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Remarks by Trump, Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, 03-26-20
And we're off.
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: March 26, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:26 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Hello. Thank you very much. Thank you. Beautiful day. Very good what youre doing. Look at all those empty seats. Never seen it like that. Oh, boy. Well, how the world has changed. How the world has changed, right? But its going to end up being better than ever.
I want to thank you very much for being here. And Id like to update you on the steps were taking on our ongoing fight to defeat the virus.
This morning at 7:55, I spoke to the leaders of the G20. Had a great meeting. And we have a lot of different ideas, a lot of good ideas. Were working together.
{snip}
Somebody in the fake news said that one of the governors said, Oh, we need Tom Brady. I said, Yeah. He meant that in a positive way. He said, We need Tom Brady. Were going to do great. And he meant it very positively, but they took it differently. They think Tom Brady should be leading the effort. Thats only fake news. And I like Tom Brady. Spoke to him the other day. Hes a great guy.
But I wish the news could be could be real. I wish it could be honest. I wish it werent corrupt, but so much of it is. Its so sad to see. Just so sad to see.
We had a great meeting. I tell you what: Im sure you have tapes of the meeting. Im sure that you were able to get tapes very easily. So you had 50 governors-plus. And if you had tapes, youd see it was really I mean, there was no contention. I would say virtually none. I would say maybe one person that was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice, a little wise guy, a little bit. But hes usually a big wise guy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore. But he is we had a I mean, I would rate Mike was there; a lot of the folks in the back were there. And it was a it was a great meeting. It took place at about 12 oclock.
{snip}
Please.
Q Two questions for you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: No. Please.
Q Mr. President, thank you.
Q I have two questions for you.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I didnt call you, I called this gentleman.
Q Mr. President, thank you. Thanks a lot. On Monday
THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?
Q did you speak with
THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?
Q Im with Bloomberg.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Bloomberg News.
Q Mario Parker.
THE PRESIDENT: Hows Michael doing? Good?
Q (Laughs.) Mr. President, on Monday, did you speak with Chinese President Xi before you urged Americans to not blame Asian Americans for the coronavirus? We noticed that youve backed off of that language. I know youre speaking with him again tonight.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didnt. Im speaking to him tonight. Its scheduled to go tonight. Ill have a call with President Xi of China. I have a very good relationship.
No, I didnt like when they came up. And it it wasnt him. Somebody at a lower level mid-level we found out, pretty much. But they made a statement that our soldiers brought it into China. No, it came from China.
And, you know, we just signed a very big deal with China. Theyre paying us a lot of money in tariffs and other things. They never paid us 10 cents.
Look, China has taken advantage of the United States until I came here with Sleepy Joe Biden and Obama and Bush and everybody else. Im not blaming them; Im blaming everybody. They were allowed to $500 billion a year they were taking out. We had trade deficits that were so large nobodys ever seen anything like it.
And weve changed it. Look, now were taking in billions of dollars. And we gave some to our farmers because China, you know, they targeted our farmers. And our farmers are very happy and our farmers got through a very rough period because of what I was able to do took the money from China and gave it to the farmers and we had plenty left over after that.
Now were going into a phase two negotiation with China. But were getting 25 percent on $250 billion and then were getting a lot on money after that.
So weve never had a deal with China. They China took advantage of the United States. And you know what? I dont blame China for that. I blame the people that were right here because they should have never allowed it to happen. But the relationship with China has been a very good one.
Q Did President Xi Mr. President, did President Xi ask you to to calm that language down or to not use that language?
THE PRESIDENT: He never asked me to calm it down, no. Somebody might have spoken to somebody, but nobody spoke to me about it.
Q Mr. President, earlier
THE PRESIDENT: I think it was time though, because, you know, I talk about the Chinese virus and and I mean it. Thats where it came from. You know, if you look at Ebola, if you look at all Lyme. Right? Lyme, Connecticut. You look at all these different, horrible diseases, they seem to come with a name with the location. And this was a Chinese virus. But I dont have to say it, if they feel so strongly about it. Well see.
But, you know, we have we just made a great deal with China great, hopefully, for both parties. But weve made a deal with China and were going to do another one, it looks like. They want to do it very badly. Maybe they want to wait, like Iran. They want to wait to see whether or not Trump gets beaten in the election because would they love to negotiate with Biden or somebody else other than me. They would love it. Thats their best dream in the world. So many others.
So, there are some that maybe are, you know, waiting until after November 3rd, the Election Day. But I think were doing very well.
It would be sad if we blew all of the advantages that we have right now because weve made unbelievable trade deal. Whether its Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, and others, we have we have changed the whole thing around.
Please.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. In the back first, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Despite the jobless claim numbers today, the market rallied again. Its up over 4,000 points in the last three days (inaudible)
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Record.
Q Yeah. The largest charge since 1931. Do you think that the economic uncertainty has passed, given the market?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not yet. It hasnt passed, but its come a long way. I think they think were doing a really good job, in terms of running this whole situation, having to do with the virus. I think they feel that I think they feel the administration myself and the administration are doing a good job with people keeping, very importantly, people informed. Because there was a great fear.
And a lot of good things are happening. The mortality rate is at a, in my opinion youll have to speak to Deborah, Tony, all of the others but in my opinion, its way, way down. And that takes a lot of fear out. You know, its one thing to have it; its another thing to die.
You know, when I first got involved, I was being told numbers that were much, much higher than the number that seems to be. And remember that people that have it many people have it. I just spoke to two people. They had it. They never went to a doctor. They had it absolutely had it but they never went to a doctor. They never went to anything. They didnt even report it. You have thousands and hundreds of thousands of cases like that. So you have to add that to the caseload also.
And the people that actually die, that percentage is is a much lower percentage than I ever thought. Thats one of the reasons I say, Look, were going to beat this and were going to get back to work.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.
Well, good afternoon everyone. The White House Coronavirus Task Force met today. We continue to move out on President Trumps directive to slow the spread with mitigation, to advance and expand testing across the country, and to work on the critical supplies that our healthcare workers and our nation needs.
{snip}
And now for information on the latest on data and what were seeing, Dr. Deborah Birx.
DR. BIRX: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
{snip}
Please, for the reassurance of people around the world to wake up this morning and look at people talking about creating DNR situations do-not-resuscitate situations for patients, there is no situation in the United States right now that warrants that kind of discussion. You can be thinking about it in a hospital certainly many hospitals talk about this on a daily basis but to say that to the American people, to make the implication that when they need a hospital bed, its not going to be there, or when they need that ventilator, its not going to be there we dont have evidence of that right now. And its our job collectively to assure the American people that its our collective job to make sure that doesnt happen.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good. Well do questions in a moment.
Dr. Fauci.
DR. FAUCI: Thank you Mr. Vice President. Im going to change the topic just a little bit because there was questions that came up and Ive been asked about this on a couple of media interactions regarding the interventions that were talking about. And its important because its about something that I said yesterday, about what we would likely see.
Whenever you put the clamps down and shut things down, you do it for two reasons: You do it to prevent the further spread as we call, mitigation but you also do it to buy yourself time to get better prepared for what might be a rebound. It may be a rebound that we get things really under control, and then you pull back, which ultimately were going to have to do. Everybody in the world is going to have to do that. Youre either going to get a rebound, or it might cycle into the next season.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT:
{snip}
Well see you back here tomorrow. Thank you all.
END
6:38 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: March 26, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:26 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Hello. Thank you very much. Thank you. Beautiful day. Very good what youre doing. Look at all those empty seats. Never seen it like that. Oh, boy. Well, how the world has changed. How the world has changed, right? But its going to end up being better than ever.
I want to thank you very much for being here. And Id like to update you on the steps were taking on our ongoing fight to defeat the virus.
This morning at 7:55, I spoke to the leaders of the G20. Had a great meeting. And we have a lot of different ideas, a lot of good ideas. Were working together.
{snip}
Somebody in the fake news said that one of the governors said, Oh, we need Tom Brady. I said, Yeah. He meant that in a positive way. He said, We need Tom Brady. Were going to do great. And he meant it very positively, but they took it differently. They think Tom Brady should be leading the effort. Thats only fake news. And I like Tom Brady. Spoke to him the other day. Hes a great guy.
But I wish the news could be could be real. I wish it could be honest. I wish it werent corrupt, but so much of it is. Its so sad to see. Just so sad to see.
We had a great meeting. I tell you what: Im sure you have tapes of the meeting. Im sure that you were able to get tapes very easily. So you had 50 governors-plus. And if you had tapes, youd see it was really I mean, there was no contention. I would say virtually none. I would say maybe one person that was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice, a little wise guy, a little bit. But hes usually a big wise guy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore. But he is we had a I mean, I would rate Mike was there; a lot of the folks in the back were there. And it was a it was a great meeting. It took place at about 12 oclock.
{snip}
Please.
Q Two questions for you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: No. Please.
Q Mr. President, thank you.
Q I have two questions for you.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I didnt call you, I called this gentleman.
Q Mr. President, thank you. Thanks a lot. On Monday
THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?
Q did you speak with
THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?
Q Im with Bloomberg.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Bloomberg News.
Q Mario Parker.
THE PRESIDENT: Hows Michael doing? Good?
Q (Laughs.) Mr. President, on Monday, did you speak with Chinese President Xi before you urged Americans to not blame Asian Americans for the coronavirus? We noticed that youve backed off of that language. I know youre speaking with him again tonight.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didnt. Im speaking to him tonight. Its scheduled to go tonight. Ill have a call with President Xi of China. I have a very good relationship.
No, I didnt like when they came up. And it it wasnt him. Somebody at a lower level mid-level we found out, pretty much. But they made a statement that our soldiers brought it into China. No, it came from China.
And, you know, we just signed a very big deal with China. Theyre paying us a lot of money in tariffs and other things. They never paid us 10 cents.
Look, China has taken advantage of the United States until I came here with Sleepy Joe Biden and Obama and Bush and everybody else. Im not blaming them; Im blaming everybody. They were allowed to $500 billion a year they were taking out. We had trade deficits that were so large nobodys ever seen anything like it.
And weve changed it. Look, now were taking in billions of dollars. And we gave some to our farmers because China, you know, they targeted our farmers. And our farmers are very happy and our farmers got through a very rough period because of what I was able to do took the money from China and gave it to the farmers and we had plenty left over after that.
Now were going into a phase two negotiation with China. But were getting 25 percent on $250 billion and then were getting a lot on money after that.
So weve never had a deal with China. They China took advantage of the United States. And you know what? I dont blame China for that. I blame the people that were right here because they should have never allowed it to happen. But the relationship with China has been a very good one.
Q Did President Xi Mr. President, did President Xi ask you to to calm that language down or to not use that language?
THE PRESIDENT: He never asked me to calm it down, no. Somebody might have spoken to somebody, but nobody spoke to me about it.
Q Mr. President, earlier
THE PRESIDENT: I think it was time though, because, you know, I talk about the Chinese virus and and I mean it. Thats where it came from. You know, if you look at Ebola, if you look at all Lyme. Right? Lyme, Connecticut. You look at all these different, horrible diseases, they seem to come with a name with the location. And this was a Chinese virus. But I dont have to say it, if they feel so strongly about it. Well see.
But, you know, we have we just made a great deal with China great, hopefully, for both parties. But weve made a deal with China and were going to do another one, it looks like. They want to do it very badly. Maybe they want to wait, like Iran. They want to wait to see whether or not Trump gets beaten in the election because would they love to negotiate with Biden or somebody else other than me. They would love it. Thats their best dream in the world. So many others.
So, there are some that maybe are, you know, waiting until after November 3rd, the Election Day. But I think were doing very well.
It would be sad if we blew all of the advantages that we have right now because weve made unbelievable trade deal. Whether its Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, and others, we have we have changed the whole thing around.
Please.
{snip}
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. In the back first, please.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Despite the jobless claim numbers today, the market rallied again. Its up over 4,000 points in the last three days (inaudible)
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Record.
Q Yeah. The largest charge since 1931. Do you think that the economic uncertainty has passed, given the market?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not yet. It hasnt passed, but its come a long way. I think they think were doing a really good job, in terms of running this whole situation, having to do with the virus. I think they feel that I think they feel the administration myself and the administration are doing a good job with people keeping, very importantly, people informed. Because there was a great fear.
And a lot of good things are happening. The mortality rate is at a, in my opinion youll have to speak to Deborah, Tony, all of the others but in my opinion, its way, way down. And that takes a lot of fear out. You know, its one thing to have it; its another thing to die.
You know, when I first got involved, I was being told numbers that were much, much higher than the number that seems to be. And remember that people that have it many people have it. I just spoke to two people. They had it. They never went to a doctor. They had it absolutely had it but they never went to a doctor. They never went to anything. They didnt even report it. You have thousands and hundreds of thousands of cases like that. So you have to add that to the caseload also.
And the people that actually die, that percentage is is a much lower percentage than I ever thought. Thats one of the reasons I say, Look, were going to beat this and were going to get back to work.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.
Well, good afternoon everyone. The White House Coronavirus Task Force met today. We continue to move out on President Trumps directive to slow the spread with mitigation, to advance and expand testing across the country, and to work on the critical supplies that our healthcare workers and our nation needs.
{snip}
And now for information on the latest on data and what were seeing, Dr. Deborah Birx.
DR. BIRX: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
{snip}
Please, for the reassurance of people around the world to wake up this morning and look at people talking about creating DNR situations do-not-resuscitate situations for patients, there is no situation in the United States right now that warrants that kind of discussion. You can be thinking about it in a hospital certainly many hospitals talk about this on a daily basis but to say that to the American people, to make the implication that when they need a hospital bed, its not going to be there, or when they need that ventilator, its not going to be there we dont have evidence of that right now. And its our job collectively to assure the American people that its our collective job to make sure that doesnt happen.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good. Well do questions in a moment.
Dr. Fauci.
DR. FAUCI: Thank you Mr. Vice President. Im going to change the topic just a little bit because there was questions that came up and Ive been asked about this on a couple of media interactions regarding the interventions that were talking about. And its important because its about something that I said yesterday, about what we would likely see.
Whenever you put the clamps down and shut things down, you do it for two reasons: You do it to prevent the further spread as we call, mitigation but you also do it to buy yourself time to get better prepared for what might be a rebound. It may be a rebound that we get things really under control, and then you pull back, which ultimately were going to have to do. Everybody in the world is going to have to do that. Youre either going to get a rebound, or it might cycle into the next season.
{snip}
THE VICE PRESIDENT:
{snip}
Well see you back here tomorrow. Thank you all.
END
6:38 P.M. EDT
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Remarks by Trump, Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing, 03-26-20 (Original Post)
mahatmakanejeeves
Mar 2020
OP
"[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data."
mahatmakanejeeves
Mar 2020
#5
jayschool2013
(2,312 posts)1. Whoever did the transcribing
Misspelled "Tony Soprano"
"I would say maybe one person that was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice, a little wise guy, a little bit. But hes usually a big wise guy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore."
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,488 posts)2. I was thinking more along the lines of Edward G. Robinson.
Key Largo-Wiseguy vs Dumbell
22,512 viewsJan 15, 2010
rcknhrse
811 subscribers
Key Largo.Whats worse a wiseguy or a dumbell
mikalcharles
(87 posts)3. Madness
in plain sight. This madness is in plain sight, and there seems to be nothing the country can do about it. Trump is unable to blame himself for anything because is ego is a house of cards. He has a mental illness. And his followers can't bear to hear any criticism of Trump because if one card gets taken out the house will fall down. How the fuck did we get here?
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,488 posts)4. The electoral college. NT
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,488 posts)5. "[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data."
"[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data. I think his ability to analyze & integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit -- this is shocking, hackish stuff from Dr. Birx.
Link to tweet