robert: fear sinks the markets and challenges president trump as democrats battle in south carolina. >> vmiputin thinks that donald trump should be president of the united states. and that's why russia is helping you get elected so you'll lose toim. robert: on the eve of the south carolina primary, the frontrunr faces incoming. >> walking distance here, is mother emanuel church. nine people shot dead by a white supremaci. rnieoted five times against the brady bill. robert: but senator sanders fights back. >> the economy is doing really great foreople like mr. bloomberg and otherir billio. but you know what? for the ordinary american, things are not so good. robert: still some democrats are increasiny uneasy about whether the party will come >> if we spend the next four months -- >> ok. >> tearing our party apart,

we're going to watch donald trump spend the next four years tearing our country apart. >> whoever the nominee is of our party, we will wholeheartedly support. our gospel is one of unity. unity. l ity. robert: and glorts tumble. amid fears of a worldwide pandemic. and president trump speaks out. president trump: it's going to disappear. one dait's like a miracle it will disappear. and from our shores, it could get worse before it gets better. >> it's not so much a question of i this will happen anyerre. but raore a question of exactly when. robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> before wealk about your investments, what's new? >> well, audrey is expecting. twins. >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside fonthem. so c in plans. >> all right. let's see what we can adjust.

>> w would be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> ok. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess. change in plans? >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. announcer: additional funding is provided by the estate of anold adams. and koo patricia yuen with the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasng and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington,

moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. welcome to a special edition of "washington week." we begin with the latest fallout from the coronavirus and the response in washington. the world helt organization raised its risk assessment of the vus to very high on friday, just one level short of declaring a gbal pandemic. as fears have mounted, stocks have plunged. the dow jones industrl averag dropped 350 points on friday or more than 1%. for the week, the dow felle m than 12%, capping off the financial crisis that began in 2008. this all comes at a politically charged moment. president trump and his top aides are lashing out at critics. and congress, it's on edge about a whistleblower report and whether lawmakers can come together on ergency funding. and democrats, they're still searching for a standard bearer on the eve of the sth carolina primary and next

joining me at the table, own. yasmeen abutal, white house correspondent for "the pbs newshour." and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." and from icago, yasmeen abutaleb, health policy reporter for "the washington post." president trump named vice president mike pence as the point person forst the admition's response. this move is being questioned by democrats and health experts. and the administration's early decisions are alrey under scrutiny as yasmeen and her colleagues wrote in the post a istleblower is alleging the department of health and human services ment, quote than a dozen workers to receive the first americans evacuated from wuhan, china. the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak without proper traing for infection control or appropriate otective gear. yasmeen, was the u.s. government prepared for this

crisis? >> i think a lot of criticism has come from the moves that the u.s. government made a couple of years preceding this crisis. john bolton the former national security advisor had disband a unit in the white house set up to prepare for this kind of thing backn 2018. hen this came there was no immediate clear leadership as to who should be in. char you do have top health officials who have been involved in other spondes. healthuman services secretary alex azar was in the bush administration during t sars outbreak. anthony fauci at the n.i.h. has been involved in several outbreaks over decades. but there was a lack of leadership at the beginning and a lot of that came because the was the disbanding of that unit within the white eouse and the pandemic preparedness peohose sole job was to prepare for an event like this. and cuts to che.c. that did global monitoring to detect outbreaks before the o spread ouf control. robert: yasmeen, do officials who are the feel like ty can speak out and tell the

truth to the american people or president mike pence? ough vice >> i think there's still a lot of confusion with all the eveets of this and the change in leadership. we do know from our reporting that now all communications regarding the outbreak and the message to the public do need to be routed through the vice president's office. some people make sure the administration has a coordinated message because on tuesday, weaw conflicting and messages that were sort overlapping and conflicting with one another. it stillleains u whether scientists and top health officials are going to be ae to speak freely or if the administration wants to take a dferent posture because of the way the mkets have reacted this week. robert: yasmeen, stay with us. peter, to that point, the significance of the market collapse. >> yeah. it's big. because of course first of all, economically a lot of peoplee pendent on the supply chains, on china in particular, at has been a source of a lot of material and products th we use. apple alone i think assembles

the vast majority of its products in china. that's a big, big part of the american market as well. and it's big politically. the president of the united states is running for rg re-election y on his record of keeping the economy going strong. and if that seems to begin to pare back over the weeks and months to come, that undercuts his message.th sog acutely aware of particularly in private when he's talking to his aides and great anxiety abot what's happening. robert: yam che, as we went t air president trump in south carolina at a political rally his aides like acting chief of staff mick mulvaney all day lashing out at critics. framing this as a political fight as much as a federal response. 's >> thight. the white house has been saying the democrats are trying to use this to make the president trump look bad. they've even at som point saying -- said that democrats are hoping that the president messes this up or hoping that this turns into a full-blown crisis so that the president maybes hurt politically. but that said, this is a president who is always seen his political benefits and his

political legacy tied to whatever crisis is going on. whetiar or not it's rus interfering in the election or now coronavirus possibly infecting americans.no wealready through nigh my own reporting and i'm sure other people's reporting that senior administration officials are already looking at economic things to do in response to the coronavirus and looking at tax cutsossibly. they're looking at possibly pressing for interest rates to go down with the federal reserv so what you see is the white house already trying to assemble both an economic solutias for this as wel a medical and scientific solution. and when we talk about yasmeen and others sayi there's conflicting issues here, the conflicting message was that the president was saying that everything is going to be ok, thathered low risk. hen you have the c.d.c. and the world health organization who are experts oi saying actually, that's not what we can say. what we can say is this is high risk and pple should get ready for what happens next. bert: yasmeen, based on your reporting, what does happen next in terms of the federal response and what their ad read is on the spread of the virus? >> well, i think the virus has sort of entred a worrying new phase in the united states. our colleagues reported today

that california has confirmed anothe case of community transmission. that's about 90 miles from the case that was reported earlier is week. so that indicates that you have in two different places within cafornia. and as you mentioned, c.d.c. ci ofs earlier this week said it's not a matter of if, 's a matter of when. there's greater spread in the u.s. and we will see mor cases. so i think the question is going to be ho t does federal government make sure hospitals and local and state health departments are prepared? how are they going tocale up testing? because more people are going to need to be tested for the virus now. and how do they change the guidelines of who needs to be tested and how quickly you g people tested depending on the symptoms that they show since those symptoms arey v similar to a cold or the flu? robert: peter, you're a scholar the presidency. when you look at the decision president tmp made to put his vice president in charge of -- a political officialn a re-election year, a campaign season, what does that tell you about president trump and doing that, versus putting in a

medical professional? >> well, look, you need a sh lead that goes beyond simple science, right? the question is whether or not vice president pence surrounds himself with t people who understand the science, to guide the decisions that he will help make in the days and eks to come. president obama put ron clain in charge of the ebola cries and wasn't an medical expert but an expert in making government work and the chief of staff to two vice presidents and a long-time political operative who understood so the question isn't necessarily whether mike pence has a medil background or not but whether he surrounds himself and listens to people who do. his own experiee as governor of indiana has caused some concern. because of the way he handled outbreak of h.i. back then. he said today on rush limbaugh's show that actually is experience that made me more qualified, notqu lesified. but he will -- continue to be controversial that they put him in crge. robert: he was criticized for how he handled needle exchange in c indianrect? >> he was criticized for that. issue for him and possibly his religious views made him feel

like he didn't want to have a le nexchange in indiana. this is a little bit different because it's coronavirus. but there are a lot of people might end up being the fall guy if this doesn't go well. that the president is already looking for somee to say look, it's not my fault. i put mike pence in charge. this is what i'm going to do.e anddn't handle this well. it's motte my fault. that's in some ways the political cculatit could be there. robert: yasmeen, what are you hoorg based on your reporting about how the congressional briefings went on friday and whether congress is going to be le to come back son an aid package? >> i think one thing that we've seen this week, secretary azar was on the hel sral times this week being grilled by lawmaks about the response and thele suppntal request that the administration sent to congress on monday. they asked for a $2.5 billion to resnd to coronavirus and about half of that would be reallocated from otherre urces. it seemed both republicans and democrats agreed this week that was not enough money and something more along the lines of $4 billion to $8 billion would need to be appropriated.

bipartisan agreement that more moneis needed but we also know on friday public health officials were questioned about this whistleblower report and are they adequately preparing staff members for thi w ande protocols broken when these staff members went to receive the first passengers returning from wuhan? robert: peter, back to the market for a moment. yamichmentioned trump administration could pressure interest rate cuts and are you hearing the same and do you expect emergency measures to be taken? >> yeah. think it's posble. i don't know how much that would actually stem the tide. with the markets are concerned about go beyond interest rates and a little stimulus from tax s t the moment. and that's the uncertainty that they're grappling with. what is this going to mean not just in the next few days but what's it going to mean down the road? china is such a big factor in ou weconomy asl. second lgest economy in the world. a long-term basis, you know, n slightly smaller inrest rate lite not benough to counter that. what the president wants to do

is show confidence and wants to build, you know, economic, as you know, vitaly going d forwd these are possible signs in order to do that. and even if they might not substantively have the kind of effect people would want. be : thank you,iasias. we appreciate your reporting. now to south carolina. voters will head to the polls son satday, just days before super tuesday. for former vice president joe biden, it's a critica momen after struggling in the first round of contests, he is leading the polls there.is anoping to jumstart his campaign. but senator bernie sanders after a decisive win in the gaining ground in state. and joining us now from south carolina, is jeff zeleny, senior washington correspondent for cnn. and p asma khalid,itical correspondent for national public radio. jeff spoke to mr. biden on the trail this week. >> is this state still your firewall, iir? >>hink it's a state i'm

going to do well i it has 60% of this vote is african-american vote. they have an opportunity to basically choose who t nominee is. robert: jeff, take us a littl bit insi the african-american vote in south carolina. is there a generational dividju hours before that vote? >> bob, there's no question that there is. and it's been clear being here l all week,king to so many voters, that there is a nerational divide. that came up again and again. but no place more so than o wednesday. the morning after the big debate here when jangressman s clyburn who is the biggest figure here in s,th caroliemocratic politics, and the dean of the congressional delegation issues endorsement of joe biden certainly expected. i talked to a lot of people after that. younger people. ey simply aren't moved as much by that. their parents may be and their grandparents may be. so the question of how much value in an endorsrtent has nly speakers to the generational poll here going

on. bernie sanders is a attracting younger voters of all races. no question about it. but it ishe older voters who tend to vote. so i think heading into the y primmorrow here, a couple of things. joe biden said the size of the electorate, african-american turnout he believes will be 60%. that's what it was four years ago. but we don't know that. that is something that we are g keepr eye on. in 2008 back when barack obama won this statenc congly over hillary clinton, which really did propel him to the rest of the primary contests, it was about 50%. slightly over half. that's something we're keeping an eye on. population has changed considerably here in sth carolina. so a lot of democratic strategists and advisors i talked toveaid they bel that it will actually be less than 60%. but what joe biden is doing and trying to and looks like he is doing is building that coalition of black and white voters here that's what you need to do. and there is a sense of a pragmatic sense of a stop bernie sanders movement if it's going to happen it has to happen here. robert: asma, if joe biden wins

in south carolina, is his campaign ready to jump into super tuesday or not? >> i think there arequ legitima tions aut whether he has the infrastructure, the money, and certainly thes goots support to compete with someone like bernie sanders who hdi been spe and building a campaign infrastructure in a number of other super tuesday but also there's mike bloomberg who's going to be finally a part of thiconversation and part of this race. and he is not on the ballot here in south carolina. but he's a name, i have heard from some voters, even some folks at joe biden events. and so i do think that while the polls look very good for joe biden and anecdotally whe you're out at his rallies there is certainly anas enthu for him, he himself is a candidate, seems fartaore comfe in south carolina, campaigning, than he did when i saw him in iowa or new hampshire, but i do wonder about -- there's not a lot of time before this race s quickly tur nationalized. and i will say, sort of the quick data point for me was spoke with the folks at advertising analytics that said

-- ad traing firm. and they said as of yesterday, the ads tha they had seen purchased for super tuesday states, joe biden was at about 600,000. bernie sanders was at about 15 million. robert: asma,enator sanders has made a play in south carolina trying to maybe score biden.dent ainst vice what is his campaign look like on the ground in south carolina? what are you paying a to? >> so he is trying to certainly -- i would say dip in. they felt more confident. certaiy after his big win in nevada. i spoke with my colleague who was actually with him earlier today in columbia. and he said there wasn't this sort of enthusiasm that he d seen earlier. and one thing that's worth poinng out is that bernie sanders has been hopscotching around to super tuesdaytates this week in addition to spending time in south carolina. joe biden has exclusively spent his entire week to date inca soutlina. to me, that suggests certainly also a sense of vulnerability from the vice president that

he's -- he's certainly needs to perform well in south carolina. well, you know, i think bernie sanders is looking ahead to the prospect that he's already built annfrastructure in a number of other states. biden needs to do wellron order tol himself forward. robert: asma, jeff, stay wh me. yamiche, what about tom steyer? he has been spending millions in south carolina. >>ut was in carolina earlier this week and put the question to tom steyer abt him spending so much mon south carolina. so he's not only spending millions of dollars on ads, he's also been having block parties and he's hired a bunch of staffers from the community so a lot of africanrkmericans g for tom steyer and sai some people are telling me i'm trying to buy the vote and this is how you politically organize and thought it was racially discriminatory to accuse him of trying to buyhe african-american vote in south carolina. i should say i did hear from some steyerpo sers who didn't like joe biden they thought maybe he didn't have the stamina to keep it together. sanders wasoo radical but ie south carolina when i land thrd it felt like a joe biden state and felt like people were

saying look, he was with barack meobama. he is e who was voted by the last president, first african-american president. e person that i feel comfortable with. but i should say when i talked voters they saw their lives as needing radical change. i talked to two queer black d women who she systems that are holding me back, the systems that are not taking care of me that makee more likely to die during childbirth, those systems -- they don't need to be tweaked of the they need to be completely revolutionized and that's why i'm going for bernie sanders. robert: jeff, to that point what abour t senaizabeth warren who is a super pac backing her and also makes the argument for o anrhaul of the system in some ways. carolina or is it bout super tuesday for her? >> she is plang a bit inut carolina. she's been campaigning across the state. toward super tuesday. ad more she has never been able to at least apparently to build the g coalition an that african-american support. she's invested a lot of time, overhe last year or so but simply she is quite frankly without the resources so it is

traordinary, bob, is -- we're at the end of february re. the only thing that is keeping her afloat in terms of advertising money is that super pack -- supertack. something she rejected and called on and others reject. so a lot of questions about that. and it'se one of reasons that senator camilla harris and cory booker, she was -- one of the reasons they got out. they did not have theuper pac support. a little bit at the end but not much. because she made it such a negative thing. so goi into south carolina, most people do not expect her to have much of a presence here. she is keeng an eye on the super tuesday states including .assachusetts, her home state the one sign there, bernie sanders is going to massachuses this weekend to campaign. as well as minnesota. the home state of amy klobuchar. so that is the reality for them. robert: senator sanders might be looking for tha -- >> right. robert: senator sanders might be looking for that knockout blow. of both of those senators in their home state. >> he certainly is. robert: asma, on the ground in

south carolina and talkingmp to the gns are you hearing about possible dropouts if vice president biden does well on saturday nig ot and will somef ese moderates say hey, it's time to consolidate, moveit beyondr mayor bloomberg or v.p. biden? >> i have not heard that f admissiom any candidates themselves yet. but i will say i certainly heard that from voters. i hear that from voters consistently who support joe biden. i was at a rally of his just the other day in geogetown, south carolina. and one gentleman there told me that at someth point moderate candidates need to see o they will back because they feel the splintering is inevitably helping a candidate like bernie sande certainly what we've seen thus far in some of the early voting states. and so what we see in polls when we loota at ae even like texas. we see a lot of splintering of that moderate tie and that seems to be helping bernie sanders. but no. i have not heard any admissions yet from any of the campaigns themselves. that this should be happening. robert: peter, you spent eight yearsovering the obama-biden white house. what a moment for vice .president bid >> well, it is.

of course, this is his third time running forhe presidency. and this time he's running acos thinuation in effect of the obama presidency. and the question whether other people see him that way. now, he has a legitimate claim to the obama mantle. eight years in the white house will dot for you. as he loyal vice president to president obama, and nobody would doubt that. but president obama has weighed in and chose ton stay out himself and -- he's not putting his foot on thean scale. i think there's some concern among obama's circle about whether biden really can go the distance or not. u ow, by didn't of experience -- dint of experience experience suspect age andn generatll he appeal to the obama electorate in a way that would move the party generationally? all the democrats who have won since -- in the last 50 years wh pwon thesidency were generational change agents. john f. kennedy. jimmy carter. bill clinton. barack obama. they were all generational agents. and joe biden has a marched time making generational change argument right now.wo

>> quick things as i listen, peter. the first is joe biden is someone who was trying to attach himself to barack obama being his vice president and michael bloomberg's ads i talked to some voters who think obama endorsed michael bloomberg. because he's had so much of the second thing is that joe biden as he struggles -- at least wasooking like he was struggling in south carolina, the day after jim clyburn endorsed him he said well, if he doesn't win big here he will be in big trouble. so as he's endorsing himso and aying look, if you don't do well here, you don't really have a pathway forward and that mes telling that even jim clyburn is saying that on the record in front of cameras. robert: jeff, quickly, you covered mayo buttigieg's campaign. what's his next move? >> well, he needs to show that he can win in a place othera than i. he needed to expand his coalition. earlier at the citadel. n the crowd was very white. so the reality is he's been unable to expand his group. so his path now really depends upon vice president biden's

collapse. so look for the buttigieg campaign to reassess after super tuesday. it all hinges on that. but he must know there must be a consolidation of this other than sanders candidates. so i look for him to do that next week if he is not sf succ here and on super tuesday. robert: asma, when you look ahead to super tuesday, no one gets i out, andn less than a minute are these campaigns now planning for a contested convention? >> i don't think we're there sdt. i think super t will offer us some clarity. just because there are so many delegates attake. both between california and texas. about a third of all the delegates there. we'll have a better sense of that after super tuesday. robert: super tuday. that's where all of the action is going to be. there in south carolina, we ow really appreate you joining us on a busy friday evening. good luck tomorrow. for now, we have to leave it there. t come up in our sec half-hour, we will dig in to

super tuesday. be here and report freres texas and california. correspondent from "the washington post." he will join u to discuss the big picte. stay with us. we have a lot to cover. m robert costa. see you soon.

ing ncer: corporate fund for "washington week" is provided by -- announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arnold adas. and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen fouation. committed to bridging cultural communities. our the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. -this program is brought t

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