so we're helping them. it's a responsibility they have, but we are helping the states a lot. that's why the governors i think in every case have been impressed and very nice. we enacted legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers at no cost to employers. and i think it's very important. so they get paid sick leave at no cost to employers. we're accelerating the use of new drug treatments. we're advancing legislation to give direct payments to hard-working families. throughout our country americans from all walks of life are rallying together to beat the unseen enemy, striking our nation. in times of struggle, we see the true greatness of the american character. and we are seeing that. a lot of people are talking about it. we're at 141 countries from what they're telling me. and some of those countries are working in a unified manner and

they're working very unified with us, almost, i could say a good number of them. doctors and nurses are working nonstop to heal the sick. citizens and churches are delivering meals to the needy. trickers are making the long haul to keep shelves stocked. we've been dealing with the big stores and big chains, walmart, they've been fantastic, and others. they've all been fantastic. we've made it much easier for them to stock in terms of travel and travel restrictions, we're lifting restrictions so they can get their trucks on time. you are seeing very few empty shelves and yet the amount of volume that they're doing is unprecedented because people want to have what they have to have, what they feel they have to have. they're also buying in slightly smaller quantities, which is good. because we're not going anywhere. we're going to be here. so i want to thank all of those very great companies for working so well. americans from every walk of life are coming together and thanks to the spirit of our

people, we will win this war. we are winning and we're going to win this war. america will triumph and america will rise higher then ever before. it will be stronger than ever before. and we've learned a lot. we've learned a lot. we've learned a lot about relying on other countries and i can say i think in both a very good and a very bad way, some good things came out of it and not-so-good things came out of it. i would like to move now to invite our team to provide information on the new measures to prevent the viral spread at our borders. and i will start by asking secretary of state pompeo to speak. he's doing a fantastic job. like everyone else, he's been working very, very long and very, very hard. he's doing the other more normal jobs of a great secretary of state, but he got -- he got tied into this like everybody else and he's been really doing a fantastic job. mike, please.

>> thank you, mr. president. before i address the efforts that we've been engaged into, pushback against the chinese virus, i want to ensure the american people as president trump said your state department and national security team is staying focused on the other diplomatic challenges around the world. those include reducing risk from america to afghanistan holding the iranian regime accountable for its activity and counterterrorist efforts against isis remain a priority for our team. our number one priority across those missions remains the protection of the american people. the president and our team are very focused on it. i will take this moment to thank my state department team working long hours around the world to take care of americans stuck around the world. i will talk about that more in a minute. you have seen dr. birx with me, state department official doing great work. but i want to give a shout out to all of the state departments

here and around the world working overtime to help us push back against this pandemic. under the president's leadership this week, we've taken two important steps. first, as president trump announced on wednesday, the united states and canada jointly agreed to restrict all nonessential traffic across our border. this decision goes into effect tonight at midnight. the restriction to be reviewed after 30 days, and they exclude traffic and movement across the border for work or other central reasons. we're grateful to have such an outstanding friend to the north who is committed as we are to defeating this virus. i also want to announce today that the united states and mexico have agreed to restrict nonessential travel across our shared border. both of our countries know the importance of working together to limit the spread of the virus and ensure the commerce that supports our economy continues to keep flowing. here too the united states is glad to have a friend that is working side by side us in the fight. secretary wolff will talk a little about more about the

details how we're working alongside our partners in mexico to keep our southern border safe as well. on another note yesterday the state department issued a level four global travel advisory. this means all international travel from u.s. citizens should be avoided. in countries where commercial departure options remain available, u.s. citizens who reside in the united states should arrange for immediate return to the united states unless they're prepared to remain abroad for an extended time. if you choose to travel internationally, your travel plans may well be severely disrupted. finally, i want to talk about the disinformation people are seeing, on twitter and around the world. some of it coming from government. some of it coming from other individuals. just urge everyone as they are seeing information, information that one time suggested this virus from the united states army, this information about lockdowns that are taking place, every american indeed, people around the world, should ensure where they turn to for

information is a reliable source and not a bad actor trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong. this is a tough fight. the american people are tougher. our diplomatic teams are working around the clock to help them keep safe both home and abroad. we're showing once again the global leadership american has always dlivelivered from great countries and will rally behind what our great president trump and team are doing. >> thank you, mike. we will take questions after this. chad? >> right behind you. >> let me start off by thanking the president and vice president for their continued leadership and commitment for protecting the american people during this crisis. early on the president again took unprecedented actions to restrict travels with areas affected with coronavirus. to date dhs screened over 200,000 individuals coming back from those infected countries. this is an immense undertaking but one the men and women of dhs

successfully accomplished. today's announcement is another example the president has taken to ensure the safety of the american public. before i comment on the cdc order, which i'm sure secretary azar will further elaborate on, when we first addressed the progress as secretary pompeo and others made with the canadian partners involving cross-border travel, when we use common sense matters to reduce risk and spread, it only makes sense to look what the neighbors to the north and south are undertaking. we've been working closely with the partners since the early days of the virus, the outbreak. as the president said earlier this week and secretary pompeo, we reached an agreement with both canada and mexico to limit nonessential travel across our land borders. let me be clear, neither of these agreements with canada or mexico applies to lawful trade or commerce. essential commercial activities will not be impacted.

we will continue to remain a strong, secure economic supply chain across our borders. a few examples of essential travel include but are not limited to individuals traveling for medical purposes to attend educational institutions, for emergency response, public health services, and individuals engaged in lawful cross-border trading. as the secretary said, the agreements with both canada and mexico will go into effect on saturday, march 21. furthermore, we're also working collaboratively with canada and mexico to take decisive joint action regarding individuals seeking entries between our ports of entry. the cdc order directs the department to suspend the introduction of all individuals seeking to enter the u.s. without proper travel documentation. that's for both the northern and southern border. the cdc's director has determined the introduction and spread of the coronavirus and the department's border patrol stations and detention facilities presents a serious danger to migrants, our front

line agents and officers and the american people. it's important to note that the department currently apprehends foreign nationals from over 120 different countries around the world. the vast majority of those having coronavirus cases. many of these individuals arrived with little or no identity travel or medical documentation, making public health risk determinations all but impossible. it's also important to note the outbreak on our southern border would likely increase the strain on health systems in our border communities, taking away important and life-saving resources from american citizens. tonight again at midnight, we will execute the cdc order by immediately returning individuals arriving without documentation to canada, mexico, as well as a number of other countries without delay. so, again, cbp is in position to execute these measures as we continue to keep our borders secure and safe. before i conclude, let me wrap up by thanking the brave men and women of dhs, specifically cbp

and across the government for the work they do day in and day out to keep the american people safe from the coronavirus. the department has a number of frontline officers who have tested positive as well as others who are self-quarantining. i am doing everything that i can to protect these patriots as they continue to defend our homeland during this crisis. thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you. today's announcement is just the latest in a long line of bold, decisive actions the president has taken to protect americans from the coronavirus spreading across our borders. in january within two weeks of china's notifying w.h.o. about the virus and with only 45 cases in china, we began screening travelers from wuhan. then over time as the outbreak evolved, the president restricted travel from china, iran and europe. our health experts say these

measures have been truly effective at slowing the virus' spread to our shores. think about this, italy and the united states first saw its first travel-related case of coronavirus around the exact same time the last week of january. and yet we have had precious time to continue our work around vaccines, is therapeutics and other preparations, while italy has tragically been overwhelmed with critical patients for several weeks now. the president today is taking action to slow the spread of infectious disease via our border. under section 362 of the public health service act, the cdc is suspending the entry of certain persons into the united states. because of the public health threat that their entry into the united states represents. this order applies to persons coming from mexico and canada, who are seeking to enter the country illegally and would normally be held in a congress

-- congregate setting. it does not apply to citizens or lawful permanent residents. during this pandemic a number of health challenges arrive when illegal immigrants arrive at the northern and southern borders and are taken into immigration custody. we're talking about significant number of illegal immigrants. from this past october through february, dhs has processed more than 21,000 inadmissible aliens at the northern border and more than 150,000 inadmissible aliens at the southern border. cdp facilities were never designed to hold large numbers of people and protect agents and migrants during infections from a pandemic nor treat them from a virus with large numbers affected. these migrants were spreading the virus to other migrants to cpb and workers and the united states as a whole.

in such circumstances the social distancing measure the cdc and president have recommended are simply not possible. on top of that, any resources that we are using to reduce the risk of infection among cbp agents, health care workers and migrants in these facilities are drawing on an american health care system that is already fighting the coronavirus pandemic. that's why the president and his administration are taking these important steps to keep americans and our immigration system safe from these health risks. as part of a whole of government approach to combating the coronavirus. thank you, mr. president, for the work you've been doing throughout this crisis to slow the spread of the coronavirus and keep our country safe. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. president. we continued to review the data very carefully from around the globe, as i know many of you are. we continue to see signs that

again individuals under 20, 19 and under, may have severe disease but the majority and all have recovered to date. we still see that same trend. and frankly, from italy we're seeing another concerning trend, that the mortality in males seems to be twice in every gage group of females. this should alert all of us to continue our vigilance to protect our americans that are in nursing homes. this requires all of the community, and when you see the sacrifices that many americans have made, the sacrifices the service industry has made to close their restaurants, close their bars and so the spread is discontinued and then you really understand how all of americans must make the same sacrifice. we continue to ask you to follow the presidential guidelines of no groups coming together of more than ten. that if anyone in the household is sick, that everyone

quarantines in the household together. and that we continue to focus on those who have the most vulnerability to this illness. now to the moms and dads out there that have children with immunodeficiencies or other medical conditions, we don't know the level of risk. and i know you will also protect them in the same way. there's just not enough numbers at this time to really tell them if they're at additional risk or not in the same way that adults are. i don't have any new data. i can see the look on your faces, is she seeing something new? i don't have any new data. but i think it's important for us to be as honest with the american people as we can. and when we don't have data, be very clear that we don't know. finally, no one is immune. i sometimes hear people on radio or others talking about, i'm immune to the virus. we don't know if the contagious levels are different in age groups. but we know it's highly contagious to everyone.

do not interpret mild or moderate disease as lack of contagion or you're immune. you just happen to have a better immune system, an availability to fight the virus in a way maybe older people or people with existing medical conditions can't. that's why it's very important at this moment that all of you carry that message about the sacrifices that many have made, particularly our service providers and our frontline health care workers. they're making that sacrifice every day so every american can move through this well. but we need every american following the presidential guidelines. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much, mr. president. i just want to underscore a couple of things that i have said a few times to this group. you may recall that just a week ago or so i said the two pillars, the two elements of our capability to contain the infection and the surge of infections in this country rely on two things, keeping

infections from coming from without in. we've been very successful in doing that with china and with europe. now we have the northern and southern border issues. there's a fundamental public health reason for doing that. because we cannot be preventing people coming in from one area when they can actually go into the other. that's an important reason. understand there's a public health reason for doing that. the second thing that i think is very important is what happened in new york today that governor cuomo mentioned about an hour ago rather strong issues that have been addressed with his recommendations -- not recommendations, essentially orders. we have a group of recommendations and guidelines that are applicable to the entire country. you know them. we've been over them. yet there are places, regions, states, cities in this country that are being stressed much,

much more than the country as a whole. clearly one was washington. another one california. governor newsom made some very important, difficult decisions. today governor cuomo did the same thing. and i want to say, i strongly support what he's doing. and one thing, as a new yorker myself, for those of you who have not figured it out from my accent that i'm from new york, as a new yorker, i know what new yorkers can do. we're tough. i was in new york city on september 11th, 2001. and i know what the new yorkers can do. please, cooperate with your governor of the cooperate with your mayor. it's very important. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. president. the white house coronavirus task force met this morning. we continue at the president's direction to bring the full resources, not just of the federal government but in full partnership with their state governments, businesses around america and a partnership with the american people to respond

to the threat of the coronavirus. and i know i can speak on behalf of the president with confidence when i say how inspired we are by the way the american people and american businesses are coming together to help defeat this virus in our country. millions of americans are putting into practice the president's 15-day guidelines. and we encourage everyone, even those that are not in areas of significant outbreak, to review these guidelines over the next week and more and put them into practice and you'll continue to do your part. later today we will be talking with manufacturers around the country and the president and i continue to be inspired by the way american industry is stepping forward. we have businesses around the country that are literally volunteering to retrofit plants to help us meet the needs of our health care workers and our health care system in confronting the coronavirus. as the president mentioned

yesterday, following his decision to put fema in the lead, an emergency declaration, we actually met with all of the nation's governors from the fema national response coordination center. the president and i, our entire team at the federal level, couldn't be more grateful for the effort of of all of our governors for implementing the guidance that is being issued not only from our task force but also in taking strong measures in their own communities to protect their citizens. we want to urge every american to heed your local authorities. listen to their guidance. and also do your part to slow the spread. we reiterated to all of the governors that the president by putting fema in the lead will continue to implement a plan that is locally executed, state managed and federally supported that puts the health of america first. we received a report today as the president mentioned on our

legislative team on capitol hill, we're working with republicans and democrats at this very hour to pass an economic recovery package that the president described. we hope to see the congress act on that early next week. on the subject of supplies, we continue to make steady progress. on testing, thanks to the president's involvement of commercial labs, public and private partnership, more and more americans are being tested every single day. and tomorrow admiral mcgaw and fema will update the american people on the testing and state-based testing efforts that are literally expanding by the hour. on the subject of medical supplies, we continue at the president's direction to pursue every means to expand the supply of personal protective equipment for the extraordinary and courageous health care workers that are ministering to the needs of people impacted by the coronavirus. we have a policy of procuring, allocating as well as conserving

the resources that we have in our system. and now that the president worked with the congress to make industrial masks fully available for hospitals to be able to purchase, to be able to use as protective equipment, we're more encouraged than ever about the availability of those important n95 masks to our health care facilities. over this weekend, we will be announcing a major procurement from the federal government of n95 masks as well. we're also encouraged that we're finding new alternatives to increase the supply of ventilators. we've mentioned we have a federal stockpile, some 20,000 ventilators on standby. but that doesn't count the tens of thousands of ventilators that are in our health care system around the country. but the president challenged us to work to free up other ventilators from other sources around the country. there are two different ways we're doing that. number one, in our recent

discussion with anesthesiologists, we've literally identified tens of thousands of existing ventilators that can be retrofitted and converted to be ventilators for people struggling with the coronavirus, but also on the president's behalf, and behalf of all of our task force, we want to continue to urge every american and every american hospital and health care facility to postpone any elective medical procedures. this will free up bed space, free up hospital capacity for people that are struggling with the coronavirus and it will also free up equipment that our health care workers need. it is inspiring that we continue to receive reports that businesses around america are donating n95 masks to their local hospitals, businesses large and small are donating hundreds in some cases, millions of n95 masks. i know how grateful the president is and we all are. let me close by saying, as all

of our experts have said many times, while the threat of serious illness to the average american from the coronavirus remains low, every american can do your part to reduce the burden on your health, on your family, the burden on our health care system and especially the threat to the most vulnerable among us, by putting into practice the president's 15 days to slow the spread. and as the president said at the outset of his remarks, i know that millions of americans are doing that just now, and the greatness of the american character is shining forth. >> thank you, mike. thank you very much. go ahead. >> you had a call from senator schumer and said you agreed to invoke the act that will make supplies available that are in severe order. two questions, is that what you're doing now? >> yes, i did it yesterday.

we invoked it the day before we signed it, the evening before. and invoked it yesterday. we have a lot of people working very hard to do ventilators or other things. >> you're using it to tell businesses to make ventilators, masks, respirators? >> we are for certain things we need, including some of the very important emergency -- i would say ventilators, probably more masks to a large extent. we have millions of masks which are coming. and which will be distributed to the states. the states are having a hard time getting them. so we are using the act. the act is very good for things like this. we had millions of masks we ordered. they will be here soon. we're having them shipped directly to states. >> you said -- you were signing this but not invoking it. this is what you said yesterday and would only do so in a worse-case scenario. are we in a worse-case scenario? >> it's no different other than we need certain equipment the states are unable to get by themselves.

so we're invoking it to use the power of the federal government to help the states get things like the masks and ventilators. >> given what governor cuomo has done in new york, is there any more consideration to a national lockdown to keep people at home? >> i don't think so. essentially you've done that in california. you've done that in new york. those are two hotbeds. those are probably the two hottest of them all. i don't think so. you go out to the midwest, you go out to other locations, they're watching it on television, but they don't have the same problems, they don't have by any means the same problem. new york, california, miami, the governors are doing an excellent job. governor desantis in florida. we have some pretty hot spots in florida too. but -- and the state of washington, of course. that was largely, if you look at it, it was one nursing home that had problems like you wouldn't believe. so, no, we're working with the governors and i don't think we'll ever find that necessary. >> about a week into your 15-day

guidelines, are you happy with the progress? >> i am happy with it. we'll have to see what the results are at the end of 14 days, let's say. we'll know by the 15th day to see what we do. but i'm certainly honored by the way the american people are working. of because it's work. it's work not to work. this is the first time this has ever happened and we're working out a tremendous financial package for them so they don't work. who ever heard of this? usually you work out a financial package to get people working. we're asking people not to work. social distancing, a new term that's become probably the hottest term there is. so, no, i'm very honored by the way the american people are taking this. i mean so seriously. >> mr. president, question for you and question for dr. fauci if i could. there's some concern among democrats on capitol hill the phase three fiscal stimulus is weighted too much in corporation favors and not enough in

individuals. what did your conversations with senator schumer yield on that? >> i think nearly all of that is being discussed right now. we talked about as an example buybacks, be stock buybacks. i don't want to have buybacks. i don't want some executive to say we will buy 200,000 shares of stocks. and also for the company, to keep the company going but not buybacks. i haven't spoken to a lot of the republicans or democrats on it. we discussed it. and i don't like buybacks. i didn't like them the first time. >> are you and senator schumer -- >> so we're discussing that. we're discussing many things. >> are you on the same page with senator schumer? >> we're not so far away. i'll tell you. we're not very far away. >> from dr. fauci, if i could. dr. fauci, it was explained yesterday there's some promise with hydroxychloroquine as potential therapy for people infected with coronavirus. is there any evidence to suggest that as with malaria, it may be used as a proef lax sis against

covid-19? >> the answer is no. the evidence that you're talking about, john, is anecdotal evidence. so as the commissioner of the fda and the president mentioned yesterday, we're trying to strike a balance between making something with a potential of an effect to the american people available. at the same time we do it under the auspices of the protocol that would give us information to determine if it's truly safe and truly effective. but the information that you're referring to specifically is anecdotal. it was not done in a controlled clinical trial so you really can't make any definitive statement about it. >> mr. president -- >> i think without saying too much, i'm probably more of a fan of that than -- maybe than anybody, but i'm a big fan. we will see what happens. we all understand what the doctor said is 100% correct. it's early. but i have seen things that are impressive. we will see.

we will know soon. we will know soon. including safety. but, you know, when you get that safety, this has been prescribed for many years for people to combat malaria, which is a big problem, and it's very effective. it's a strong drug. so we will see. >> currently also effective against sars. >> it was, as i understand that. is that a correct statement? it was fairly effective on sars? >> john, you got to be careful when you say fairly effective. it was never done in a clinical trial. they compared it to anything. it was given to individuals and felt maybe it worked. >> is there anything to compare it to? >> that's the point. whenever you do a clinical trial, you do standard of care versus standard of care plus the age that you're evaluating. that's the reason why we showed back in ebola why particular interventions worked. >> about the possible therapies yesterday, mr. president, you said they were for, quote,

immediate delivery. >> yes, we ordered it. we have millions of units ordered. bayer is one of the companies as you know. very big, very great company. millions of units are ordered. we're going to see what happens. we're going to be talking to the governors about it, and the fda is working on it right now. the advantage is that it has been prescribed for totally different problem but it has been prescribed for many years and everybody knows the levels of -- the negatives and the positives. but i will say that i am a man that comes from a very positive school when it comes to a particular one of these drugs. we will see how it works out, peter. i'm not saying it will, but i think people may be surprised. by the way, that would be a game-changer. but we're going to know very soon. but we have ordered millions of units. it's being ordered from bayer and there is another couple of companies also that will help do

it. >> there fauci said there's no magic drug for coronavirus, on i guess you would agree. >> we only disagree a little bit. >> sorry. >> i disagree. maybe and maybe not. maybe there is, maybe there isn't. we have to see. we're going to know. >> is it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be given americans a false sense of hope -- >> i don't think so. i don't think so. i think it's got -- >> not yet approved drug -- >> it may work, it may not work. i agree with the doctor. it may work, it may not work. i feel good about it. that's all it is, a feeling. smart guy. i feel good about it. we will see soon enough. we have very good samples of people. if you look at people, we have a lot of people in big trouble. this is not a drug that obviously i think i can speak for a -- from a lot of experience because it's been out

there for over 20 years. so it's not a drug you have a huge amount of danger with. it's not like a brand-new drug just created that may have an unbelievable monumental effect, might kill you. we're going to know very soon. i can tell you the fda is working very hard to get it out. right now in terms of malaria, if you want it, you can have a prescription. you can get a prescription. by the way, it's very effective. it works. i have a feeling -- and i'm not being over optimistic or pessimistic. i sure as hell think we ought to give it a try. there's been interesting things happening and very good things. let's see wlaphat happens. we have nothing to lose. you know the expression, what the hell do you have to lose? >> when you say americans were scared, though, i guess nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick, millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now. what do you say to americans who are watching you right now who

are scared? >> i say that you're a terrible reporter. that's what i say. i think that's a very nasty question. and i think it's a very bad signal you're putting out to the american people. the american people are looking for answers, and they're looking for hope. and you're doing sensationalism and the same with nbc and comcast. i don't call it comcast, i call it con-cast. let me just say something, that's really bad reporting. and you ought to get back to reporting instead of senationalism. let's see if it works. it might and might not. i happen to feel good about it. who knows? i have been right a lot. let's see what happens, john. >> the units that were ordered, are they for clinical trials or distribution for the general population? >> we're going to -- as i understand it, we're going to be taking samples in new york. governor cuomo is very much interested in this drug and they're going to work on it also

after they get a certain approval. we're waiting for one final approval from the fda. we will see what happens. but we will use it on our people that are not doing great or even at the beginning of not feeling well. john, what do we have to lose? john, it's been out there for so long. we hear good things. let's see. maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. >> i understand all of that. i'm just thinking the application here, that would be a modified compassionate access? >> we're doing that, i guess. that's what it's called. >> i would like dr. fauci, if you don't mind, to follow up on what the president is saying. should americans have hope in this drug right now? sir, would i like to follow up on peter's question here, could you please issue -- address americans in this country who are scared right now. this is a very valid concern that people have. >> there really isn't that much of a difference in many respects of what we're saying. the president feels optimistic about something, his feeling about it. what i'm saying is it might be effective. i'm not saying it isn't.

it might be effective. as a scientist as we're getting it out there, we need to do it in a way while we're making it available for femme who might want the hope it might work, you're also collecting data that would ultimately show that it is truly effective and safe under the conditions of covid-19. so it really isn't different. it's just a question of how one feels about it. >> is there any reason to believe it's not safe? >> certainly as a drug, any drug, john, has some toxicities. the decades of experience we have with this drug indicate the toxicities are rare, and they are in many respects reversible. what we don't know is when you put it in the context of another disease whether it's safe. fundamentally, i think it probably is going to be safe. but i like to prove things first. it really is a question of not a lot of difference. it's the hope that it will work versus proving it will work. i don't see a big difference here.

>> i agree. >> i agree. >> mr. president, people working at home with their children in their homes, doctors say they don't have the masks they need to do their jobs. your message to them. >> my message to the american people is that there is a very low incidence of death -- you understand that. and we're going to come through this stronger than ever before. if you get it, if you happen to get it, it is highly unlikely. it's looking like it's getting to a number that's much smaller than people originally thought. in terms of the ultimate problem, which would be death. my message to the american people is, number one, you've done an incredible job, incredible. what you've gone through, it's been incredible. it wasn't their fault. it wasn't their fault. it wasn't the fault of 140 other countries where this has happened. and there is tremendous hope. i think we're going to come out stronger and better, bigger in every way. i think we're going to be a better country than we were

before. we learned a lot. we learned on reliance. who to rely on, who not to rely on. our country has been incredible, the way they pulled together, including the fact that i just spoke to senator schumer, we had a wonderful conversation. we both want to get to a good solution. but it's been really for me watching and seeing people that weren't speaking getting along well because we all have one common aim, and that is to get rid of this invisible enemy, get rid of it fast and go back to the kind of economy we had and maybe even better. please, in the back. the back, please. >> mr. president, two questions. first, small businesses are concerned they have weeks, not months -- >> we're going to be helping them a lot. we will be focused, including my conversation with both mitch and with chuck, a big focus of that conversation is with small businesses. they are really the engine

behind our country. more so than the big ones, they're the engine behind our country. >> second, if i may, sir, are you concerned about members of congress that may have used information they learned on updates to sell stocks and profit off of this? >> i'm not aware of it. i saw names. i know all of them. i know everyone mentioned, dianne feinstein i guess and a couple of others. i don't know too much about what it's about. but i find them to all be very honorable people. that's all i know. they said they did nothing wrong. i find the whole group very honorable people. yes, please. >> mr. president, so the whole group would include richard burr, the head of the intelligence committee, and it also would include senator kelly loeffler. so the question is whether or not they should be investigated for that behavior. >> it also includes dianne feinstein, the democrat. you didn't mention her name. why didn't you mention her name? i think she's an honorable person, by the way. you mention two people but don't mention one.

>> any senators, should they be -- >> i don't know. i would have to look at it possibly. i find them to be honorable people. >> the other day you compared your self through a war this is time president, do you really think going off on peter and a network is appropriate for something like this? >> i do because i think peter is -- i have dealt with peter for a long time. i think peter is not a good journalist when it comes to fairness. . >> he asked about your message to the country. >> i think the country has to understand that there is indeed, whether we like it or not, and some of the people in this room won't like it, there's a lot of great news and journalism and there's a lot of fake news out there. i hear it all and see it all and i understand it all because i'm in the midst of it. when somebody writes a story or does a story on television, and i know it's false and i know

it's fake, when they said 15 sources have said. i know there are no sources, they're just making it up, i know that. i call peter out but i call other people out too. this is a time to come together. but coming together is much harder when we have dishonest journalists. it's a very important profession that you're in. it's a profession that i think is incredible. i cherish it. but when people are dishonest, they truly do hurt our country. yes, in the back. please, go ahead. >> mr. president, china has been in communication with the united states and also w.h.o. about coronavirus. >> that's true. >> and the u.s. shuttered the border of travelers to china february 2. wuhan has been on locked down since january 24th. and this all happened almost two months ago. why do you say if you could have known earlier? also, you have been calling

for -- >> i have to say this, and i can speak for myself, but i have a very good relationship with china and with president xi. i have great respect for president xi. i consider him to be a friend of mine. it's unfortunate this got out of control. it came from china. it got out of control. some people are upset. i know president xi. he loves china. he respects the united states. and i have to say, i respect china greatly and i respect president xi. >> according for stock buybacks, is this a deal breaker for you? >> no, but i never liked stock buybacks from their standpoint. when we did a big tax cut and when they took the money and did buybacks, that's not building a hangar, that's not buying aircraft. that's not doing the kind of things that i want them to do. we're now talking about buybacks.

we didn't think we would have had to restrict it because we thought they would have known better. but they didn't know better. not in all cases, obviously. some people did an incredible job. they built plants all over the country. until this invisible enemy appeared, we were -- we never had an economy like this. but there was some companies that used that money to buy back stock. driving up the price of the stock artificially in many cases. i don't like that. i don't like it. as far as whether or not we'll have that, allow them when we give them money because we have to keep these great companies in business because of the workers, frankly, for the most part because of the workers, the workers are my number one concern. the way we take care of the workers is we have to keep the companies going. i'm fine with restricting buybacks. in fact, i would demand that there be no stock buybacks. i don't want them taking hundreds of millions of dollars and buying back their stock, because that does nothing. yes, please.

>> one for dr. fauci and hopefully one for you. >> one thing, secretary of state pompeo is extremely busy. so if you have any question for him right now, could you do that? you know what i would like to do, i would like him to go back to the state department or as they call it the deep state department, if you don't mind, i would like to have him go back and do his job. does anybody have any question? >> mr. secretary -- >> may i ask a question? >> only for the secretary. >> the extensions on work travel, can you define that? anyone with a work visa still cross the border? can you define the measure u.s. you're taking? >> great question. we're working -- we're concerned about h 2av and the need to get agriculture across. we will make sure we do everything we can to keep that part of our economic life working between our countries. dhs and state department will work together. we want to keep commerce between canada, united states and mexico

alive, functional and prepared for the day this economy bounces back like we expect it will. >> mr. secretary -- >> mr. secretary, the mexican government has not announced any travel ban on europe. have you been in touch with them as to when they're going to do this and what it is they're telling you? second question, they also are telling us and set said in a press conference this morning they would not take back any non-mexican citizen. any other third parties, we don't know what will happen to them. can you address what will happen to those third country immigrants you are saying will not be allowed to enter the u.s. and mexico is saying they will not be allowed to stay in mexico either? >> i will take the first one. with respect to travel to mexico, i have spoke to the foreign minister about this. i'm very confident we will get to a good place that protects the american people and mexican people for those traveling into places we have the destination,

from the shenzhen zone from china so they're not coming into mexico and coming into the united states. i'm confident we will do that and make that announcement shortly together. >> as we implement the cdc's order, again, we're going to take a number of individuals across the border illegally and repatriate them and move them quickly back to mexico, back to the northern triangle or any other country. we will continue to work with mexico to make sure the mexican nationals go back as well as other populations. >> what about guatemala infected in cuba, what about the third companies that are not mexican? >> we're doing all of the job. individuals back to mexico, individuals back to northern triangle countries, cuba, haiti. we have 122 different nations we see, nationalities that come across that border. we will be sending them back individually to their countries but also working with mexico to send additional populations back there as well. >> you need to put it -- before

you said non-mexicans going to mexico. we're not sending them to mexico. we're sending them back to their own countries. why would mexico take people not from mexico? we're sending them back, in the case of guatemala, honduras, el salvador, a lot of countries, they go back to the country from where they came. mike, please. >> secretary pompeo, on the issue of disinformation, is there any information locust for this disinformation or is it pretty defused? >> it's pretty defused but he with have seen it come from places like china and russia and iran in coordinated efforts to disparage what america is doing and our intention to do all of the things president trump set in motion here. >> other than what you're doing this morning, what are you doing to fight back? >> a lot of work. one thing is make sure americans go to trusted sources for information. we made clear we've spoken to these countries directly, that they need to knock it off. we don't approve of it. and a handful of other things to make sure the right information

is out there and accurate information is given. this idea of transparency and accurate information is very important. it's how we protect the american people from something like this ever happening again. >> peace corps volunteer -- >> how should the american people come to the trusted sources of information, does it undermine you at all when the president stands up here attacking news outlets calling them untrustworthy? >> anyone else have a question? >> what about americans who find themselves stranded in places where there are no longer flights to get back to the united states, what other efforts are being made to help them? >> i appreciate that question. we are doing lots of things. a couple places in particular, peru and morocco, we had the first maybe two, three flights out of monrocco. when individuals can't get back on their own, they travel on their own. when they can, they ought to try to do that. but we have a team stood up at the state department, repatriation task force working each of these instances.

we heard from individuals, members of congress. we're trying to get americans back from these places where air travel has been disrupted. we'll get that done over time. we will get it done successfully. >> is there any sense of just how big that problem is? >> we don't know the full scale of it yet. but we think we have the largest number identified. those who are watching that are someplace, you can go on the state department website, you can log into -- i think it's step.gov and go step and log in and we will track and try to get everybody back as soon as possible. >> mr. secretary, how long are these border restrictions likely to last along the south and north borders? >> they will last as long as we need to do to protect the american people from the virus. i can't tell you how long it will last. >> have you derled determined if iran is responsible for the rocket attack last week? >> maybe we shouldn't say yet. >> let me get back to you on the answer to that. what we can say with certainty is this, we made clear along the

iraq shia militias are funded, trained and equipped by the iranians and we urged the iranians not to do that and told iranians they will be held responsible for that when they threaten american lives. >> pompeo -- >> are the peace corps volunteers all returned? >> i don't know if they're back. most of them are back. i couldn't tell if you we have all of them back. >> secretary asper is not here but to get tests to the troops in iraq and afghanistan, are you able to give us a progress report on that? >> i don't nope the answer to that. we have state department officials, too, who are concerned and want to get them tests and we're working on that. we've had significant success. there are a few places we've not been able to get them. >> how are you going to get the americans back, and do you have any plans to get the military involved in that? >> we'll use all the tools we can. private flights that will bring them back to a destination in the united states so we'll do

that. some will travel back other ways as well. we've worked with the department of defense to bring back on those flights as well. it's all a government effort. they're going to help us every place they can. we've talked about it a couple of times. >> is there any consideration to relaxing sanctions in the crisis? >> it's an important question. humanitarian assistance into iran is wide open. it's not sanctions. we've offered to provide assistance to the iranians as well. we're doing everything we can to facilitate the humanitarian assistance and the financial transactions can take place as well. no sanctions on humanitarian assistance going into the country. they have a terrible problem and we want that humanitarian assistance to get to the people of iran. >> the sanctions themselves --

>> we are working to do all the things we've had in place for the first three years here to deliver security for the american people. >> they know the answer. they know the answer, iran, the leaders. they know the answer to your question. >> thousands of diplomats are working very hard around the world to combat this pandemic. >> i've worked with the president for three years now, i know how much he values the people who work on my team. when i was director of the central intelligence agency, he valued the work he did. he watches our team, dr. birx, all of the team, pushing back to keep america safe. i know how much he values them. >> what a good answer. >> mr. president? i apologize. >> go ahead. >> i have two questions. the first to secretary pompeo. the news hour has learned the cdc picked up some sort of virus

happening in wuhan, the coronavirus, happening in wuhan as early as december. when did the cdc start letting other agencies know there was something in china happening, that this coronavirus was happening? when did the whole government approach start to happen? >> i will let the cdc -- do you want to talk to that? >> so we were alerted by some discussions that dr. redfield, the director of the cdc, had with chinese colleagues on january 3rd. it's since been known that there may have been cases in december. not that we were alerted in december. >> the other question i have for you -- >> we'll do it in a second. >> one more thing. there's been some discussion about china and what they knew and when they knew it, and i've been very critical. we need to know immediately, the world is entitled to know the chinese government was the first to know of this risk to the world and that puts a special obligation to make sure that data that gets to our scientists

and professionals. this is not about retribution. this matter is going forward. we're in a live exercise here to get this right. we need to make sure that even today the data sets available to every country including data sets available to the chinese communist party are made available to the whole world, an imperative to keep people safe. this transparency this real time information sharing isn't about political games or retribution but keeping people safe. when you see a delay from the chinese communist party to the technical people we wanted to get in to china immediately to assist in this, every moment of delay connected to identifying this risk vectors creates risks to people all around the world. this is why it's not about blaming someone for this. this is about moving forward to make sure we continue to have the information we need to do

our jobs. >> mr. secretary, what message when you have the president of the united states lashing out at reporters? >> i've had my frustration with reporters, too. all i ask when i talk to the media is that you listen to what we say and report it accurately. and it's frustrating when you see that doesn't happen. we have a responsibility to tell the american people the truth, and those who are reporting on what it is we're doing have an equal responsibility to report accurately. >> what message does it send to countries when you're lashing at reporters? >> i've seen many things at the state department reported wildly inaccurately on multiple occasions, and i have spoken to those reporters about it each and every time, and i will continue to do so. >> mr. president, senator johnson -- >> i would rather have, if you could finish up with the secretary. >> i think i've worn them out, mr. president. >> let me ask you both, if that's all right. mr. secretary, senator johnson

has suggested that you and the administration may be overreacting. he said we don't shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on highways, we don't shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu. at worst 3.4% of americans will die from this virus, he said. what do you say to people who have that view? that's 11 million people he's talking about. >> i can say the entire world is agreeing with us because they all have their choice and everybody is doing the same thing. we want to shut it out, and we can do that and we'll see what happens in two weeks, in three weeks. if we can save thousands of lives and even millions of lives potentially, you don't know where it goes but you could be talking about millions of lives. if you look at the world, you have some very smart people in the world. you have some smart leaders in the world. and everybody is doing it the way we're doing it. i think we're doing a better job than hopefully most, if not all.

we're doing an effective job. we'll know better in 14 or 15 days. you're talking about hundreds of thousands and maybe more than that numbers of people and we can bring our finances back very quickly. we can't bring the people back. >> mr. president, to follow up on that, there are millions of people out there that share that view that say i don't really need to shut things down. i don't need to stay away from stores. i can go to the beach. and those people making multiple actions exponentially, it's the difference between life and death. >> i agree. i think i'd like to have anthony answer that because, to be honest, that's what he does, and we had a lot of very talented people telling us what they think we should do. >> thank you, mr. president. first of all, i think that's a false equivalency to compare traffic accidents. that's totally way out. that's a false equivalency.

when you have something that is new and it's emerging and you can't predict totally the impact it will have and you look at what's gone on in china and you see what's going on right now -- right now -- in italy and new york city, i don't think with any moral conscience you could say why don't we just let it rip and happen and let x percent of the people die. i don't understand that reasoning at all. >> okay, so the secretary of state will be leaving. any other questions? go ahead in the back, please, for mike. >> thank you, mr. president -- >> excuse me, i didn't call on you. >> thank you, mr. president. two things, cases are doubling every day, they fear supplies will run out in a matter of weeks. yesterday mayor bill de blasio asked to mobilize the military to deliver urgent supplies. yesterday he said, quote, the fate of new york city rests in the hands of one man. he is a new yorker and right now

he is betraying the city he comes from. i personally have spoken to emergency department nurses who say they are being told not to wear n95 masks because supplies are so low. how do you respond to those remarks by mayor de blasio and doctors looking to you when will the supplies arrive? >> the governor agrees with me and i agree with him. we are very much in sync. i guess they're not agreeing with each other necessarily. the relationship with new york, i love new york. i grew up in new york, as you've probably heard, and the relationship has been very good. i think the government and the governor have been getting along incredibly well with the federal government. okay. >> question for secretary wolfe if i could. on people who are otm, how will the turnback process work?

will they be taken to a common area and put on a plane and sent back? how would that process work? >> again, it's a public health crisis. what we're trying to do is limit the amount of contact we have with the individuals not putting them in border patrol facilities, i.c.e. facilities and the like. it will be very rapid. we're going to take them into custody and then send them back to a port of entry or other means. it will be very quickly. it won't be the six or seven or ten days we currently have. it will be much more rapid. >> if they are otm will they be taken to an airfield? >> that's correct. absolutely. >> anybody? >> mr. president? >> mr. president? >> the checks to americans, the bill proposed creates sort of tiers of checks for income. do you believe philosophically that makes sense? >> i want to get workers money and which ever