>> we may have more still to endure. >> we have to open our country up. we have to get going. we have to open our country up. >> using the great advances of science. >> what do i know? i'm not a doctor. i'm not a doctor, but i have common sense. >> and our instinctive compassion to heal. >> if it does help, great. if it doesn't help, we gave it a shot. >> what a contrast from leadership. there you have queen elizabeth talking about a common cause, and then you have donald trump, who had an unscheduled press conference yesterday evening. for what reason, few people really know. because if you break down what the president said, and a lot of people have been analyzing it over the night -- >> pretty much nothing of news. >> nothing new. nothing noteworthy. the president attacked a governor in personal terms, for no reason at all, actually. it's the last thing you want to do at a time of crisis. he continued to push an unproven drug, whose efficacy on this pandemic is still unknown. he has his hack, peter navarro, running around, breaking up meetings, where white house officials, dr. fauci, is trying to help you and your family, trying to prepare you and your family in the hospitals that you and your family may have to go to. peter navarro is actually throwing documents. here's a hack who doesn't even know economics. he's the one responsible for all of our trade wars, and now he's going in and yelling at dr. fauci, claiming he knows -- i mean, this seriously is the death of expertise. >> yeah. >> this is when the idiots have been exposed for who they are in the time of america's greatest needs. last night, the president attacked a governor, he pushed an unproven drug, and then he continued, saying that the buck doesn't stop here. i must ask, mika -- >> yeah. >> -- what did america get out of cable news networks running a two-hour rambling press conference, where he says the same exact things every time? if you think about the amount of time that he gives, even before the questioning, to an unproven drug, when we have ventilator shorta shortages, when we have testing shortages. i mean, dramatic testing shortages in the president's hometown county where mar-a-lago is, palm beach county. and you also have the numbers spiking up across the nation. we have a crisis of hospital beds, not only in new york city, but i'm worried about rural america, where the rural health cares been ravaged over the past decade by continual cuts in medicaid by republicans. we're in a crisis, and he's continuing for, what, the third week now, to push an unproven drug. why is msnbc, why is cnn, why is fox, why is any network running these press conferences where he keeps talking about an unproven drug that might work for malaysia, might work for lupus, doesn't work for this? >> well, there'll be -- >> dr. fauci constantly -- dr. fauci wasn't allowed to answer. >> he wasn't allowed to talk. >> donald trump got on television last night, and he was just stalling, according to reports. he said he liked the good ratings. he likes getting out there because a lot of people watch. >> joe -- >> watched him say nothing. >> -- dr. fauci wasn't allowed to talk about what he feels is important to say about this drug that the president keeps pushing. a lot of people would say, follow the money. there's got to be some sort of financial tie to someone somewhere that has the president pushing this repeatedly. more importantly, he had dr. fauci and dr. birx, which most people -- i think we can universally agree -- are trying to slow the spread or trying to cop t contain this virus, are trying to save american lives. we are looking at our worst week yet ahead. >> right. >> they're trying to save american lives, and he has them scrambling for 90 minutes to prepare for a two-hour news conference. he's going to exhaust his top-tier so he can get his needy camera time. so he can get out there and riff, quite frankly, ill l illiterately. saying things that aren't true, going off script. by the way, i have to ask, who wrote that script? it was as if an eighth grade politics debate team wrote it. it was pathetic. we are this a place right now where the president is getting in the way of progress and taking time away from the team that is supposed to be helping us get out of this crisis. he wasted our time and theirs. >> well, and he did it, jonathan lemire, we have ap's jonathan lemire with us. again, everything you heard, the president has his catch phrase., during the campaign, it was, believe me. believe me. there have been articles written about how when he doesn't have anything else to say, he goes back to these catch phrases and loops. he's done this with the drug especially. he's done it with so many other things. it's kind of like the perfect call, which we'll get to later on. in this case, i moean, he just sounded foolish. unfit not just for the presidency but unfit for any job anywhere. i don't care. his biggest hacks can come forward today and try to defend that performance. of course, they'll do the what about-ism with joe biden. he's not president. donald trump is president, and he sounded unfit and foolish. he rambled around for a couple of hours. only difference is mika talked about how dr. fauci was not allowed to say what he was feeling about the drug. >> what he knows. >> but it's not feeling. it's donald trump who keeps saying the same thing over and over and over again about this drug. which is, i don't know. i don't know if it is going to do anything. what do we have to lose? you could say that about dandelion and raindrops. sprinkle dandelion rain drdrops. i don't know if it's going to help. i don't know. he admits he has no idea whether this is going to work or not and, yet, he keeps rambling on about this drug. he keeps rambling on about personal fights with governors. he keeps rambling on about how nobody saw this coming. it's such a lie. hhs secretary azar last year in 2019 was asked at a conference, what keeps him up at night. he said the pandemic. the pandemic, of course, is what keeps us all up in this room at night. that a pandemic is coming. everybody saw this coming in the science world. last week, i got secure keward saying everybody knew it was coming in january. in this "washington post" article, december 21st, cdc drops reports for hhs after getting information about the virus from wuhan. january 3rd, formal notification of covid-19 from china and the cdc. this is from the "washington post" article yet. two days later, u.s. spy agencies warn trump in early january of an outbreak in the president's daily brief. january the 3rd, cdc chief relays distributing news to hhs azar, disturbing news. same day, the 3rd, azar shares the chinese virus notification with the white house and the national security councils. all of this by january the 3rd. january the 6th, the cdc offered assistance to china, who turned to down that offer. the same week, hhs convened an interagency task force on covid-19 with hhs secretary a r azar, cdc head, and fauci. 8th of january, cdc issued a public warning about the coronavirus. on the 14th of january, hhs assistant secretary cadillac begins drawing up plans to implement the defense production act to fight the virus. jonathan, i could go on practically every day of that month. things are happening. this is on the 14th of january. he is drawing up plans so the president can use the defense production act. of course, that has been an ongoing fight. he scribbles one word, jonathan, on his notebook. coronavirus. this is on january the 14th. my god, two months later, i mean, it's coming up on three months later, it is still a mess. >> no testing. >> two months after that, it was still chaos when it came to the defense production act. three months later, we still -- the president actually announced yesterday something like 1,500 tests. 1,500 tests that were released by abbott in a country of 320 million people. >> yeah. that's not good. >> the catch phrase is, from the president about the drug yesterday, were, i've got a good feeling about this, and what have you got to lose? well, for some americans who take this drug, if it's not approved, they could lose their health. there are side effects. it is not about having a good feeling about this. that's what dr. fauci has been strie tro trying to stress. it's the science. it's going through the rigorous testing program to make sure this drug, which is effective against malaria and other things, can also be effective to treat the coronavirus. we simply don't know yet. let's back up a little bit about that briefing. there was no briefing scheduled for sunday night. the white house schedule came out saturday evening, said it was not listed. sunday morning, aides told the reporters, nothing on the schedule. in fact, the afternoon, they issued a lid, which is to pull back the curtain a bit, is you're not going to see the president today. telling reporters there won't be any public events. as the day goes on, according to our reporting, the president got antsy. he told people that he loves the spotlight. he knows he gets good ratings. sunday nights, against "60 minutes." he wants to preempt "60 minutes" and talk to the nation. he'd seen governor cuomo deliver his briefing earlier in the day. though reporters were told there wouldn't be one because it was palm sunday, the president decided to offer one. same time, mind you, joe biden was doing a virtual town hall about the coronavirus. perhaps a little presidential counterprogramming. reporters were hurried back to the white house. they attended the event. as we saw last night, there wasn't much in the way of news. a lot of presidential bluster. a lot of answger when pushed abt the timeline. the issues you highlighted in the terrific "washington post" story. also my colleagues at the "associated press" had an article about how the government ordered bulk orders of rhe i respirators and masks in the middle of march. when my colleague asked the question in the final question of the day, the president snapped at him and ended the briefing. they remain in a defensive posture, explaining how they were so slow to move on the crisis though there were warnings for months. the president's inner circle was trying to convince him to act, mobilize the federal government, do something about it. >> so we're looking at potentially 100,000 to 200,000 people dying and looking at projections in the best of times. the president last night, once again, joe, taking three to four hours of his top-tier team's time to work on his camera time. so he can go out and get attention and deliver absolutely nothing new. these people standing on stage. dr. fauci, dr. birx, and the other members of his team standing out there for hours. having to present something to the press, which meant they had to prepare something for the press. it was all a complete waste of time, quite frankly. time being used to save lives. time that was not used last night because the president needed attention. >> even when they're in these meetings. even when they're doing their jobs away from the cameras, they're getting distracted by idiots like peter navarro. navarro actually has the nerve to throw down files in front of dr. fauci, saying that this is proven science. that he knows what he is talking about. navarro is yelling at fauci. also, the "washington post" article talked about how these health care professionals, who were scrambling to save our lives, will be in the middle of important work, and they'll get a call from jared or somebody else saying, hey, wouldn't it be great if we could have oracle helping us out? remember the brilliant idea about how google was going to do things with walmart park lots? it's all nonsense. it's not working. they're not letting medical professionals and health care professionals do their jobs. let's bring the u.s. editor of the "financial times" in. i want to talk about great britain in a second. as we go through the timeline the "washington post" lid out, azar, who had gotten the information in the beginning of january, when they were all getting together and meeting, and the intel community by january the 5th or 6th were warning the president in his daily briefings, tried for two weeks to get the president's ear. he finally got a phone call with him on the 18th. it was the 18th of january. azar finally gets to talk to trump about covid-19, but trump decides, instead, to taalking a the pandemic -- chrwhich, by th way, he'd be warned about in his daily briefings -- the presidenpresiden president -- since january 5th or 6th. the president decides to berate azar, his hhs secretary, who is seese pra desperately trying to tell the president this, that he is angry at him over the hhs's attempts to limit vaping. it had backfired on him politically. azar said the president dismissed him as alarmist, and the secretary was so worried, thhe couldn't get the president's attention, that he was asking an associate, how do i get him to pay attention to this? this is serious. well, you know, you keep going through this list. you have the president, on the 22nd, saying that he's not worried at all. we have it totally under control. it is one person from china. it is going to be fine. that's when he was in davos, in his ivory tower in davos on january the 22nd. sp then, of course, on the 23rd, as china is completely shutting down wuhan, and also not cooperating with us, blocks the u.s. lab from obtaining virus samples. on the 24th, this is when donald trump said, january, we're still in january, by the way, friends, trump offers lavish praise on china and its president. saying, quote, china has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. the united states greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. it will work out well, in particular, on behalf of the american people, i want to thank president xi. he praises china's transparency january the 24th, when it is china that will not give his own administration health officials the information they need to prepare for this virus. soon to become a pandemic. it's just absolute chaos. the president is in never-never land for 70 days, and americans are dying this week, in large part, because we weren't prepared. >> yeah. i think, you know, the opportunity here to point out the difference in political systems. china spent weeks denying this virus. penalizing people blowing the whistle on it. then not sharing information, key information, about the serums, et cetera, with the united states. trump did the same thing. he wasted critical weeks in denialism. he sidelined people who were blowing the whistle on this. he refused to listen to the intelligence agencies and the federal scientists, as well as secretary azar. the fact that a couple of woeek after that timeline that you were reading out, joe, that he banned flights from china, is the one thing that he keeps pointing to. to say, look, in the words of sean hannity, this is one of the greatest acts in human history. most extraordinary piece of exaggeration i've heard. there's a lot of competition in the last few weeks. but, in fact, that ban wasn't fully applied. we know 40,000 americans did come from china during the month of february and march and helped spread this panogen in seattle, chicago, and elsewhere. so the idea that this one flight pan, this sole action, in the absence of any other, steps to prepare to stockpile, as the "ap" reported very well. the idea that this is the presidential leadership that helped prevent a pandemic in the united states is grotesquely wrong. america is approaching the point, if the curves continue as they've opinibeen continuing, t mortality rate where one in five global proven deaths to coronavirus would have taken place in the united states. already, we're approaching about a quarter of all global tested infections, are in the united states. we're the other side of the world to china. we're not getting thoesz numb t in most of asia. they're happening in europe and the united states. increasingly, the united states is the epicenter of this. >> well, and there's underreporting, whether you're talking about china or the united states. doctors, nurses, health officials all saying the united states is underreporting the amount of deaths. china has been doing that for some time. on this china ban, again, going back to the timeline, on january 29th -- >> didn't go so well. >> -- china banned all flights to and from wuhan. on the 31st, azar followed. there were so many exceptions that hundreds of thousands of people still came in from china. now, it is interesting, mika. on january the 31st, you had hhs secretary azar pushing the president and steve mnuchin for a pan for flights from europe. mnuchin and trump both said no because they thought it would hurt the economy. it would be almost two more weeks before we finally shut down travel from europe. >> as the president was forcing, again, dr. fauci and dr. birx to stand on stange, wasting their time, he went on and on about this drug, hydrochloroquine, pushed it, pulled back on it, and then pushed it. really took quite a lot of their time talking about it. >> by the way, the president kept saying, he had no idea if it was going to work. i have no idea. so he has no idea whether it is going to work or not. >> yeah. >> why isn't he talking about getting body bags to new york? why isn't he talking about getting ventilators to new york? why isn't he talking about getting testing across america? do you know what donald trump said, mika, on march the 6th? he visited the cdc in his campaign hat, and he said, quote, anyone who wants a test will get a test. >> yeah. >> there are millions of americans who want a test. >> hundreds of millions. >> we see the lines. nobody is getting -- this is not -- anyone who wants a test will get a test? there are a ton of people that i know, a ton of people that you know, other people that americans know, that can't get the test. and we're a month past that day. >> well, and just look at it this way. every moment that goes by, every five, ten minutes that goes by, the president is ripping on stage ill literately, going off script, not making sense. every five, ten minutes his team is on stage, every moment jared and peter stick their nose into the situation and try to sidetrack it in a different direction, someone is dying. that's actual -- >> literally. >> if you look at the numbers -- >> literally someone is dying. >> death by death by death, as you sit there and make a mockery of our system and our country and the people trying to save lives. while those folks were on stage with the president, he makes a fool of them in an act of tremendous disrespect. going on and on about this drug. finally, a reporter asks about it, wants to hear from dr. fauci. wants to hear the science. here's what happened. >> can you weigh in on the issue of hydroxychloroquine? what do you think about this? >> i answered that question. >> i want to ask the doctor. >> maybe 15 times. you don't have to -- >> he is your medical expert, correct? >> we've answered the question 15 times. >> so he doesn't let the doctor actually, mika -- >> does he think -- >> -- answer the question. >> -- america is stupid? >> this is the same guy who mocked this, said we had nothing to worry about. only one person from china. then he said there were 15 people that had it. pretty soon, it'll go down to zero. he said, the press was hyperventilating about it. that was their latest hoax. it was their latest impeachment hoax. somebody on -- somebody who lost their job said. now, it is interesting, mika. now, a lot of the same hacks that were saying that this was overblown, a lot of the same hacks are now trying to turn it around and say it was the media's fault for not underlining the concerns about this. >> right. >> here's the deal. >> got it. >> you're stupid. i know you're stupid, if you're being a hack for donald trump on the coronavirus. i know you're stupid. maybe you think other people are stupid. they're not as dumb as you. because you can't argue that the press was overblowing it for two months. and then when you find out that the press wasn't overblowing it, that more people are going to probably die from this than died in 9/11, iraq, afghanistan, vietnam war, the korean war, possibly all together, if you believe white house numbers, you can't then say, after two months of saying that the media was overblowing it, you can't then turn around and say, oh, the media, they were asleep at the switch. wait, wait, which is it the pro all on video tape. right? you can have your websites. you can be apologists for russia. you can be a useful idiot for russia all you want. you can do everything you can do to try to help donald trump out all you want. you can be a useful idiot for donald trump in america for your own reasons. maybe it's to make money. maybe it's to get clicks. but you can't have it both ways. you can't attack the media for saying the media was overblowing it for two months, and then when you find out that 100,000 people or more may die, you can't then blame the media for being asleep at the switch. doesn't work that way. yet, mika, it's sad that i actually have been in communication with people who actually call themselves newsmen. they're sending around selected media stories, where a handful of people undersold it. i mean, it is really shameful. it's pathetic. they're still playing politics with a pandemic. it is disgraceful, and it is disgusting. it shows the shallowness of their souls. >> and that is 100% correct. we're going to get to katty kay in a moment about the big news across the pond. first, let's bring in nbc news senior international correspondent keir simmons with the latest there, including boris johnson heading to the hospital. >> reporter: hey, mika. yeah, that's right. here in the uk, i guess we had a couple of moments over the weekend that took us beyond the politics. one was that news that boris johnson who, of course, has been in the midst of the politics of this, has now gone to the hospital. what we're being told is he has gone thereunnerved people. his pregnant girlfriend says she also has coronavirus, she believes, and she's in bed. she says she's getting stronger. this morning, the prime minister telling people that he is still running the country. the other moment, of course, was the queen speaking last night to the nation. it's her strength, isn't it? she's able to rise pov poabove politics, comparing this to the second world war. quoting vera lynn, talking about the jobs being lost, struggles to pay rent, saying, we'll meet again. saying, we will get through this. guys, another thing that rises above politics are the numbers. you guys again and again talking about testing. let's drawdown some of the numbers. according to the covid tracking project, a week ago, america was testing 113,000 people a day. now, it is around about 140,000, according to the project. that's nothing like the million that one expert told me last week america would need per day to really get beyond this. just in terms of how we get beyond this, take a look at this graph from the "financial times" here. what this shows is the arc of deaths in many different coun y countries over a number of days, beginning with three deaths a day. what you can see there is countries that have been struggling, like spain and italy, are really plateauing, where whereas, america and the uk are in the acceleration stage. spain and italy had national lockdowns. what we're hearing this morning, too, guys, is in austria, and this is crucial, they're talking about perhaps lifting the lockdown beginning with small businesses. what they are talking about, and testing is crucial to this, what they are talking about is an exit plan. that's something that a lot of politicians around the world haven't really got a grip on. how do you give people light at the end of the tunnel, not just by saying it, but coming up with a plan how we're going to do it? again, testing, testing, testing is crucial. it's clear from the numbers, america isn't doing enough of that. >> all right. thank you so much, keir simmons. be safe. mika, it's one of the things about the briefings. americans have been lied to time and time again in the briefings. donald trump lied to the american people on march the 6th. he said, anyone who wants a test can get a test. they keep lying at every briefing, it seems, when they bring up testing, saying good news is just around the corner. i remember two sundays ago, mike pence announced they'd have a big announcement on testing on tuesday. it never came. the united states still woefully behind on per person testing. on per person testing, okay? i got trumpists saying, oh, why are you lying? we've test master's degred more anyone in the world. that's saying california has tested more people than delaware. seriously. keep your stupid thoughts to yourself, all right? look at your hands and wipe the cheetos dust off in your mom's basement. get out of your underwear and your dilutional state. we have a pandemic that will kill hundreds of thousands of people. stop your stupidity. instead, let's talk about facts. mika, again, in january, the cdc said they had these tests. they were going to move forward with the testing. there was a built-in arrogance that they could take care of it. by february the 6th, remember, we said we didn't want the world health organization tests? we weren't sure if they were reliable. the world health organization announced on february 6th that they were shipping out a quarter of a million tests, 250,000 testing kits. the cdc that day, they sent out 90 test kits. those 90 test kits were so flawed that they had to send them back to atlanta for the test results. by the 27th of february, the fda official lashed out at the cdc and said, if they were a private business, quote, i would shut you down. on the 29th of february, a of a month of failure and inaction by the white house, the fda decided, after the first american died, that there could be private covid-19 testing. here we are in april. every american that wants a test still can't get a test. not even close. the record is pathetic on testing. we've been talking about it every day. if you want to know why the economy is shut down, it's because the president didn't push for testing. if you want to know why you don't know whether you and your family are okay, it is because the president didn't push for testing. if you want to know why we're in the state we're in, and we don't know when the economy is going to open back up and when you can start going back to work, it's because the president, despite the fact that people have continually begged him to push for testing, he's just not doing it. yesterday, he bragged about, what, 1,500 tests, mika. 1,500 testings going out. that was the big announcement at his press conference? 320 million people in this country. he was bragging about 1,500 tests from abbott laboratories. >> well, katty kay, it appears the facts are closing in on this disastrous white house. it's not just the "washington post." it's not just the united states of america and different states where president trump may want to get some press and make an impact. the entire world is watching the united states, the people of the united states fall to their knees, getting crushed by this virus. we're looking at the worst week ahead. looking across the pond at boris johnson heading to the hospital. i want you to talk about that and how that is impacting the people there. also, how america is seen around the world right now, as they are dealing with this pandemic. >> so i spent the weekend speaking to friends and relatives in italy, the uk, and even morocco. my sister lives in morocco. time and again, they brought up what is happening here. they're all watching what is happening here. they're kind of flabbergasted, mika, that not more is being done. they can't understand why the testing is so weak. why america seems to lack so many ventilators. why on the medical side things are not going well. the other thing they're raising is they're saying, my goodness, you can go out? you can go to the park and go for a run still? you can go freely to the supermarket and people aren't wearing masks? they literally cannot believe that people are out in the numbers that they are, that there are areas of the country where people are still going to religious services in those states that don't have total lockdowns, including religious services. i mean, all of this, they're looking at it like it is an amateur operation happening here. it is becoming increasingly apparent that if we don't take more stringent measures now, countries like austria that are opening up are opening up because they had really, really strict lockdowns. america hasn't got a really strict, nationwide lockdown. so this is going to go on much longer. we're going to see other countries around the world start to open up, start to get their economies back on track. i think we're going to be way behind because we don't have the testing and because our lockdown is not as stringent as it has been in the other countries where it seems to be working. on the thing about boris johnson, it's remarkable, how the top of the british establishment has been hit. you've had prince charles, the health secretary, now boris johnson. we understand that he went in because his symptoms were persisting after ten days of a high fever, in particular. it's not clear what the tests are actually -- that what he nen the hospital. it's worrying. there could be a statement coming out from downing street about that. then on the other side, the queen giving that remarkable, four-minute speech. she said more in four minutes than president trump said in the course of his two-hour press conference. >> yeah. >> i think it is only queen elizabeth that has the stature in the world, who lived through and worked through the second world war, to be able to use the word she used so sparingly, to bring not just the british people together, but really to appeal to the rest of the world. when she said, look, we're all in this together, and we will meet again on the other side. she didn't sugar coat it. she said, this is tough. this is going to be tough. she praised the health workers around the country. she praised people, thanked them for staying home. i think, you know, in her spare four-minutes at windsor castle, she did more than most politicians have done with hours on television. >> she's a remarkable leader. she showed once again what a remarkable leader she is. public figure. the united states needs a remarkable leader or remarkable public figure. we just don't have it right now. it's very interesting. katty talked about the strict lockdown in austria and other parts of europe. on march the 9th, donald trump mocked state lockdowns. on march the 9th, less than a month ago. tweeting that the common flu kills thousands a year and, quote, nothing is shut down. life and the economy go on. it will go away. just stay calm. again, less than a month ago. jonathan lemire, you look at, again, all the things that the "associated press," the "washington post," all the things that other news outlets have gathered together, and what is so shocking, as katty talks about, is how people are looking toward the united states, absolutely stunned that donald trump is failing is so miserably when it comes to pushing his administration for testing. donald trump is failing so miserably when it comes to taking control of the crisis. instead, he's using a pandemic to attack governors that aren't in his party. most remarkably, as the "washington post" wrote yesterday, no country is better positioned to fight this pandem pandemic. no country when you look at our technology, when you look at our medical superiority, when you look at our scientistic superiority, when you look at our resources. richest country on earth. no country was better erquipped to actually keep this virus at bay. yet, it is the united states, through the failure of the administration, that will end up having more cases and losing more lives than anybody else. because even up to a month ago, donald trump was mocking governors who were shutting down their government. now, there's what about-ism. you can say, de blasio said this. cuomo said that. that's great. guess what? they're not running for president. they're not president, all right? you don't like what they said in march, early march, and you're in new york, vote against them. i don't really care. has nothing to do with me. i care about the united states of america. when it comes to the united states of america, we had a president, jonathan, that did nothing but play down this threat for two months. we're bringing it up now because he is still acting reckless inside the white house. >> he needs to step aside. >> as we go into the worst week for this country, he's still acting reckless and unmothred. he still can't rise to the occasion in this, the darkest week that americans will face probably since world war ii. >> i'd say it should have been ready and it wasn't. the united states had the benefit of time, unlike china, unlike some of the asian countries that surround china that were caught by surprise. the united states had time to be ready for this, and it was not. in terms of testing, there is a distinct lack, as we've been discussing. flak ba flash back a couple days. jared kushner talked about the national stockpile, suggesting it was reserved for the federal government and was not used to supplement states. it was not going to be used to help out the states. its primary purpose, he said, was to have in reserve for the united states. that was very different than the definition of the national stockpi stockpile. except, of course, they changed the definition. the very next morning on the health and human services website, they changed the definition of the national stockpile to reflect what kushner said. it would fall -- it's for the federal government, and it was not to be explicitly used for the states. we're hearing from governors across the states how slow it has been, how slow and painful the process has been, to receive ventilators, to receive r respirators from the stockpile. some states received enough. others, not nearly enough. it is clear where the president is feuding with the dpov knogov and where we are. the surgeon general of the united states yesterday said that this nation was about to enter one of the worst weeks in its history. one of the -- people who live here will face one of the toughest weeks of their lives. he compared it to our pearl harbor moment, our september 11th moment. in neither of those times did the federal government take a backseat to the states. after pearl harbor, after the twin towers fell, the federal government rose to the moment. was every decision flawless? of course not. but it rose to the moment. there was no reliance on federalism, saying each governor should make their own decision. instead, that's what this president has done. we face the crisis of this time, of this generation. he has taken a backseat. >> and the president just keeps lying, saying that the federal government is not going to get in the way of states bidding for materials. it's happened time and again. they do. they drive up the price. they take the materials. they seize material from massachusetts. i mean, the federal government is competing with the states. they're taking everything they can take, and then they're actually getting up and saying, oh, we're not going to compete against the states. oh, no, no, no. we're all in this together. it's another lie. >> and getting in the way of the process of saving lives. >> getting in the way, yeah. still ahead, unlike other states, delaware closed beaches weeks ago. it was a huge hit to the economy, but governor john carney said it was needed. we'll talk to him ahead. president trump said hospital administrators are, quote, thrilled with the level of supplies. >> that's another lie, but you know it's a lie. we just have to -- since we read the script, it's an obvious lie. donald trump is lying just about everything now. >> that's not what they told a government watchdog. ken dilanian has new reporting on that. there's confusion about face masks after the white house urged americans to wear them, even as the president refused to wear them. our chief medical correspondent, dr. dave campbell, breaks it down for us. we'll be right back. >> the next week is going to be our pearl harbor moment. it is going to be our 9/11 moment. it is going to be the hardest moment for many americans in their entire lives. be over here? 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the really hot spots, you know what they are, are communicating directly with us that their level of supplies are meeting essential needs. at the current time, they're really thrilled to be where they are. >> really? >> that's just a lie. nobody is thrilled to be where they are. they've been behind the eight ball, mika, from the very beginning, whether you're talking about ventilators, whether you're talking about masks, whether you're talking about gloves, whether you're talking about gowns. hospital administrators are not, quote, thrilled to be where they are. another lie from thump ndonald in this, one of the most dangerous weeks we've ever faced. >> as he tried to brand the truth every day during these news conferences, what he doesn't understand is that the world is watching. and as tens of thousands of people in america die, it's not just the american people overall who are being impacted by this. donald trump, it's your people. your people are getting the coronavirus. your people are dying in u.s. hospitals that don't have supplies. so as much as you try and brand the facts every day, the truth is closing in, every day. >> and let me say, we've said this from the very beginning. the virus doesn't care whether you're a republican or a democrat. >> can't control it. >> the virus doesn't care whether you're from red state america or blue state america. i mean, there was actually, at one point, a republican pollster, neil newhouse, who has been known as a loyal republican pollster for years, actually went and warned republicans on capitol hill that the president and news outlets were giving republicans bad information that could kill them. because they were getting misinformation from donald trump and his supporters in the media. that's from a republican pollster, neil newhouse, a loyal republican pollster, saying, they're literally getting information that will cause harm to them and those that they love. you look at every poll, mika, that's come out over the past month, and it's republicans that support donald trump that are the most skeptical, the most skeptical this was going to be a pandemic. most skeptical from top to bottom, that this was going to be the sort of problem it is. because of his lies. he's been lying to the american people from the beginning, underselling this. other people in the media have, as well. you have been able to see it in polls over the past month. >> the president's team, his inner circle, dan, larry, pete, jared, are they going to tell you the truth, or are they going to tell you what yau eou want t hear? is there anybody -- >> nobody is there to tell the truth. he can't stand the truth. >> so they don't give it to him. >> they don't. >> a new report from the government's health care watchdog paints a much different picture than the president's alternative reality. quoting hundreds of hospital officials who depict an american health system in crisis, beset by equipment shortages, worried about the safety of their workers, drowning financially, and begging the federal government to do more. the inspector general of the department of health and human services interviewed 324 hospitals across 46 states. >> by the way, this is a trump -- this is the trump administration, by the way, doing this investigation. for those of you out there who aren't smart enough to figure that out, this isn't the lame stream media. this is trump's opwn administration doing this study. >> granted anonymity to speak candidly, they described a health care system laboring under conditions more commonly seen in the developing world. let's bring in nbc news correspondent covering national security and intelligence, ken dilanian. we have got a lot to talk to you about today, ken. why don't you start right there. >> mika, hospital officials do not agree with the president. they described a health care system in chaos. i have to say, this is one of the most infuriating government reports i've ever read. we've been seeing news accounts for weeks quoting doctors and nurses discussing equipment shortages, dangerous decisions, and what they say is an inadequate response from the federal government. this is the first national investigation by the trump administration itself, by a federal oversight agency. the inspector general for the department of health and human services. what investigators have confirmed is what you've been seeing in news reports, what people have been saying on your show, on nbc and elsewhere, that hospitals are beset by shortages. they found things that are worse than what we've been hearing. for example, we heard a lot about shortages of ventilators and masks. this report found shortages of cleaning supplies and thermomet thermometers. one hospital with 700 staff had only one or two thermometers to use for screening patients. ha that's the kind of shortage that puts patients and health care workers in jeopardy. contrary to what the president said, it was reported the federal government isn't doing enough. what states are getting from stockpiles is not only insufficient but in some cases defective. one received masks from the government, and it was for children, not adults. another shipment had to be thrown out because it was dry rotted. we interviewed ann maxwell, the assistant inspector general, and she was stunned by what her team found. >> one moment that stands out for me is when i was talking to a hospital administrator. he told me that he had staff in the hospital out trying to procure masks and gloves from autopart shops, home supply stores, beauty salons, art supply stores. i was taken aback, how in that one example, you could see both the desperation of the challenges they're facing, and the ingenuity they were putting torre ward to solve the problems so they could provide good patientlives. >> the other aspect they explored was the hospitals are having a financial crisis. they had to cancel the elective procedures that bring in income. insurance companies are not reimbursing them in cases for covid care. maxwell talked about the financial crisis facing hospitals. >> we had one hospital say their finances were so dire, they were considering the possibility of laying off some staff at the exact same time they recognize and knew they needed more staff to address the challenges facing them. >> some financial aid for hospitals was included in the congressional relief package, mika and joe. like most aspects of the federal response, it may be too little, too late. >> all right. >> ken, thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. it is extraordinarily important reporting. ed luse, we're paying a lot of attention to hospital systems in italy, hospital systems in new york city, hospital systems in miami, san francisco. you know, where i come from, and let's just talk, you know, the central time zone, you talk to doctors and hospital administrators in rural america. they've been talking about a health care crisis for years. they are absolutely terrified, what happens if the coronavirus sweeps through middle america. because, of course, their situation is dire because of year after year after year of medicaid cuts. >> yeah, they've had a lot of medicaid cuts, and many states are refusing to accept medicate. mostly republican -- well, entirely republican-led states. they're refusing to accept that, which is desperately needed for many people right now. and the option for those who are losing their health care because they're losing their jobs, of getting on to the obamacare, the health care.gov site has been closed off actively as we speak by the trump administration. they could have opened it up, and they're refusing to. trump still wants to dismantle that law. a law that would provide people with much-needed relief. you know, i think the fact that gavin newsom, the governor of california, is getting together with governors of other states, republican and democrat, to try and bulk buy equipment for their hospitals, ventilators,ical gowd the medicines that are needed, is an extraordinary reflection on a federal government that isn't doing its job. they're having to reinvent the federal government in the absence of the federal government. peter navarro, who we were discussing earlier, president trump's trade adviser, who, you know, is in charge of the defense production act, who should be getting companies to produce the much-needed ventilators, supposedly directing the efforts, is, as axios reported, setting himself up as a part-time doctor. declaring he knows the science for this hydroxychloroquine, magic bullet efforts that are beginning on. when he ought to be marshalling, much less glamorous, perhaps, but much more important, marshalling the resources, understanding where the need is, directing to those places, and doing the kinds of things that gavin newsom, as governor of california, is now having to substitute for, an absent federal government. one final point about peter navarro. as an academic, as an economist, he used to quote somebody called ron vara frequently, in support of his theses. he is an anagram of navarro. he is not even an academic economist. he's claiming to be a scientist now. that's kind of a measure in one man of how bad it is. >> it's bad. >> how bad it is when you have a narcissist who will only have people like peter navarro around him. because you're not allowed to actually speak back to the president of the united states, which is why hhs secretary azar, despite the fact in early january, the president was getting it in his daily briefings, warnings about covid-19, navarro wasn't able to talk to him for two weeks. when he did, the president was yelling about yaping. vaping. let's be clear about this drug. the president, every day, when he talks about it in rambles on endlessly about it, says he doesn't know whether it is going to work or not. he has no idea. maybe it will, maybe it won't. mr. president, why are you wasting our time talking about that if you're clueless about whether it will work or not? we don't care about your feelings. your feelings won't save american's lives. your feelings won't make americans better. science will. >> stupidity is killing. coming up -- >> stop with your feelings about this drug until you can come forward and tell us it will work. >> right. dr. dave campbell is going to join us as we get to the top of the hour. also, we'll have the co-authors of the incredible "washington post" piece. 70 days of denial and dysfunction inside the white house. spells it out for you, how the entire ramp-up to this horrible that tast f catastrophe that america is in was botched by the trump white house. also coming up, we'll have, by the way, the story of the firing of the i dprg. yeah, that happened. and the navy captain fired for trying to raise awareness about coronavirus for his sailors, trying to save their lives. we'll have that story. and senator angus king will join us. we'll be right back. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i know that every time that i suit up, there is a chance that that's the last time. 300 miles an hour, thats where i feel normal. i might be crazy but i'm not stupid. having an annuity tells me that i'm protected. during turbulent times, consider protected lifetime income from an annuity as part of your retirement plan. this can help you cover your essential monthly expenses. learn more at protectedincome.org . amazing scene, as a navy captain leaves his ship. captain crozier, captain of the aircraft carrier "uss roosevelt," who was fired for sounding the alarm to protect his sailors. his sailors stepping up for him and sending him off with a really incredible moment. >> he's fired for trying to protect his troops. >> fired. >> i'm big on the chain of command. i understand it is important in the military. but when you're not getting the attention of the pentagon, when they're letting people on your ship get infected, you have no choice but to do everything you can to save the men and women who are under your command. to fire him for this? it actually tells you everything you need to know about the trump administration. >> and more. >> yes, the pentagon right now. >> welcome back to "morning joe." it is monday, april 6th. katty kay and jonathan lemire still with us. joining the conversation, we have the president of the council on foreign relations and author of the forthcoming book, "the world, a brief introduction." richard haass. political reporter for the "post" and political analyst, robert costa. moderator of "washington week" on pbs. national correspondent for the "washington post," greg miller. he co-wrote the extensive piece for the "washington post" that details the failures of the trump administration's response to the covid-19 pandemic. really spells it out. quote, by the time donald trump proclaimed himself a wartime president, and the coronavirus the enemy, the united states was already on course to see more of its people die than in the wars of korea, vietnam, after dpghan and iraq combined. that is from the lead story in yesterday's "washington post." on sunday, the paper published the results of a month-long investigation, a definitive account of the government fail yu failures to properly anticipate and respond to the coronavirus cry s crisis. it traces the first 70 days of the outbreak. quote, from that initial notification for president trump to treat the coronavirus not as a distant threat or harmless flu strain well under control, but as a lethal force that had outflanked america's defenses and was poised to kill tens of thousands of citizens. that more than two-month stretch now stands as critical time that was squandered. here's the timeline. we start on december 31st. cdc learns of a cluster of cases in china and begins developing reports for the department of health and how muman services. january 3rd, china tells cdc of the outbreak. azar is informed, who u in tuin informs the white house and security council. few days later, spy agencies warn trump of the outbreak in the daily briefing. january 8th, cdc issues a public warning about covid-19. january 18th, azar finally gets to talk to trump about covid-19, but trump wants to berate him instead over his agency's attempts to limit vaping. the president dismisses azar as alarmist. the hhs secretary is so worried, that he asks associated advice on how to get trump to listen to the warnings. january 31st, seattle man becomes the first american to contract the virus. january 22nd, trump is asked by a reporter in davos if he is worried about covid-19. >> it's one person coming in from china. we have it under control. it's going to be just fine. >> january 24th, china blocks a u.s. lab from getting a virus sample to study, one day after shutting down the city of wuhan. trump, in turn, lavishes praise on the chinese president. january 31st, azar follows china's lead by banning most non-u.s. citizens from traveling from china to the u.s. u.s. health officials and nsc push for a europe travel ban, but president trump and treasury secretary steve mnuchin refuse. saying it will hurt the economy. february 6th, the w.h.o. announces the shipping of 250,000 testing kits for covid-19 around the world. the cdc only has 90 to send to a few state health departments. those tests prove faulty, setting the program back. february 10th, trump addresses the virus at a rally in new hampshire. >> by the way, the virus. they're working hard. looks like by april, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. hope that's true. we're doing great in our country. >> february 26th, trump, again, takes o s on the future of the virus. >> when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. >> february 29th, the washington state man became the first american to die of a coronavirus infection. that same day, after a month of cdc failures, the fda approves private testing for covid-19. march 6th, trump, donning a campaign hat, visits the cdc in atlanta. >> anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. they're there. they have the tests. the tests are beautiful. anybody that needs a test gets a test. and i like this stuff. you know, my uncle was a great person. he taught at mit for, i think, a record number of years. he was a great super genius, dr. john trump. i like this stuff. i really get it. people are surprised that i understand it. every one of these doctors said, how do you know so much about this? maybe i have a natural ability. maybe i should have done that instead of running for president. >> not at all. you know, march 6th, mika, again, he says that the tests, they're there now. anyone who wants a test can get it now. that was on march the 6th. chances are very good, if you want the test now as an american, you can't get it. >> yeah. that was not true. march 9th -- >> that was a lie. >> -- trump mocks shutdown orders, saying the common flu kills thousands a year and nothing is substitute shhut dow. life and the economy go on. it'll go away. stay calm. march 11th, trump shuts down travel from europe. several weeks after the nsa and health officials required he do so. march 31st, at a news conference, the president finally sufinal ly succumbs to the coronavirus reality, saying it is absolutely critical for the american people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. >> it's a matter of life and death, frankly. it is a matter of life and death. i know our citizens will rise to the occasion, and they already have sacrificed a lot. >> he had actually called it a hoax before then. >> called the press coverage, called the press coverage a hoax, saying they were exaggerating. >> the "post" concludes the united states will likely go down as the country that was supposedly best prepared to fight a pandemic but ended up catastrophically overmatched. it did not have to happen this way. though not perfectly prepared, the united states had more expertise, resources, plans, and epide epi deem l experience than dozens of countries who ultimately faired far better in fending off the vir virus. it may never be known how many thousands of deaths or millions of infections fig s might have prevented with the response that was more coherent, urgent, and effective. >> greg miller was a co-author. dpre greg, i think the thing that will strike most americans who are still hearing the president in denial into march, is what happened, how early all the warnings came the president's way and everybody's way in the white house. december 31st of last year, cdc begins developing the reports for hhs after getting the information about the virus. january 3rd, formal notification came from china. a few days later, early january, u.s. spy agencies began warning the president of the outbreak in the president's daily brief. on january the 3rd, cdc chief relayed the disturbing news to hhs secretary azar. january 3rd, azar chaired that chinese virus information with the white house and nsa. on the 6th, cdc offered assistance to china. that same week, the hhs convened an interagency task force on covid-19. hhs's azar, the cdc head, and dr. fauci. obje on the 8th, cdc issued a public warning about covid-19. all that, that's all within, basically, the first week of january. >> right. and it's so important to -- i mean, the purpose of this story was to look at that timeline because so much of it was squandered. i mean, preparing for the outbreak of a novel virus, like the coronavirus, experts and professionals will tell you, requires sort of worst-case scenario thinking from the very beginning. it requires taking preparations that ultimately might not be necessary and that you hope will not be necessary. but you won't have time to take care of it later. that's sort of what we are facing in the united states now. these delays set back the development of testing, which contributed heavily to the inability to track the outbreaks in places like seattle, los angeles, and, of course, new york. it contributed to the inability of the government to procure badly needed supplies that are now in acute shortages at hospitals dealing with this outbreak. you have to look back at that first month, and even that second month, as extremely costly for u.s. citizens. >> jonathan lemire? >> greg, greg, it's jonathan lemire. terrific piece. thank you for walking us through it. i wanted to zero in on that idea. you just started touching about it, on testing. it seems like that's the biggest difference between the countries that have been able to respond to this effectively and those that have not. the u.s., sadly, is in the latter category. walk us through it. take us into a little more detail on the steps missed. instead of producing widespread tests, the white house not mobilizing the private sector which, as you said, would allow the nation to effectively track what's going on and potentially stop this spread. >> yeah. because interrupting, slowing the spread of a virus like this really comes down to your ability to figure out who has it and who doesn't and separate those people as quickly as you can. so if you don't have a test, you don't have that visibility into the spread of the virus. that was a critical issue in this case. and the breakdown came for many reasons. i mean, one of the first was that china itself refused for a who while to provide samples of the virus. that was a setback for u.s. researchers and scientists. that was the earliest of a series of cascading failures. which also, i think, when we spoke to u.s. officials in the administration, in the cdc and elsewhere, acknowledged that there was some institutional hue bris here. the cdc many years has taken the lead on developing tests for outbreaks like this, and felt certain this was one of those cases. they would take care of it, no need to enlist the dozens and dozens of private laboratories that the united states has, that are also able to develop tests like this. so when the cdc test failed, and this was critical, they send samples out. they think they're ready to go. these labs start using them around the country. they realize almost immediately they're giving bad results. they're not reliable. then you're back to square one. that's a squandering. it's a critical squandered period of time. >> and there's a date here, february 27th. fda official lashes at the cdc, saying that if they were a private business, quote, i would shut you down. one failure after another. the bbc's katty kay is with us. she has the next question. >> greg, it certainly is striking reading your report yesterday, and then listening to the white house briefing, and how often we heard the president and the vice president say what a fantastic job the administration is doing. is there anyone in the administration, according to your reporting. who would recognize your timetable and admit that there were moments where, for example, with the tests that went wrong, things that went wrong, or that the tests that they promised were going to get out didn't get out, or lockdowns they said were going to happen didn't happen on time? how much recognition and acceptance of responsibility is there anywhere in the administration that this has been a catalog of missteps? >> well, of course, you know, in this administration, it's highly perilous for anybody to contradict the president. you don't last very long if you're not on the same page with the president, or you undercut what he is saying. in this case though, i mean, we were able to identify important individuals who are high up in the administration who were on the case from very early on. matt potinger is the adviser who was urging action in february. he was urging the stoppage of flights from china. trump administration blocks flights from china but allows flights to continue into the united states for weeks from europe, after the outbreak is already there. his guidance or advice goes ignored for a month or so. in part, because his voice is drowned out by those who were guarding the economy and the stock market, including the chief of staff at the time, mulvaney. there were these frictions and battles inside the administration. what do we care about more, preventing this virus from spreading in the united states or preventing the stock market from plunging? >> all right. greg miller, thank you so much for being with us. thank you and your colleagues for great reporting. an important story in yesterday's "washington post." we'll be talking to you soon. let's bring in right now the council of foreign relations head, and ask you, richard, to give us more of a global view. we hear, generally, italy, the cases may be going down. same with spain. uk continues to skyrocket. china, itwe really don't know exactly what's happening in china because they haven't been transparent from the very beginning. then, of course, japan may be facing a few rough months ahead. what can you tell us, looking at the global stage, how this pandemic is playing out, and what lessons you've learned from it so far? >> well, joe, what you've just described is the mixed bag. in general, okay or moving in the right direction on what you call the developed world. best in places like south korea, taiwan, singapore. china, impossible to get good information out of. spain and italy have been through hell, but hopefully the worst is behind them. what's missing from the picture is the rest of the world. latin america, aftrica, the middle east, south asia, middle east, pakistan. that's where the bulk of humanity is. that's where the next disaster will be. you have terrible health systems. crowding is an issue. totally unprepared. it is like entering a war, and they're unilaterally disarmed. they are going to get hammered. by the way, a year from now, when they're still recovering from that, i think we could well have an economic or financial debt crisis on top of it. these countries enter this battle not only without protective gear, not only without the tools you'd need to fight it, but also they begin in a perilous state of financial debt. by the time this is done, they are going to be essentially impoveri impoverished, at a time when countries like the united states will be looking inward. we won't have the means or the appetite to help them. >> bob costa, looking at this white house right now, and especially at a time when the country is going into this horrific week, where we will be losing thousands of people, we're watching government at every level, state and local, working 24 hours a day to try to deal with this. businesses, the medical community getting ravaged. everybody working as teams, trying to figure out how to get through this. i wonder about the president's team. beyond the scientific team, led by fauci and birx and others, although i don't know how many others are there, who is the inner circle? is it jared and ivanka and peter navarro and steven mnuchin? who else? it feels like the presidency right now is unmatched for the crisis at hand. >> mika, to build on my colleague's excellent reporting about the timeline, you now see in the white house pervasive wishfulness about the power and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine and other drugs that have yet to be formally and fully approved for use with the coronavirus by the food and drug administration. and you have a wishfulness that this situation will turn around. that was a trait throughout the white house in recent weeks, and it continues to be a trait in the white house. when you ask about the inner circle, it is clear to me, based on my reporting, that peter navarro, more than anyone now, whether it's on usualing th urging the president to take a position on something that's different than dr. fauci, or when it comes to the defense production act, nudging corporations, sometimes pushing corporations to do what the white house wants, that shar nat the center. jared kushner is there and being a liaison to different donors and corporate allies of this rgs many, which has created confusion about the chain of command, about whether corporations should work through jared, whether they should work through vice president pence and the task force. you have jared kushner and biper navarro, more than anyone, alongside, of course, dr. fauci and dr. birx. we saw some tensions on sunday at the news conference. the president prevented, in a sense, dr. fauci from answering a question about hydroxychloroquine from a reporter. he didn't want to get into a long discussion about the efficacy of that drug. >> can you tell me, bob, what's the obsession with hydroxychloroquine? what's the obsession, the president's obsession, with unproven use of a drug for malaria, where the president himself -- and how many weeks has it been that he gets up there and rambles on incoherently about this drug? says, what do we have to lose? then he admits he doesn't know whether it'll work or not. what's behind that? it's bizarre. now, you have rudy giuliani doing it. you have a bunch of trump hacks on the internet that are doing it. what is this story behind the use of this antimalaria drug that the president tells us every day he doesn't know whether it is going to work or not? >> that scene at the cdc from weeks ago, where the president says he is quite familiar with medicine, even though he is not a medical professional, is a statement that you often hear inside of the white the preside has confidence that's not backed up by experience or data. this is an alarming situation for not only people in the white house but many governors. >> bob -- >> they say -- they say if the president keeps talking about hydroxychloroquine in a way that is encouraging people to go seek it out, you're going to have a medical, chaotic situation in this country, where people are trying to get a drug that's not truly proven as efficacious for treating coronavirus and covid-19. >> again, and again, it's like the believe me during his rallies. he starts talking about the drug when he has nothing else to talk about. then at the end, he admits he doesn't know whether it is going to work or not. >> something more than. amid the coronavirus pandemic, president trump is defending his decision to fire michael atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who flagged the ukraine whistleblower complaint that ended in his impeachment. calling him a disgrace. >> i thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible. he took a whistleblower report, which turned out to be a fake report, it was fake. it was totally wrong. it was about my conversation with the president of ukraine. he took a fake report, and he brought it to congress with an emergency, okay? not a big trump fan, that i can tell you. that man is a disgrace to igs. >> so the president is a liar when you she says that. he's a liar when he says that it was a fake report. he's a liar when he says that it wasn't true. all you have to do is don't listen to what the media says. don't listen to what democrats say. don't listen to what nancy pelosi says, or anybody else you may not like if you're a trump supporter. listen to what republicans say. listen to what republican senators said. listen to what conservative news outlets said about that phone call. everything in the whistleblower complaint ended up being proven time and time again by testimony. it's just -- that's the fact. that's the reality. the president there, of course, is lying. he's using a pandemic to seek political retribution. >> you look at all the people -- >> tells you all you need to know about him. >> you look at the voids in the state department, all the acting heads of departments, all the positions that are untilled. the firings since last thursday, of people who either spoke out or did the right thing. his comments about the electi elections. you just have to watch this trend. if you're not disturbed, you're not clueing in. atkinson issued a statement following his ousting, writing in part, quote, it is hard not to think that the president's loss of confidence in me derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial inspector general, and from my commitment to continue to do so. those of us who vowed to protect a whistleblower's right to safely be heard must, to the end, do what we promised to do. no matter how difficult and no matter the personal consequences. >> let's bring in a member of the intelligence and armed services committee, independent senator angus king of maine. senator, one of those republicans that spoke out against the president and the president's call, saying it wasn't perfect, was your colleague from maine, republican susan collins who, like many other republicans, was actually disturbed by that call. so the president, of course, is lying when he says that the whistle l blblower complaint wa false. so what can anybody do about that? >> well, the president has the right to remove people that he wants to in this kind of situation, but he is wrong to do so for a number of reasons. number one, mr. atkinson was simply doing his job. i don't like to read on television, but the last sentence of the oath he takes to the constitution says, i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office in which i am about to enter, so help me god. that's the -- that's the obligation that he had on his -- by virtue of the oath he took when he took the job. he basically, all he had to do in that situation was determine whether the whistleblower complaint was credible. not whether it was absolutely true or not, but whether it was credible and whether it raised d an urgent issue. he made those two findings, sent it to the director of the national intelligence, and then it came to congress. that's the law. this is exactly what mr. atkinson did. to be fired for it, joe, the problem is, number one, it is an injustice to an honorable professional who was simply doing his job under the oath he took. secondly, the message this sends to people across the government is don't do your job if it is going to conflict with the interests of the president. that just is just absolutely the worst possible result of something like this. >> well, of course, the pentagon sent the same message to officers up and down the line when they fired or relieved from duty richa duty, richard haass, a man, a captain doing his job to protect his people. richard haass, senator, has a question for you. >> sure. >> senator, as joe pointed out, there's a little bit of a shoot the messenger quality to all of this, in all these cases. the most dangerous thing, it seems to be right now, is to speak truth to power. what, if any, role then does congress have here? what can be done to protect people who are bringing forth whistleblowers, who are challenging the white house, for example, in the way it is handling the coronavirus crisis? what can congress do that it is not doing that might make a difference? >> well, it's a difficult problem because congress can't say "you can't fire somebody." that's within the power of the executive. certainly, we can shine a light on the reasons. in this case, there isn't the slightest question that this firing was retribution and revenge for bringing forward the report that led to the president's impeachment. by the way, as you pointed out, joe, he found that it was credible. the further investigation found that it was accurate. it basically accurately stated exactly what that phone call said and all the surrounding circumstances. so what can congress do? i think we can shine a light on it and perhaps talk about being able only to fire for cause. now, we're getting back into the tenure of office act, which brought down andrew johnson 150 years ago, or almost brought down andrew johnson. so i think we've got to look at these laws and be sure that these people are protected from retribution, from any source. that's really what we're talking about here. the whole idea of the whistleblower law, by the way, goes back, belief it ve it or no 1778, the continental congress, before we were a country. it was to protect people coming forward with issues in the government. it is a crucial part to our checks and balances. this administration is just shredding it. >> you know, it is unbelievable that donald trump, his supporters on capitol hill who were hacks and his supporters in the media who were hacks, who kept attacking the whistleblower, trying to reveal the whistleblower's identity, some shamefully in the senate especially who knew better, they were doing that despite the fact that the testimony, open testimony from trump-appointees revealed that everything the whistleblower had written was true and more. we have bob costa with us from the "washington post." he's got a question for you, senator. >> senator king, good morning. there's so much scrutiny, rightfully, on the white house, but what about on your own chamber? as a member of the senate, should there be more of an outcry, more calls for investigation about the stock trading by senator loeffler, senator burr, and others? >> well, there is an investigation, as a matter of fact. that investigation is under way. i don't know what the conclusion will be. it's being conducted by the senate ethics committee. that's the body that's set up to do exactly that. on the surface, these are troubling allegations, for sure. but i want to wait and see what the investigation shows. yes, of course, there should be an investigation, and there is one. i think that should make people feel at least that this isn't being swept under the rug. >> are you comfortable, senator, with having the -- >> and -- >> sorry. >> go ahead, bob. >> i wanted to follow up. is the senate ethics committee investigation enough? >> well, let's wait and see. let's see how thorough the work is that they do. i can tell you as a senator that we take the ethics committee seriously. it's a significant part of the checks and balances within the senate. so i'm not going to conclude now that they did a thorough job or didn't because they're in the midst of the investigation. let's see what they come up with, what they respond, what the facts turn out to be. i don't -- i think the premise of your question is that, somehow, it'll be a whitewash. i know the people that are engaged with that committee. i don't think that'll be the case. >> senator angus king, thank you so much. bob costa, what are you working on today? >> going to pursue more about hydroxychloroquine and president trump's interest in this. because it's something that will drive the week, not only in washington but in many states, if he continues to push beyond where the food and drug administration stands on that issue. >> richard haass, we've been told by the surgeon general and by others, that may be the worst week the united states has faced since 9/11. possibly since pearl harbor by the surgeon general. what are your thoughts as we go into this week, and what are you going to be looking for? >> well , it will be. today we probably crossed the line, joe, where more americans will have died from this virus than died in afghanistan, 9/11, and iraq combined. one thought is that's simply why it was inevitable, this virus was going to hit us and have a toll, was not inevitable that the cost in life or economically would be anywhere near what it is. and the other thing is something you were talking about before that's still essential, testing. if we're at war with the coronavirus, we've got to break through the fog of war. testing is the single most important thing to break through the fog of war. we're not even close. we're not even close on knowing who has it and who doesn't. we're not close on knowing who developed immunity. there is no way we can succeed. look at what's going on in germany, at what's going on in south korea. testing is critical. we're still not even close 100 days into this crisis. >> and there's no timeline on that. thank you, richard. >> richard haass, thank you so much. >> that's our way out. >> mika, the people have been saying that though now for how long, three weeks? a month? yet, the president still is dragging his feet on testing. >> he doesn't tell us anything. >> we keep getting promises. >> timeline. >> we've been promised for weeks. we still get lies about testing. the president saying on march the 6th, if you want a test, you can -- anybody who wants a test can get a test now. we keep hearing these grand pronouncements. what we find is, again, that when you look at it per capita, per person, per patient, we are having fewer testing than so many other countries. >> but we don't even have information on a timeline for a testing or a vaccine. >> we never do. >> with those two things, it's our only way out of this. this country is shut down or is constantly going to shut down until we have those two key factors, testing and a vaccine. as the president now is getting to the opponent that his news conferences literally have no value, i think the media -- this is really tough, but the journalism community, the media community has to look at whether or not to carry his words. because we cannot be a part of spreading disinformation, of lying to the american people. i think we need to wait to hear from the scientists. we need to listen and try and call the news out of anything he is saying, but not carry his lies. it's not fair to the american people. i would suggest that we go on the air, and if he speaks and begins to lie, we do something like this. pay tribute to the first responders fighting on the behalf of others. >> hold on a second. >> think of those dying. >> before you get there, about the press conference. if you miss one of the president's press conferences, it can be summed up in three or four minutes. now that he is just repeating the same thing that he has been saying time and time again, there's no reason to carry two hours of him rambling around. when, again, i missed a couple of press conferences last week. i went online. i looked at the clips. in about three minutes, in about three minutes, i learned everything that the president, the task force had revealed over two hours of rambling on live television, on all the networks. really, seriously, enough is enough. >> it's important though to show the time that he is taking away from his team and from the very few people who are in place, trying to navigate through this crisis and get to the end of it. he is taking their precious time as people are dying, moment by moment by moment. there is death after death after death that is on the president's watch. on his watch. when he takes that time away from the american people and from the people fighting this virus, he is preventing this situation from getting any better. you know what i'm saying. >> does it really make sense that anthony fauci and dr. birx stand up for two hours and listen to the president rambling on, saying the same thing over and over? >> do you think they might have better things to do? >> do they have better things to do than to be props? and then, anthony fauci is asked -- >> made fools of. >> anthony fauci is asked a question, and the president doesn't even let him answer it because, of course, the president knows the answer is science doesn't back up, yet, what he is rambling on about. anyway, we'll continue with that. let's go ahead, mika, and pay tribute to first responders. >> this really shows people what's happening. we want to take a moment right now to honor those who have lost their own lives, who have lost their own battles with the disease. there are a lot of people dying every day, mr. president. there's a doctor who died in his husband's arms in their new york city apartment just six days after he began experiencing symptoms of covid-19. dr. gabron worked in the er and said caring for others was the most rewarding job on the planet. lisa ewald, nurse at henry ford hospital in michigan, she was on the job for 20 years and had seen just about everything. until late last month when a high fever and a cough set in. lisa tried to get tested twice. no tests for her. it wasn't until a third time, with full blown symptoms, she got tested. kious kelly, manager and nurse at mt. sinai in manhattan, 48 years old. hospitalized march 17th after contracting the virus. his final text to his sister read, can't talk because i choke and can't breathe. i love you. going back to sleep. kim smith, technic working the night shift in newark, died march 31st. her family said her smile was more infectious than the virus that took her life. the state's governor called her a front line hero. dr. alex shu was florida's first medical professional to die from the coronavirus. a friend said the 67-year-old had the energy to run circles around people half his age. he had worked in the same community for nearly four decades. chicago lost veteran police detective marco defranco to the disease. he was a married father of two children and earned more than 150 department awards over his career. detective mary lou armor had been with the santa rosa police force 20 years. she died on tuesday of complications from covid-19. flags to clachalifornia's craap was flown at half-staff to her honor. two riverside sheriff's deputies were cut down by the coronavirus. worksman is survived by his wife and three children. deputy terrelle young was a father of four and likely contracted covid-19 from an inmate in lockup. ♪ there goes my hero >> those are the heros. we'll be right back. ♪ watch him as he goes ♪ there goes my hero boston light, america's oldest lighthouse, has stood strong through every dark hour and bright dawn our country has endured. it has seen the break in the clouds before anyone else. for the past 168 years, we've also stood by you, helping you weather storms like this one, to protect your loved ones. and we'll do it for 168 more. in this world where people are staying at home, helpimany of life's moments are being put on hold. at carvana, we understand that for some getting a car just can't wait. that's why the new way to buy and sell a car is also the safer way. at carvana, you can do it all 100% online from home with a touchless delivery and pickup process to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a 7-day return policy. so if you need to keep moving, it's our goal to keep you safe. check out carvana, the safer way to buy a car. did you know prilosec otc can stobefore it begins?urn heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique 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to do it, but some people may want to do it. that's okay. it may be good, probably will. they're making a recommendation. it's only a recommendation. it's voluntary. >> why are you opposed to wearing one yourself? >> i just don't want to wear one myself. it's a recommendation. they recommend it. i'm feeling good. i just don't want to be sitting in the oval office behind that beautiful resolute desk, the great resolute desk, wearing a mask as i greet prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens. i don't know. somehow, i don't see it for myself. >> it's just bizarre. just bizarre. everybody knows it is bizarre. he's just not a serious man in the most serious of times, despite the cdc recommendation to wear a mask to stop spreading the coronavirus. donald trump says he doesn't see himself wearing one. let's bring "morning joe" chief medical correspondent dr. dave campbe campbell. dr. dave, yesterday, i started seeing people wearing masks as they were walking around the neighborhoods, riding bikes. some people are following the kk cdc recommendations. the cdc is recommending that people wear at least cloth masks outside. what's the impact of that? what impact will that have? >> joe, that recommendation is made so that the wearer of the mask, like me, when i'm talking or breathing to a person, i will not be transmitting to the person i'm speaking to droplets or vapor or my breath, which we now know can contain live virus. so the reason that the cdc has recommended that people wear face masks, cloth coverings, scarves, is so that the person wearing the mask will not infect the person that they are near. to not do that is placing the person that you are speaking to at risk. because we know that there is a -- there are a period of a few days from when you are inoculated before you develop symptoms when you are contagi s contagious. what's a simple recommendation, joe? >> yeah, simple recommendation. again, as you just said, as dr. fauci said also, it is to protect others so you aren't spreading the virus to them. let me ask about the coming week. experts are talking about the possibility of a peak in deaths over the next week. what are we going to be experiencing here in the country? >> joe, about a week and a half or so, we're going to see the peak across the country. don't be misled to think that that will be the same peak everywhere. florida, where i am right now, will not peak until early may. we'll see this rolling process, which on one hand is good. it allows the health care infrastructure professionals, people, equipment, to be moved around as we see is happening with fema, with states that are putting their ventilators back into the stockpile. so florida, from what i can see, may be the last state to have its peak. that's three weeks from now, joe. >> all right. it's interesting, as dr. dave said, we heard that washington state, who is on the other end of the the other end of the curve, washington state, now contributing ventilators to other states. dr. dave campbell, thanks so much as always. greatly appreciate it. china is facing pressure as a growing number of leaders urge president xi to completely shut down their wet markets. >> are you calling for the closure of the wet markets that has for sale monkeys and bats and horrible things like that? >> i think they should shut down those things right away. i mean it just -- it boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human/animal interface, that we don't just shut it down. i don't know what else has to happen to get us to appreciate that. and i think there are certain countries in which this is very commonplace. i would like to see the rest of the world really lead with a lot of pressure on those countries that have that. >> boy, i'll tell you what. vox had actual video on these wet markets about a month, month and a half ago, think it was. >> that's vox, v-o-x. >> v-o-x, yeah. the story laying out how these viruses absolutely spread like crazy from there. and there's some debate right now whether that's where it began or not in a particular wuhan market, but certainly there is evidence that diseases, viruses do spread from these markets. >> yeah. these wet markets where street vendors sell seafood, livestock, and other animal products usually in open air environments. viruses transfer between animals and people. it's believed covid originally began spreading in wet markets in wuhan where the virus originally emerged. now are reports of markets reopening despite a chinese government ban on the sale of wild animals following reports they may have contributed to the spread of coronavirus. joining us now toor of asian studies at the university of texas downtown, doctor peter li, and kitty block and president and co-founder of farm sanctuary gene. >> dr. li, talk to us about these issues. why do they keep getting reopened in chsay, you know, the wet market has been reopened. this is the wet market for livestock, not for wildlife. i have to say the wet market in china, you know, these are the words i can use to describe it. it's outdated, it's filthy, and it is dangerous, and also it's lawless. why it's reopened, it's because of the businesses that are used to that outlet for sales, for marketing. >> kitty block, i would assume there's an opinion on the part of the humane society about these types of markets? >> i mean especially since sars in 2002, covid-19 is believed to have stemmed from the wet market in china as well. >> you're absolutely right. how many times do we have to get the warning. sars as you say, that was back in the early 2000s. that was also from one of these markets, thought it was spread from bats to civic cats. this time a pandemic. at what point do we say enough is enough? we have to have the obligate po will and behavioral attitude. we have to shut she's down not just in china but around the world. it's a matter of getting it done and getting it done now. we can't afford another crisis like this. >> gene bauer, this is a story that keeps repeating itself. in a story i read it seems upper-class chinese citizens actually use these wet markets for a variety of thing. again, china's been aware for some time of the diseases that are spread from there and yet still haven't regulated them the way they should. so what should we do as a country? what should the world community do? >> i think as a community, as human beings, we need to look at the way we interact with wild animals. when we take wild animals and put them in the crowded wet markets, that's something we need to stop doing. consumers need to stop buying these products. some are thought to be medicinal. we need to rethink that. here in the united states we're finding billions of these animals that are in breeding grounds, animals being fed antibiotics. most of the anti-buy otdices are fed to animals and that leads to anti-resistant pathogens as well as diseases. we had swine flu in 2009, for exam pal, that killed over 10,000 americans. these are problems that occur in china, and we need to stop the wet markets there. these wet markets and live animal markets occur around the world including 80 in new york city and the same things in california as well. it's a global problem and it all stems from the way we interact with other animals. when we interact in mutually beneficial human and compassionate ways, it's good for everyone. > still ahead, top officials are claiming we could be facing the worst week yet. the surgeon general is even comparing it to pearl harbor. plus we'll talk to a medical professional who's been treating critically ill coronavirus patients and says protective gear is crucial right now as we head into this very, very dangerous and deadly week. very dangerous d andeadly week. at papa john's, we want you to know that from our 450-degree oven, to box, to you, it's our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. and we're taking extra 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question. fake news. go ahead. >> of quiet good human resolve. >> what have we got to lose. >> we join with all nations in a common endeavor. >> i had a friend of mine said we didn't know we had so many countries in the world, 182 countries. >> we may have still more to endure. >> we have to open our country up. we have to get going. >> using the great advances in science. >> what do you know. i'm not a doctor. i'm not a doctor, but i have common sense. >> and our instinctive compassion to heal. >> if it does help, great. if it doesn't help, we gave it a shot. >> what a contrast in leadership. there you have queen elizabeth talking about a common cause. and then you have donald trump who had an unscheduled press conference yesterday evening for what reason few people really know because if you break down what the president said and a lot of people have been analyzing it over the night -- >> -- it's pretty much nothing of news. >> nothing new, nothing noteworthy. the president attacked a governor on personal terms for no reason at all actually. it's the last thing you want to do in a time of crisis. he continued to push an unproven drug whose efficacy on this pandemic is still unknown and he has his hack peter navarro running around breaking up meetings where white house officials, dr. fauci, is trying to help you and your family, trying to prepare you and your family and the hospitals that you and your family may have to go to, and peter navarro is actually throwing documents. here's a hack who doesn't even know economics. he's -- he's the one responsible for all of our trade wars and now he's going in and yelling at dr. fauci. i mean seriously, this is the depth of expertise. >> yeah. >> this is when the idiots have been exposed for who they are in the time of america's greatest needs. and last night the president attacked the governor. he pushed an unproven drug. and then he continued saying the buck doesn't stop here. i must ask, mika -- >> yeah. >> -- what did america get out of cable news networks running a two-hour rambling press conference where he says the same exact things every time. if you think about the amount of time that he gives even before the questioning to an unproven drug when we have ventilator shortages, when we have testing shortages, i mean dramatic testing shortages in the president's home county where mar-a-lago is, and you also have the numbers spiking up across the nation. we have a crisis of hospital beds not only in new york city, but i'm worried about rural america where the rural health care system has been absolutely ravaged over the past decade by continual cuts in medicaid by republicans. i mean we're in a crisis, and he's continuing for what, the third week now? so why is msnbc, why is cnn, why is fox, any network running these press conferences where he keeps talking about an unproven drug that might work for malaria, might work for lupus, but doesn't work for this? again, dr. fauci wasn't allowed to talk. >> wasn't allowed to talk. >> donald trump got on television last night and was just staal stalling according to reports. he said he likes the good ratings, he likes getting out there because a lot of people watch. >> dr. fauci wasn't allowed to talk what he feels is important to say about this drug that the president keeps pushing. a lot of people would say follow the money. there's got to be some sort of financial tie to someone somewhere that has the president pushing this repeatedly. but more importantly, he had dr. fauci and dr. burkirx, which i believe most people agree they're trying to control the virus, keep from spreading the virus, save american lives as we're looking at our worst week yet ahead, they're trying to save lives and he has them skrang bling for 90 minutes to prepare for a two-hour news conference? he's going exhaust his top tier so he can get his needy camera time? so he can get out there and riff, quite frankly, it literally, saying things that aren't true, going off script. and by the way, i have to ask who wrote that script? it's as if an eighth grade politics debate team wrote it it. was pa thetdic. we're in a place right now where the president is getting away from progress, taking time away from a team hoping to get out of this crisis. he wasted our time and they'res. >> we have a.p.'s jonathan lapeer with us. it's like the president has his catch phrases. during the campaign it was "believe me," believe me." when he doesn't have anything to say, he use these catch phrases and loops. he's done it with drugs and so many other things. it's like the perfect call, which we'll get to later on. in this case, he just sounded foolish, unfit not just for the presidency, but unfit for any, any job anywhere. i don't care. his biggest hacks can come forward today and try to defend their performance. of course, they'll do the what aboutism with joe biden. he sounded unfit and foolish and he rambled around for a couple of hours. the only difference is mika talked about how dr. fauci was not allowed to say what he was feeling about the drug. >> what he knows. >> but it's not feeling. it's donald trump who keeps saying the same thing over and over and over again about this drug which is, i don't know. i don't know if it's going to do anything. but what do we have to lose? you can say that about dandelion and raindrops. i don't know if it's going to help. i don't know. he admits it. he has no idea if it's going to work or not, and yet he keeps rambling on about this drug. he keeps rambling on about personal fights with governors. he keeps rambling on how nobody saw this coming. it's such a lie. hhs secretary azar last year in 2019 was asked at the conference what keeps him up at night, and he said the pandemic. the pandemic, of course, is what keeps us all up in this room at night. that a pandemic is coming. everybody saw this coming in the science world. and last week i got skewered, jonathan. i got skewered for saying everybody knew this was coming in january. look at this. january, this incredible "washington post" article. december 31st, cdc begins developing reports for hhs after getting information about the virus from wuhan. on january 3rd, formal notification of covid-19 -- this is all from the "washington post" article yesterday. two days later, u.s. spy agencies warn trump in early january, outbreak in the presidents' daily brief. january 3rd, the chief relays distributing news to hhs azar, the did stushing iin ining -- d news. this is -- all of this by january 3rd. on january 6th, the cdc offered assistance to china who turned down that offer. that same week that hhs convened, an agency task force on covid-19, azar had it and fauci. on january 18th they issued a public warning. on the 18th he begins drawing up plans to implement the defense production act to fight the virus. jonathan, i could go on practically every day that month things are happening. but this is on the 14th of january he's drawing up plans so the president can use the defense production act. of course, that has been an ongoing fight. and he scribbles one word, jonathan, on his notebook, coronavirus. this is january 14th. my god, two months later -- actually three months later, it's still a mess, but two months after that, it was still chaos when it came to the defense production act and three months after -- like the president actually announced yesterday something like 1,500 tests. 1,500 tests that were released by abbott in a country of 320 million people. >> yeah. that's not good. >> the catch phrase is from the president about the drug yesterday where i've got a good feeling about this and what have you got to lose. well, for some americans who take this drug if it's not approved, it could affect their health. not a good feeling about this, that's what dr. fauci tried to stress. it's about the science, going through the rigorous testing program to make sure this drug, which is effective against malaria among other things can be effective to treat the coronavirus, but we simply don't know yet. let's back up about that briefing. there was no briefing scheduled for sunday night. the white house schedule came out saturday evening, said it was not listed. sushld morning, aides told the reporters, nothing on the schedule. in fact, in the afternoon they issued a lid, to pull back the parlance, you're not going to see the president, there will be no public reports. as the day goes on, the president got antsy. he loves the spotlight, knows he gets good ratings, up against "60 minutes." he had seen governor cuomo earlier in the day deliver his press briefing. reporters were told there wouldn't be one because it was palm sunday, the president decided to offer one, at the same time that joe biden was doing a virtual town hall about the coronavirus. perhaps a little presidential counterprogramming. reporters hurried back to the white house, they attended the event, and as we saw last night, there wasn't much in the way of news, a lot of presidential bluster, obfuscation, and a lot of anger when pushed about the timeline. the issues, joe, that you just highlighted in terrific "washington post" story and my colleagues had a piece about the release yesterday, that the government only started ordering bulk orders of masks and respirators in the middle of march well after the vie was was on the way. that's when the president cut the briefing short. they remain in an incredibly defensive posture, trying to explain how they were so slow to move on this crisis even though they had warnings for months. and the president's inner circle was trying to convince him to act, to mobilize the federal government do something it. still ahead on "morning joe," stay home. the beast will be here when it's over. we'll talk about stopping the spread and what it's like working with the white house. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. re watching" we'll be right back. ♪ in nearly 100 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they share that commission with me. and you have money, more money to spend because you got free money. go to rakuten.com and sign up today for a $10 bonus. no. uh uh, no way. ♪ come on. no. no. n... ni ni, no no! only discover has no annual fee on any card. many hospitaled a ming straighters that we've been in touch with, even in the hot spots -- you know where they are -- they're communicating with us that their supplies are meeting essential needs and at the current time, they're thrilled to be where they are. >> really. >> that's just a lie. nobody's thrilled to be where they are. they've been behind the eight ball, whether you're talking about ventilators, whether you're talking gloves, whether you're talking about gowns. hospital administrators are not thrilled to be where they are. another lie from donald trump in this, one of the most dangerous weeks we've ever faced. >> so as he keeps trying to sort of brand the truth every day during these news conferences, what he doesn't understand is that the world is watching and that as tens of thousands of people in america die, it's not just the american people overall who are being impacted by this, but, donald trump, it's your people. your people are getting coronavirus. your people are dying in u.s. hospitals that don't have supplies some of as much as you try to brand the facts every day, the truth is closing in every day. >> let me say. we've said this from the very beginning. the virus doesn't care whether you're a republican or democrat. >> you can't control it. >> the virus doesn't care whether you're from red state america or blue state america. i mean there was -- actually at one point a republican pollster, kneel newho neil newhouse went and warned republicans on capitol hill that the president and news outlets were giving republicans bad information that could kill them because they were getting misinformation from donald trump and his supporters in the media. that's from a republican pollster, neil newhouse, a loyal republican pollster saying they're literally getting information that will cause harm to them and those that they love. look at every poll that comes out, mika, over the past month, and it's the republicans supporting donald trump that are the most skeptical, the most skeptical that this was going to be pandemic, most skeptical from top to bottom, that this was going to be the sort of problem that it is because of his lies. he's been lying to the american people from the beginning underselling this. other people in the media have as well. and you've been able to see it in polls over the past month. >> the president's team, his inner circle, dan, larry, pete, jared, are they going to tell you the truth, or are they going to? >> they can't stand the truth. >> so they don't give it. the watchdog paint as much different picture than the president's alternative reality. quoting hundreds of hospital officials who depict an american health system in crisis beset by a shortage of equipment, drowning financially, and begging the federal government to do more. the inspector general of the department of health and human services interviewed 324 hospitals across 46 states. >> by the way, this is a strtru -- this is the trump administration doing the investigation for those of you not smart enough to figure that out. this isn't the mainstream media. this is president trump doing it. >> granted ano na annan nied on. >> hospitals do not describe it. this is one of the most infuriating government reports i have ever read we've seen news reports talking about equipment shortages, dangerous working conditions, and what they say is an inadequate response from the federal government. as joe said, by the trump administration itself, by a federal oversight agency. the inspector general for hhs. what investigators have confirmed is what you've been seeing in news reports and on your show and elsewhere is hospitals are beset by shortages, and they found things that are even worse than what we've been hearing. for example. we've heard a lot about shortages of ventilators and mathematics. but this report found shortages of cleaninging is insupplies a thermometers. one hasn't had only two. that puts patients and health care workers in jeopardy. contrary to what the trump administration says, hospitals say they're not doing enough. their stockpiles are not only insufficient end, but in some cases malfunctioning. another hospital received a shipment of masks that had to be thrown out because it was dry rotted. we interviewed ann maxwell, assistant attorney general. she seemed stunned by what she and her team found. let's take a listen. >> one moment that stans out for me is when i was talking to a hospital administrator. he told me he had staff procure gloves and masks from auto stores, beauty salons, supply stores. i was taken aback by how in that one example you could see both the desperation of the challenges they're facing and the ingenuity they were putting forward to solve these problems so they could provide good patient care and save lives. >> the other aspect of this is hospitals are facing a financial crisis because they've had to cancel the election active procedures that bring in income. some are insolvent, struggling to pay bills. in some cases insurance companies are not reimbursing them for covid care. ann maxwell also talks about it. >> one hospital said their situation was so dire they were considering laying off staff at the same time they recognized and knew they needed more staff to address the challenges facing them. >> some relief was granted but like most, it may be a little too late. >> up ahead, without trust, there is no success. we'll talk about the mixed messages from the white house when it comes to coronavirus and how it's impacting the fight to slow the spread. "morning joe" is back in a moment. he spread. "morning joe" is back in a moment i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us. as states across the country plead for critical medical equipment from the federal government, the trump administration abruptly changed its description of the strategic national stockpile. change was made on friday that narrows down the fed's role on how it provides life-saving equipment for those in need. the primary responsibility lies with the states to manage the coronavirus pandemic. multiple states have already reported issues with some equipment sent by the federal government. the growing frustration comes as more reports surface showing the white house squandered two months of preparation against the pandemic. according to the "associated press," federal agencies largely waited until mid-march to begin placing bulk orders if n95 respirator masks, and other equipment needed. jonathan lemaire, mid-march, we were well into this. it was all clear this virus was careening toward catastrophe here in the united states. is there any information related to this? looking at this, it reminds me of the president putting his hands up and saying, i'm not responsible for anything. what is he responsible for at this point, does he think? >> mika, this is just the latest example of how slow the federal government has been to respond to this pandemic. my colleagues at the "associated press" over the past few weeks discovered that, yes, it was indeed not until mid-march that the government started buying in bulk, n95 respirators, ventilators. by that point it was early january. officials could see the hospitals in china were being overwhelmed there with a desperate need for equipment, but they did not act to mobilize quickly here. the federal government has not given much of a response for that except repeating what has become the president's theme here, and i wrote about this in the last day or so, how the onus is on the states, the states to be on the front lines of this pandemic, and the change and the definition of the stockpile bears truth to that, that this is something that in its past has always been, yes, of course, a reserve, but one readily available for the states whenever they need. now the trump administration has said the stockpile is for the federal government's use. the states should be responsible on their own to require the ventilators, masks, and so on, protective gear that's desperately needed for the hospitals at the front lines of this crisis, and only in the last couple of weeks when the government has started to move out some of the products, some of that gear in the national stockpile, mika, because they were so slow in building up their supply, they're already running out. supplies are dwindling which could make this crisis worse. in the hospitals, they're about to be hit with an overwhelming surge of patients in what is expected to be the worst week of the crisis. >> let's check in with governor john carney. governor, do you have what you need in delaware? >> thank you for the opportunity to be on. we're trying to make sure we have everything we need. we've been planning on a surge we expect to happen over the next week or two for several weeks now, and our focus is on personal protective equipment that staffing needs, staffing itself, hospital beds, icu beds, and ultimately ventilators that are the equipment that saves people's lives. we hope that we have enough. it really depends on how effectively we have implemented social distancing policies in closing down social interactions here in delaware. so we'll see over the next few weeks. i feel reasonably confident that given kind of moderate assumptions, we'll have what we need to respond. we've got a great partnership with hospital officials and staffing particularly across our state. >> what is your testing situation? i understand there's some rapid testing available in delaware. is it viable? does it work, and how much do you have? >> we just got a big order for a small state like delaware and rapid testing that came in over the weekend. we expect to validate those tests with certain populations early this week and fit it into our state wide strategy. i've been informed by some of the medical professionals, we need to be careful about those tested in terms of effectiveness in determining whether they're covid positive. we will incorporate those tests with the ones we're using right now primarily for individuals who are symptomatic, individuals who are members of our law enforcement, our hospital staff, and first responders. but it is and could be an important addition to our testing strategy statewide. >> and i understand in delaware state troopers are able to pull people over and question them, i guess, where they're coming from or going to. what's the process there and are you able to sort of contain delaware? >> yeah. so we're a very small state right here in the middle of the northeast corridor in new york city and washington, d.c., south of philadelphia and north of baltimore. so we have a lot of people who travel through our state, and that's fine. we also have a lot of people who come to our state for its beaches and for our tax-free shopping, and they've been doing that, frankly, over the past couple of weeks and creating problems in terms of larger social gatherings, and so we had to impose a traveler quarantine to those coming from other states to avoid some of these situations where people were in big groups together particularly at the border and retail establishments at the border. so we have an enforcement approach that was recommended by our attorney general, which basically we set up roadblocks to state troopers. people come by with out-of-state plates. we have a series of questions, neighborly questions, what's your business in delaware? did you know there's a quarantine for 14 days, and if you're not willing to do that, then you have to travel back home. so it's -- it was a message that kind of caught on, and i think it's had a very positive effect in cutting down a lot of those social gatherings, which are really detrimental in the situation we're in. >> governor john carney, thank you very much for coming on with us. up next, the cdc is recommending everyone wear masks outside. the president says it's not mandatory. our next guest has a piece "evan thinks they're right about masks." we'll talk about who's right. we'll be right back. who's right we'll be right back. more than ever, your home is your sanctuary. that's why lincoln offers you the ability to purchase a new vehicle remotely with participating dealers. an effortless transaction-all without leaving the comfort- and safety-of your home. thats the power of sanctuary. and for a little extra help, receive 0% apr financing and defer your first payment up to 120 days on the purchase of a new lincoln. and defer your first payment up to 120 days it won't wait for a convenient time. or for hospitals to get back to normal again. that's why, at cancer treatment centers of america, we aren't waiting. we're right here, still focused on the only thing we do, providing world-class cancer care, all under one roof. because cancer isn't just what we do, it's all we do. cancer treatment centers of america. call now for an appointment. that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. 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. and aren't necessarily great for your teeth. the acid can actually wear away at the enamel which over time can cause sensitivity and a lot of people start to see their teeth turn yellow. i like to recommend pronamel to my patients to help them protect their teeth and keep the enamel strong. putting a mask on yourself is more to prevent you from infecting someone else, and if everybody does that, we're each protecting each other, because it's more efficient to prevent transmitting to others than it is to prevent transmission to yourself. >> all right. that was dr. anthony fauci on the cdc's recommendation that americans wear face masks in public. joining us now to discuss that and more, dr. van gupta. and also ed young, a staff writer at the "atlantic" magazine. >> doctor, let's begin with you. how important is it that people start wearing masks to prevent others from picking up any germs they may be transmitting? >> i think we have to respect and honor the institution that is the cdc. they're our high echt public health leaders. they're operating in a space that's unknown. there's a lot of uncertainty. so to issue a guideline, a fabric home made face mask when going to the grocery store and department store is their best guess in looking at science and saying this is what we should do. we should honor and respect it and we shouldn't have a president that immediately tries to defeeble it and issue the guidelines. that's the key piece here, recognize it, honor it, and recognize there's uncertainty. >> ed, there is a lot of uncertainty and i'm glad you talk about why it's still safe. you say for the most part being outside still is safe, ventilation is still important, also spacing is so important. if you're going outside, if you're being active in places where you can maintain a safe space, that's still okay, right? >> absolutely. you know, distance and density is important in outdoor spaces especially those which don't have large crowds of people. it should be fine to be outside. a lot of the -- one of the experts i spoke to in my piece says when she's outside, she imagines that other people around her are smoking and she takes steps to avoid being in those clouds of smoke. i think that's a sensible framework for thinking about all of these things that we can tie ourselves in knots about. >> you say the question of how far the virus moves is not the important question. you actually talk about what's important is it stable and concentrated enough at the end of the journey to make somebody sick. talk about the concentration of the virus because we're starting to hear explanations that one of the reasons health care workers are suffering and some are dying is because of the large concentration of the virus that they have to deal with every day. >> so health care workers are obviously exposed to people who are incredibly sick. they might be getting large amounts of the virus moving through the droplets, specks of dribble or aerosols moving through the air around them. one thing absolutely everyone agrees on, there are not enough surgical masks or n95 respirators available right now. they should be reserved for the health care workers which is why cdc's recommendation for everyone else is homemade masks. >> one of the things that's really lacking from the coronavirus briefing every day is the sense of timing, testing, true testing across the board in the united states of america as well as exactly a time line for a vaccine. without either of those factors, testing and a vaccine, how do you see the country being able to reopen and people being able to interact slightly normally and the virus not spreading again? >> well, mika, i think it's going to take unfortunately more of the same for the time being, and that's a hard reality. nobody wants to live life as it currently s but we need all available evidence from the university of washington, from models out of harvard. it suggests we need social distancing to become stronger, we need all states in the country to have shelter in place laws, not just 40 of them, and it's working. fevers, densities seem like they're working. >> it's the only thing that works right now, doctor. >> right. that's why we need a federal response, mika. not the state-based patchwork approach where one governor does this, the next governor does that. you're right. once testing comes online, right now it's not nearly where it should be. let's be clear on testing. we don't have enough of the swabs to do the rapid test that we need to do to determine if someone has an acute infection. there are a lot of holes in testing. we need to be clear on that. the only way to get where we need to get is more social distancing and national lockdown. >> so, ed, as americans have gone through airports the past couple of decades, they've noticed that people from east asia, perhaps since sars often wear face masks. it's actually been more of a part of a custom. i'm wondering whether that may be one of the reasons why we've seen a lower incidence of coronavirus passing in places like south korea or taiwan. >> i think we need to be careful before making that conclusion because there are southeastern asian countries where masks are common where we see a large uptick in places like japan. singapore has seen large cases after briefly controlling the pandemic. i don't think you can make a clear cut statement that masks in these countries are the reasons they're successful. they've done other things. extensive testing, strong public health responses, and those are the things we should be focusing on. what the masks do is symbolize a societal sense of conscientiousness and a sense of civic duty, and that's important for us now, the sense of mobilizing together through social distancing and through looking after each other. and we have so far failed at the highest levels of leadership to control this pandemic, and it's not up to us as citizens to work together. >> dr. ed yonge and vin gupta. thank you. up next, launching a brand-new format that uses entirely new technology would be challenging under the circumstances. just imagine what that would be like now. that's what quibi just did. we'll talk with the co-founder about that new project next on "morning joe." t that new projecn "morning joe." for nearly 100 years, we've worked to provide you with the financial strength, stability, and online tools you need. and now it's no different. because helping you through this crisis is what we're made for. sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. when i needed to jumpstart sales. build attendance for an event. help people find their way. fastsigns designed new directional signage, and got them back on track. get started at fastsigns.com i often see them have teeth and got them back on track. sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. they are both very much hand in hand. so you should really be focusing on both and definitely at the same time. the new sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. by brushing with sensodyne sensitivity & gum at home it's giving you the relief that you need and the control that you need to take care of your oral health. together. we'll talk with the co-founder together. we'll talk with the co-founder that i would recommend. there will be parties and family gatherings. there will be parades and sporting events and concerts. to help our communities when they come back together, respond to the 2020 census now. spend a few minutes online today to impact the next 10 years of healthcare, infrastructure and education. go to 2020census.gov and respond today to make america's tomorrow brighter. it's time to shape our future. so more americans are streaming now more than ever before and streaming the content at home and on the go. and there's a new entry into the streaming wars, quibi. a new app that brings move eiem documentaries, under ten minutes to your phone and it launches today. nbc news has a report called "the report" by nbc news that debuted today as well exclusively on the new app. with us is the co-founder of dreamworks and former president of paramount pictures, the founder of quibi, jeffrey katzenberg. i would have loved to talk to you about this in different times because i've been very excited about the concept and talking about it with friends an awful lot. the idea of basically a ten-minute limit. i always -- it seems perfect for the millennial audience. perfect for a lot of us. but these are obviously very unique times to watlaunch such major app. talk about how you have adjusted. >> thank you, joe. it's a great question. the fact is that, yes, we're not on the go the way we were a month or two ago, but the fact is that today we have as many in-between times now as we had then. they are different. so whether we're in between home schooling or on our computer doing our work or our zoom meetings, the fact is that we all have these breaks in the course of our day. meg whitman, my partner and i, felt quibi was designed from the beginning to inform and to entertain and to inspire, and we think when people get to see this amazing content made by the best storytellers in hollywood, that's what will happen. so in a way we're maybe an escape. maybe we can bring some laughter and cheer and we decided to give it away free for three months, which was not our original plan here. so we've had to make adjustments. we've had to change some of our planning but we think in the end, this is a treat for people at a moment in time in which any little break, i think, will be appreciated. at least that's our hope. >> and the concept, you hear about short films and you think, okay, this is something that people may go out and do on the cheap. actually, you have got spielberg, a lot of other stars participating in this. and the production costs for a lot of those movies that come in under ten minutes, extremely high. the quality is really top notch. so people that want to escape if like you said, ten minutes in between certain things can just go on quibty and see a ten-minute installation? >> sure. so think about it as three types of content. we have our big movies that are basically two-hour stories but in chapters that are 6 to 10 minutes in length and you can watch them a chapter at a time. we then have unscripted documentaries, beautiful, beautiful document about lebron's academy "i promise" and then the daily essentials which is all the information of the day and whether it's around news or sports or weather or music or gaming or entertainment, there are these amazing, amazing daily news information shows, as well as a couple of talk shows. so just to put in perspective in the first two weeks, we will publish over 50 original shows and over 500 episodes. and every day after that, you will get 30 original pieces of content every day. this is meant to be great premium quality and quantity. >> so jeffrey, you've been on the cutting edge in hollywood for some time, obviously. you're a legend. in the movie business. tell -- tell us all, how is this not only impacting the movie business now but, more importantly, how is this going to change the way studios, the way producers, the way artists release their talent over the next 5, 10 years? >> joe, i just have to say, i don't have that crystal ball yet. all of us today are hunkered down. our mayor and our governor here in los angeles and california, you know, were early on to getting us to shelter in place. but the impact of that on the entertainment industry, at least for this moment in time, is a complete shutdown. and to be able to predict today how that's going to restart and the ways and how it's going to change our culture and our society is something that i just think it's way too early to tell. there will be losers, but there also are going to be great winners in this. so i'm -- you know, adversity is the mother of invention. and i think we're going to see amazing things optimistically out of this as well as, obviously, the difficult times and pain and suffering that we're all having to live with right now. no different here in hollywood than anywhere else. >> absolutely. you can download quibi in the apple app store or google play store and watch new episodes of "the report" by nbc news on quibi. jeffrey katzenberg, thank you. >> we look forward to talking to you in happier times. we close this morning with some more stories out of new york hospitals which continue to drown under a crush of covid-19 cases. according to "the new york times," some nurses at the brooklyn hospital center are caring for five critically ill patients all at one time. the norm for an experienced intensive care unit nurse is usually two. the doctor called the new ratio, quote, crazy. this happening while crematories in new york and new jersey are severely backlogged by the rising death toll. families may be forced to wait ten days or more before being able to say good-bye to their loved ones. meanwhile, nearly a week after the "usns comfort" sailed into new york city's harbor, the ship intended to alleviate hospitals by taking up to 1,000 non-coronavirus patients only has 20 aboard. that's the ship the president said he kissed good-bye two weekends ago. the times notes that a tangle of military protocols and bureaucratic hurdles has prevented the navy ship from accepting many patients at all. so another failure in a slew of failures as we are living through a human catastrophe that could have been prevented, joe. >> jonathan lemire, we began the week that the surgeon general has said may be the grimmest of all weeks. comparing it to possibly pearl harbor or 9/11. any indication how the president is starting this week, whether he has any plans to move forward more aggressively on testing or in other areas where he's failed so far? >> joe, i think we'll all carry the surgeon general's warnings with us this week. the president despite the desire proclamations is pushing to reopen things sooner than his health officials would want. we could sense that from him in the briefing. in one area, sports. he's trying to push professional sports leagues, football in particular, to open up on time in september. as much as we would all like to watch sports and distraction, the team officials and players themselves have pushed back against that simply saying they wouldn't feel safe. and the bottom line, that can only be done when there's an increase in testing, when both the players and fans can feel safe and secure being there in any sort of large gathering before they would feel any games could ever resume. >> when his stories look back on this crisis, they're going to look at testing as the major failure. and many are going to have to look into the fact that perhaps if we had better testing from the beginning, the president wouldn't have had to follow the advice of others and shut down large portions of this economy. the governors wouldn't have to shut down large portions of this economy. but we've been flying blind. health officials are saying it. we're flying blind because of the continued failure of the white house and the federal government to get testing out to every american who needs it. the president promised that on march 6th. that promise remains a lie this morning. >> it is worth reading "the washington post" article "70 days of denial, delays and dysfunction." that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hi there. i'm stephanie ruhle.

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