in michigan, sandra. a big story that we will stay on top of. speak to don agreed to be with you for these three hours, ed. we'll be back here tomorrow morning 9:00 eastern. thanks for joining us. >> ed: "outnumbered" starts right now. >> harris: we begin with this fox news alert. right now the president is gearing up to depart the white house for the battleground state of michigan. he could stop to talk with the press on his way out the door. we'll bring you that if it happens. the president will visit a ford plant that is now making ventilators, and this comes amid this showdown with that state's democratic governor gretchen whitmer, over her coronavirus response. as the president is threatening to withhold federal funding to the state of michigan and nevada over their efforts to increase mail in voting amid the pandemic. the president says the move encourages voter fraud. >> when you send out 7.7 million mail-in ballots, there are forgeries, there is frankly

duplication where they print ballots on the same kind of paper with the same kind of machinery and he can't tell the difference. >> harris: michigan democratic congresswoman debbie dingell is pushing back, saying male-in voting is about providing access. >> this is a nonpartisan move being done by secretary of sta state's in democratic states, republican states, to say, "your vote matters," and every vote does matter. >> harris: you're watching "outnumbered." i'm harris faulkner. here today, fox business anchor dagen mcdowell. fox news contributor, jessica tarlov. joining us today, for her press secretary to president george w. bush and fox news contributor, ari fleischer. he is "outnumbered," as we say. great to see you, everybody. we are awaiting along side for our beloved melissa francis, who will join us just moments away. let's get this conversation

started about, ari, all of the complications and the difficulties with the timing of going to michigan, as they are literally underwater in parts o. >> ari: yeah, i hope the president will be able to return to midland, where the flooding is eerie and the president has a pattern of going to places where there have been national disasters, so it wouldn't surprise me if he does. as for the politics of it, so be it. the president's job today is to actually go show a success story. how america, just like we did in world war ii, geared up to be the arsenal of democracy. we are now the manufacturer of the ppe for coronavirus. it really is a tribute to america's private sector, how we have been able to produce the goods we need to help us fight the virus on a massively increased basis. so, the president's job is just a focus on the substance. i doubt he'll do that, because the politics always intervenes. >> harris: wait, i couldn't

see you. who just left? i want to go to that person. >> dagen: it was jessica. [laughter] >> jessica: the liberal on the panel, yes. i'm with ari on that. he definitely will be able to resist it, going to the ford plant is obviously important and i hope he does observe their mask policy. vice president mike pence was commenting he will evaluate it on an ad hoc basis. just wear the mask, it's pretty simple. it's policy there. hopefully he will be able to see the community affected by the flood, which obviously is a terrible tragedy on top of the difficult time michigan has had with the coronavirus. getting to the politics of voting with this, congresswoman dingell is absolutely correct. republicans and democrats are in favor of mail-in ballots at this point. it is dangerous, as we saw in wisconsin, for people to have to line up, maybe 6 feet apart, but not for the entire time, to go in and be able to cast their votes. there were double-digit deaths as a result of going to that

polling place. there's also no evidence of widespread voter fraud in america. the president himself voted absentee through the mail, and there are others in his inner circle who did as well. i received a survey from judicial watch talking about all the illegal aliens that are voting. it is to gin up the things -- okay. >> harris: let me step in here with dagen, because i want to get you into the mix here. here's my question for you, dagen. nobody seems to think that what we are going through with coronavirus pandemic is temporary. like, it's going to be here in one shape or another until we get a vaccine, hopefully. or there is an of herd immunity, or whichever comes first. when i hear that congress is struggling and finally starting to get its act together on how it can vote with hundreds of people showing up at one time, we will have to figure out how to do that across the country in some way, shape, or form.

what are your thoughts on that? >> dagen: and some red states are figuring out how to do that. president trump did not go after georgia, iowa, west virginia. they, too, are automatically sending absentee ballot applications to voters. in texas, a judge just this week, on tuesday, ruled that if somebody wants to vote absentee in november because of the pandemic, that is possible. now the republican attorney general in the state is vowing to appeal that decision. but i think, state-by-state, state, they don't want -- whether it's blue state or red state, they don't want to send the message to people of, "if you want your vote to count, you have to go to a polling place in november," particularly at a point in this pandemic fight where there is still so much uncertainty. particularly about a vaccine. >> harris: just one thing before i go back to ari, because he's the person who knows this scene so well. we're looking at the left side of the screen at the

white house, and we know that, forthwith, the president will be leaving on marine one to then head to that ford plant in michigan. marine one to air force one, you know the drill. as that's happening, if the president comes out and we can show you those remarks, we will. ari, we are curious about this voter fraud thing. what jessica said was interesting. did, in fact, the president vote absentee? i think that's pretty easy for us to fact-check. what does that mean? should he be looking for ways that we can participate without having to show up in person? >> ari: well, several things. i put in the same state the president does, or did, new york. i have often voted absentee come of it's self initiated. i know i'm out of town on a business trip, so i sent an application requesting the right to vote absentee, and the state or the county responds. it's not universal. not everybody is sent to the absentee ballot application. that's the difference. it can be done successfully on a

broader basis. washington state is one example of a lot of voting they're being done by mail. but it took years for washington state, on a bipartisan basis, to clean up their voting rules. you have millions of people, often hundreds of thousands, who don't vote there anymore. people have died, moved out of the states. illegal immigrants, in some instances. a state has to have a good-faith effort to to clean up its rolls, but as soon as you do that, they accuse you of being a racist and voter-suppressing. there are fights that go on. it has to be done properly. let me get to the core issue about voter fraud. we don't know how often or how rare it is, because it is so hard to detect. let me read you some recent stories. >> harris: then why does the president say -- the president says he does now. >> ari: will get to the sum of this. detroit news, this is a very recent story, that a michigan court was charged with six felony counts over unauthorized inaccurate changes to absentee ballots. she altered 193 absentee ballot records. that's in michigan.

the "los angeles times" recently reported that cash and cigarettes were used as lures to get homeless people to forge signatures on state ballot measures. in georgia, the public interest legal foundation found that 1,000 noncitizens have been removed from voter rolls -- sorry, virginia. virginia counties. congressman joe garcia's former chief of staff headed to jail, according to the "miami herald," for orchestrating a fraudulent online absentee ballots game. finally, my favorite, from the "los angeles times." john sinclair , who died in 2003, showed up as a voter on the rolls from the grave in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2010. his daughter told the "los angeles times," "he took a lot of time choosing his candidates." yes, it does happen. as james madison said, if men were angels, we need no

government. there are profit procedures to be taken to minimize it. those procedures are not suppression, they are not racist, they are common sense. >> harris: wow. i was spitting out, "really!" within! ! again i ask, because these are different times, these are different, tough times, ari. to have time to clean stuff up? i really thinking about sending millions of people into places that we know may not be safe for them? >> ari: that is why the washington state example is so valid. it did take years for them to get the pattern right in that state and to work together to clean up the voting rolls. if you have cleaner voter rolls, if you are allowed to purge them on a regular basis, i think it can work. washington state's example is good. i've seen no evidence that vote by mail favors one party or the other. what i have seen is you have to do it right. doing it on a short time frame

without cleaned up rolls can be problematic. >> jessica: and i think so far -- >> harris: sending anybody out in person. go ahead. >> jessica: i just want to say i don't think anyone on either side of the aisle is in favor of doing this improperly. we just want to make sure that everybody has the right to exercise their constitutional right to vote, and with the global health pandemic, obviously the risks are much higher. ari obviously came prepared with those headlines. i'm curious to how many individuals was actually covered. you're talking about hundreds of millions of people that live in the united states of america and can impact the ballot. if we look back at examples of voter roll purges, like what happened in georgia under brian kemp, you had over 200,000 people, predominantly african-americans, purged from the rolls because they hadn't gone to vote in a few cycles. that's not how it should run in america. white, ari? really?

>> ari: you do -- >> harris: let him answer, you ask him a question. go ahead, ari. >> ari: my point is, if you don't vote in many elections, the rolls get clogged up with voters who aren't voting. that's the point of having an active voter registration list. is not about african-americans, it's about if you are going to register to vote, you have to exercise the franchise. you just don't stay on the rolls forever. >> jessica: do you feel bad about the fact that there are potentially hundreds of thousands of people in georgia who wanted to go and vote, probably for stacey abrams, and they weren't able to? >> ari: it's a myth -- >> harris: five voter fraud is a myth, ari. >> ari: making sure people aren't on the rolls and never vote. >> harris: i think i haven't heard dagen's voice in a bit. let's hear it on the way out to commercial. dagen? >> dagen: i want to vote in new york county in the city of new york, and my name is magically missing from the voter rolls. i don't think it's a conspiracy. they were purging the voter rolls. are we going to accuse new york of being racist?

>> harris: wow. on that note, we are going to scoot. a republican led senate committee is voting to issue the first subpoena of its investigation into hunter biden and burisma. the chairman of that committee says he hopes to get americans the truth, as soon as next mon month. >> our investigation into the things that happened in ukraine date way back to the political article written right after the 2016 election, to show potential interference by certain actors in ukraine. ♪ at newday usa. newday's va streamline refi is the quickest and easiest refi they've ever offered. you can lower your payments by this time next month without having to verify your income, without getting your home appraised, and there's no money out of pocket. call newday right now.

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transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today. >> harris: senate homeland security committee chairman ron johnson says he wants to release that report on his panel's investigation into hunter biden and very small as soon as next month. that comes as the committee voted yesterday to issue its

first subpoena in the investigation for documents from blue star strategy. that's a u.s. firm led by democrats tied to the ukrainian energy company. here is chairman johnson. >> blue star strategies was hired by that corrupt oil company, and apparently use their connections, their former clintonites, to believe the state department to affect our s b16. we're just asking the questions. if there's nothing there, fine. we'll get the information was on. if there is something there, i think the american people deserve the truth. >> harris: democrats are criticizing this decision to hold that a vote, as the country is dealing with coronavirus. >> we ought to be focusing on the pandemic that has killed nearly 100,000 americans and ground our economy to a halt. ouhorowitz proved that there was

good reason to open an investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. >> harris: while we jump into the debate, melissa francis has jumped back in with us. we miss you. you are with us. start it! >> melissa: [laughs] okay. i would send this question over to ari, which is that ken starr explained it recently before. hunter biden said himself that was a bad call to have been on the board of this company, because it turns out it was, in fact, it corrupt company. and what congress now should look into is this company's involvement few lobbyists in d.c. and, did anything go on that was wrong or illegal or influenced policy? we look at something like that because we want to make sure that we don't have corrupt foreign companies able to buy their way into politics in d.c.

in the future. is it that simple, and is it worth pursuing? >> ari: there's also the issue about the vice president in the conflict of interest. vice president biden, and the conflict of interest he had here being in charge of the ukraine portfolio. knowing his son was on the board of a corrupt company. that is very problematic for the vice president, and his son, hunter, put in that position. there are things to be looked at here, but keep in mind, if you are in the house impeachment hearings, we did hear numerous state department employees sheepishly say that they saw a conflict of interest. why was joe biden investigating a company that his son was on the board of? there are things here to be looked at. i don't think there's anything criminal that i have heard to date, but there are certainly behavior patterns that joe biden and his family should not have engaged in. >> melissa: jessica? >> jessica: i agree with ari, we heard from george kent to say that he had raised the issue,

that he didn't think it was appropriate necessarily that hunter biden had that role. but we didn't see anything criminal here. last time i checked, nepotism is not a crime. if it is, the trumps are going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble very quickly. i think the democrats are making a good point, though, about where we are in this country right now. everything is about coronavirus. it's hit hundred thousand dead americans. if they want to spend the last few months before an election there already trailing and in the generic ballot, joe biden is chopping president trump even in his favorite poll. they want the image of republicans to be sitting around talking about hunter biden and burisma and ukraine and joe biden as a bad guy, they are going to lose even worse. health care is the issue of this election, and i'm not saying that oversight doesn't matter, but republicans are shooting themselves in the foot with this. be concerned about americans' health. lee hunter biden out of it.

>> melissa: dagen, there are a couple things that jump out at me about what jessica said. when a democrat spends too, "i know my guy is, but your guys worse," makes a difficult argument. also, just pivoting right to the virus immediately as a dodge because you don't want to talk about with the actual actual issue is. i wonder if this situation is particularly tough on joe biden because, once again, he is restoring the soul of america. he's running on character, and the idea that you let your son be on the board of a corrupt company in a country where you are in charge of the portfolio, maybe it's not illegal, but it certainly doesn't restore the soul of america. dagen? >> dagen: and senator johnson, of the homeland security committee, said this. "if there's nothing there, we'll find out there's nothing there. if there is something there, the american people need to know that." if it's a clean slate, shouldn't this vindicate the bidens and

vindicate hunter biden, if you will? if you are joe biden, why wouldn't you welcome that, number one? of the democrats are going to lean on that america is fine fig a pandemic argument, where would the democrats in the first week of february when we knew the coronavirus had already arrived on u.s. shores? president trump, on january 31st, imposed the travel restriction with china, and it was the following week that they finally had the vote on the impeachment in the senate. so, where is the attention when we knew the virus was here, when we should have been doing more collectively, right, left, and center, to fight that virus? they weren't using a hammer against president trump in that impeachment vote. i think there's plenty of blame to go around. the democrats ought to be real careful when they start casting those stones. >> melissa: harris, was interesting to me is democrats

say there's nothing here. but that was also, you know, largely the case with hillary clinton's emails. but then, after the election, a lot of people felt like it was that drip, drip, drip, continued talking investigation into the emails, that dashed her presidential hopes. >> harris: democrats have even said that. >> melissa: yeah. go ahead. >> harris: i had power panel guests on "over time," and some of the democrats were saying this is hurting because it's keeping her from getting our message out. that we kept talking about emails. i one push back, and i will add to the list. because they can back pretty hard. jessica, if it's true that this is all about coronavirus and democrats are trying to take the high road on that, then why is it, it just the last few days, that democrats want to push the impeachment mantle again? we want to be that drum again over grand jury documents

unforeseen until now publicly with the mueller investigation? it's a rhetorical question, because i think we all know the answer, right? right? you want to do impeachment again, but you can only -- you only want democrats to do coronavirus. i just think you've got to let us know what the rules are with regard to that. it wasn't real question. then i want to hit the other thing -- go >> jessica: but i have a real answer. >> harris: all right, go ahead. answer the rhetorical question, jessica. >> jessica: it would be my grammatical pleasure, harris, to answer the rhetorical question. first of all, i don't see that as a widespread democratic platform, whatever adam schiff might be talking about. but we wouldn't be talking about the mueller investigation if it weren't for what is going on right now with michael flynn. the declassification of documents by ric grenell as the acting dni, and the fact that the trump administration is trying to make mike flynn, who has pled guilty to lying to the fbi and to the vice president, receiving a sweetheart deal from

the meal to mike mueller probe , someone he might reinstate into the administration. that's why we are talking about the mueller probe again. about president trump and what's going on with michael flynn, not democrats. >> harris: but that's not why the impeachment -- >> melissa: harris, real quick -- >> harris: i'm done. we've got to go. >> jessica: okay. >> melissa: [laughs] where americans filing for unemployment and the last week, and other front page of today's new york post is pleading with local leaders to lead the nation's most populous city reopen and revive its economy, saying the lockdown "needs to end now." it is now the time to get back to work? ♪

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unemployment last week. meaning, some 38.6 million people seeking jobless aid over the past nine weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic. this, as a new york post columnist is calling for an immediate end to the city's lockdown, writing, "the big apple is dying. it's streets are empty, tens of thousands have been plunged into poverty. our leaders have no plans, no answers. new yorkers have already learned to social distance. businesses can adjust. the elderly and infirm can continue to be isolated. he needs to end now. dagen, i want to start with you. good writing is about showing, not telling. this is the image the article started with. 3,500 new yorkers lined up at a catholic church in queens to receive free food before it even opened, according to the new york police department. more than 3,000 people lining up

hours in advance, because they needed food in queens. and he goes on to point out that we were supposed to flatten this curve because we were worried the hospitals were going to be overwhelmed. that didn't happen. the naval ship left. the javits center closed. the hospitals are emptying. we didn't see the surge, thank goodness. what in the world are we sitting around on our hands for now, as people by the thousands are going hungry? what are your thoughts, dagen? >> dagen: small business owners aren't sitting around. we follow each other and actively communicate with each other. you know that i've said -- i can tell you where you can get a haircut in new york city. i can tell you a restaurant that you can go and sit at the bar and have some drinks while you "wait for your food." i know where you can get your dog groomed. i know you can buy some underwear, if you will. these are all small businesses that have been completely

overlooked by the lack of leadership here in new york city. what we can't afford is that kind of poverty that dave marcus talks about. that kind of suffering. if you don't get the city reopened -- and this includes other parts of the country -- you will have long-term hardship. long-term elevated unemployment, that you will not be able to come back from. texas, for example -- and i will be brief -- they reopened early. almost 12% of the restaurants in this state have shuttered for good. it'll probably be closer to one-third of the restaurants in that state that don't survive this crisis. the numbers in new york will be significantly higher, and we have seen leadership who can't take care of those in need. they have no plan. so, what does that mean for those people as they are suffering a year from now? and two years from now, and five years from now?

>> melissa: yeah. ari, he goes on to make that very point, that we watched other places open up. they said georgia would be a disaster, florida was going to be a disaster. that didn't happen. it's opened up and they've moved on. he says, "what are we waiting for?" yells talks about government, once again, picking winners and losers. for example, he said business is left open up on their own. they're just going to have to do it and not wait for the government. in fact, i was walking on the street, there is a hobby store down the street. it's open. the woman standing at the door, she's been there for decades and decades and decades, and she's trying to sell her stuff. she points to target that has been open selling toys this whole entire time. well, she's been forced to shatter. this is one of the big problems. it's discriminating against small business versus big. your thoughts? >> ari: you know, it's almost turned into a rorschach test the people's personalities. there are some people who live with fear, and just think opening up a lead to death. and there are other people who say, "we've got to get on with

life." governor cuomo, for example, when he was asked about this, he said the alternative is death. i'm not going to allow anything that will contribute to that." people focus on the fear. i don't think it's hard to turn up one dial called "get back to normal," at the same time they are slowly opening that one up, you're recognizing there's another dial called health. the two dials have to be turned simultaneously. it's not an either/or. that is what america can do, and we always should be doing. so, i don't understand the people who say we can't do anything because it's going to lead to more death. if that's the logic, reduce some of the speed limits from 60, 65, 70, 220. 25. we all know higher speed limits will lead to you killing somebody else in an accident. if everything is about saving just one life, why should anybody be able to drive 30 minutes when instead it should take them six hours and we'd all be safer? reduce all the speed limits. >> melissa: harris, i would

add to that that this choice between that it's going to cause death, the problem is we see these other places reopened and it hasn't meant an avalanche of deaths and hospitalizations. >> ari: right. >> harris: it's interesting. ari, i will he and i knew a little bit for this. you see the virtual town halls that are playing out with some of leadership across the country, and the key to that, because we do hear them a lot on fox news, is to listen. it isn't just to talk. these governors, some of them listened. i know ron desantis down in florida took a lot of heat, because he was listening to the people in the ground and made some decisions that were not in concert, perhaps, with what others were thinking were best for his state. it wasn't just that they were in places where the numbers were different than his. they wanted to make was going on in florida fit their narrative. so, it is hard to have a conversation that benefits the economy, that benefits health, if you're not listening to everybody.

we have a situation right now in new jersey and new york. we are trying to have a conversation about nursing homes, and about policy. should we go forward, should another government ever make the choice to send covid-infected patients to a nursing home, as cuomo and murphy did, new york and new jersey respectively? these are conversations we have to have. we can argue, jessica and i can do that. but she and i also can have a conversation. we like each other. but that's what we've got to get to. because we can't wait for everybody to agree on the economy. we'll be waiting forever. >> ari: right, right. one of the most important lessons to come out of this going forward is that it pushes the seniors, where the most vulnerable. we don't have to make everybody in society behave one way, because seniors will be affected very severe different way. we can make -- >> harris: let's put them first. >> ari: it makes me crazy to see people criticize governor desantis in florida, because they were beaches open,

yet they weren't criticizing new yorkers for going to central park are writing a packed subway train. but you can't do it in florida? rats the bias of the coverage, here. i think the american people are very sensible, very reasonable, and we must bring this economy back. we cannot suppress things much longer. people will not abide by it. >> melissa: yeah. and you don't have to go out if you don't feel safe. all right, we are awaiting remarks from president trump, who is speaking to the press right now as he leaves the white house for michigan. those remarks, once we have them. plus, increasing concerns about restrictions on religious liberties as two democrat governors come under pressure to let churches reopen. how some pastors and worshipers are taking matters into their own hands. that's next. ♪

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>> harris: a battle is brewing across america over the right to worship, amid the coronavirus pandemic. more than 1200 pastors in california are vowing to resume in person religious services at the end of the month. it's going to be in defiance of democratic governor gavin newsom's temporary ban on large gatherings. those pastors say churches deserve essential status, and the right to reopen. it is all unfolding after the doj warned california that its restrictions on religious liberties may be discriminatory. let's go to chicago. that city is now finding churches hundreds of dollars for holding services which defy the governor's order limiting religious gatherings to ten people. now at least three churches site had so far, including the one you see on your screen right. that is the church's pastor speaking out. >> we believe the church is essentially vital for the communities of faith, and not

only our members. because it offers such vital services, which are very important to people. we do not ask for special rights, but we ask for equal rights. we should be treated equally with other institutions. >> harris: jessica, where do you come down on this? >> jessica: i come down on the side of health and safety. if large-scale gatherings are banned, they are banned across the board. >> harris: ahead of religious rights? ahead of religious freedom rights? >> jessica: i don't know, i mean, i'm not itching to get to services with a ton of people, but if it increases your risk of getting a potentially deadly disease, i would think that you wouldn't want to do that. now, this is across the board. temples can't have services, mosques can have services. we've talked before, harris, but mayor de blasio's comments about the hasidic funeral. we saw last week that a yeshiva

school was shut down because children had a gun into there. you have to follow the rules. right now those are the rules, that you can't have gatherings of that size. i understand that people -- >> harris: let me step in for one second, because i just want to cut it really basic. which set of rules do you want to follow? the original ones that -- which, by the we are not rules, they are rights -- where the new rules? >> jessica: i want to follow the rules that keep me alive and keep most americans live. we have seen come out of south carolina, antjuan seawright, a friend of ours, that they were services continuing to go and south carolina and there was a spike in the church's mother attends, because people were coming and sitting next to each other in the pews and attracting covid-19 it is dangerous. i'm not saying religious rights don't matter, but i imagine that worshipers want to stay alive just as much as the rest of us. who aren't hankering for running to go to a service.

>> harris: ari, whose choice should it be? what jessica is talking about our choices. with some of the mega-churches in texas and kentucky, i'm thinking of his church because i recently interviewed the pastor brian gibson about opening up against some of the rules in some of the states where he has churches. it is your choice, because you do have, side-by-side in many cases, online services. should it be the government's choice that you not going get sick and not have your really just freedom rights protected and sent home because the government says so, or you decide, "i'm going to stay online or go in person?" >> ari: harris, it's not unusual, frankly. he becomes one of the most important classes in american constitutional law for our righs under our constitution, particularly the bill of rights, to clash with each other. when that happens, the remedy almost exactly cuts this in half. i don't think it's inconsistent to say that we have a religious right to gather, but the state

has compelling right to make certain that no gathering is done in a manner that harms a neighbor's health. you can open things up, just a sport stadiums will open up, with much smaller crowds. ohio state is talking about only allowing 20,000 people into their stadium. you can allow churches and synagogues open up in a socially distant manner until we get into this longer and see with greater risks are. how many people have been passing tests already? because those two rats of health and religious gathering clash. we have been through this before in our country, we deal with this through compromise and reason. i think there are ways to handle this, allowing people to go forward. i don't think we are ready yet, for a jam packed arenas and jam-packed churches -- >> harris: nobody is suggesting that, though. >> ari: will get back to that. i don't think we are there in the summer of 2020. >> melissa: but it's a false choice to say that we are deciding -- it's a false choice to say we are deciding between a

jam-packed church and not opening the church. it is insulting to say that you can't trust religious people, who i do miss going, i do feel like i need to go. it is more important to me than other things like movie theaters they are looking open. to say we can reopen, but you must socially distance, why don't you trust religious people to do that? >> dagen: and can we talk about mental health and depression and psychological suffering, and how someone's religion and participation with fellow congregants and worshipers goes a long way to that kind of healing? >> harris: all right. great discussion. okay, we'll scoot. florida governor ron desantis, i was just talking about him. accusing reporters of pushing a partisan narrative in their coverage of the state's handling of the pandemic. has the media been fair in their coverage, or have they favored some governors over others? the debate you don't want to miss. ♪ where can a healthier heart lead you? for people with heart failure taking entresto,

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>> melissa: okay, we are awaiting president trump's remarks as he leaves the white house. he is on his way to michigan, where he is going to tour a ford plant that is manufacturing ventilators, and no doubt he will point to the contrast in

handling between the states leaders and himself on the pandemic. we know that some of the remarks coming out have to do with questions on russia. let's listen. >> president trump: very positive things. we are getting some very good numbers. it looks like the numbers are going to be very good into the future. we are going to be very strong, starting with our transition period, which will be probably june. june, july. i think you will see some very good numbers coming out. next year is going to be an incredible economic year for this country. one of our best. always paying respects to the people that have lost their lives. we always have to remember that. the people that have lost their lives. do you have any questions? >> reporter: where are you on -- [indistinct] a lot of people are concerned -- >> president trump: we are looking at the floods. we have our people from the army

corps of engineers there, we have fema there. i spoke with the governor, governor whitmer, yesterday. we have a very good understanding, but we've moved our best people into michigan and our most talented engineers, designers, the people from the army corps of engineers, and they do these things better than probably anyone in the world. we'll take a look. that was unrelated to that. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: russia and us have developed a very good. we worked on the oil problem together. i think we have a very good relationship with russia. but russia didn't adhere to the treaty. until they adhere, we will pull out. but there's a very good chance we'll make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together. whenever there is an agreement that another party doesn't agree to -- we have many of those agreements around the world,

where it's a 2-party agreement, but they don't adhere to it and we do. when we have things like that, we pull out also. that's why with the arms treaties, if you look at the arms treaties, we are probably going to make a deal with russia on arms treaties. and china may be included in that. we'll see what happens. but we have a lot of things. we have an agreement, when we have a treaty, and the other side doesn't adhere to it, in many cases they are old treaties, old agreements. then we pull out, also. i think it's going to happen is we are going to pull out, and they are going to come back and want to make a deal. we've had a very good relationship lately with russia, and you can see that with respect to oil and what's happening with oil. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: i didn't know that. nope, i didn't know it. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: i think we

are going to have very good relationship with russia. if you look at what happened with oil, where russia, saudi arabia, and us got together, we saved, in our country, millions of energy jobs. use the oil now is solidifying. it's the best of all worlds. we are saving the energy jobs, but our drivers have a very low gasoline price. report of michael you are a mess today at the ford plant? >> president trump: i don't know, we will look at it. a lot of people have asked me that question. i want our country get back to normal. i want to normalize. one of the other things i want to do is get the church is open. the churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of the democratic governors. i want to get our churches open. we will take a very strong position on that very soon. >> reporter: [indistinct]

>> president trump: including mosques. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: yes, i wish them well. very well. >> reporter: what about the astrazeneca award, for a potential new vaccine? how confident are you that it will be ready by fall? >> president trump: i think we have a lot of dust you have astrazeneca, which is a great company, and you have others. johnson & johnson, we have a lot of things on the vaccine front, on the therapeutic front. if you look at therapeutics, we are doing great. and on the cure front, which is the next step. i think we have tremendous things. that announcement i heard came out this morning, that's very positive announcement, in addition to all the other announcements. we are so far ahead of where people thought we'd be. therapeutically, it's very interesting what's going on. and a cure. you will begin nonsense over the next week or two. >> reporter: another issue not relate to the flood -- >> president trump: we are

helping michigan with her floods and we have the people to do it. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: we don't want them to do mail-in ballots because it's going to lead to total election fraud. we don't want them to do mail-in ballots. we don't want anyone to do mail-in ballots. if somebody has to mail it in because they are sick, or, by the way, because they live in the white house and they have to vote in florida and they won't be in florida, if there's a reason for it, that's okay. if there's a reason. but if they are -- we don't want to take any chances with fraud in our elections. >> reporter: [indistinct] are you aware of this? >> president trump: i don't know what it is, because nobody knows yet. if it happens, we will address that issue very strongly. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: it looks like g7 may be on, because it went well, we are ahead of schedule in terms of our country

and some of the other countries are doing very well. it looks like g7 will be on, a full g7, and will be announcing something probably early next week. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: you have your mask on, i can't hear a word saying. we will be talking to you about it. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: i think it's another day. i had a two week regimen of hydroxychloroquine, and i've taken it -- i think just about two weeks. i think it's another day. i'm still here. i'm still here. and i tested very positively in another sense, this morning. i tested positively toward negative, right? now, i tested perfectly this morning. meaning, i tested negative. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: positively toward the negative.

>> reporter: have you taken the antibody test yet, sir? >> president trump: no, i have not. >> reporter: a report in "the new york times" today said 36,000 people would have been saved if we had done social distancing measures just one week early. what is your reaction to that? >> president trump: i was so early, it was earlier than anybody thought. i put a ban on people coming in from china. everybody fought me on that, they didn't want it. nancy pelosi was dancing in chinatown in the streets of san francisco so people wouldn't believe with happening. i don't even blame that. i was way early. columbia is an institution that is very liberal. i think it's just the political hit job, if you want to know the truth. >> reporter: will you have g7 here at the white house? >> president trump: we are going to have it probably of the white house and maybe a little combination at camp david. primarily at the white house. if we do the g7, when that all comes together, probably it will be in d.c. at the white house. okay?

but there could be a piece of it at camp david, which is nearby. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: so, again, our relationship with russia has improved greatly, especially since the russian hoax has been proven totally false. it's illegal, what they did. this was an illegal hoax, and they got caught. they got caught doing a lot of bad things. let's see how that turns out. but our relationship with russia has come a long way in the last few months. i think the open sky will all break out. right now, when you have an agreement in the other side doesn't adhere to the agreement, we are not going to adhere to it, either. i think something very positive will work out. >> reporter: [indistinct] >> president trump: i'm thinking about going. that'll be next week, to the rocket launch. hope you're all joined me. i'd like to put you in the