? there's a lot of time to look backwards. we are in the middle of it now. i think there's a lot of people at home saying, "when do i get to open up? wind is the vaccine come? what is the deal with each of these decisions that right now our 50 states, that governors are making? >> harris: we hope were in the middle and outer the beginning. it would nice to be middle to end. we shall see. we will move on with this and continue to watch this and give an update a little later this hour. new jobless numbers are out right now, as the pandemic has put millions of additional americans out of work. the president says his critics want to use the economic fallout against him, but he vows better

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♪ >> melissa: nearly 3 million u.s. workers applied for on appointment benefits last week, according to this morning's numbers from the department of labor, bringing the total to roughly 36 million people. seeking jobless aid since the pandemic hit the u.s. president trump accusing his critics of routing for a slow recovery in the hopes it could hurt him come november.

>> i think it's a political thing. the people that want to see the right thing happen, they agree with me. we have to get our country open. you know, if it was up to some people, let's keep it close for a long time, okay? a long time. and watch the united states go down the tubes. not going to happen. >> melissa: katie, what do you think? is that fair criticism? >> katie: i think it's fair criticism for the president to say that he believes some of these democrats are doing this for political purposes. after all, the economy was one of the top things of the president had going for him, and right now in an election year you have to question some of the motives that are not based on data of some of the democrats on capitol hill and even some of these democrats in states where facing opposition with their arbitrary executive orders to continue this. let's not forget, not that he's not a representative, but bill

maher famously said we need the economy to crash, even if people get hurt, because that's one thing you need to get president trump out of office. i think joe biden has a very tall hill to climb when it comes to being able to prove, especially given the economy during the obama administration, that he is the guy for a job building an economy after pandemic. certainly politics are at play, here. >> melissa: i want to read you a clip from an opinion piece in "the new york times" from dr. mcgarry, heep sr. on the show. "as a physician, i firmly believe in the power of our reopening. various mitigation can take many forms, ranging from effective to excessive. extreme forms of mitigation can have diminishing returns." he started by saying, "i believe in the primary goal of reopening should be to maximize the number of lives saved, but there are these other things they have to take into account at this

point." bret, with your reaction? >> bret: well, listen, the president thinks it's political, but there are many republicans concerned about the health situation and reopening states, whether that has an effect at different points. i think it is worth him putting it in, the way he talks about it. for the most part, the governors are making a decision based on the stats they have. collectively, we've seen numbers going down for the most part nationally. that's a good thing. you follow somebody like scott gottlieb, former fda, head of the fda, saying the virus looks better today than it did just a few days ago. so, i don't think it's a political thing in each one of these decisions. but clearly the president feels that some democrats are trying to drag it out to affect his campaign. he tweets that, too. >> melissa: vi. jessica, to me it seems like people's perspective is more

colored by what immediate experience is in their community, rather than politics. we certainly know in some areas of the country it is -- the virus has taken over, and there are many people that are sick. and you know five, ten, 15 people who have gotten sick. in other parts of the country they are much more impacted, and they know more people are really hurting for financial reasons and few people that are hurting because of the sickness. that is what's come in my opinion, coloring people's perspective. what is your thought? >> jessica: absolutely agree with you. we are seeing that in our own home state, melissa, here in new york. the experience in new york city is very different than upstate, which is why governor cuomo has phased plans that focus on regions. ever governors do, as well. you are completely correct there. i think the problem is, and what people are responding too badly, is the moving of the goalpost. we saw this yesterday in california, for instance. first there was an order that they are going to be, in los angeles county, sheltered at home through july.

which seems kind of crazy with how fast-moving the information that we have about this virus is, that he would go a couple months out to begin with. but then, that was updated to say that we are going to be in some sort of position fearing the virus until they secure. that there might be people staying at home until that point. moving the goalpost that far when there are people who are economically hurting as hard as they are, and that's in wealthy communities, poor communities, across the board that people are feeling the economic impacts, i think it's a real danger for a lot of these leaders who have gotten high marks up until this point. like a gavin newsom or the mayor of san francisco. >> melissa: that's a really great point. we want to bring in our own chad pergram, because he has more on this breaking story that is happening right now, related to this fox news alert, that republican senator richard burr is stepping aside as chairman of the senate intel committee.

this, as that ongoing investigation into the security train that he made into the run-up of the coronavirus pandemic. congressional correspondent chad pergram, as i mentioned, live on capitol hill with more. chad? >> hi, melissa. this is just coming from the office of the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell pao it i will review a said. "senator burke contacted me this morning to inform me of his decision to step down from the intelligence committee during the pendency of this investigation. we agree it was in the best interest of the committee, and we, effective at the end of the day tomorrow." as you know, questions have been raised about senator burr and some of his stock trades area this warrant that was issued for some of his records, this would have gone to the highest levels of the department of justice. there were briefings for mid-february about coronavirus, and senator burr made those trades. the question is whether or not he might have made those trades

based on "inside information." in 2012, the senate approved something called the stock act. what it entails two things. number one, you have to disclose your stock trades, number one. number two, you can't use this inside information that you get from briefings on capitol hill to decide on the streets. the senate passed that bill in 2012. 96-3. one of the three nos was richard burr. tomorrow he will step aside from the chairmanship of the intelligence committee. they are having a boat right now on the senate floor, so all senators are going in the senate chamber right now. we are trying to see if we can get him, his office has given no comment since this investigation was formally announced last night. back to you, melissa. >> melissa: boy, senators shouldn't be actively trading at all, any politicians in washington, while they are sitting. chad, thank you for that. a judge there was another roadblock at the doj's push to drop the case against

michael flynn. the unusual move raising a lot of questions, next. ♪ ♪

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former prosecutor and retired federal judge don gleason to oppose the doj's efforts to drop the case against flynn. and, explore a possible perjury charge against flynn. as a federal prosecutor in new york, gleason was known for putting away such mobsters as the so-called teflon don, john gotti. bret, come to you on this. there's a lot of history with this judge, and we knew that he might have, you know, something to say. i don't see anything, and i'm not reading anything that he can force this towards prosecution. is that changing? >> bret: this is really rare. i heard trey gowdy on our air earlier today saying in 20 years of being a prosecutor he had never seen a judge do this. this action is an effort to kind of resuscitate a prosecution against flynn, and possibly force the president into issuing a pardon instead of dragging this out.

it's interesting, though. just a week ago there was a case in the supreme court that was a 9-0 unanimous decision. ruth bader ginsburg, a hero, obviously, of the left, was the majority writer. she said that courts are essentially passive instruments of government. they should not sally forth each day looking for wrongs to write. they wait for cases to come to them, and when cases arrive, courts decide on the questions presented by the parties. this is pretty presentation principle. essentially, it's the same premise here that the judge can't be a prosecutor. so, this is going to be interesting to see how it goes forward. >> harris: yeah. that's how i had read it. of course, he can say friends of the court, your amicus brief. that is not a nuance. but can he push it forward beyond what the legal parameters have said? he can weigh in, certainly. katie, what are you following on

this story? >> katie: well, michael flynn is in a tough position. because he did plead guilty, because the fbi was pressuring his family and saying they were going to go after his son, that's what their side of the defense of that guilty plea says. in front of judge sullivan, who asked him, "are you sure this is a guilty plea you want to put into the court?" and he said, "yes, sir, i took responsibility from actions." however, would you go back and figure that the fbi said they were closing the case in december of 2016 because they found no derogatory information, and then you have these notes about essentially entrapping him in a lie and getting him to lie in order to be prosecuted, in order to be fired, attorney general bar's argument, he wrote the brief for the case be dismissed, said the fbi did not have a valid case in the first place to even

interview flynn in january because the case was supposed to be dismissed and closed. the investigation, in december. all of those factors come into play. i'm not exactly sure why the judge is asking for a number of amicus briefs, which, yes, they come from legal organizations, but that opens it up for politics to be submitted to the court. the perjury issue is one that comes with what he told the judge when he made that guilty plea, which he then withdrew. >> harris: yeah, you know, it's interesting. when you talk about the delay, the stall, katie, it takes me bacback to what bret was talking about, the politics may play a role. that is, can you resuscitate the case enough just to keep it in the headlines? jessica? >> jessica: i think the trump administration certainly wants to keep it in the headlines, if they are going to lead with obamagate. the president was talking to our own maria bartiromo about -- >> harris: we are talking about judge sullivan.

and it dealing this. and friends of the court come in. please, bring your briefs, weight and from the outside." >> jessica: the premise that judge sullivan is a political actor i think is totally ridiculous. i've seen a reversal from right-wing commentators in the last 24 hours since this news has been out. they were allotting him in 2018 for the reasons katie brought up when she was just speaking, abot michael flynn he would he was doing when he put in that guilty plea. and now suddenly he has a political hack. that couldn't be further from the truth. >> harris: that's an interesting point. >> jessica: it's really dangerous to be talking about the politicization of the courts like that. what is at the heart of all of this is that there is a widespread concern that attorney general barr is running a corrupt doj. there is a reason that only one u.s. attorney was on that dismissal write up for flynn. nobody else signed on with him. since then, 2,000 people who used to work at the doj who have

signed on to a saying attorney general barr should resign. he is acting in the president's interest, and in this case and make flynn's interest, but not necessarily the public interest. i think that's the concern about judge sullivan has here, that attorney general barr wanted to get flynn off so maybe the president didn't have to pardon him. he was moving towards that and even talking about bringing him back. but the courts, judge sullivan -- >> harris: you are reading the tea leaves there, right? i mean, we don't know any of that. we don't know any of that. you bring up a fair point with regard to judge sullivan that, based on his history with this case, you might not call politics necessarily. i'm looking at the end result. when you delay a case like this, you give it oxygen because everybody keeps talking about it. regardless of what the motives may or may not be, that is kind of the outpouring outcome of it all. all right, we'll scoot. we are continuing to monitor that hearing on capitol hill as the ousted vaccine chief has

issued a dire warning about the coronavirus pandemic. the reaction from lawmakers, as that apartment of health and human services is pushing back. >> some scientists raised early warning signals that were overlooked, and pages from our pandemic playbook were ignored by leadership. ♪ home values are up, and mortgage rates are at record lows. that's good news for veterans with va loans. that's me. by using your va streamline refi benefit, one call to newday usa can save you $2,000 a year. that's me. there's no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. that's me. put your va home loan benefits to good use. call my team at newday usa.

>> melissa: fox news alert, we are awaiting remarks on the ongoing testimony on capitol hill, calling dr. bright a disgruntled employee. explosive capitol hill testimony today. the top government virologists who followe filed a whistle-blor complaint against the trump administration. dr. richard bright led the federal agency tasked with opening a covid-19 vaccine, but was recently transferred to what

he calls a "less impactful post-coma" at the national institutes of health. bright telling congress that was in retaliation for some of the drug remedies that president touted and issuing this dire warning. speak out our window of opportunity is closing. if we fail to improve our response now, based on science, i fear the pandemic will get worse and be prolonged. it'll be likely a resurgence of covid-19 this fall. it will be greatly compounded by the challenges of seasonal influenza. without better planning, 2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history. >> melissa: the deferment of health and human services pushing back, calling dr. bright's arguments one sided and saying he was an early proponent of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, which he now criticizes. bret, as we said, we will hear from the president of the moment as he departs for allentown,

pennsylvania. in the meantime, what is your reaction to this back and forth? it strikes me that no matter which group of lawmakers we are looking at, when we go back and look in hindsight at these events, we are going to find things they did right and things they did wrong. i think about the governor of new york, as well, and the criticism he's getting over things that have happened at the nursing home. maybe it is in the balance of those things that we are going to judge how everyone responded. i doubt anyone is going to merge with a perfect slate. >> bret: i think you're right. that crosses party lines. the early parts of this, there were a lot of mistakes made, clearly, by the administration. as you note, governors dealing with the nursing home situation, for example. you have the president pushing back on this testimony, because i think they realize that, as i mentioned before, this is a guy in a position to know things about the early stages. interestingly the hhs secretary is also out saying that

everything dr. bright is talking about was done in the hhs realm. we haven't heard a lot from secretary azar, and the fact that he is out pushing back suggests the administration is full guns. >> melissa: yeah. jessica, with your reaction? >> bret: to >> jessica: i think it's really for the doctor bright is testifying on this, and that we are getting more of an inside look as to what's going on in the past few months. there's been much reporting about the lost february, as it were. that there were warnings starting in january, and then kind of nothing for a month, and obviously we all know what happened in march when we were all ordered to shelter in place, essentially. dr. bright is going to be held up as a beacon on the left, obviously. as bret pointed out earlier in the show, this comes across party lines. there are republican governors like larry hogan, charlie baker,

mike dewine and ohio. this testimony is incredibly important as it directly relates to the ppe issue, and dr. bright highlighted that because we didn't fast enough on this we had to rely on foreign countries to send us ppe that was below standard. and there have been reports from all over the country of health care workers and essential workers not being sufficiently protected from this virus. i think it will be integral to the story of how president trump's handling of the coronavirus is rated. going to an election year, that will matter even more. >> melissa: yeah. katie, as we talk about the ppe, i'm reminded of the rush we had for ventilators and this idea that we were going to have two people in one ventilator. we didn't have enough, and it turns out we have all these extra ventilators. so many so that we are sending them to other countries, which is a wonderful thing. but it is very hard, as something like this is happeni happening, to figure out what to

do in the moment. looking back later, it is pretty easy to be critical. but you want to be prepared for the next time, i guess. what are your thoughts? >> katie: yeah, on the issue of ppn reparation, let's not forget that when china was telling the world this disease is not transmissible human to human, they were hoarding ppe. then, when the rest of the world got it because it was transmissible human to human, they upped the price and wouldn't allow american companies to export ppe when they needed it. moving forward, the president and the white house are announcing today that they are going to restock the strategic national stockpile so they have a lot of this equipment ready to go for the next time around. because it was depleted before this pandemic. whether it's ventilators, masks, that sort of thing. in combination with capitol hill, there are a number of senators on capitol hill working now to write legislation to incentivize companies to come back from china so we can make

really important ppe equipment in the united states and not have to rely on other countries when this happens again. >> harris: yeah. >> melissa: harris, your thoughts? >> harris: yeah, you know, i'm looking at the juxtaposition of what we are about to see as we are now under a minute going to the president of the united states as he is headed to, as he mentioned, allentown, pennsylvania. you have dr. bright, the vaccine expert talking about the need for ppe, and all the things lacking. you have the president, the visual we are about to see and hear about from him and secretary azar, talking about what was actually there. i just note that bret brought up that point of what secretary azar at hhs was saying. he said dr. bright, with regard to the ppe, is alleging it's not showing in the proof. the manhattan project for vaccines is happening.

hydrparadoxical you are seeing theback-and-fortd time again as the president gets ready to speak outside the white house. let's watch. >> president trump: it's a great time in pennsylvania, it's a tremendous state. they ought to think about opening it up. a lot of people want their freedom and they'll get their freedom very soon. we've been doing very well in the numbers, and i'm going to ask kayleigh to say a couple words. >> secretary mcenany: hi, there. i wanted to allow our preparedness. the obama-biden plan has been referenced, it was insufficient, wasn't going to work. whatever administration did, and leadership of president trump, is an entire 2019 pandemic preparedness report. beyond that we did a full exercise on pandemic preparedness in august of last year, and had an entire after action report put together. in other words, the obama-biden

was superseded by president trump-style pandemic preparedness response. >> president trump: it was much more complete, and it was a lot tougher. we were given very little when we came into this administrati administration, and they've done a fantastic job. i think we're going to have a vaccine by the end of the year. i think distribution will take place almost simultaneously, because we've geared up the military. you will see that tomorrow. anything else? >> secretary mcenany: we have a full update tomorrow at the briefing, line by line, how prepared we were for the pandemic thanks to the leadership of president trump. >> president trump: you're going with us. >> want me to talk about -- >> president trump: sure. >> dr. bright is that there testifying today. everything he's complaining about was achieved. everything he talked about was done. he says he talked about the need for respirators.

we procured respirators under the president's direction. he said we need a manhattan project for vaccines. this president initiates a vaccine manhattan project, diagnostic manhattan project, therapeutic manhattan project. oh, and, by the way, whose job was that you actually lead the development of vaccines? dr. bright's. so, while we are launching operation warp speed, he is not showing up for work to be part of that. so, this is like somebody who was in a choir and is now trying to say he was a soloist back then. what he was saying is what every member of this administration and the president was saying. we need more personal protective equipment, we did more ventilators, we need therapeutics, we need vaccines. every single thing. this president was on, this president achieved, and dr. bright was part of a team and was simply saying what everybody else at the

white house and at hhs was saying. not one bit of difference. and hydroxychloroquine, dr. bright literally signed the application for fda authorization of it. literally, he is the sponsor of it. so, his allegations do not hold water. they do not hold water. >> president trump: we have had some great response in terms of doctors writing letters, people calling on the hydroxychloroquine. this guy is fighting it. no reason to fight it. there's no reason. more importantly than that, we have had tremendous response to the hydroxy. we've had great response along with it, and the z-pak. a lot of people have sworn by it. we will see. i will tell you what, to me, i

watched this guy for a little while this morning. to me, he is nothing more than a really disgruntled, unhappy person. i'm not just talking about alex, because alex said it strongly, but there are a lot of people who don't like the job he's in. i don't know, i never met him, i don't want to meet him, but i watched him, and he looks like an angry, disgruntled employee who, frankly, according to some people, didn't do a very good job. all right, any other questions? >> reporter: chairman byrd just announced he's stepping down, with your reaction who? >> reporter: senator burr, the men who -- >> reporter: temporarily. >> president trump: i didn't know that. >> reporter: the investigation into senator burr, any one of the justice department? >> president trump: i never have come i didn't know. when did he announce he's stepping? >> reporter: a short time ago. temporally, from his chairmanship. >> president trump: i know nothing about it. i never discussed it with anybody. that's too bad.

go ahead. we'll see, we'll see. we've got a lot of things going with china. we are not happy about china, i will tell you that. the ink wasn't dry on a great trade deal, then all of the sudden the plague comes in from china. we are not happy about it. [indistinct] i'm okay with it. i'm okay with it. if you look at the world trade -- notably the world health, and we'll be making an announcement on the world health organization shortly, soon. probably next week sometime. but the world trade organization is horrible. we've been treated very badly. i've been saying this for a long time. when i talked, we act on it. the world trade, they treat china as a developing nation. therefore, china gets a lot of the benefits that the u.s. doesn't get. they have other countries that are developing nations, and the

people sitting in the oval office should never have let that happen. i'm going to pennsylvania, yes. >> [indistinct] >> president trump: i don't know, i never discussed with h him. death is death, we don't want people dying in this country. we've done a great job. we've done a great job, i'll tell you why. what we've done on ventilators, and what we've done on testing, except the press doesn't read it that way, because you have all this fake news, but what we've done on testing, we've now tested more than the entire world put together. the entire world put together, we have many more tests than they do, and better tests. and the reason we have more cases is because we have more testing. we done a great job, and the people, the men and women who have done this great job should be acknowledged by the press. >> [indistinct] >> president trump: i can't hear a word you're saying.

i can't hear. >> [indistinct] >> melissa: all right, that was the president there, and alex azar, as well, stopping to talk to reporters on the way to allentown, pennsylvania. bret, let me start with you, because you had hhs secretary alex azar there making the argument responding to brett's testimony today, that saying, basically, everything bright sas he was saying, "we have to do this, we have to do this," he said he was part of a chorus. "we were all saying the same thing. every complaint he made about things that needed to happen, those things have been achieved." in your opinion, is that an argument that will hold up against the evidence? >> bret: i think it's a strong argument. they are saying we are where we are now, and they are not talking about the things at the beginning and how it all unraveled. they are saying, "we are where we are." the ppe, the moon shot for a

vaccine quicker than ever before. where they are is the strongest argument to make, and that's what secretary azar was saying. just as a reporter who used to cover the white house, it's tough with those yelling questions over the home of the helicopter, marine one in the background. reagan used to do that. if he didn't like a question, he would give it one of these and walk away. >> harris: [laughs] >> bret: i didn't hear the last question there, but it's interesting to watch the president deal with those questions. >> melissa: it is. katie, i will ask you, as well, because we did see some photos in advance of this from some reporters who said, not only are they shouting against the helicopter and the ambient noise, but now they are wearing masks. as they try and yell at than their questions, there is yet another thing that is muffling the questions being asked. maybe it's a good thing for the president, because sometimes he does tend to stay and talk too long to reporters.

what do you think you? >> katie: yeah, i would not doubt that the helicopter chopper talk is a tactic the white house press office uses while he's on his way to an event, to answer the questions he wants to answer and be able to walk away from the ones he does not. >> melissa: yeah. jessica? >> jessica: yeah, i only wish i was able to see what hand motion bret was making. the way this was set up, i can't. it definitely is to the president's advantage. i would point out that i think the last few weeks since kayleigh mcenany became the press secretary have gone a lot better than the few weeks preceding that. i think that she at least has been a positive influence on the president's p.r. now. i disagree, obviously, with a whole host of things she has said, and the president, but she's been a positive force for the administration. the chopper talk, it's hard, plus the masks. but we did get the sound bites we needed to set up the opposition of the hhs secretary

azar and the president against dr. bright. i think we will keep returning to those fault lines. the administration versus the "science" there. i think that we'll be seeing a lot more of that. >> melissa: yeah. bret, real quick, we talk about the press secretary who also emerge from some props. she had the glossy binder of the president's plan, she held up what i believed was the plan that former vice president joe biden was saying he left behind. it's funny, "this is ours, this was his, it's going to be a battle of the plans." i wonder if they were all the same font and had the same number of pages, that sort of thing. >> bret: they'll have a detailed -- >> melissa: she took out the visual. >> bret: they will have a detailed rollout, she said, tomorrow. i agree she has provided a good buffer for this white house. she is doing a good job of answering questions. this president, we should point out, has answered more questions than any other. quick tease, senator mitch mcconnell, the majority leader, on report

tonight. >> melissa: bret, thank you for joining us and thank you for telling us about that. we will all tune and without a doubt. thank you as well to the rest of the virtual couch and everyone watching from their couch at home. that's "outnumbered." now, here's harris. ♪ >> harris: and we will pick it up with breaking news of the president of the united states headed to allentown, pennsylvania, now. he is visiting a distribution center for medical protective gear. he is due to arrive this hour, and we will show you that as it happens life. then there is this. new reaction from president trump over new disclosures in the michael flynn case. "outnumbered overtime" now, i'm harris faulkner. senate republicans releasing a list of obama-era officials who requested unmasking that ultimately identified former national security advisor mike flynn during the presidential transition.