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Trump's Remarks in a COVID-19 Response and Storm Preparedness Roundtable, Belleair, FL
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump in a COVID-19 Response and Storm Preparedness Roundtable | Belleair, FL
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: July 31, 2020
Pelican Golf Club
Belleair, Florida
5:46 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And thank you for being here to discuss the relentless work that we’re doing to defeat the China virus and protect the people of Florida. Great state. Just got the endorsement of the sheriffs, and they are amazing people. Law enforcement in Florida is very — very, very first rate. We appreciate the — that endorsement in particular.
{snip}
Alex? Please.
SECRETARY AZAR: Sure. Thank you, Mr. President.
{snip}
SECRETARY AZAR: — under the President’s Operation Warp Speed initiative.
Yesterday afternoon, the President made a historic national call to action for people to donate plasma. So I call on Floridians: Please, if you have tested positive and recovered from COVID, go to Coronavirus.gov and learn how you can donate your plasma and save lives through the American Red Cross, through America’s blood banks. You can make a real difference.
And then, as the President said just this morning, we announced the sixth — the sixth vaccine candidates from Sanofi- GSK — 100 million doses with an option for 500 million more. So that’s now six major historic investments to bring us vaccines coming into the fall.
And then also today, out of our National Institutes of Health, the RADx initiative, led by Dr. Collins — which is next-generation testing and diagnostics — announced a quarter of a billion dollars of funding on seven novel diagnostics that we’re investing in that we believe could bring millions of additional diagnostics to the table as soon as September, thanks to your leadership.
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Alex. I appreciate it. Please, go ahead.
STATE SENATOR SIMPSON: Mr. President, thank you for being here in Florida today. We appreciate your foresight to organize our major corporations around this country to produce the type of equipment we need, the PPE we need here in the country.
We’re looking forward to your leadership in the future to make sure we bring those manufacturing jobs back to the United States from all over the world so that we’re better prepared in the future.
You’ve worked very closely with our governor. The governor did a tremendous job making sure that we were protecting our most vulnerable. And so the state of Florida really shut down the long-term care facilities and nursing homes and other facilities, and it was the leadership from your administration and the governor’s office that allowed that to happen.
And we’re very proud of the fact that we have the best pharmaceuticals anywhere in the world —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
{snip}
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for having me. I’m the lone Miamian here at the table.
But I wanted to say thank you for your leadership under this time. You know, we have two great senators that have done a phenomenal job. And Senator Rubio, although he’s not here, has really been the flagbearer when it came to PPE. And in my district, which is in Miami, I’ve seen the small businesses survive because of your assistance and leadership during this time.
And at the same time, I think Senator Rick Scott has been very vocal in making sure that taxpayer dollars don’t get used for some of the states that are trying to use them as a bailout.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: And I think that’s very important. It’s a — it’s a point that you continue to hammer, along with the Senator, and it’s one that we here in Florida have to continue to voice as well.
But, in Miami, the assistance has been so important, specifically when it comes to the elderly population. I think there’s a stat that I had seen a couple days ago that stuck in my mind, which was roughly around $80 million has been used for meal assistance for the elderly. And I have a very elderly population in my district, and that comes out to about 9 million meals for individuals that are not able to go out for reasons that are private to their own, but nonetheless wouldn’t be possible without your leadership.
So on behalf of Miami, we want to say thank you very much. And, once again, welcome back home to Florida. That welcome on the way over here — I’ve never been a part of a motorcade, Mr. President, but I got chills. The love here for you is very real.
THE PRESIDENT: It was an amazing group of people, wasn’t it?
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: As long as we rode — and we rode a long time — we had tremendous crowds. And we appreciate it, and we love Miami. We’ll take care of it. Okay?
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job you’re doing.
Do you have any questions, please, for anybody?
Q Mr. President, how concerned are you about your political standing in Florida, given the number of deaths we’ve been seeing in recent days here?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, based on the polls, I’m doing very well in Florida. And the local government is doing a fantastic job. I think we’re doing, really, a fantastic job, and we’re getting everything that they need. They’ve, for the most part, had it anyway; we had it all stocked up and stacked up.
And you remember I used to say the cupboards were bare, federally. From the federal standpoint, we had very empty cupboards. We — whether it was the military or the cupboards for medical, they were bare.
{snip}
Q But what about the number of deaths we’ve seen in recent days here?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hate it anywhere. But if you look at other countries, other countries are doing terribly. This is a horrible disease. This is a disease that should have never happened. It’s something never should have been allowed to get out of China, but it did. It came here. It went to Europe. It went all over the world. It’s in 188 countries.
And I will say this: Proportionately, relatively, when you look at your nursing home situation, it’s a tribute to your governor and government — the job they’ve done. You’ve done a really great job, and you have a very big nursing home population. You’ve done a fantastic job.
So I think we’re doing really well in Florida.
Yeah.
Q Mr. President, you told Axios, in an interview earlier this week, that you did not bring up the intelligence assessment with your — with Vladimir Putin, that they have been placing bounties on our soldiers’ heads. You said it was because no one had brought it to your attention. But it was in the presidential daily briefing. Have you been reading that briefing every day since it was in there? Did you read it today?
THE PRESIDENT: I read it all the time. I see it all the time. It was never brought to my attention. I think it’s another Russia hoax. They’ve been giving me the Russia hoax — Shifty Schiff and all these characters — from the day I got here.
And we’re working with Russia right now on a nonproliferation agreement — nuclear nonproliferation. And if we can get something like that, it’d be great. But it was never brought to my attention, and — because it didn’t reach the level. There were a lot of people, including Democrats, that said it never took place. If it did take place, it would have been brought to my attention, and I would take very strong action. There’s been nobody tougher with Russia or China than I have, not even by a longshot.
When you look at we’ve — what we’ve done compared to the past administrations, it’s not even a contest. We’ve been very tough on Russia, with the sanctions and so many other things, including letting people know that we’re not so happy about what’s going on with NATO and the oil. You know.
But speaking of NATO, we’ve raised $130 billion a year from countries — from, as you know, from our partners with NATO. You have 28 countries. We had seven that were paid up; now we have a very much bigger number. We’re getting $130 billion more. That’s going to $400 billion. And that’s money to really protect themselves, for the most part, against Russia.
So nobody has done more against Russia. But it was never brought to my attention, and it perhaps wasn’t brought because they didn’t consider it to be real. And if it is brought to my attention, I’ll do something about it.
{snip}
Okay, thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you.
END
6:23 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump in a COVID-19 Response and Storm Preparedness Roundtable | Belleair, FL
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: July 31, 2020
Pelican Golf Club
Belleair, Florida
5:46 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And thank you for being here to discuss the relentless work that we’re doing to defeat the China virus and protect the people of Florida. Great state. Just got the endorsement of the sheriffs, and they are amazing people. Law enforcement in Florida is very — very, very first rate. We appreciate the — that endorsement in particular.
{snip}
Alex? Please.
SECRETARY AZAR: Sure. Thank you, Mr. President.
{snip}
SECRETARY AZAR: — under the President’s Operation Warp Speed initiative.
Yesterday afternoon, the President made a historic national call to action for people to donate plasma. So I call on Floridians: Please, if you have tested positive and recovered from COVID, go to Coronavirus.gov and learn how you can donate your plasma and save lives through the American Red Cross, through America’s blood banks. You can make a real difference.
And then, as the President said just this morning, we announced the sixth — the sixth vaccine candidates from Sanofi- GSK — 100 million doses with an option for 500 million more. So that’s now six major historic investments to bring us vaccines coming into the fall.
And then also today, out of our National Institutes of Health, the RADx initiative, led by Dr. Collins — which is next-generation testing and diagnostics — announced a quarter of a billion dollars of funding on seven novel diagnostics that we’re investing in that we believe could bring millions of additional diagnostics to the table as soon as September, thanks to your leadership.
Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Alex. I appreciate it. Please, go ahead.
STATE SENATOR SIMPSON: Mr. President, thank you for being here in Florida today. We appreciate your foresight to organize our major corporations around this country to produce the type of equipment we need, the PPE we need here in the country.
We’re looking forward to your leadership in the future to make sure we bring those manufacturing jobs back to the United States from all over the world so that we’re better prepared in the future.
You’ve worked very closely with our governor. The governor did a tremendous job making sure that we were protecting our most vulnerable. And so the state of Florida really shut down the long-term care facilities and nursing homes and other facilities, and it was the leadership from your administration and the governor’s office that allowed that to happen.
And we’re very proud of the fact that we have the best pharmaceuticals anywhere in the world —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
{snip}
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for having me. I’m the lone Miamian here at the table.
But I wanted to say thank you for your leadership under this time. You know, we have two great senators that have done a phenomenal job. And Senator Rubio, although he’s not here, has really been the flagbearer when it came to PPE. And in my district, which is in Miami, I’ve seen the small businesses survive because of your assistance and leadership during this time.
And at the same time, I think Senator Rick Scott has been very vocal in making sure that taxpayer dollars don’t get used for some of the states that are trying to use them as a bailout.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: And I think that’s very important. It’s a — it’s a point that you continue to hammer, along with the Senator, and it’s one that we here in Florida have to continue to voice as well.
But, in Miami, the assistance has been so important, specifically when it comes to the elderly population. I think there’s a stat that I had seen a couple days ago that stuck in my mind, which was roughly around $80 million has been used for meal assistance for the elderly. And I have a very elderly population in my district, and that comes out to about 9 million meals for individuals that are not able to go out for reasons that are private to their own, but nonetheless wouldn’t be possible without your leadership.
So on behalf of Miami, we want to say thank you very much. And, once again, welcome back home to Florida. That welcome on the way over here — I’ve never been a part of a motorcade, Mr. President, but I got chills. The love here for you is very real.
THE PRESIDENT: It was an amazing group of people, wasn’t it?
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: As long as we rode — and we rode a long time — we had tremendous crowds. And we appreciate it, and we love Miami. We’ll take care of it. Okay?
STATE REPRESENTATIVE PEREZ: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Great job you’re doing.
Do you have any questions, please, for anybody?
Q Mr. President, how concerned are you about your political standing in Florida, given the number of deaths we’ve been seeing in recent days here?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, based on the polls, I’m doing very well in Florida. And the local government is doing a fantastic job. I think we’re doing, really, a fantastic job, and we’re getting everything that they need. They’ve, for the most part, had it anyway; we had it all stocked up and stacked up.
And you remember I used to say the cupboards were bare, federally. From the federal standpoint, we had very empty cupboards. We — whether it was the military or the cupboards for medical, they were bare.
{snip}
Q But what about the number of deaths we’ve seen in recent days here?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hate it anywhere. But if you look at other countries, other countries are doing terribly. This is a horrible disease. This is a disease that should have never happened. It’s something never should have been allowed to get out of China, but it did. It came here. It went to Europe. It went all over the world. It’s in 188 countries.
And I will say this: Proportionately, relatively, when you look at your nursing home situation, it’s a tribute to your governor and government — the job they’ve done. You’ve done a really great job, and you have a very big nursing home population. You’ve done a fantastic job.
So I think we’re doing really well in Florida.
Yeah.
Q Mr. President, you told Axios, in an interview earlier this week, that you did not bring up the intelligence assessment with your — with Vladimir Putin, that they have been placing bounties on our soldiers’ heads. You said it was because no one had brought it to your attention. But it was in the presidential daily briefing. Have you been reading that briefing every day since it was in there? Did you read it today?
THE PRESIDENT: I read it all the time. I see it all the time. It was never brought to my attention. I think it’s another Russia hoax. They’ve been giving me the Russia hoax — Shifty Schiff and all these characters — from the day I got here.
And we’re working with Russia right now on a nonproliferation agreement — nuclear nonproliferation. And if we can get something like that, it’d be great. But it was never brought to my attention, and — because it didn’t reach the level. There were a lot of people, including Democrats, that said it never took place. If it did take place, it would have been brought to my attention, and I would take very strong action. There’s been nobody tougher with Russia or China than I have, not even by a longshot.
When you look at we’ve — what we’ve done compared to the past administrations, it’s not even a contest. We’ve been very tough on Russia, with the sanctions and so many other things, including letting people know that we’re not so happy about what’s going on with NATO and the oil. You know.
But speaking of NATO, we’ve raised $130 billion a year from countries — from, as you know, from our partners with NATO. You have 28 countries. We had seven that were paid up; now we have a very much bigger number. We’re getting $130 billion more. That’s going to $400 billion. And that’s money to really protect themselves, for the most part, against Russia.
So nobody has done more against Russia. But it was never brought to my attention, and it perhaps wasn’t brought because they didn’t consider it to be real. And if it is brought to my attention, I’ll do something about it.
{snip}
Okay, thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you.
END
6:23 P.M. EDT
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
