cnn chief white house correspondent jim accosta starts us off. >>> jim, on the cdc director saying there could be a second possibly worst coronavirus outbreak this winter, what more was said about it at the briefing? >> reporter: well, dr. deborah birx was asked about it at the briefing and she said she wasn't sure whether or not the coronavirus will be as bad over the winter as it is right now or whether it will be worse, as dr. redfield was saying in the interview with the washington post. she tried to explain to reporters the country will be better prepared to do testing and all sorts of things by then for this deadly virus. and here's how she explained it just a short while ago. >> i don't know if it will be worse. i think this has been pretty bad. when you see what has happened in new york, that was very bad. i believe that we'll have early warning signals both from our surveillance we've been talking about on the vulnerable populations. we're going to continue that surveillance from now all the way through the fall to be able to give us that early warning signal. >> reporter: so dr

messinger which jim accosta referred to when she tried to inform the public. instead, there is a lot of pressure placed on senior officials to fall in line. so the time line also shows the ways in which the senior officials start to say things in their public messaging that doesn't step out of line with the president which makes a very difficult situation for them. >> i mean, gloria, it is pretty stunning, too, in addition to that contradiction, right, consistent, and now we know what was happening behind the scenes that he kept saying this, that it continues even today, right? >> right. >> in the past two days he said if the virus comes back. when dr. fauci said, i have no question it's going to come back. today the president says, you know, maybe it will go away. and dr. fauci says, we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter. the president uses this very dangerous form of words to describe the virus that may be in some modified form. there is no scientific evidence that this virus is going to change form. >> right, and i think his language was, which kin

more now from cnn chief white house correspondent jim accosta. what are you learning about rick bright and the clash that's happening here? >> reporter: he sounds like he's a casualty, anderson, of the president's war on scientists, war on science in the administration. dr. bright is going to file a whistle-blower complaint. he is protesting his removal from his position leading that agency that is charged with vaccine development. he was working on a vaccine for the coronavirus when he was abruptly pulled out of his position. he had been clashing with top officials with health and human services. but it was basically over the points he raises in this lengthy statement released to reporters earlier today. essentially saying that he protested inside hhs this tendency on the part of the president, other administration officials, to show preference for treatments like hydroxychloroquine when the science is just not even settled on that and there are studies showing it doesn't work. and when this doctor, dr. bright, raised questions about it, he is s

i want to talk to jim accosta. the press briefing ended in 2 hours 11 minutes, ended 40 minutes ago. jim, what stood out to you? >> reporter: anderson, i will tell you in seven years i have covered the white house, that is the most stunning briefing i have ever sat through. to have public health officials come in and try to explain to the american people that they need to come to grips with the fact or the very strong likelihood that we're going to see 100,000 to 200,000 americans die in the next couple months from the coronavirus. i have to tell you, it was just downright chilling. now, i will say in terms of what the president was saying in the briefing room, this was president trump changing his tune on the coronavirus. at one point he said it's not the flu, it's vicious. that's after he has compared it to the coronavirus in the past. you mentioned just a few moments ago where he was advising that americans perhaps start wearing scarves because of these recommendations that are starting to come from people like d

jim accosta is live outside the white house. jim, what are you learning? . the president was on twitter saying these aren't worth my time, the briefings. then he's back. what's behind this on again, off again situation? >> reporter: erin, perhaps he just can't quit us. that may be the explanation. i expect the explanation that makes the most sense is the white house wanted to get this testing message across, they are trying to get a handle on testing for the coronavirus. you heard the president say testing is not going to be a problem at all, as they were laying out this testing blueprint for the country. but, erin, back on march 6, the president said anybody that wants a test can get a test. those were his words. the administration never met that test. they fell millions of tests behind where they expected to be. and even in this blueprint for testing for the coronavirus that they laid out this evening in the rose garden at one point in the documents given to us by the white house, it describes the federal government as being, quote, the supplier of last re

want to bring in jim accosta and gloria borger. the president is saying things that are untrue at the podium. he's focusing on the world health organization. he's taking the lead from media and other conservative folks and politicians. >> he is, and from republican politicians as you pointed out earlier. this is a president, as we all know by now, and we should be used to it, who likes to distract. and what he is doing now is trying to rewrite history as we are living it. and in finding a new enemy in the w.h.o., it's quite convenient for him. and let me point out the w.h.o. has not been perfect here, but he can say, aha, they are the tools of the chinese, which is, of course, another convenient and popular enemy, and they are in cahoots, as he put it, and, therefore, he was not getting great information. and that's a way of also saying, well, you know, while i was giving you bad information, it really -- it really wasn't my fault. i mean, today, anderson, he called himself a cheerleader, and he keeps saying that. and i couldn't he

today our jim accosta asked a slightly different question. was he briefed 0 not that memo? here's the exchange. >> just a follow-up on something from yesterday and a quick yes or no question. yesterday you said you had not seen peter navarro's memo on coronavirus back in january, february. were you ever briefed on those memos? did you ever discuss those memos with anybody? >> i don't remember that. i've now seen the memo. it was -- peter sends a lot of memos. i didn't see the memo. as you know, world health was saying that was not correct because at the time they called it wrong. but i didn't see the memo, but i acted as quickly as people were shocked i acted so quickly and everybody thought i was wrong because i did act so quickly, as you know, with respect to closing the borders, with respect not only to china, but with europe i closed the borders. and i think that was very important. but, no, i didn't see the memo at the time, but i have seen it since. >> well, for the latest on what's supposed to be the most deadly week so far for this virus, i want to start with erica

just this evening president trump told our jim accosta during the coronavirus daily news conference therel not be mass coronavirus testing for all americans as the country goes back to work. quoting the president, we're talking about 325 million people. that's not going to happen as you can imagine. talk to dr. redwood field about that. >> joining us nba hall of

just this evening president trump told our jim accosta during the coronavirus news conference there willot be mass coronavirus testing for all americans as the country goes back to work. quoting the president, we're talking about 325 million people. that's not going to happen, as you can imagine. we will talk to dr. redfield about that. >> also joining us, nba hall of famer magic johnson about why the coronavirus affects african-americans disproportionately. and pastor rick warren about faith and hope heading into the easter weekend. >> tweet us your questions with #cnntownhall and leave a comment on the cnn facebook page. a lot of you have sent in video questions. we'll get to as many as we can. we also have reports from across the country and around the world how those at home and abroad are fighting the virus. >> i want to start with this country and where we are in the fight against the virus. the death count increases dramatically every day. according to johns hopkins university, 1,161 people died today. total dead, 16,478. hard to believe. at least 460,437 people infected in the un