admiral john mustin. [ applause ] >> thank you. mr. mayor, mr. administrator, commissioner, thank you for being here today to welcome this great ship. to the officers, the crew, the medical professionals of the "usns comfort," thank you for the vital mission that you've undertaken. i'd also like to recognize and thank the many, many contributors who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this day possible. each of those who helped to fit out and prepare this ship in record time, from the maintenance community to the dockworkers to the ship's company to the doctors, to the dredgers, thank you, all of you, for the agility and professionalism that you have all shown over the past few weeks. that focused collective effort will save american lives. today i also want to recognize that not all of our nation's heroes wear military uniforms. especially today, we acknowledge

that many wear scrubs. let us not forget, nor fail to recognize, that the doctors and nurses across america, those who are treating patients in these unprecedented times, they are all heroes. and like those heroes, the unmistakable white hall and red cross of this great ship have been a welcome sight around the world, standing at the forefront of our humanitarian missions overseas. this ship represents all that is good about the american people, all that is generous, all that is ready, responsive, and resolute. like her sister ship, the "usns mercy" was recently moored and is already serving patients in los angeles, this great ship will support civil authorities by increasing medical capacity and collaboration for medical assistance. not treating covid-19 patients, but by acting as a relief valve for other urgent needs, freeing new york's hospitals and our precious medical professionals

to focus on this pandemic. so, now this great ship will serve and support our fellow americans in this time of need, providing critical surge hospital capacity to america's largest city. as a resident new yorker myself, i can attest to the invincible spirit of new york. from the ships that she built in world war ii to her unflappable determination following 9/11 and hurricane sandy, i have great confidence that new york will weather today's storm as well, this time with the support of another great american community, the naval families on board and supporting the crew of the "usns comfort." words are incapable of expressing the depth of my gratitude for those on this mission and for the families that they leave behind. the men and women on board "comfort" are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers. and while our lives may look drastically different today than they did even a month ago, the

circumstances for these men and women are no exception. they left their families during this uncertain time in our nation's history knowing that they can make a difference. that is what the u.s. navy does, and this is an example of americans helping their fellow men. i know that for our military families, social distancing is not a new concept, but rather, a frequent reality. and i remain grateful for all that each of them do for our nation and for our communities every single day. as you heard from the administrator, the last time this great hospital ship, all 70,000 tons of her, was in new york, was in the wake of 9/11, where she served as a respite and comfort for first responders working around the clock. today, like then, we bring a message to all new yorkers -- now your navy has returned and we are with you committed in this fight. mr. mayor, every sailor, every marine and every civilian on

this mission stands proudly, stands ready to serve the people of new york city. we have not yet begun to fight, and we will not give up this ship. thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] well done. beautifully said, admiral, and thank you so much. all right, we're going to take questions now from the media, and just, please, project your voices so i can hear you well. go ahead. oh, we have microphones. even better. >> yes. thank you, mr. mayor. so, what's your message to president trump after the "comfort" docked here to help new york city? and when it came in here to the pier, what was your emotion and what was your reaction overall? >> it's a very emotional moment. i went up on the roof here to watch the "comfort" come in, and i had this incredible feeling of peace, actually, that help was finally coming, that we were not

alone. and i just have a reverence for the military. i come from a family that had a deep involvement in the military. i have a reverence for the military. feeling the presence of the united states military here just gave me a sense that things were going to be okay. and just, it's such a moving sight. the ship is so impressive. just looming there in our harbor was like a beacon of hope and it really felt that way for me. my message to the president is, thank you, and we need more help! and that's not because any of us likes to have to say that, but because it's true. the toughest weeks are ahead. we are bracing ourselves for something we have never seen before in any of our lives, and the federal government in many ways is the only force that can help us to reach the level of preparation we need to save every life we can save. so i'm going to keep calling the president and keep appealing to

him to get us all the help we need for these really tough weeks. and then, again, we will turn around and help everyone else in this country right after. i'll go on this side. yes. >> mr. mayor, as you know, normally this time of year we'd be very busy and focused on the state budget in albany. >> yes. >> i just want to ask -- i know it's kind of a secondary issue now, but there is a lot getting crafted up there. >> yes. >> do you have any concerns in terms of what you've been hearing in terms of how the city will be affected? >> i have real concerns. i have deep concerns. because what's being discussed is essentially health care for people who need it. you know, we can talk about the medicaid budget, but that's i think the wrong way to think about it. what it equals is health care for people who need health care right now and need it more than ever because of the pandemic. i spoke at length last night with speaker carl heastie and majority leader andrea stewart cousins. i let them know that from the perspective of 8.6 million people in new york city, we cannot afford medicaid cuts,

health care cuts at this dire moment. the state must accept the medicaid funding that was in the third stimulus bill. we need that money to be accepted, and we need to make sure that the health care so many people are depending on is not disrupted. so, i understand that the state has a budget challenge. we have a huge budget challenge. i mean, i'm right now in the middle of cutting a huge amount out of this budget for this city right now. but what i will not cut is health care. and i said that the other day. we're going to find some really tough cuts we have to make, but it will never be about health care. it will never be about the fight against covid-19. so, i urge the state, accept the federal money, do not cut medicaid, do not cut health care for new yorkers who need it. let's get -- okay, let's keep going back and forth, whoever's at the microphone. go ahead. >> can you tell us what kind of services the ship will be providing and how will it be decided what patients will be going to the ship and which patients will stay at the

hospital? >> i'm going to start and i'll let the admiral join in, obviously. what i have to explain to everyone, i think is such a shock to hear this, that people are still kind of adjusting to it. the intensive care units in our hospitals used to be a small part of our hospitals. and again, at the beginning of this month, we had about 20,000 working hospital beds in new york city. what we have to do is convert as many as possible, potentially almost all of those traditional hospital beds into icu beds. we have to make whole hospitals into intensive care units to get through these next weeks. that's how dire, that's how tough this situation is. if we're going to turn a hospital -- i mean, think of bellevue, think of nyu langone. you go by these huge buildings. they're going to be all icu, if we can bring all of the pieces together, the staff and the equipment and everything. well, what happens to everyone else who doesn't need intensive care?

we have to have hospitals for them, too. what happens to people who have been infected with covid-19 but are not at the point where they need intensive care? hopefully on the way to recovery. they need a hospital bed in many cases, too, but we c them in intensive care unit which has to be reserved for those we're trying to sa "usns allows and javits center and so many other places being developed right now, is the ability to take all of those other patients and give them care. and each location will be different, but it will allow us to keep a health care system going while we convert the core hospitals into something we've never done. this is beyond anyone's imagination. i asked the head of our public hospitals, dr. mitch katz, i said, have you ever heard of any place where they have had to turn hospitals into all icu? he said, no, no one's had to come near to doing that in the last 100 years in this country. but because the "comfort" is here, because of what's happening at the javits center, we will have the ability to do

that. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell. you have been watching new york city bill de blasio and top fema officials as well as the navy commander from the uss naval ship "comfort," officials saying it will be a relieve valve for sick, non-covid-19 patients who need treatment in new york. arriving in new york harbor today. here in washington, after stern warnings from his top two medical experts, president trump is extending the new normal of social distancing, telling people to stay home through april. the administration hoping that millions of americans will get the message and prevent other cities from suffering the same coronavirus outbreak, the levels that we've seen in new york and other hotspots around the country already. this morning, dr. deborah birx gave savannah guthrie on the "today" show a grim reality check about what the country could be facing, worst case, in the months ahead. >> if we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to

200,000 fatalities. we don't even want to see that -- >> wow, that -- that -- i know, but you know, you kind of take my breath away with that, because what i hear you saying is that's sort of the best-case scenario. >> the best-case scenario would be 100% of americans doing precisely what is required, but we're not sure, based on the data that you're sharing from around the world and seeing these pictures that all of america is responding in a uniform way to protect one another. >> joining me now, nbc's gabe gutierrez in central park at the new field hospital, nbc's rehema ellis at the u.s. navy ship "comfort's" arrival site in new york harbor. gabe, first to you. let's talk about the field hospital that was set up, seemed almost overnight. obviously, one of the places where non-covid patients will be treated. >> reporter: hi, there, andrea. yeah, it's really incredible when you think about it. this is central park, an iconic landmark in new york.

and if you look around me, you can see this has now turned into an emergency field hospital. there are supplies over there. air conditioning systems over here. i was last on earlier this morning. you see another tent has gone up. these are hospital beds right here. there's going to be a total of 68 beds when this opens, starting tomorrow, so we're trying to keep a safe distance from everybody here, but you can take a peek inside. that is where they are building some of those hospital beds. there are also critical ventilators there as well. and as you know, andrea, that is what mayor de blasio and what governor cuomo say is really a critical need here in new york as this virus begins to take hold. and the cameraman, if he can show how much activity is under way right now. this really happened overnight, andrea, as you said, the construction of this emergency field hospital here in manhattan, in central park. 68 beds, again. and the idea is to relieve the

pressure on the hospital system here as the number of cases begin to grow. now, mt. sinai hospital is right up the street from here. this field hospital plans to take patients from there as well as mt. sinai on the west side of manhattan. and andrea, we have been hearing for the last couple days of this increasing need throughout the hospital system here, how more and more patients are coming here, especially to perhaps the epicenter in queens, new york, at elmhurst hospital. many of those doctors and nurses saying that they need personal protective equipment. now, the governor and the mayor do say there is enough personal protective equipment that there has been some spot shortages along the way, but what this is trying to do is to relieve the pressure over the coming days and weeks as they expect more and more patients to be able to be treated here. the "usns comfort," as you mentioned, also docking and expected to relieve some of that pressure as well, but the need is great, andrea. authorities say they will need tens of thousands of more beds. andrea?

>> indeed. gabe gutierrez, thank you so much. and rehema ellis, you're at the site where the "comfort" has come in. wanted to give our viewers an idea of this conflict between -- continuing conflict between president trump and new york officials. there are intermittent lapses in this conflict, but last night the president was suggesting that there was hoarding, perhaps, or even worse, he suggested, by new york officials. and today on fox, he again suggested that new york did not need what they were demanding. governor cuomo was on "morning joe" and responded. let me play that and we'll get you on the other side. >> we delivered 4,000 ventilators to new york, to their warehouse, which happens to be located, which is interesting, in ed ison, new york. they were dropped off, they were delivered, and they weren't used. and we said a number of days later, why aren't you using these ventilators? i don't know what happened, but

we delivered thousands of them, and we've delivered them to a lot of people. you know, there's a whole question about that. i think new york should be fine based on the numbers that we see. they should have more than enough. >> i hope the president gets -- i heard your clip about the 4,000 ventilators. what they still don't get is how to run a government, how to plan an operation. this virus has been ahead of us from day one. you're right, they sent 4,000 ventilators. we're not using them today because i don't need them today. i need to assemble them in a stockpile. a stockpile by definition is to be used at the high point. >> rehema, if you heard governor cuomo, what he was saying on "morning joe," he doesn't need them today or tomorrow, but this is escalating and the surge isn't even expected to peak until mid-april. >> reporter: you're right,

andrea. they're saying that another two weeks from now, that's when they're going to see the apex of this covid-19, as it spreads across the city and the state. and the mayor, mayor de blasio was also on the air earlier this morning from this location where i'm standing right now, and he said it was insulting to hear from the president what he was saying about the possibility that something may be awry with the equipment that's being brought in, the personal protective equipment. he says it's an insult to the brave and the courageous health care workers who are working around the clock and doing their darnedest to be there right on the front line, to help people in need. he also pointed out that the calls to 911 have never been as high as they are right now, that they see a soaring need for medical equipment, and the ship that you see behind me -- let me step over so you can see just a

little bit -- those stunning red crosses on the side of the bow of the ship. this is a tent, a 70,000-ton vehicle, and it's designed, as you had said, to provide some of the relief for city hospitals, which are overburdened that we hear every single day. andrea? >> rehema ellis, thank you. it was so moving to hear from the admiral, the work that they do. and they were last there after 9/11. joining us now, dr. peter shearer, chief medical officer at mt. sinai hospital in brooklyn. doctor, we read the grim reality check that you gave us i think in "new york" magazine, your "new york" magazine journal. tell us of the situation now in the emergency department. what are you facing every day? >> right. thank you very much, andrea. i mean, it's an emergency department. it's the whole hospital. it's our intensive care units. the numbers are continuing to increase that we're seeing, so the emergency department here in

brooklyn has been surging to about more than double its capacity. the hospital senses itself, we've increased it. normally, we're a 200-bed community hospital. we're up to about 240 patients currently. over 180 of those are covid-positive patients. so, it's just been incredibly active. meanwhile, a lot of, unfortunately, some staff has gotten sick with coronavirus, so they're out. so, the current nursing staff has been working just incredibly diligently for the past week this has been increasing. and working with more sick patients than they usually might have. and even at times with shorter staff. so, everyone's really stretched very thin and doing really an amazing, heroic job. >> we've been reading out of spain, which, of course, is one of the countries with a real, real surge, that as many as 14% of frontline health care workers

are becoming infected themselves. do you have any sense of how many of your staff have come down with this? >> it's around -- it's about 10% to 15%, and they've been working for the most part with adequate ppe all of the time. there are times when things happen and there's a surge, where all of a sudden, a patient goes into respiratory arrest and you suddenly need to have, instead of one nurse, you need to have one nurse, and you know, an x-ray tech and a respiratory therapist and doctors in the room all at once. then ppe gets consumed very quickly. but it's about 10% to 15%. >> which is really horrendous and amazing that they are willing to keep doing this and put themselves and their families on the line this way. >> and they're coming down here every single day. >> talk to me about the search for some of -- and for more days and longer shifts, i know, than they would normally be doing. i want to ask you about some of the possibly hopeful signs, some

of the new techniques, the plasma, which is being used from recovered patients that might have antibodies. i know of specific cases. can you tell us how that is working, whether you know that it will work? will you even know if people who are having this treatment right now? >> right. so i mean, you really have to talk to really more of the investigative medical specialists out there. certainly, they are starting to work on identifying the recovered patients that would be the ideal candidates for donors and then can begin a program for donating such. but you know, nothing's been done now. this is really all experimental or investigative and very hopeful. >> the president keeps questioning the need for ventilators and even suggesting in his news conference last night something really untoward, potentially illegal, unethical, that is going on in new york, hoarding, or as he put it,

something worse. we have looked into this. we have not heard of anything like that. have you? what is your experience with the ventilators and the other protective -- well, in particular, the ppe? >> right. >> as to whether or not health workers are doing something with masks. >> yeah, as far as ventilators go, i certainly can't imagine anything like that. i mean, every hospital needs to have more ventilators at have bn around five to ten available at any time, and we know we're getting some shipments of sort of rescue support ventilators in. every time we get any of those, it takes a certain number of staff members to be able to unpack them, provision them, so they can actually provide the life-saving care that they're intended to give. but certainly no ideas of these being hoarded. as far as other ppe, you know, there's initially, when this all

started, we did notice when there was a lot of fear, and all of a sudden masks started flying off the shelves of every drugstore out there, they were disappearing from the hospital as well. and whether that was staff or patient families or whatever, there's a large fear. but i think that's really sort of started to diminish as people recognize the severity of this and the need to have the ppe in the hospital. and most hospitals like mine are also keeping a very close watch, making sure that it's at the right place at the right time when staff needs it. >> well, dr. peter shearer, thank you. thanks to you and your courageous colleagues for everything that they're doing for our communities. and we will stay in touch and get updates from you as we go along through this crisis. thank you so much, sir. and i'm joined now by former homeland security secretary jeh johnson, who is challenging president trump's reluctance to take charge of distributing emergency supplies where they are most needed, writing in "the

hill," "the president says we are not a shipping clerk. well, that is exactly what the federal government should be now. in this effort, the federal emergency management agency, or fema, should have the central role. i know from personal experience overseeing fema that its ability to identify, marshal, and deploy resources quickly and effectively is superior to any other federal agency." joining me now, former secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson. thank you very much for joining us, i think from your home office in montclair, new jersey. as you point out in this piece, you can't go to your manhattan office, but that is a decision by the governors of those two states, new jersey and new york, not a decision by the president. >> correct. >> and you've basically said we should stop the blame game. >> correct. andrea, we're in the depths of this crisis right now. the united states, as you know, is now number one on the list of countries in terms of established cases. we're now some 20% of the entire world's population of coronavirus cases.

and here in the new york state/new jersey area, we're probably well in excess of 50% of the country's cases. so, first of all, i'm quite sure that new york does not have enough ventilators to address this crisis. but there is a lot of misapprehension about the respective roles of the federal, state, and local governments to deal with a nationwide crisis like this. normally, in public health and police power to confine people to their homes or to tell them to stay away from their workplaces resides at the state and local level. and as you pointed out, i am here in my home in montclair, new jersey, by virtue of an order of the governor of new jersey, and i am required to stay away from my law firm in manhattan by order of the governor of new york. the federal government's principal role in a crisis like this is to regulate our international borders, which the trump administration is doing, and the federal government has

some limited authority to limit the travel of contaminated persons interstate between new york, say, and florida, should it exercise it. that authority's controversial, and it's person by person. and so, in a crisis like this, the federal government's principal role is to surge resources and ensure that communities like queens, new york, have the resources they need, the health equipment, the ppe, the ventilators, to address this crisis. my hope is that fema is exercising a central role in allocating those resources so we don't end up in a bidding war between states and between communities. >> one of the things that has also been an issue is whether the president has to comply with the compromised legislation, becau because he, as other presidents, had a signing statement after the signing ceremony, which was only attended by republicans, we

should point out. he didn't invite any of the democrats. with all this conversation about them coming together and just about unanimously, unanimously in the senate and one holdout in the house, approving this so quickly, he then in his signing statement rejected a key element -- the oversight, the inspector general, exactly what had happened under t.a.r.p. after the financial collapse, the same language, with an inspector general reporting to congress. and he is saying that he does not accept that. so, how does that work going forward, if the president is going to reject compromises that have been agreed to on capitol hill? >> andrea, in general, as you know, the executive branch must comply with duly enacted laws by congress that the president himself signs into law. oversight by the congressional branch of how the taxpayers' money is spent is entirely appropriate, both to make sure that it's being allocated properly now and from whatever

lessons learned there might be in the future. this is a time for bipartisanship. we have never in 100 years faced a nationwide crisis like this. and if we can't put aside the partisanship now, i don't know when we ever can. and so, that position. there really does need to be oversight on how all this money is being spent in such a hurry. the bill was passed in a hurry. my concern is that there will be a lot of misappropriation of the money, unless there is some tight oversight over it, so that it gets to the people who need it most. >> wanted to play also dr. fauci giving a timeline of how, i guess they talked the president out of his, let's reopen by easter sunday. this was dr. fauci on abc this morning. >> i think april might do it, george, but we kept an open mind. when we presented it to the president, we said 30 days is a

solid. i think we should do it. 15 days was too little. none of us felt that 15 days was adequate. >> so, to the president's, i guess to defend the president's credit, jeh johnson, he has backed down under the advice of his two medical advisers, as we saw yesterday. he has been pivoting at times and showing that he's listening at least to the medical advice, although sending very disturbing signals to his base and to others who might ignore staying at home. >> andrea, easter sunday is less than two weeks away. there was simply no way that it was going to be all clear by easter sunday. that's apparent now. it should have been apparent a week ago. the goal has to be to flatten the curve, social distancing, and the aggressive social distancing that we have now, at least in some communities, is bound to have an effect at some point to slow the virus.

but until then, we just simply have to remain aggressive at this, until there's a vaccine, until there's a treatment, social distancing has to be the mandate here. and at some point in the future, we will begin to flatten the curve and we need to devise a careful plan to how we ask people to go back to their normal lives and back to their workplace, because there will be a resurgence of this virus. history shows that after you flatten the curve, there's going to be a resurgence, another bell curve, because the virus will not simply disappear. >> one more quick question, jeh johnson, because you were part of the pandemic planning in the obama administration, and we've seen that there were tabletop exercises. i suspect you were there at the white house, with the incoming team. and one of the things that was briefed to them on january 13th, 2017, was this could happen, it is likely scenario. and it was a new virus starting

in china. >> correct. so, look, this is an unprecedented crisis, it's an unprecedented once in 100 years crisis, but it is not unpredictable, and particularly because of the experience we had with ebola in 2014. the risk of a global virus, a pandemic like this has been near the top of the list of things that in homeland security, national security, officials need to be concerned about, and so here we are. >> jeh johnson, thank you very much. thanks for joining us today. >> thanks. >> from your home studio. the u.s. surgeon general has declared detroit the latest coronavirus hotspot. the henry ford hospital in detroit is always preparing for the worst. in a leaked memo obtained by nbc news for a policy not yet activated, officials say they would give priority treatment to

those likely to survive in a worst-case scenario. joining me now is nbc's morgan radford outside henry ford hospital in detroit. we should comment that this kind of triage has not been implemented, but it is a frightening scenario. >> reporter: it's absolutely a frightening scenario, andrea. we spoke to the coo of this hospital just yesterday, and he said that that is what would happen if resources become even more scarce than they are now. just to give you a sense of context, michigan is now the fourth largest total number of report reported covid-19 cases in the country. as you heard the governor say earlier today in her press conference, there are more than 5,000 positive cases in the state. so, hospitals like henry ford, they're on the front lines. behind me in that hospital as we speak, there are now almost 300 confirmed cases. and this hospital is dealing with one-third of those cases just in the city of detroit. so, these are the doctors who are on the front lines. and that doctor told me yesterday, and something that i thought was really poignant as a

way to explain what health care leaders are facing -- he said, "we have enough materials for today, but we're unsure about tomorrow." and that's where things stand as we speak, andrea, here in detroit. >> morgan radford, thank you so much, outside the henry ford hospital. and coming up next, amid calls for bipartisan cooperation to fight this crisis, president trump ramps up his attacks against the democrats. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. g in"andl reports" only on msnbc there's no place like home. especially when xfinity

has you covered with fast, reliable internet. with advanced security to help keep you secure online. and with the most tv shows, movies and streaming apps all in one place. with simple digital tools you can get the help you need or even trouble shoot your services on your own. download the xfinity my account app or just say help into your xfinity voice remote. we are working to make things a little easier on everyone. download the xfinity my account app today.

welcome back. house speaker nancy pelosi says president trump's slow response to the pandemic is to blame for the growing death rate in the u.s., which has now reached 2,400 people. >> his denial at the beginning was deadly. his delaying of getting equipment to where -- it continues, his delay in getting equipment to where it's needed is deadly. as the president fiddles, people are dying. >> on fox news this morning, president trump was asked for his response and reacted very sharply at the speaker. >> well, you know, it's a sad thing. look, she's a sick puppy in my opinion, especially when i was the one -- and you know, i've gotten from fair people a lot of accolades, and i don't want the accolades, but it's just in terms of a fact. when i stopped some very, very infected, very, very sick people, thousands coming in from china. >> joining me now is robert

costa, national political reporter for the "washington post" and moderator, of course, of "washington week" on pbs and msnbc political analyst. robert, when we talk about bipartisan, but then the president only invites republicans to the oval office for the signing, issues a signing statement contradicting some key elements of the compromise bill that the democrats had negotiated for, and then, of course, nancy pelosi slaps back at him and we're off to the races again. >> andrea, while the political firefight remains centered on speaker pelosi and president trump and their lack of a relationship is certainly one of the defining dynamics in washington, as we look ahead as reporters to phase four legislation on the economic front, on capitol hill, most of my sources in both parties do not expect speaker pelosi and president trump to be driving those discussions. in fact, they say it's going to be senator schumer, the

democratic leader, majority leader mcconnell, the republican leader, working with treasury secretary mnuchin and speaker pelosi, isolated, in a sense, from president trump as they move forward because that relationship is so thread-bare between the speaker and the president. >> the president was tweeting on sunday about his ratings and how great the ratings were for the news conference, that they're so high, they're like "bachelor" finale high, "monday night football" type numbers. according to "the new york times," the lamestream media is going crazy, trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him, and see you at 5:00, asking people to join him for his news conferences. he's very focussed on these kinds of things. it's sort of what we've come to expect from him, but in the middle of a crisis, it does seem unseemly. >> it's unsettled many democrats who have publicly said, why is the president talking about ratings?

republicans, because president trump has such control over the gop, are mostly expressing any unsettled feelings privately. and this is not something new. the president always likes to look at metrics of his personal playwright. i remember covering him almost a decade ago. he would point to poll numbers about his own popularity in the gop and say, look at my ratings. and he would conflate polling with his own ratings on television. he is always looking to that, even in moments of crisis, and it shows you what kind of president he is. these kind of moments reveal character on every front. >> and one of the things that was so unsettling last night at the news conference was the way he once again treated yamiche alcindor, your colleague, our colleague and friend, who questions him with tough, accurate questions. she was trying to raise a question about what he had said to sean hannity about new york not needing 40,000 ventilators. let me play a little bit of that. >> you've said repeatedly that you think that some of the

equipment that governors are requesting, they don't actually need. you said new york might not need 30,000 -- >> i didn't say that. >> you said it on sean hannity's fox news. you said that. >> why don't you people act, why don't you act in a little more positive? it's always trying to get you, get you, get you. and you know what, that's why nobody trusts the media anymore. >> my question to you is how is that going to impact -- >> excuse me, you didn't hear me. that's why you used to work for the "times" and now you work for somebody else. >> he slammed her inaccurately, personally. she was dignified and persistent and completely accurate in her questioning. this is sort of a repeated exercise there, and it's troubling to people. >> yamiche is a good friend and colleague at pbs. she handled herself as she always does, like a professional. and my advice to her, publicly and privately, and to any reporter who confronts people in power is to keep asking questions, particularly when

people in power say they need you to act positively. it's not the job of a reporter to be positive or negative. it's the job of a reporter to be vigorous and at times tough when people are in crisis, when nations are looking for information, when people need journalism to be at its fully functioning best. and yamiche alcindor exemplified that in the rose garden. and as a member of the press, i salute her for continuing to do her job, and that's what we're trying to do here is do our job. >> thank you so much, robert costa. and it's exactly how we've seen the president back down on some of his earlier pronouncements, after the press, the governors and the doctors have pushed back on it. thank you so much, robert. and coming up next, the trump administration tossed out the national security council's pandemic playbook back in 2018. would it have helped to prevent the raging coronavirus crisis in this country today? this is "andrea mitchell reports."

we'll have more on that in a moment on msnbc. stay with us. a moment on msnbc. stay with us and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. a partner who makes sure every step is clear, they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ this is my body of proof. ♪ proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain... ...and clearer skin in psa. humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections,

including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. humira is proven to help stop further joint damage, ...and it's the #1-prescribed biologic for psa. want more proof? ask your rheumatologist about humira citrate-free. gimme two minutes. eligible for medicare. and i'll tell you some important things to know about medicare. first, it doesn't pay for everything. say this pizza... [mmm pizza...] is your part b medical expenses. this much - about 80 percent... medicare will pay for. what's left... this slice here... well... that's on you. and that's where an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company comes in.

this type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. and these are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement. that's because they meet their high standards of quality and service. wanna learn more? it's easy. call unitedhealthcare insurance company now and ask... for this free decision guide. inside you'll find the range of aarp medicare supplement plans and their rates. apply any time, too. oh. speaking of time... about a little over half way and there's more to tell. like, how... with this type of plan, you'll have the freedom to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. great for staying with the one you know... or finding... somebody new, like a specialist. there are no networks and no referrals needed. none. and when you travel, your plan will go with you anywhere in the country. so, if you're in another state visiting the grandkids, stay awhile...

enjoy... and know that you'll still be able to see any doctor who accepts medicare patients. so call unitedhealthcare today. they are committed to being there for you. tick, tick, tick, time for a wrap up. a medicare supplement plan helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. you know, the pizza slice. it allows you to choose any doctor, who accepts medicare patients... and these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. whew! call unitedhealthcare today and ask for this free decision guide. the trump administration opted not to use a pandemic playbook created by the national security council staff, which was written to help officials confront a range of potential biological threats. joining me now is katrina mulligan, former director for preparedness and response for the department of justice, managing corrector for national security and international

policy at the center for american progress. thank you very much for joining us. tell me about the playbook. how could think helped perhaps get an earlier response from the administration when the early warnings came from china in january, in february, even? >> i mean, look, the administration really had a gift that was given to them by the last administration. they really could have started not from ground zero, but you know, they were given essentially a head start in figuring out what the key decision points were likely to be, what the actions were that needed to be taken, what we needed to do to get ahead of this, and they really didn't take advantage of it. it's hard to tell, honestly, whether they just didn't realize what they had or whether they chose to ignore it because, like everything to do with the prior administration, they seemed to have hadst leveraging any of the

was a real missed opportunity here. >> we do know that the office within the nsc, a white house office was virtually disbanded. admiral seemer and tom bossert and others were let go. what was your experience? were you involved in this? did you leave willingly? were you pushed out? were you ignored? >> so, i was actually -- i worked closely with admiral tim zeimer, who as you mentioned, was the senior director for the global health directorate that was stood up based a recognition in the wake of the ebola crisis as sort of a quarterback within the federal government to be able to handle response to global health issues like a pandemic. i had a lot of respect for mr. zeimer. what was unfortunate was there was a ground swell within the career civil servant community

in the 2017-2018 time frame to actually make pandemic response the subject of a national-level exercise. that's a major exercise that's a whole government effort. every two years we do one. and the goal is to build muscle memory across departments and agencies about how to respond to various types of threat incidents, and there were a lot of people arguing that we were really underprepared for a pandemic. it turns out, we were right about that, but we were unfortunately overruled by the white house, and that national-level exercise never took place. >> katrina mulligan, thank you very much. lessons learned and not learned. and coming up next, as more hospitals prepare to use experimental treatments to treat covid-19 patients, are there any signs that they're actually working? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. at wchinl reports" only on msnbc ar degeneration could lead to vision loss. so today i made a plan with my doctor,

which includes preservision... because he said a multi- vitamin alone may not be enough. and it's my vision, my morning walk, my sunday drive, my grandson's beautiful face. only preservision areds2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. it's how i see my life. because it's my vision... preservision. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait.

because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right direction.

navigators of the turf and keepers of the green. to the rural ramblers, back to the landers, head turners and stripe burners. run with us on a john deere mower. because this is more than just grass. it's home. search john deere mowers for more. (past them because she didn't sknow they were talking to her.g and she would just walk right it's home. (deborah) i just could not hear. i was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. (avo) our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason we've been the brand leader for over 70 years. (deborah) when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. i could hear everything. (avo) call 1-800-miracle to start your 30 day risk-free trial and schedule your free hearing evaluation today.

the fda issued an emergency approval sunday to use donated anti-malarial drugs on hospitalized covid-19 patients, but 2 million doses will be distributed for use despite few, if any, clinical trials. there have also been some concerns in some people, the drugs may induce heart complications. the fda is also working on a rapid test. doctor, thank you very much. first of all. about this malarial drugs that the president touted and dr. fauci warned about some complications, but now it's been ready for use. how effective -- >> the safe part, we do have some history already, and the

difference, though, sicker patients. so we're employing it in another indication. so the diagnose having the observation of those patients on these medications in the inpatient side would allow us to collect the data to determine if it is truly -- if terms of whether its efficacious, no trials have been done. the data we have is from small case studies, but there are not placebo controls. so the verdict is a bit out on whether it's effective or not. of course, the other down side is there are people who take this daily for on it and the price goes up and the usual possible shortages for people who do need them if others are just using it on their doctors helping them out with something that might work. >> right. the other thing i was going to

say, there are drugs in that category with the same question mark. so it's trying out a few different things to see what works, for the reasons you mentioned. i apologize for a slight delay and interrupting. i wanted to ask you about this plasma unfights wiinfusion. how effective do you think that treatment might be? >> the convalescent plasma or taken from survives of the disease that hopefully produce the antibodies or proteins in the system that could successfully combat. that concept has been used in other infection just diseases as well. in a lot of settings, early on it showed some promise. when larger trials are taken, b idea of whether it's evocation. in this in this case have shown there is some promise there.

a lot of programs around the country in hospitals are starting to set this up as a potential to study this in covid-19 patients. right now it looks promising. a huge part is identifying survivors, having them come in collecting the plasma and safely testing it for giving it to patients who have it and studying the impact. that requires an infrastructure to be set up. that's where we are at currently. it's great to see you. thank you for your expertise. that it it for this first edition of "andrea mitchell reports." chris jansing will pick up the coverage next. govern o stay with us. vern o stay with us 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. for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com and i don't count the wrinkles.

but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost women... with key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. all with great taste. new, boost women. designed just for you.

hello, everyone. i'm chris jansing. at any moment we're waiting to hear from governor cuomo on the latest from new york, the current epicenter of the pandemic. nationally we're in a dramatically different place than just 24 hours ago. all of us watching the number of cases continuing to escalate. president trump again today denying the shortages in medical equipment that hospitals, governors and mayors continue to see as a major