[ inaudible question ] we're going to be talking about that today. it's a very important part of our conversation. that's going to be actually a very important part of our conversation. >> mr. res, the chinese huawei had some connections with ireland. >> i think there's a lack of security if they use huawei. there's a real problem with intelligence and intelligence security. we will see what happens. we will be discussing that point also. >> mr. president, do you see america -- [ inaudible question ] >> can a what? >> can america cover a mass of coronavirus. >> yes, but we're heavily testing. we have tremendous testing set up where people coming in have to be tested. and if they are positive and if they're able to get through, because, frankly, if they're not, we're not putting them on planes if they're -- if it shows positive. but if they are, if they do come here, we're quarantining.

it's going to be a pretty strong enforcement of quarantine. look, the key is you have to have separation. you have to have separation or this thing takes longer to go away. but the real -- really important -- and i think you can say this for your country. i think we can say it for a lot of countries, hopefully, it's going away. we want it to go away with very, very few deaths. people have -- we call it cases, how many cases do you have? relative to other countries, we have very few cases. relative to certain of the major countries that really have a bigger problem than us. we've offered -- interestingly, i think we have the greatest doctors in the world. we offered iran assistance. iran is having a tremendous problem. and we have offered iran assistance if they would like it, we will help them. we would be glad to help them. >> speaking of iran, mr.

president, they determined that an iranian backer fired two missiles in iraq. should they expect a response? >> i would rather not see. let's say, you will see. but i can't say. i was working on that last night also. they sent a lot of rockets down. hasn't been fully determined it was iran, as you know. it was a rebel group. but most likely, looked like it could be backed by iran. we will see what the response is. >> mr. president, would you like to see the prime minister return to the white house next year? he's trying to form a government at home. would you like to see him back? >> he's a friend. i always want him to return because he's a friend. we've been doing this now for quite a while. we started off both new to the job. yes, i would always like to see him. they have other people that i know i get along with very well. we get along with the country but this is a very special guy. >> we would like to see you back in ireland again for a longer visit i hope next time. >> would you like to see the president re-elected in

november? >> that's, of course, a matter for the american people and president trump and any american president is always welcome in ireland. >> are you aware that a person you were in contact with over the weekend has contracted the coronavirus. >> i did hear something about that. we had dinner in florida at mar-a-lago with the entire delegation. if the president say he was there, he was there. but we did nothing very unusual. we sat next to each other for a period of time. had a great conversation. she's doing a terrific job in brazil. we'll find out what happens. i guess they're being tested right now. >> do you have an update you can provide? >> let's put it this way, i'm not concerned. >> mr. president, yesterday we heard from an emergency room physician in houston who had a patient who was showing symptoms of something, tested negative for the flu. this physician wanted to test

this person for coronavirus, and got caught in what this doctor described as an infinite loop of stupid trying to get through to the public health agencies in texas, trying to get permission for this person to be tested. is there something you can do as the president to try to cut through those bottlenecks? >> i was watching. they have a million tests out now. over the next few days they'll have over 4 million tests out. frankly, the testing has been going very smooth. if you go to the right agency, if you go to the right area, you get the test. with that being said, as you know, millions are being produced. >> this is a brand-new thing that just happened. millions are being produced. you go back and look at the swine flu and what happened with the swine flu, you will see how many people died and how actually nothing was done for such a long period of time as people were dyeing all over the place. we're doing it the opposite. we're very much ahead of

everything. >> this person did contact the correct authorities but they were closed for the day and he was on hold for hours trying to get a test. >> you're talking about one place. i heard it also goes very well. we had scott gottlieb with us today, i like him a lot and i respect him, and he was talking about how we have so many different -- in some cases they're in california where we have too many and then in other cases distribution could be a little better for certain areas. but we've done a good job on testing and it was very interesting. you might ask scott about it actually. >> mr. trump, are you going to be -- >> no, i won't be going. i have other things to do. i'm too busy. >> mr. president, is it possible you can stem this? >> sure, it's possible. and it's possible we can do it early, end it early, but it's

important we did it over there to end it early. [ inaudible question ] i think the democrats won't be having rallies but nobody showed up to their rallies anyway, so what difference does it make. my rallies are very big. they're very big rallies. le we'll be making a decision at the appropriate time. i mean, the next one scheduled is for the 25th, and that's in tampa. but we'll have to see whether or not we do. no, i'm not going to do it if i think it's going to be negative at all. if we haven't made that turn yet. we'll make the turn. the question is when. and the question is how many people will die? and i don't want people dyeing. that's what i'm all about. i made a very tough decision last night, and a very tough decision a long time ago with respect to china. i don't want people dyeing and that's why i made these decisions. whether it affects the stock market or not, very important, but it's not important compared to life and death. so i had to make that decision.

and, frankly, the people that are professionals praised the decision and it's something i had to do. and i think you'll see the end result is very good because of it. but it will take a period of time. the rallies, we will make that decision. but at this moment, we don't have -- i was going to las vegas. i was going out to nevada, as i said. i was going to colorado, where we have cory gardner running. he's doing a great job. by the way, he's done a fantastic job. but we postponed that. i think we're going to have cory coming in here maybe on friday. we're going to do our event from the white house. but we have a lot of things we're moving around because of what's happening and because i want to be here. this is the nerve center. i want to be right here. i don't want to be flying around in airplanes all over the place. i want to be right here. >> mr. president, clearly you're not being advised to avoid small groups like this. >> actually, people said, you

know, you're dealing with people that maybe you don't want to deal with. i said you're right about that. >> i was wondering if the white house medical office or secret service counseled you against straying too far from the white house? >> they have not but it's common sense. a lot of it -- what i say is use common sense like washing your hands and certain things. keep a little bit of distance away. that's why the sporting events are a little bit tough because you have people sitting in small seats right next to each other. so it's a little bit tough. what happened with the nba is pretty incredible. but you look over in europe and you see their big soccer matches were canceled. it's pretty amazing when you think of what happened and how fast it spread to the world. there was one country and then four countries and then nine. i'm reading this list every week. then it was 13. then it was 22. and now i guess it's over 100 countries. so it's an amazing thing how fast this one spreads. this is a very fast spreader.

>> any more thoughts about the tokyo olympics? >> no, i just wished the prime minister, he's a great friend of mine, prime minister abe, i wished him luck. they did such a perfect job. the venues are incredible. he was proudly showing me pictures of what they've done the last time i was with him, before this came up. and i said what a job. they built it right on budget, even under budget. and they're beautiful facilities. i don't know. it's very possible -- it's very possible that for the olympics, maybe -- i just can't see having no people there. in other words, not allowing people. maybe -- and this is just my idea, maybe they postpone it for a year. maybe they do that if that's possible. maybe that's not possible. i guess it's never happened with the olympics. although i think there was interruption for wars. >> it was canceled. >> canceled or interruption. but i would say maybe they postpone it for a year.

it's a shame because really, i used to be in the real estate business, as you probably heard. they built -- i built beautiful buildings and they built some really beautiful buildings. >> would you make a recommendation to your friends shinzo abe? >> no, they're very smart. they will make their own. i like that better than having empty stadiums all over the place. you cancel it and make it a year later that's a better alternative than doing it with no crowd. [ inaudible question ] we didn't shake hands today. we looked at each other, what are we going to do? it was a weird feeling. we said at the same time, we did this. i just got back from india and i didn't shake any hands there and it was very easy because they go like this and japan goes like this. they were ahead of the curve. we looked at each other -- we also had a lot of press staring at us. are we supposed to shake hands and when his group of very smart representatives came in, who i know, likewise, we didn't.

it's a very strange feeling. i was never a big handshaker as you probably heard. but once you became a politician, shaking hands is very normal and it's a very strange people when people that you know and like, they walk up and say hi and they're just like this. we were saying, it's a little bit -- >> it almost feels impersonal or feels like you're being rude but we can't afford to think like that for the next few weeks. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington as the u.s. is facing a pandemic and you saw the president with the irish prime minister at their annual meeting today. the administration is struggling to catch up. the spread of the coronavirus now impacting every aspect of our lives. the president and his team are trying to get a handle on the scope of the community spread at home. the immediate impact is once again on the stock market. another trading day of massive losses. president trump's inability to calm investor concerns with his oval office speech was seen as

leading to a sell-off immediately of the futures last night with no end in sight. at this hour, here's what we know. the white house is banning travel from 26 european countries to the u.s. beginning friday, excluding the united kingdom and the suspension does not include goods. although the president erroneously said it did when he first gave the speech. the state department is raising its worldwide travel advisory to level three, that is so urge all citizens to reconsider any plan travel abroad. and the president is instructing the treasury department to allow payments for three months. in the ncaa some conferences are canceling tournaments and the nba made a stunning announcement suspending the remainder of the season after learning an all-star center for the utah jazz has the virus. and the entertainment world rocked learning tom hanks and his wife u rita wilson contacted the virus while shooting a film in australia. they are under quarantine and

film temporarily suspended. mr. trump dismissing the meltdown playing out in the market. >> you have to remember the stock market, as an example, is still much higher than when i got here. it's taking a hit but it's all going to bounce back and bounce back very big at the right time. >> joining me now, nbc business correspondentant stephanie ruhle, chief white house times peter baker, ron klain, adviser to joe biden and former response coordinator in the white house and stephanie cutter, senior adviser to president obama. the stock market will bounce back. we're now in a bear market. what is your perspective? >> for the president to say that, yes, the stock market will go back up at some point in the future but look at the market right now, we have no idea when that will be. last night when the president gave his remarks, remember how he began. we're better than europe is.

you saw the market go down immediately. from the market perspective around the world, no one is saying this needs to be fiscal policy. it's a public health crisis that the president hasn't yet addressed honestly, assessed and said let's take it on. >> from a market perspective one of the big of the positives truly is all of these cancellations. it was like a wake-up call in the last 12 hours. we saw colleges, universities, nbali nba canceling the rest of the season. that's when many are starting to understand we have to put our country like italy has on pause. if that happens and we're getting closer, that is surely going to put us in a really bad position. it's like we're not going to be able to make payroll as a country. but fundamentally the president's not wrong. we will come out the other side of it because unlike the financial crisis, we're not overextended. there's not a systemic risk issue. but we now have a public health emergency that has turned into an economic issue. >> and with that perspective

from stephanie, kristen welker, there was a briefing on the hill today and there was a remarkable response, bipartisan response, in fact, to the briefing, tony fauci was praised because dr. fauci is well known for being a truth teller. but the rest of the administration briefed the whole of the house. take a look at this. >> that was simply the worst briefing i have ever received for seven, eight years in congress. the administration has no real answers, no plan, no real leadership. i think members in both parties are frustrated and angry and they have every right to be. >> i think people are frustrated because of the inability -- we all want a date. we all want to be told by friday, there will be 10 million tests available. the problem is they can't tell us that. >> and, kristen, the white house is not yet signing on but nancy pelosi is trying to craft something that can be be acceptable to senate republicans coming out of the house that

will have more of the intermediatation for people hard hit. the president didn't announce anything domestically last night. it was stopping people at the boarders from a selective area. and then the corrections that it was not including american citizens and not including cargo within an hour. but he didn't say anything about the lack of tests. he didn't say thinking about how they were going to help people who are hurt by this crisis. >> right, andrea, and i think the focus right now is on capitol hill, what, if anything, can they get through congress? as you point out, house speaker nancy pelosi, house democrats have a package that would provide relief, on a range of different issues. president was just asked about that, andrea, moments ago during that meeting in the oval office and he said he's not yet on board with the plan that's in place. they want to throw a whole lot of things into the package that have nothing to do with the crisis we're dealing with. he wasn't specific about what he was talking about. he did acknowledge his call

though for payroll tax cuts is likely not going to get done in the near term. so there's still a number of sticking points in terms of trying to get something through this relief that would provide relief not only coverage for those who need testing and treatment for the coronavirus, but for americans in need, expanded unemployment insurance, those sorts of things. andrea, the reaction and fallout does continue to mount in the wake of the president's oval office address last night. only the second one he's given. because there have been those clarifications, because he initially said it would impact travel and trade. and the white house clarified no, this is just going to impact people. because they had to clarify it was only four nationals. as you right think point out, andrea, the fact he did not address the issue of testing and you have the european union coming forward saying they weren't consulted on the announcement. president trump was asked about that. he set bottom line, they didn't have time to reach out and make these phone calls in advance ahead of his address last night

because they wanted to move forward because he thought it was an important move. i have been talking to my sources on capitol hill who say they're frustrated with the mixed messaging and they're concerned it is leading to a broader lack of confidence in the response, andrea. >> peter baker, we have later, t doesn't inspire faith. and it seemed like he was taking a series of ways he has not before. >> and rob complain, you have been in the white house and you have seen how many staff work goes into something like this. the fact he's talking about a travel ban, isn't it too late for a travel ban? we're in a state where it reached the shores and in the middle of containment. >> the president is also talking about the bans on china. and there were reductions in that. limiting travelers to the united states reduces the amount of disease here. but the disease is here already.

if the china ban was going to work, it didn't. the disease is here. so the president first and foremost should focus on getting people tested in this country and surging the minimal capacity of dealing with these cases. this is a very political thing. he exempted the uk. half the countries have fewer cases than the uk. the health minister of the uk has coronavirus. >> and was with boris johnson the day before. >> this half measure the president announced set people off because it's not going to solve the problem and his eye is off the ball by protecting the american people by getting them tested and getting them treatment. >> does anyone have any answers as to why the uk was exempted? peter? >> the president thinks they're doing a better job, travel wise and control bans no longer part of the zone -- >> a three-hour chunnel ride.

>> i get that somehow is different than germany and italy and france seems hard to fathom. >> the fact said hep cot call all of those countries, but, stephanie, we all know there's a government of european union. it has its leader and it has its foreign secretary. it's two phone calls, one phone call. >> and there's supposed to be a government here in the united states with cabinet members who could also make those phone calls. so there's no excuse to not work with our allies in this crisis. >> stephanie, i would like to play for you part of the exchange between savannah guthrie and the vice president, who's been leading this task force. >> what does your staff tell you about the likely numbers, if you have it? >> let me be clear from early on, the president has declared a public health emergency, suspended all travel from china. we limited -- we limited travel and issued advisories for portions of italy and south

korea. >> and on the number. >> from europe, precisely for the reason that we know there will be thousands more cases of coronavirus. >> thousands or millions? >> well, i -- i will leave it to the experts to make the estimates of how many people may be infected. >> that was part of the problem actually with the administration's briefing for the hill members. there are numbers that we can get. we've gotten them from the public health school at johns hopkins and other places. they're dramatic numbers. they're worse case scenario. >> but he didn't want to be on tv saying that number because he's not there to provide information to the american people about how best to protect their health or what they're doing to protect their health. he's there to prop up the president. that's the role he's playing. which is why when he was asked the number, he talked about all of the things he has done to avoid giving the number but

savannah pressed him on that, which was great. >> what is the congress supposed to do next? they were supposed to leave next week on a scheduled recess. but that's why they didn't disband and some people said why are you not leaving when some like cruz and others were self-quarantining. it's because they have to get this done and they can't vote remotely. they have to get it done when they're still in town. so that leaves only 48 hours. >> that's right. so there's an urgency to be some consensus so this can be moved through before the house goes on recess. we know treasury secretary steven mnuchin has been in regular contact with nancy pelosi as they try to hammer out these final details. andrea, you asked the critical question. what comes next? what can president trump do? we know one tool in his toolbox he has not yet used would be to declare a disaster declaration, which would essentially free up

federal funds, as much as $40 billion, as well as assets with fema and other agencies, to allow the government to address this crisis in a more robust fashion. president trump was asked about that again today. he said he is still looking at that and based on my conversations here behind the scenes, it's my understanding they're really taking a hard look at that possibility, that is still very much on the table. will he move to do that? would that be something, for example, andrea, that would calm the markets down? that remains to be seen. i think the administration is also getting a lot of pressure to fill in those details about what the president announced last night. he announced relief for small businesses. but no details on the specifics and timeline on that. then, of course, the tax relief, which, if any, individuals and businesses would be allowed to get that relief. so those are some of the details i think that main street and wall street are looking for at

this hour, andrea. >> and we also know that the leader of brazil, who was just at mar-a-lago with the president, had his press secretary diagnosed now. i think we've got a picture of them -- the three of them together. the press secretary is the gentleman on the right with the baseball cap. the president was posing with him at mar-a-lago. ron klain, what about that and the fact the president said he didn't shake hands, hasn't been shaking hands, he said that in the oval office but when he was in india, he was shaking hands and hunging with prime minister modi. although that was more than 14 days ago. so he would be beyond the worrying stage. >> it's not clear if he was exposed there. how he was exposed there. i worry less about the president, whether or not he's exposed or not. he's got the best doctors in the world, best medical care in the world. i worry more about people out there right now who heard their president say anyone who wants a test can get a test and can't get tested. people are calling their

doctor's office and being told no tests available. people going to hospitals being told no tests available. the president will be taken care of if he gets the virus but there are a lot of people out there right now that can't even get tested to find out if they have it or not. >> stephanie, the dnc where you used to work, just announced the cnn debate sunday night, first head-to-head debate with joe biden and bernie sanders will now be moved to their studios in washington. there won't be an audience. they already said there won't be an audience. which i think is kind of a blessing. because some of other people who held debates, some of the people who held debates have not controlled the audience involvement which does disrupt the flow of questions and answers. that is certainly going to be a pivotal moment. of course, we're not having rallies. >> no political rallies. >> change the nature of this campaign. >> hold it down. the vice president biden skipping a speech today on the pandemic. i think by and large, democrats

see this as a moment for leadership, not politics. i was struck by listening to the president in the oval office that he couldn't bring himself to cancel his political rallies at the end of the month. that would be a great, symbolic thing for the american people, for the president to go ahead and do that and make it clear he's putting politics aside and focused on their safety and well being. but he couldn't bring himself to do that. i was struck by that. >> the trump campaign told us their political rallies are enormous gathering points for social media because they collect information. and that's how they have continued to expand their incredible dominance in social media of any campaign. and it's inhibiting bernie sanders, great at gathering crowds. not so great -- >> it changes the entire nature of the democratic presidential campaign for sure. the debate is important sunday. there's a next round of contests next tuesday.

i think it does put bernie sanders at a disadvantage because he can't speak before those rallies where he really builds his energy. and they're both going to, you know, video-type meetings/events not just protect themselves but protect the people gathering for these things. it's the right thing to do but changes the nature of the race. >> stephanie cutter and ron baker and, of course, stephanie ruhle, ron klain, thank you all so much. we go to italy where a dire situation is under way be coronavirus cases are continuing to grow across the country. streets are empty. 12,000 people confirmed to be infected. wednesday the death toll jumped 30% to more than 800 people. that was the biggest daily jump since the start of the outbreak. the italian government shut down all businesses except for pharmacies and food stores. the question now, can we see similar conditions here in the

u.s.? joining me from italy, matt bradley in rome. matt, that is an extraordinary crisis for italy. worse crisis since what happened in china. >> that's right, andrea. people are saying this is unprecedented. this is the harshed crackdown on people's movements during world war ii. you see the iconic italian brands gucci, dior, they're shut down. project that out in every shop around the country of 60 million people, that's a devastating effect and there's no telling when this is going to lift. as you mentioned, the only businesses that are allowed to stay open or grocery stores and pharmacies that are essential as the virus starts to spread. you can see the spanish steps, if you have been to rome as a tourist, this is a shocking sight. you would been here and seen it crammed with people. right now there's barely anybody here.

there's almost no one standing around and that's because of these police officers. there used to be quite a few more. they're going around moving people along, telling them to go home and the people who don't, they have been finding them and threatening with arrest in some cases. though we heard no one has been arrested quite yet. we spoke with one man who had been fined here earlier this afternoon. he had just come from his work. he was a chef at a restaurant and he said this is basically his last day of work because that restaurant closed down and he was going through the street here. he's an italian. he saw it was empty and decided to snap a photo and these guys arrested him and gave him a 60 euro fine. it's an extraordinary thing and something he said could happen in the states. andrea? >> 60 euros is a lot of bucks too. matt bradley, thank you. with a year and a half projected before a vaccine can even be found to combat this novel virus, scientists at the bio containment lab at the

university of pittsburgh is working around the clock. this is one of the dozen in the u.s. that have the capability to handle the coronavirus. notably it's the same place where jonas salk developed the polio vaccine in the '50s. joining me live from the bio lab in pittsburgh, dr. john torres. dr. torres, this is a race against time but it will be time, a year to year and a half? >> andrea, you're right, it's going to take time here. most experts are saying a year, year and a half, which phenomenally fast for a vaccine. right now we're at the university of pittsburgh, center for vaccine research. this is where dr. salk developed and produced the polio vaccine in 1950 which saved millions of lives across the world and still continues to do so. there are ten high security laboratories here. they handle a lot of pathogens that we know can kill us and cause problems. one of the ones they're handling now is coronavirus. they're trying to develop the

vaccine. it does take a year, year and a half. the big question i get from a lot of people is why does it take so long? it takes so long and longer than most people think for a variety of reasons. and here's why. >> if you imagine that that virus would take five days to grow to make a small volume, and then it takes another five days to make a bigger volume, and it takes another five days to make a larger volume, you can see how days become weeks and weeks become months. and months become years. and that's the issue with the generation of vaccines. >> and we're allowed exclusive footage inside these bio containment facilities. they're highly secure. there are two ph.d. researchers work, on live coronavirus. they have live coronavirus and inactive coronavirus. they use both to do research. you can see they're hooded and using a lot of safety

procedures. we're not allowed in there unless we go through specific training and get the same equipment they do. it's very concerting to get people in there they make sure it is cure and everybody is safe and developing a vaccine. let's see if i can get ahold of them. doctor sham and natasha, how are you guys doing? can you show us what you're working on, the plate you were talking about? this is an inactivated vaccine and that's why it's out in the open. you can see inside the circles, there's blue space, where they're growing the coronavirus before they activate it. all of the white spaces is where the coronavirus is growing and they use that to try to develop the vaccine. they're racing to develop this vaccine. right now it's mitigation process, trying to keep it under control. thank you very much. and part of that mitigation is getting the vaccine, much like we do with the flu. flu containment is not an issue

be because we cannot do that. we mitigate the vaccine. but like i said, this could take a year, year and a half. and they're optimistic they can get the vaccine out as soon as possible. but andrea, it will take some time. >> dr. torres, that is fascinating. thanks to all of these scientists working so hard. it just emphasizes the need for medical research and commitment to the science, which is something that has always been consistent in recent years. >> exactly. >> thank you very much. coming up -- slow burn. the primary road ahead looks like a tough challenge for the senator from vermont. jeff wiener, senior adviser to bernie sanders, is joining me next. break out the butter lobsterfest has something for every lobster fan like wild caught lobster,

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♪ ♪ where we have not succeed ed, frankly, is that most people today think that joe is more electable than i am. >> why do you think he's coming across as more electable? >> i think the fact he was vice president for eight years with obama, and barack obama remains a very popular figure within the democratic world. i think that's one thing. do i think joe can beat him?

i do. between you and me, don't tell anybody -- we're the stronger campaign to beat him though. >> bernie sanders on the ropes, at least in terms of the delegate math but refusing to give up the fight. he's now trailing the former vice president by 147 delegates by our count. he will need to w575 to move ahead. so it's presenting majle hurdles for the complain. jeff weaver is senior adviser to bernie sanders and joins me now. you know the math as well as i do. >> i do. >> what is the play and steps to overcome this challenge? >> look, we're at a volatile time in american history in terms we were talking off the air, we have a global health crisis looming. we have a potential economic

crisis that could come out of that and there needs to be a voice in this race to speak strongly about how we protect working families in this community. what happens with people in the hospitality industry, retail, can't pay their mortgage payments or car payments or tuition. going to do online courses. but will stand there and protect those people? you know bernie got major wage increases for companies like amazon and disney. bernie sanders is in this fight for working class people. that's what he will continue to do. >> the debate has been moved to the studio now, according to the democratic national committee, cnn studio in washington rather than debate in the field. there won't be an audience. does that change the dynamic of the debate? this is the first head-to-head debate, first chance as senator sanders was indicating last night with jimmy fallon, the first chance to really ask joe biden some questions without the audience interfering. >> no, i think it will be very

constructive to have one-on-one debate without obstruction. we had a large democratic field, which is great but now we're down to two candidates and it's important folks hear their competing visions, just the two of them. senator sanders is looking forward to this debate on sunday. >> let's talk about the math. if things don't go well for you on tuesday, he could be 300 delegates or more behind going into the events in florida or states march 17th which are even worse than some of those on tuesday. is there a point where he would say, where you all would get together with james sanders and other close advisers and say the math is just not going to work, we just need to un thiite again donald trump? or is he determined to go forward until the convention, the last primary in new jersey? >> two points on this, andrea. one is which when you run these

presidential primary campaigns they really by this point become a week-by-week endeavor. we're focusing on march 18th. and bernie only lost to half a point to secretary clinton. then we go into the new york, pennsylvania and so on and so forth. bernie sanders has strength there. i think we will do this on a week-by-week basis, obviously. but it's very important as i said earlier, we have this crisis going on in the country right now, global crisis. it's important there's a voice out there who's unabashedly standing up for working class people and articulating a message that will protect those people during this particular time. the other side of that, andrea, in all honesty, and not taking anything away from joe biden, our view certainly is and has been, continues to be, that bernie sanders is a much stronger electoral candidate than joe biden is. >> voters are speaking

differently. senator sanders has not expanded the electorate as he hoped to do. the young people who say in the polls they support him so everyweming everywever overwhelmingly are not coming out as they did in michigan. >> the turnover is there's a lot of older and younger people coming out compared to last time. there has been an increase in younger voters and commensurate increase in older voters. he's overwhelmingly supported by latino voters across this country. and we only had half the delegates chosen. there's a second half -- unfortunately the nba is shut down but there's always a second half. >> do you think he can win 50% that are remaining? >> absolutely. look, in this particular environment, it's very volatile. you saw it in the first half where one week bernie sanders dominated in nevada. next week joe biden had a similar result in south carolina. it just happened that one was closer to super tuesday, many of

those states were clearly in senator sanders' column moved in joe biden's direction. it's volatile right now. >> it's volatile. if things don't work out, would you make a decision to try to bring his supporters into the fold? he has said he's determined to defeat donald trump. >> absolutely, 100%. if joe biden is the nominee, bernie sanders will support him wholeheartedly, campaign for him. >> but is there a point before the convention in milwaukee that he might be -- >> i don't have a crystal ball, andrea. we will see how things go. right now we are working hard and working hard to win. >> what does the schedule look like in the next couple of days? >> we're preparing for the debate. as you discussed here, this sort of signature big rally that senator and sanders has are on hold in many places. probably in all places soon. and what he has that joe biden does not have, he has a vast online network as well. he will be using that capacity

with video and other types of technology in order to reach out to voters in that way. >> a virtual campaign. thank you so much. we're all looking forward to the debate. hoping to see you and talk to you sunday. >> absolutely. coming up next, the blame game. president trump blaming his latest travel ban on our other nations responded to the coronavirusment but is his administration doing enough? former secretary jay johnson joins me right here. i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another, and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis

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it's going to be a pretty strong enforcement of quarantine. >> well, that's news to a lot of people who have seen that this is not the system at airports. president trump under fire for the way his administration is handling the spread of the coronavirus. and it's focused on shutting people out rather than developing tests here and the way to administer the tests and catching up with mitigation at home since it's too late for containment as other countries have done. janing e in joining me is jeh johnson, experienced with the epidemices in the past and, as well, the military's response and other responses from your time in the pentagon. mr. secretary, how would you rate this administration in terms of the testing procedures that the president is saying are working well? >> well, andrea, the mind-set of this administration was and is, in order to protect the american people, we have to exclude people from entering our country. the virus is here.

it's already -- it's been here for weeks now. and if i were in office, i would be advising the president that the number one priority of the united states government right now is to do everything we can to support more test kits here in the united states. i'm very concerned that the number of recorded cases of the coronavirus right now are simply a fraction of reality here in the united states. and so the test kits, and it's not true that anyone who wants one can have one. they are very limited right now, and we simply need to have more by multiples. and i'm concerned about it, not only because the reality is probably far greater than what's recorded, but we need to be tracking communities where the virus might be congregating, like, for example, new rochelle, which is a few miles north of where i sit here in manhattan, or in washington state. there may be other similar communities that we don't know about because it's very hard to

get test kits. that has to be the number one priority right now as well as communicating clearly to the american public either at the national level or the state or local level what they should be doing in terms of their own behavior about widely attended gatherings, about certain actions to wash your hands, whether it's safe to send your kids to school, whether it's safe to go to a sporting event. there needs to be much clearer guidance because the overall goal has to be reversing the trend lines so that the virus is not spreading as fast as it's spread in the last three weeks here in this country. but the virus is here, andrea. so simply issuing an order, a travel ban, which sounds good to a lot of people, is not the answer. and even if that was the correct response, there were probably two or three weeks doing it. but as you pointed out also, the travel ban has loads of exceptions in it. >> the other thing is that dr.

tony fauci today in a house hearing rebutted what the president says about how effective this test system is. exactly the points you were making. doctors are having difficulty getting them and processing them and getting results back. this is what dr. fauci said today at that house hearing. >> so very quickly, the system does not -- is not really geared to what we need right now. what you are asking for. that is a failing. >> a failing? yes. >> it is a failing. the fact is, the way the system was set up is that the public health component that dr. redfield was talking about was a system where you put it out there in the public and a physician asks for it and you get it. the idea of anybody getting it easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that. do i think we should be? yes. but we're not.

>> is there a way to fix this in the middle of the crisis? >> first, i worked with tony fauci during the ebola crisis, and i think he's probably the most reliable, credible person right now in the federal government. i listen to virtually everything he says. everything he tells us. as he pointed out, testing for the coronavirus is a resource-intense process. it cannot be done, right now at least, on a large scale for everybody who wants one or feels that they need one. and as you pointed out earlier in your show, we're at least a year off from a vaccine. but, therefore, the federal government should be making priority one getting more test kits out there, doing what it takes to appropriate the funds to develop this. that has to be the number one priority right now to protect the american people, to protect the homeland. you know, travel bans are appropriate in the right

context, but the virus is here. >> and finally, do you think that the president is getting the right information or that we don't have the right people? tom bossert, who had been in the nsc had said there's little value to european travel restrictions. poor use of time and energy. earlier, yes. now travel restrictions screening are less useful. we have nearly as much disease here as a result of the administration blocking travel between the u.s. and much of europe for 30 days starting at midnight is not really doing very much. >> tom is saying pretty much the same thing i'm saying. if i were in office, i'd be focused on communicating clearly to the american people, to governors, to mayors, what the american people, people who are here should be doing to regulate their own personal behavior, their own movements, their own cleanliness and so forth. and that's how we're going to be able to deal with this virus and

turn the trend lines around. >> jeh jrngs thaohnson, thank y. i misread the tail end of tom bossert's quote. i'll tweet that out right away. we'll be right back. when you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

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[ heavy breathing ] [ sigh of relief ] thanks for being with us. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online and facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports.

and now here are joshua johnson and chris jansing in new york. welcome to a special hour of msnbc focused on the coronavirus pandemic. i'm chris jansing. >> i'm joshua johnson. you've got lots of questions about the outbreak. we're here to get you some answers. at any moment we're expecting to hear former vice president joe biden speak about coronavirus. we will bring that to you live. but first, we've gotten thousands of emails and tweets -- >> it's unbelievable, really. >> it's been amazing how much you've shared your questions about this deadly outbreak. we've got an incredible team of experts here to help answer them. >> we don't want