White house here a few take sda. Some democrats and some in the media continue to ignore reality. As portlands democrat mayor ted wheeler tweeted, quote, what i saw last night was powerful in many ways, i listened, heard and stood with the protesters and i saw what it means when the federal government unleashes Paramilitary Forces against its own people. That was a quote from the democrat mayor who quite literally stood in the middle of a riot as violent protesters tacked a federal building. That is appalling and mayor wheelers clearly failing at his duty to protect his streets and his city there in portland. The federal government has a sworn duty to uphold the laws of the United States through field offices and federal facilities across the country, these agents protect and serve the American People. Yet the rhetoric of the left undermines our Justice System with nancy police issy ca s s s pelosi calling them storm troopers and wheeler using the term Paramilitary Forces. Under President Trump, Violent Crime rates in america finally began to fall. Rhetoric like this cannot be allowed to set us back. Augmenting the federal protective service guarding federal property in portland and our brave officers have since augmenting them i should say are brave officers have faced all of these various things like rioters, barricading officers and inside the hatfield federal courthouse, trapping officers inside, a commercial grade mortar firework was launched by rioters, a federal agents hand was impaled by planted nails, another federal agent shot with a pellet gun leaving a wound deep to the bone and three federal officers were likely left permanently blinded by the rioters using lasers, pointed directly at their eyes. These are not the actions of socalled peaceful protesters. And the Trump Administration will not stand by and allow anarchy in our streets, law and order will prevail. I had a short video for you, because i wanted to be real what is happening right now in portland. If we could play that video, that would be great. I hope someone kills your whole [ bleep ] family. I hope they kill you too. I hope someone burns down your whole precinct with all of you all inside. Cant wait to see it. As you can see, that is anything but a peaceful protest. And this president will always stand on the side of law and order. And with that, ill take questions. Yes. Thank you so much. I want to ask you about then i have another question on foreign policy. First of all, has President Trump determined where hes going to or how hes going to deliver his speech . He said he was working on that yesterday . He hasnt decided that just yet, but we have a number of really creative, exciting options that hes looking at. It is a question more for the rnc, but hes very excited about the prospect of what will come with the convention. I want to ask you about something he tweeted back in april, he said joe biden wanted the date for the Democratic NationalConvention Moved to a later time period, now he wants a virtual convention, one where he doesnt have to show up. Gee, i wonder why. Does the president regret that now . As you know, i cant respond to joe biden. You have to ask the campaign about that. But the president circumstances changed in florida where we intended to have the convention as the circumstances on the ground changed. The president changed his viewpoint on having the convention in jacksonville at that particular location. I want to ask you about the president s phone call with vladimir putin, did the president raise the issue of russian bounties on the lives of american troops during that phone call . As you know, that intelligence is unverified still to this day. There are dissenting opinions within the intel community. I wont get into the president s private discussions with a foreign leader. That intelligence is still unverified. Rest assured our president will always stand with our military and protect them against any and every foreign adversaries. Thank you. Nancy pelosi and Mitch Mcconnell announced john lewis ill come back to you. Will be lying in state on monday and tuesday. Does the president plan to go to the capitol to visit john lewis on one of those days . I have no announcements about the president s upcoming plans. But john lewis was a civil rights icon, we lowered the flag here to signify that. So the senate has approved overwhelmingly a bill that would require the renaming of bases that are named after confederate leaders. How is it that senator inhofe insured the president he would be able to remove that from legislation that passed both chambers of congress. Ill leave to senator inhofe how that works legislatively speaking. But the president was assured by senator inhofe that would be changing and republicans stood with the president on this. And stood with the rest of america, 56 according to an abc poll are opposed to the changing of the u. S. Base names. Thanks. Two quick questions. Iny you probably hear this often, when can americans expect some money in their pockets by way of stimulus, what is the president s plan to get that money to them as quickly as possible, and just a question about covid reporting, is the white house at all concerned about inaccuracies or inconsistencies with respect to covid death reports . First, let me note when it looks at numbers we want the most accurate reporting and i went through last week the usada numbers, we want to make sure hospitals are truly reporting all the information theyre getting, one of the systems of data gathering, only 81 of hospitals were reporting into another hhs system and getting a full picture of what were seeing in hospitals. We want to assure that all the information is accurate. With regard to phase four, those negotiations are ongoing. These are long and extended negotiations, we feel it is very important from the white house to address Unemployment Insurance in particular. And also money for schools and ensuring that the money for schools enables students to make School Choices like going to a physically open school. So right now thats where the discussions lie at the moment. Drug pricing is so critical to americas seniors, often you hear terrible stories about people having to ration drugs because of the incredible cost, what exactly practically can the American Public expect the president to do to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs . Thats a great question. The president today at 3 00 p. M. Will be talking about drug pricing. And hell be announcing some actions hes taking on that front. Ill leave it to him to announce those future actions, but in 2018, he released a landmark blueprint to lower Prescription Drug prices. It is an issue hes been very passion naate about, which is w he signed legislation ending the gag clauses that stopped pharmacists from informing patients about lower drug prices and the average basic premiums for Medicare Part d Prescription Drug plans that have fallen by 13. 5 since 2017. Hes done a lot already, but more to come. This afternoon actually. I have two questions for you. This morning dr. Birx said it is still an open question how rapidly children under 10 can actually spread covid19. But the other day the president said they dont bring it home very easily and they dont transmit very easily. So shouldnt we figure out which one of those it is before kids go back to school . Let me give you two answers to this. First i would point you to cdc guidelines that said based on current data, the rate of infection among younger schoolchildren and from students to teachers has been low, especially with proper precautions are followed. There have also been fewer reports of children being the primary source of covid19 transmission among family members. Thats where the data stands. But that being said, even if there is transmission and later studies come out, lets say, we believe that students should be going back to school because the effect on a child we know scientifically, theyre not affected in the same way as an adult. Again, i point you to cdc guidelines on this that says the best available evidence, theyre far less likely to suffer severe symptoms, death rates among school ages children are much lower than among adults and far lower than during the h1n1 pandemic when schools remained open. She said they do not know how rapidly they can spread it still if theyre under 10. Thats one of the on the transmission point, i point you again to the cdc but also say it is our firm belief that the that our schools are essential places of business, if you will, that our teachers are essential personnel, you all here are considered essential workers why you are coming to the Briefing Room every day during the pandemic. Our meat packers, meatpacking, they were essential workers, our doctors out there treating because theyre essential workers and we believe our teachers are essential. I pour over the data on schools often and the one thing that really stuck out to me, i read through the entirety of the cdc guidelines was that i talk about child abuse often, and one in five cases being reported in schools, well, the guidelines went on to say there is not just been a sharp decline in reports of suspected maltreatment, tragically a notable increase in evidence of child abuse when children are seen for services during the pandemic, for example, in washington, d. C. Child and Family Services agency recorded a 62 decrease in child abuse reporting calls between midmarch and april, compared to the same time period in 2019 but saw more severe presentation of child abuse cases and emergency rooms. Thats a tragedy and our schools must reopen. My question was about transition rates. My second question and i answered that today the nations top counterintelligence officials says russia is one of three countries actively working to interfere in our election. Did the president bring up election interference on the call with the russian president yesterday . Again, i wasnt on the call, but the president i was not on the call, the president the president has taken more actions for Election Security than his predecessor who gave a standdown order when he learned about election interference, susan rice gave that standdown order. You can confirm that was given by contrast. We have given a ton of funding to Election Security, we take our elections seriously and we believe in election integrity. Justen . President trump Justin Justin i was not on the call, caitlan, stop filibustering. You didnt answer my question. Justin has a question. Anyone else . Around 20 million americans are receiving expanded Insurance Benefits and some are going to get receive the last of the checks tomorrow. Have Senate Republicans in the white house settled on a plan yet to extend ui. If so, can you explain what that plan is and did you wait too long to try to start this out . Those discussions are still ongoing and im not going to get in the middle of the negotiation. Other than to say when i answered kevins question up here, i said our priority right now as we feel it is very important to address extending those Unemployment Insurances. And how that looks, ill leave it to them. That is Unemployment Insurance is a top priority. China ordered the closing of one of our diplomatic facilities there in retaliation for what happened in texas. We havent heard from the white house, if you could spell it out specifically why you decided to close the houston facility, i know there is obviously broad complaints you raised for weeks with china, but why houston specifically and secondly if you had a reaction to the steps china took . Our action to direct the closure of the prc consulate general in houston was taken to protect American Intellectual property and americans private information. For years the ccp has undertaken a whole society effort to steal american technology. And intellectual property for commercial gain and many of those activities are directed from prc diplomatic facilities and we urge the ccp to cease the malign actions rather than engage in tit for tat retaliations. Thats where we stand on that. Jeff . Reporter the president s tone on the virus this week seems to have changed. Hes advocated a few different times for americans to wear masks. He said that the virus would or the pandemic would get worse before it gets better. He canceled most of the convention or certainly the florida part yesterday. All of these things were bad two months ago, even longer than that, and the science on masking has been clear for several months. What changed this week . Why did his tone change . Theres been no change. The president said on march 31st before there was a recommended but not required guidance given by the cdc on maskwearing, the president said, if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. It doesnt harm anyone. Thats when our scientists were saying dont wear masks. The president has been consistent on this. He wore a mask back at the ford facility. He carries it around in his pocket. He hasnt changed. In fact in just speaking on covid generally, the way ive heard him talk privately in the oval office is the way hes talking out here. The only thing that changed is the president taking dozens and dozens and dozens of your questions each and every day because he felt the best way to get information to the American People was for him to be out here answering your questions and providing this directly. Reporter the other part of the question wasnt just about masking. If you look back and see when he called it politically correct, for example, that wasnt exactly agreeing with the science of wearing masks. Setting that aside no, but lets not set that aside. When he used the words politically correct, i believe you were asking him a question and you were standing outside and you had been tested and you were wearing a mask and he couldnt hear your question and so he asked for you to pull down the mask. Thats the context and context does matter here. Reporter i was standing around other reporters and using the same mic that other people were using. He asked for you to pull it down. Everyone in the press pool is tested. Youre not in a compromising position. He hasnt changed his tone. But this president the reason he wants to bring back these briefings is to get information out there like weve done 52. 9 million tests, 187 emergency use authorizations for test manufacturing, 20 million swabs per month, all of these great successes of this Administration Like distributing 31,000 cases of remdesivir, enough to treat nearly 200,000 patients, none of this is getting covered. You have the president of the United States talking to the American People and getting extraordinary ratings as they tune in to get information from their leader. Reporter my question wasnt about that piece i want to clear i dont want to talk over let me if you dont, mind, jeff, maybe we can come back to you. Reporter i would like to finish my question. People in the back row dont get the opportunity to reporter its because youre not answering questions. I want to act about the Defense Authorization bill that passed earlier this week. Both of those bills contain mandates that the pentagon rename these military base which is are named in honor of confederate generals. Does the president believe that his position is helpful in terms of recruitment, specifically for africanamericans . Explain how that position will help recruit africanamericans in an allvolunteer military force. The president stands with the American People. 56 of people dont want to see the base names changed. Many soldiers who have lost their lives overseas, the last ground they saw were these bases and by changing their names he believes its not appropriate, that those soldiers who lost their lives to be reporter im familiar with his position. And youve restated it very well. Im asking you specifically, how is this helpful for an africanamerican who wants to volunteer for our allvolunteer military forces to go to a base thats named for a confederate general that worked to keep in place slavery which impacted their ancestors. The bases are not known for the generals theyre named after, theyre known for the heroes within in. The great americans of every race who have died on behalf of this great country and 56 of the nation agrees with the president. Reporter its your position, it wont impact in any way recruitment, is what your position is . Next question. Reporter is that a yes or no . Reporter i want to circle back to school choice. That means shifting federal funds away from schools that dont open so parents can use those funds for homeschooling or private schooling. The president opposes defunding police. Why is defunding Public Schools okay . The president has never wanted to take money away from schools, take money away from education. Its about keeping it with the child. The purpose of School Funding is to educate a child. The child, if a school is closed, loses the opportunity to receive education and needed social services. I put up the chart a few weeks ago that showed that the student most impacted is the lowincome student and doesnt have the resources of as some other students. That student should not be deprived of an Educational Opportunity and forever never been able to recover the deficit that that child has had by being out of school for an entire year or more reporter the schools in those underserved communities are the ones that generally have terrible ventilation, they need the most money for upgrading. If this money is shifted away from the schools, how will they get into a situation where they could in the case of a pandemic properly serve their populat