President Trump responds to reporter questions

and India behind you from here in India we won't talk much about it except me I just got back from a long flight it's a long flight he is a great gentleman a great leader it's an amazing country they treated us very very well and we really loved it We enjoyed it, tremendous progress was made in terms of relationship. Our relationship with India is extraordinary right now and we are going to do a lot of business with India. Now they are sending billions of dollars to the United States. but I would rather talk about this right now, yesterday, that they believe it is inevitable that the virus will spread in the United States.

It's not a question of if, but when, you agree with that assessment. Well, I don't think it's inevitable, I probably will. Could it be on a very small level? It could be on a larger level. Whatever happens, we are fully prepared. We have the best people in the world. As you can see, according to the study, we have the best prepared people. The best people in the world. Congress is willing to give us a lot more than we're asking for, it's good for a change, but we are totally ready, willing and able, it's a term we use, it's ready, willing and able, we have, we will, it will be very good under control. now you can grow it and make it a little bit bigger it may not grow at all we'll see what happens but regardless of what happens we are fully prepared please the supreme acres you implemented in the new travel restrictions you can place. for furniture now at this point the virus is present Italy South Korea are you planning to add those countries?

Well, on the other hand, you know that I am the

president

of the United States. I am not the

president

of other countries, other countries on the list. that they are very respected in what they do in terms of what we are talking about, but I really want to be responsible for this country if that means putting a very strong situation on the border so that people cannot enter our country from a country that is infected, we are doing that and we have already done it with numerous countries, but we have to focus on this country.

I don't think it's right to impose ourselves on others, but if others don't care or we think they're doing it incorrectly. You know we're dealing with global health and we have fantastic people and the CDC helps other countries give them recommendations on what to do, but they're working in their countries that were working in ours. countries and so far, since our single, it has really worked, very clear, are you considering restricting travel to and from South Korea, Italy and other countries that have been? If I had the right time, we could do it right now, it's not the right time, but it's the right time and we're reviewing people who are coming in specifically for the problem, the problem that we're dealing with, so we're reviewing a lot of people. people who come from South Korea and have been greatly affected.

Italy has been quite difficult. China is It's obvious what happened in China, but again the numbers seem to be stabilizing and going down in China, which is very good news, so we'll see what happens. They are going to a point in the RAE to analyze the response to the coronavirus today, said the secretary. Hayes R testified that he didn't think it was necessary, they were going to remove him from HHS and you yourself have been downplaying this, so why are you now selecting the vice president as vice president? He is in the administration, but I have everyone. report to Mike Mike has been very good, very knowledgeable, anyone who knows anything about healthcare, look at the Indiana model and it's been a huge success, it's been a tremendous model in terms of healthcare and this is really an offshoot of that , so this is a blue I don't see my kisses being Mike as part of the administration, but I'll have them report back to Mike.

Mike will report to me, in some cases they will report to both of us as well. I'll go to meetings quite a bit. a little bit depending on what they want to do and the message we want to convey, but we have done a really extraordinary job when you look at a country this size with so many people coming in and being number one in the world in the number of people coming in. It is a country with a difference and we have a total of 15 cases, many of which almost in one day. I will tell you that most of them are completely recovered.

I think it's actually a pretty impressive brand. Now that we took in 40 people who were Americans and they are also recovering, but we brought them over, so I call I have a different group, but we felt that we had an obligation to American citizens outside of the country that we are trying to return to, we thought which was very important for the stock market. taken a big hit in the last few days, what can be done about it? If the CDC is right in saying the spread is inevitable, are you going to have to deal with stock market and economic issues for some time?

Well, I really think that the stock market is something that I know a lot about, I think it was affected, maybe for two reasons. I think they look at the people that you saw decline last night and they say if there's even a chance that that could happen, I think it's really affected because of that and it certainly was affected by this and I understand that also because of the supply chains and various other things and people coming in, but I think the stock market will recover, the economy is very strong, the consumer is the strongest it has ever been or Consumers are incredible, they are in incredible, that's why we are doing well in other countries, even before the virus we were not doing very well.

Other countries have not fared very well. Consumers are very, very strong, very powerful economically, foreign cities like we saw in China and what would have to happen for you to accept it, we have plans on a much larger scale, in case we need to we are working with states , we are working with virtually all states and have plans on a larger scale. If we need it, we don't think we're going to need it, but you know we always have to be prepared and again Congress is talking to us about funding and we're getting a lot more than we asked for and I guess the best thing we can do is accept it, we will accept it.

Are you willing to give it to Congress? If they do well, we will see if he will take care of the states because the states are working very hard. We have hospitals and states that make rooms. They are available and they are building quarantine areas, areas where people can be kept safe, we are working very well with the states, it is a very important part, so you know, my attitude if Congress wants to give us money so easy, no. It was very easy for the wall, but we have done it, if you want to give us the money and we will take it, we will do a good job with it, yes please sir.

President, should Americans travel by plane to get protective equipment like massive missiles and so on? By doing to increase mass production, we can get a large quantity, in fact, we have ordered a large quantity in case we need it, we may not need it, you understand, but in case we are facing the worst of the cases. we're going to be ready very quickly, but I don't think we're going to be close to that, I really don't think we're going to be close to our borders being very controlled, our flights from certain areas that we're talking about very much controlled, no.

I don't think we'll ever get close to that, please go back to the stock market for a second, travel-related stocks have been especially, yeah, camera here the last few days. Would you say to Americans who right now are looking forward to the summer or the next few months and saying to themselves, I should make plans for the summer, I should go abroad? Well, I hope they can do what we think we expect. which will be in good condition by then, but you know they will have to remain a little flexible. Yes, I would say that travel-related businesses would certainly be hurt right now by the time this ends.

Hopefully this will end sooner rather than later and I think the business they lost will pick up at a later date, but you know, now I think they probably won't go to China. They are not going to go to certain countries where the problem is much greater than in the United States, what they are going to do is keep people at home and they are going to travel to places that we have, we have the elderly. the country with the most tourism in the world, so instead of leaving our country and leaving our shores, they will stay here and again when you have 15 people and the 15 in a couple of days will be reduced to almost zero, that is a pretty good job.

We have done what is his response to the Philippians speaker that today he does not know what he is talking about about the coronavirus. I also wonder if he wants to address the critics; Well, I think what his administration is sure of, I think. Speaker Pelosi is incompetent, she lost Congress once. I think she will lose him again. She raised my poll numbers by 10 points. I never thought she would see that so quickly and so easily. I'm leading everyone, we're doing very well. I don't want to do it that way, it's almost unfair if you think about it, but I think she's incompetent and I think she's not thinking about the country and instead of making a statement like that I've been routinely hitting her on everything instead To make a statement like that should say that we have to work together because potentially we have a big problem and maybe it is a very small problem.

I hope it is a very small problem, but instead, we have to work together. to do the same thing with Brian Chuck Schumer, he comes out and says the president only asked for two and a half billion dollars, he should have eight and a half if this is the first time I've been told we should take more We usually have to take less and we should work together. He shouldn't make statements like that because it's very bad for the country and Nancy Pelosi. I mean, he should go back to a district and clean it up because he's number one.

If you look at the percentage, that was one of the best in the world and now you look at what's happening and I'm just saying we should all work together. She is trying to create panic and there is no reason to panic because we have done it. How good, these professionals behind me and here and there and here and in some conference rooms I just left a group of 45 people who are the most talented people in the world. In some parts of the world they ask us in a very kind way. they participate and help them so Nancy Pelosi should be a man, she knows it's not true, she knows it, all they are trying to do is get a political advantage, this is not about a political advantage, we are all trying to do the right thing that they should.

I'm not saying this is terrible, President Trump is not asking for enough money, how stupid is that to say it, if they want to give us more money, fine, we'll take more money. Some Republicans think we should have more money, okay, we. I'll take more money, but they should refer to the people on stage, who are the best in the world. They are not degrading me. They are degrading the best healthcare professionals in the world and the people who do exactly what we do. Speaking of your campaign today, sue the New York Times over an op-ed, yes, is it your opinion or is it your argument that if people have an opinion contrary to yours, they should be sued well when they have a completely wrong opinion Like the New York Times?

Times did and, frankly, they've gotten it wrong a lot in recent years, so we'll see how that allowed that to make its way into court. It is beyond an opinion, that is not an opinion, it is something much more than an opinion. The bad and more will come Tokyo after Buster survived, wait what can we be? I hope so because Shinzo Abbey is a very good friend of mine. I love the people of Japan and I hope he is in good shape like you. I know there are several people in Japan who have been infected. I heard they're doing a very professional job, which doesn't surprise me at all with Shinzo and all the people you have.

I know Japan very well, I think we're going to handle it very well, it's a little tight, you know, it's a little tight, they spent billions of dollars building one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life and your Prime Minister He is very proud of it. I hope everything is fine, we hope. You will be very grateful, Mr. President, the CDC doctor just talked about dusting off preparedness plans. I've been coming from you and it carries more weight. Do you think US schools should prepare for the spread of the corona virus? I think so, I mean, I haven't spoken. specifically about that with the different doctors, but I think so.

I believe that all aspects of our society must be prepared. I don't think it will come to that, especially with the fact that we are going down, not up. very substantially down, not up, but yeah, I think schools should be preparing and you know, prepare just in case the words are just in case we don't think we're going to be there, we don't think we're going to be close and again , if you look at some countries, they are going down and starting to go in the other direction, this will end, this will end, look at the flu season.

I said 26,000 people. I had never heard of a number like that.26,000 people going up to sixty-nine thousand people doctor, you told me before 69 thousand people die every year from 26 to 69 every year from the flu now think it's incredible so far the results of all this that everyone is reading and part of the problem is that you want to keep it the way it is, you don't want to see panic because there's no reason to panic, but when I mentioned the flu I said I actually asked several doctors and I said it's This is like the flu because people die from the flu. flu and this is very unusual and it's a little bit different, but in some ways it's easier and in others it's a little bit harder, but we have it so well under control, I mean, we really have done a very good job mr.

President, you mentioned the stock market earlier to get back to that, just to be clear, the Dow Jones fell over 2000 points this week, are you suggesting that was exaggerated? Our financial markets overreacted here. I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democratic candidates standing on that stage making fools of themselves and saying if we ever have a president like this and there's always a chance it could be an election, you know who knows what will happen, right? No? I think we are going to win, I think we are going to win by a lot, but when you look at the statements made by the people, they are behind those podiums, I think that has a huge effect, you have to do with the Quran, well, I think so , I think so, but I think you.

It may add a little bit of settlement to what they're saying because they're seeing the potential. You know, again. I think we are going to win. I feel very confident about it. We have done everything and much more than what I said. We were going to do, look what we've done, what we've done is incredible with cutting taxes and regulations and rebuilding our military, taking care of our veterans and giving them choices and accountability, all the things we've done protecting our Second Amendment , I mean, they see that the Second Amendment is what they are going to destroy.

The Second Amendment when people look at that they say this is not good, so you add that I really think that is a factor, but no, this is what We're talking about the virus, that's what we're talking about. I think that's what I believe in terms of CNBC and in terms of Fox Business. I think that's a factor, yes, and I think after winning the election. I think the stock market is going to boom like it's never done before, like it did, by the way, after I won the last election, the stock market the next day went up like a rocket, at what point would you be? considering travel restrictions with respect to when We're at a point where we don't have any problems, you know, we're not going to relax the travel restrictions, that's what saved us if I hadn't made Mike would have alluded to it if he hadn't made the decision from the beginning not to take people. from a certain area we would not be talking this way we would be talking about many more people would have been infected.

I received a lot of pressure. I mean, some people call me racist because I made a decision so early and we'd never done it. that as a country before, let alone early, it was a bold decision, it turned out to be a good decision, but the Democrats criticized me and called me a racist because I made that decision, if you can believe it, we have to do it. We all work together, we can't say bad things and especially when we have the best team in the world and we really gave it an early start because we can get money and we can increase if we know all the people, we know all the good people, it's a question that I did to the doctors before.

Some of the people we cut haven't been used for many years and if we have a need we can get them very quickly. instead of spending the money and I'm a business person, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them when we need them and we can get them back very quickly, for example, we're bringing in some people tomorrow who are already in this, you know, the great government that we have and very specifically for this we can build very, very quickly and we have already done it, I mean we really have built it, we have a great staff and I'm using Mike. that's because you're in the administration and you're very good at doing what you do and doing what's related to this so far, but you for your administration are only testing less than 500 people and health officials are wondering if that's enough in comparison with others.

Do countries that have tested more than tens of thousands of people plan to test more people? Well, we are testing everyone that we need to test and we are finding very few problems, very few problems, now they treat this like the flu we were on. In fact, I could ask one of the doctors to come and explain it to me. You want to wash your hands frequently. You want to stay if you don't feel well. If you feel like you have the flu, stay inside and quarantine. Do not go. outside, but there are certain steps you can take that won't even be necessary.

You know, in many cases, when you realize this, it's very mild, you don't even know there's a problem. Sometimes they just get a cold. Sometimes he just gives them something. where they don't feel at all well and sometimes they feel very bad, but that's a little bit like the flu, it's a little bit like the common flu, for which we have flu vaccines and essentially we will have a flu vaccine in a while pretty fast. way yes, forward two weeks ago mr. The president, you are the acting director of the OMB, was in this room and was talking about what he expects GDP growth to be for next year.

He said it was 3% and we have talked about the effects of the corona virus on the supply chain. tilts in the financial markets are you still confident that you will see that kind of economic growth? No, we are going to have tremendously low unemployment. We're setting records and that was, in fact, the administration, as you know, the lowest average unemployment. of any administration in history and our numbers are very low very good 3.5 3.6 but you can't really see what this does in terms of GDP, it could affect it, but that is irrelevant compared to what we are talking about, we want to make sure it's number one safety, but this would let you know an impact on the GDP, but we're still very, we're doing very well, but this will have, like I'll tell you what has a big impact Boeing has a big impact, does as it did? it happened a year ago, it suddenly happened, I think that took half a point off us to a certain extent, even you know it's a huge undertaking.

I think Boeing we had the General Motors strike that had a big impact on GDP and of course, I don't agree with the head of the Federal Reserve. I'm not happy with what it is because it has kept interest rates that President Obama didn't have close to the numbers and yet if you look at what happened, he was paying zero. now we're paying interest, it's more conservative, and frankly, people who save their money now get a return on their money instead of getting nothing, but I think you know where, with the highest of all, we should pay the lowest. interest rates and when Germany and other countries pay negative rates, meaning they literally get paid when they put money in.

I mean, they borrow money and get paid when it's paid back. Who has heard of this before? He said first, but us. Don't do that, so I totally disagree with our Federal Reserve. I think our Federal Reserve has made a terrible mistake and it would have made as big a difference as we have made even without the 2,000 points and we started at 16,000 and We will be 28,000 if we are not going to exceed 30,000. We have had surges like no one has seen before, but we are doing well, but we have to watch, we are doing well anyway.

In other words, even despite the 2,000 points, it sounds like a lot. and it is a lot but it is nothing it is very little compared to what we have raised but we will be watching it very closely but we have been harmed by General Motors we have been harmed by Boeing and we have been harmed by ourselves' In my opinion, we have been very harmed by our own Federal Reserve, which has also created a very strong dollar, which is a good thing about a strong dollar, but it makes it much more difficult to do business outside of this country, thank you sir, yes, several of your supporters. online have adopted these theories or forwarded these theories that the CDC may be exaggerating the threat of the coronavirus to harm it politically.

Rush Limaugh the other day said that this has been advanced to weaponize the virus against you, no, my supporters, he means me, my people. That's not support, right? I'm okay with that, I think, and I'd like it to end. I think people know that when Chuck Schumer gets angry, he did the same thing with a couple of trade deals that are phenomenal deals, now everyone agrees. he recognized phenomenal deals even before we saw the day he didn't even know we were going to make a deal, they said what do you think of the China deal? I don't like it, I don't like it, he talked about tariffs. he left the tariffs at twenty-five percent when two hundred and fifty billion dollars he said he removed the tariffs, he didn't even know about the agreement and he was out there criticizing it because it's a natural thing, but when you talk about especially something like this we have to be on the same page team this is too important we have to be on the same page the CDC is trying to hurt you - no I don't think the CDC is the oh no they have been They have been working very well together they are professionals.

I think maybe they want this to go away, they want to do it with the least disruption and they don't want to lose lives. I see the way they work on this channel. these people behind me and others in the other room are incredible people no, I don't see it at all thank you sir person I thank you president tonight you are minimizing the risk of danger from the virus are you telling the Americans, except the who are sick, should not change any other point of view about their behaviors. No, I think you always have to look.

I do it a lot anyway. You've probably heard: wash your hands, stay clean, you don't necessarily have to hold on to every handrail unless you have to know that you do certain things that you do when you have the flu. I mean, look at this the same way you see the flu when someone sneezes. I mean, I try to rescue as much as possible with sneezes. I had a man come over. It's been a week since I've seen him for a long time and I told him how are you, he said okay, honey, he hugs me, he kisses me, I said, you're okay, he says no, he said, no, he said, I have the worst fever in the worst excuse I went, so you have to do this as if you know it's going to be. a total travel ban, you said Obama was a walking port, a stubborn fool, not for doing it, you said just stop the flights, fools, you also said it was a total joke, quote unquote, naming someone. to lead the Ebola response with no experience in the medical field, you now hear a lot of what he had to say.

I didn't hear much because this is a very different problem than Ebola. Ebola disintegrated you, especially at the beginning. They've made a lot of progress now with Ebola, but with Ebola we were talking about it before it disintegrated, you have Ebola, that's it, this is different, very different, it's a flu, it's like a flu and this is a very different situation. than Ebola, but we are working on Ebola right now because of the way we are working in certain areas of the Congo, the Congo has Ebola and it is largely caused by the fact that they have war and people can't get there , now we can deal with it.

Ebola at that time was infectious and couldn't be treated, nobody knew anything about it, nobody had heard of anything like it, so it's a very different situation over the course of the last few minutes in which you've questioned some of What officials working in your administration behind you have said about the risk of the crota virus and its spread. Do you trust your health officials to give you good information or do you trust your instincts? I don't think I said it. They said it could. be worse and I said it could be worse: are you all something?

No, I don't think it's inevitable. I don't think it's inevitable. I think we're doing a really good job in terms of maintaining the borders and changing the permit terms. people in terms of controlling people and also that's one of the reasons why I'm here today to spread the word so that people can still know that they're going to know no I don't think it's inevitable I think it exists the possibility that the situation will worsen, but nothing is inevitable. Brazil, of course, Brazil, and there are many Americans now in Brazil for Carnival, what are your concerns and what are the procedures and practices you plan to implement as those Americans are trying to return yes, we have a lot of strength with the people who come from Brazil now only has one case, it is a big country but it only has one case but it is still a case, we deal very well with Brazil, the president is a very good friend of mine, in fact, he went ahead exactly, it is called making Brazil become great again, that's what followed, we got along very well.

I know you are very excited to know that weWe are doing very, very well and we are working with Brazil. but we have much worse cases than Brazil, you know, you have Italy and other countries where they have much more than one person, they have one person right now as if a moment ago there was a person in Brazil, but Italy is you. We know a deeper problem and we are controlling the people coming from them very strongly and at some point we may cut it off, you know, at some point depending on what happens we may cut off certain additional countries like we have had to do with China and we hope to be able to open it to China as soon as possible and we and we hope that the numbers that we have been getting are true in China, where it has really stabilized and started to go downbecause eventually sometimes that is going to happen, go ahead, you have said repeatedly that you think the federal government is very prepared and that you are ready for this, but if you think the secretary and czar is doing a great job, why did you feel the need? make a change and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the federal response to this because I think the secretary is doing a fantastic job, but he also has a lot of other things going on.

I mean, we're working on a lot of things together. You look at his agenda of what he's doing, including drug prices, and I think it's maybe the most complicated job we have in government and I want him to be able to focus on that and Mike is very good at that, they're going to work. Together they will work very closely and they are both in the administration. I see them all the time, so it really works. This is in a tsar. It's not about going out and getting someone who's never been in administration. two people who are very talented and it's something I feel good about.

I do not want it. I don't want to spare the horses. I have very talented people. I want to use them in this because I wanted to stay low or as low as possible China at the beginning of this outbreak, the Chinese Communist Party covered it up, that has been the general consensus of everyone, how can President Xing and the China's vision of the fourth coming and the fourth right with this? I can tell you this: I spoke to him, I spoke to him very recently and he is working very hard on this problem. He's working very hard and they're very tough and very smart and it's significant.

He is an important group of very talented people. that are working and are calling dr. Fauci are calling our people, we are dealing with them, we are giving them certain advice that we actually have through global health, we have them there as well and we have a lot of our people forming that group that went there, no. he's working really hard so it's really easy for me to tell, you know, no matter what he says, I can really tell you that he's working. I had a long conversation with him the other night, he's working very, very hard, he wants everything to work. away from China and leave quickly and he wants to go back to normal, we don't know, and the flu is higher than that, the flu is monitored, apart from this, it is spreading or is going to spread, maybe within the community steps, you can wait for admission.

Does that worry you? because we are ready for it it is what it is we are ready for it we are really prepared we have like I said we have had we have the best people in the world we are very ready for this, we hope that it does not spread, there is a possibility that it does not spread and there is the possibility of it doing so, then it's a question of at what level so far have we done a great job when you have 15 people with All this world is coming to the United States and all 15 people are better or close to being better, that's pretty good, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it, go ahead, mr.

Chairman, Ben, thank you, there have been many cases of price gouging in sales of medical equipment masks, etc., if the government is investigating, that starts. I think it has a message. If he tells me that's happening, we would definitely investigate. We do not do it. I want to know if he is working with China right now specifically in what area he is also working with China. We just closed the largest trade deal in history. We made two of them between us, the MCA and the agreement with China. It is the largest in history. The relationship with China is a very good one and I can tell you that again President Xi is working very hard and he wants to solve this problem as hard as they can, thank you all, thank you.