Secretary mark esper. Analysis from dr. Jen ashton, tom bossert, Chris Christie and rahm emanuel and a look inside the vulnerable prisons. And a mass grave site. We need help. This week, here now chief anchor george stephanopoulos. Good morning, and welcome to this week. As we come on the air this morning, the country now braced for what could be the toughest week yet in this crisis. Covid19 cases continue to climb here, now more than 300,000. More than 8500 americans have died. The hottest spots now in the northeast new york, the epicenter, more than 63,000 cases in new york city, almost double that across the state. Governor cuomo warns the peak is coming in the next seven days and, quote, were not yet ready for the apex. In new jersey, the death toll has climbed past 800, well past the number of its citizens killed in the 9 11 attacks. Administration officials are now warning of new hotspots pennsylvania, colorado, washington, d. C. , along with detroit and louisiana. Quote, there will be a lot of deaths, president warned at his saturday press conference. But he also mused about allowing Easter Services to go forward next sunday, pushed hard to reopen the country as soon as possible and veered into politics, with a mix of attacks and praise for his chief rival. I think the probable president ial candidate for the democrats will be joe biden. And he agreed that i was correct when i stopped people from china very early very, very early from coming into our country. I appreciate the fact that he did, because i was called xenophobic, racist, i was called many things. And former Vice President joe biden joins us right now. Good morning, mr. Vice president. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me on your show. I appreciate it. I wish you well. Sure thing. We just heard President Trump there talking about you at his press conference yesterday but his team also said, he also said this week he would be open to taking a phone call from you, has that phone call happened and if it did, whats the most important thing youd tell him . It hadnt happen. Im happy to talk with him. I would tell him what we went through a similar crisis, you have to move swiftly. We have to move more rapidly. You have to implement the defense production act. Create, you know, a defense production act for banks that give out Small Business loans, you got to faster than slower and we started off awfully slow. He indicated that i complimented him on dealing with china well, you know, 45 nations had already moved to keep block china personnel from being able to come to the United States before the president moved. Its about pace. Its about its about the urgency and i dont think theres been enough of it. The president has said many times that hes worried about the cure is going to be worse than the disease, does that concern you at all and isnt there a point there, if this lockdown goes on for too long, the Public Health concerns could be grave . Well, the Public Health concerns can be grave and you know, you saw whats happening in singapore, they moved very rapidly to bring down the coronavirus, down to zero, and then they began to open up, they had very, very tight restrictions in terms of social distancing, et cetera, staying in place, now its coming back, and so, you know, what we need most of all, and its not the president s fault at all, but we need most of all, a vaccine. But in the meantime, we have to take all the efforts we can to prevent the spread and lower that curve as they talk about and move from there. George, well need not only the last c. A. R. E. S. Act that congress passed, well need at least two iterations of that i believe to help the economy. Weve seen also the new guidelines from the cdc saying they believe the public should wear masks in public. President trump said hes not going to do it, but several other leading politicians are, when you go out in public going forward, will you be wearing a mask . Yes, look, i think its important to follow the science. Listen to the experts. Do what they tell you. Its, you know, he may not like how he looks in a mask, but the truth of the matter is, follow the science, thats what theyre telling us. If i go out in public, and i havent gone to commercial places of late, i havent gone to my local church, et cetera, there are no services actually, but my generic point is, you should follow the science. And your Campaign Videos have been quite tough on the president. You say his failures is going to cost lives, is that whats happening now . Well, look, what i have been saying is that hes moving too slow, the coronavirus is not his fault. But the response is his responsibility. Look, there are a few things he can do he can immediately and fully implement the defense production act which i and many others called for a long time ago. Hes just getting under way with it. Theres still no defense production act for gloves, masks all the things that First Responders need. We should create a Bank Defense Production act. We got to get those Small Business loans out. You saw what American Express did excuse me, bank of america did, they said, unless you already have loans with us, unless you have a credit card with us, were not going to even though theyre governmentguaranteed loans were not going to process those loans. We got to save jobs and we got to save peoples businesses. We have to ramp up testing. We have been talking about 4 million tests are going to be available, where is it . Whats being done . You got to open up enrollment for obamacare, lot of people dont have insurance, this president is trying to take away obamacare across the board which will leave people naked to this problem were facing, and we have to finally get some data how this coronavirus is really hurting africanamericans and minority communities, these are things that should be done now. But you need a supply commander in charge of it all, right out of the white house, in direct response to the president , so we know where to get what we have to get and get it quickly. Back in 2014, president obamas department of Homeland Security warned that a pandemic was the highest risk of a natural cause. Should your administration have done more to prepare . We did a lot to prepare as you know, george. We set up an office, a Pandemic Office within the white house, and we expanded cdc. In other countries, we could observe, see when things were coming, how things were moving. We put people in china. We did a whole lot of things and they got a very detailed breakdown on this by a briefing, the trump administration, when we transitioned out of office, but the president dismantled almost all of that and he drastically cut the budgets for the cdc he didnt follow through on what we suggested was a real problem. Its going to continue to be a problem, you got to learn lessons from this. We can to do much better and get to the place where we can, you know, these viruses as you know, george, they have no borders. You cant build a wall, you cant have, you know, people at the border trying to stop it, its beyond that capacity, you have to know whats coming, where its coming from and how to deal with it. Lets deal with the situation with captain crozier from the uss theodore roosevelt. As you know, he was fired earlier this week, the president said yesterday he 100 support that decision, your response . I think its i think its close to criminal the way theyre dealing with this guy. Not his conduct. The idea that this man stood up and said what had to be said, got it out that his troops, his his Navy Personnel were in danger in danger look at how many have the virus, i think the guy should have a commendation rather than being fired. Finally, sir, i want to turn to some politics before we go, wisconsin having its primary on tuesday, your opponent sanders said that should be put off and the governor joining the chorus, as well, it looks like thats going to happen, is that wise . Well, look, i think they should follow the science, i what ive been hearing, i have been following like you have, like everyone has, watching the court action, its still in court now but i think whatever whatever the science says is what we should do. And does that hold for the convention as well . Are you open to the idea that it just may not be possible to do the convention in august . Yes. Well, well have to do a convention, may have to do a Virtual Convention. We should be thinking about that right now. The idea of holding a convention is going to be necessary, but we may not be able to put 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people in one place and thats very possible. Again, lets see where it is. What we do between now and then is going to dictate a lot of that as well. My point is, you just got to follow the science. Listen to the experts. Listen to the faucis of the world and if thats the case, its the case. But we cant let we have never allowed any crisis, from a civil war straight through to a pandemic, we have never, never let our democracy take second fiddle. We can both have a democracy and elections and at the same time correct the public hea it time we start thinking about how were going to hold elections, whether well have to spend a lot of time figuring whether we do, is it going to be mostly by mail, or how are we going to make it available to everybody . And i think has to be i know you talked to Bernie Sanders about your Vice President ial pick. Tell us a little bit about how thats going. Is he ready to unify behind your candidacy and is he giving you any recommendations . Well, look, what i have said about the presidency, i was apologizing because, it was a bit presumptous for me to set up a committee to go through the process, and youve been through inher lig the background checksi i wa bernie, i dont want to any way to demean your effort but if we dont start now we wont be able to get there. He was very gracious, he understood. It wasnt about asking him for recommendations of nominees for Vice President. It was about saying to him, bernie, i feel somewhat foolish since although im likely to get the nomination that, in fact, its not officially done yet and im moving forward with a committee for Vice President ial selection and to be able to set up a circumstance where the background checks could be done, as you know they take a lot of time, and if they dont start now or shortly in the month of april, its going to be hard to get it done. So i was basically apologizing and making it clear that i was pushing him. That was the extent of our discussion about the presidency. Mr. Vice president , thanks for your time this morning. Thank you. Thank you, george. Good luck to you, man. Thank you very much. Defense secretary mark esper is up next. Retary mark esper is up next. To be most successful, connectivity is vital. Verizon, really for us, has been a partner for years. Allows us to stay connected to our 80 plus locations across the country. We use verizon throughout our entire day. Its an integral part of how our practice runs. We need our project managers and our superintendents to be able to communicate. We dont have to be together to work together. vo at verizon, were here, and were ready. Were open 24 7 online with tools and support to help your business stay connected at verizon. Com ready. Unlike ordinary wmemory supplementsr . Neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. Im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. From an everyday solution. To one that can take on a bigger challenge. We are solving problems that improve lives. But right now, the world needs all the good that we can do. To everyone working to keep america strong, thank you. Backseat chefs peer inside your oven but youve cleaned off all the baked on business from meals past with easy off so the only thing they see is that beautiful bird. Go ahead let them judge. We do things differently and aother money managers, dont understand why. Because our way works great for us but not for your clients. Thats why were a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. So, what do you provide . Cookie cutter portfolios . Nope. We tailor portfolios to our clients needs. But you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right . We dont have those. So, whats in it for you . Our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. At Fisher Investments were clearly different. We waste up to 20 gallons of water every time we prerinse lets skip the rinse. New finish quantum with activeblu technology, designed to clean without prerinsing. Switch to finish and skip the rinse to save water. Are you currently using a whitening toothpaste, but not seeing results . Try crest 3d whitestrips. Its enamelsafe formula lifts and removes stains to provide 100 noticeably whiter teeth or your money back. Try crest 3d whitestrips. Backseat chefs peer inside your oven but youve cleaned off all the baked on business from meals past with easy off so the only thing they see is that beautiful bird. Go ahead let them judge. Heres a razor that works differently. The Gillette Skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. The Gillette Skinguard. There you see captain Brett Crozier being cheered by his sailors of uss theodore roosevelt. After being relieved by his commanders for sending a letter warning about the situation. Were joined by one of those superiors, defense secretary mark esper. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you, george. Good morning. You know, we just heard from former Vice President biden saying the treatment of captain crozier is close to criminal. He was removed before an investigation, is that appropriate . George, before i answer your question, let me step back and Say Something about the broader issue we have facing us, the coronavirus, from the beginning, going back to january, dod has been allin in terms of helping the American People and protecting our people. We have been ahead of the curve. I have laid out three priorities for our commander and all of dod. First, protect our people. Second, ensure we retain our National Mission capabilities and three, support the president s part of whole of government response. Im proud of the americans in the military today helping their fellow americans, many of our Service Members deployed from home, many risking their wellbeing. Im very proud of them. With regard to your question about the captain of the teddy look, secretary modly made a tough decision, tough call, i have full faith and confidence in him and the Navy Leadership and i support their decision. And the president said you were involved in that decision as well. David ignatius is reporting this morning the president wanted captain crozier fired, is that true . This was secretary modlys call. He came and briefed me the night before the morning of, he sat down and talked to me, i recommendations, it was the secretary modlys call and i told him i would support it. Did the military leaders agree with secretary modally . Im not going to comment on our private conversations. You can talk to them separately. Its an issue of trust and confidence in the captain of the ship. So what happens to captain now . Well, george, i cant talk too much about it because im in the chain of command, theres an investigation ongoing and it may fall on my desk at some point in time. But id like to talk about this Global Pandemic facing the country, maybe the greatest since 1918, and tell you how dod is weighing in and helping the American People. I do want to ask about that and i know the president said the medical personnel have been sent to new york, what exactly are they going to be doing and is the pentagon now prepared to allow covid19 patients, suffering from covid19 to be treated on the comfort in new york. Sure, we have personnel deployed across the country. Seattle and dallas and elsewhere. In new york alone, we have over thousand well be sending up over 1,000 medical professionals today, tomorrow and the next day, and a late change as of yesterday, we decided a few hundred of those would be deployed in new york City Hospitals to augment the hospitals there. So what youll find is that the Javits Center will become a 2500bed hospital. The largest hospital in the United States run by the United States military. Were all in on this, ahead of need. With regard of comfort and mercy, we sent those ships up a several days. They also arrived ahead of need. We prepared to open them up to covid19 patients as necessary. I have delegated that authority to the norcom commander whos responsible for the operations in the United States. We have been keeping those in reserve. Because we know this will move around the country. This virus will move around the country and these ships are a thousandbed medical capacity thats deployable. Thats mobile. But, again, if the virus gets so bad in new york city and l. A. , well be prepared to open them up to coronavirus patients. We dont want trauma patients to become coronavirus patients as well. Thats a real concern. Have you sent out all the respirators you have . Many of those are deployed with our hospital ships, field hospitals we sent to new york, seattle and elsewhere, we have prepositioned several hundred outside of new york and we have others that were prepared to ship wherever were told to ship them. You said at top of this interview that the pentagon has been ahead of the curve every day, in january, did pentagon receive an intelligence assessment on covid19 in china last december . I cant recall, george, but, we have many people who watch this closely. We have the premier Infectious Disease Research Institute within the United States army, our people who work these issues directly watch this all the time. As you know, the first patient in the United States was discovered in late january, we activated our Global Pandemic Response Plans on 1 february. I issued guidance to the force on 3 february. We didnt see our First Casualty until 29 february. We were ahead of this in opening the stockpile to the rest of the government. But thats in january because you reportedly this assessment was done in november and it was briefed to the nsc in early december to assess the impact on military readiness, which would make it important to you and the possible spread in the United States, so you would have known if there was briefed to the National Security council im not aware of that. Again, our folks work this all the time. We have a Global Pandemic Response Plan that i initiated on february the 1st. Thats why we have stockpiles of strategic supplies, whether its masks gowns, ppes. We have to be prepared for war fighting environment that we may be operating in. Were ready to support the whole of government. And the real question, one of things youre most focused on is the impact of covid19 on the readiness of the u. S. Military dright now, some 1200 Service Members have been infected, i assume that number could go up, and now one of your aircraft carriers out in guam, how concerned are you about its impact on readiness . We watch it very closely. Youre right, we dont have large numbers right now reporting being infected by the virus. Of those are, 35 thank goodness are hospitalized. None of our members have died. But out of a force of 2 million were in pretty good shape right now but we have taken intensive measures. I have issued four sets of guidance going back to 3 february, to protect our force, we have done a lot of social media, i have done town halls to make sure were taking very good care of our Service Members, civilians and their families. Do you expect all of those Service Members and civilians now to follow the cdc guidance of wearing face coverings, face masks and will you . Well have a directive coming out on that today. We have to take every measure to protect our troops. We want to protect our National Security missions. To do that we cant always do six feet distancing whether youre in a submarine, a bomber, in a tank, so we have to take other measures. I trust the commanders and our seniors to do that. Well provide the guidance they need to adjust it. But we should expect more widespread use of masks inside the pentagon and with Service Members . Were going to move toward face coverings. Secretary esper, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you, george. Well be right back. Right back. We see some pretty extreme weather here in iceland. Blizzards all winter. Winds at a 150 miles per hour. If the roads arent cleared, people cant get anywhere. But no matter how crazy it gets, we know when and where to get to work. Data on the ibm cloud helps us maintain 8,000 miles of roads across the country. It helps keep millions of our visitors and our own families safe. Backseat chefs peer inside your oven but youve cleaned off all the baked on business from meals past with easy off so the only thing they see is that beautiful bird. Go ahead let them judge. Theryoure not good enough. Hard to control. But i am enough. And i know what im made of. Put your skin in the game. With a razor that puts your skin first. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. A partner who makes sure every step is clear, you try to stay ahead of the mess. But scrubbing still takes time. Now theres new powerwash dish spray. Its the faster way to clean as you go. Just spray, wipe and rinse. It cleans grease five times faster. New dawn powerwash. Spray, wipe, rinse. A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire. Caught early it might be extingished with limited damage. Allow to smolder undetected, it could grow to inferno beyond our ability to control it. But if we wait for a pandemic to appear it will be too late to prepare and one day, many lives could be needlessly loss because we failed to act today. President george w. Bush nearly 15 years ago, lets talk about now with our experts, abc news chief medical correspondent dr. Jen ashton. Tom bossert, former Homeland Security adviser for President Trump and chief White House Correspondent jon karl, also out with a new book front row at the trump show. Tom bossert, let me begin with you, you also worked for president george w. Bush, the warnings were there in 2005, the warnings were there under president obama. Theyve been consistent throughout the government for the last 15, 20 years, yet, we still appear to be blindsided, how do you explain that . Im not sure we were blindsided. When president bush read that book on the 1918 flu he tasked us with more than writing budgets. Populated with these ppe and things that we needed for not just terrorist attacks, which had been the focus of the stockpile previously, but for naturally occurring outbreaks like this. We have gone through fists and starts through his presidency, president obamas and president trmps over this competition for annual funding that we go through between the daily pressing needs and then these lowprobability, but highconsequence events. Theres a lot of trench work has been done here, lot of planning and thinking has gone into this. What were implementing now is the strategy that came out of the president s tasking video and that social distancing work was published in 2007. Okay, jen ashton, lets take on the situation were facing right now, youve seen both Vice President biden and the defense secretary say theyre going to be moving towards face coverings and masks. The president said no. We had another tussle yesterday at the press conference, the president saying he might take hydroxychloroquine and dr. Fauci being much more equivocal about the possible benefits. Lets start right there. As a doctor, whats your thinking now on this possible treatment of hydroxychloroquine . Well, george, any time you talk about any treatment in medicine you have to weigh the risks versus the benefits, versus the options and alternatives. Lets start with what we know about hydroxychloroquine, its been effective against malaria and lupus. It comes with some rare, potentially fatal side effect of an irregular heartbeat. Thats why its recommended that an ekg be done before someone starts this medication. We know based on early data out of china and france that in patients who are moderately ill with covid19 there may be some benefit. It has shown some antiviral and possible antiimmune properties in the lab but what we dont know is its safety profile in patients who are critically or moderately ill with covid19, we dont know the right dose or when to give it. Just because something is available doesnt mean we should jump to its use. We always have to weigh the risks versus the benefits and proceed based on evidence and not emotion. And jon, one of the things were seeing playing out in that new social distance briefing room, is that kind of a tug of war between the president and his science advisers nearly every day on nearly every subject. Its remarkable, george, on one hand the president on big decision points has actually listened and taken the advice of the medical experts. But on the messaging, on each and every one of these things, theres been a divergence. Think about it on the facial coverings. The cdc comes and recommends it and as theyre announcing it, the president wants everybody to know hes not going to wear facial coverings. On the question of a National Stay at home, both dr. Birx and dr. Fauci said that every state should have a stayathome order its essential. At the same time, the president is raising questions about that and thinking, well, some places that arent hotspots dont need that. On the question on whether we can get back to normal and when we can get back to normal, the president is making it clear once again that he doesnt want the cure to be worse than the problem. That he wants to get back to normal quickly. Meanwhile, dr. Fauci is basically at the rooftops warning about the possibility of a second wave if the if what were doing now is lifted too early, so its really Something Else and its across the board. But on the major decision points so far he has listened to the experts. And tom bossert, youre out with a new piece today saying, we only get two strikes on this. The first strike is that we were a little slow to implement the proper social distancing. Going forward, we saw the president again yesterday talk about maybe having people go to Church Services on easter, pushing hard for opening as quickly as possible. If you were inside the white house right now talking to the president , what advice would you be giving him about the next week, next month . The piece suggests also we didnt pivot into some commonsense approaches. You know, i know what i would be telling the president right now, would be to lift his gaze. Hes looking ten feet, and it seems a lot of our leaders are looking ten feet in front of our bumper right now dealing with the daily tactics and distribution issues. He needs to be looking 20 yards, 200 yards, and as far as in front of his headlights as he can, well end up having shortages, shortfalls in our vaccines, manufacturing abilities. Once we get a useable vaccine we then have to produce 340 million doses of it. Get that Production Capacity in place. We need to start thinking about how to message to people the extreme, extremely difficult mobilization and effort of testing thats going to come ahead tomorrow and the next day. All through april and all through this summer, a very tedious affair that requires very careful planning and execution. We dont want people at the end of april to think, im tired of this, and were all going to run back into the streets. Jen, one of the big questions, whether or not people can go back, is whether they can be tested for having the antibodies to covid19 in their system and once again, on this whole question of testing, it appears that were behind. George, the antibody, or serology testing, is a critical piece of this whole strategy here and to dovetail on what tom just said, i say were in the third, fourth inning medically or scientifically and the testing is a huge part of that. What will this tell people if they had a recent or current infection, whether theyre immune or never exposed to coronavirus. It was approved by the fda late thursday night for emergency authorization. Its not fully rolled out yet. Its minimally used right now. Whereas south korea, germany, uk have been doing this for quite some time and we critically need this information not just to say when someone can go back to work, but healthcare workers need this for their protection, and we need this data to track the degree of silent transmission, so, you know, just because the fda approved it thursday night weve heard that it could be weeks, or possibly months, until its widespread and that may be too late. And finally, jon, were facing all these questions against the backdrop of an election year, you pressed the president on that at the last briefing, were seeing real differences starting to emerge over how this election is going to take place. Joe biden told you the democrats may have to hold a Virtual Convention and should be prepared to do that. The president said theres no contingency plan for the republican convention. It is going forward. I asked him about what preparations are to be put in place to ensure that the fall election can happen . There are scenarios where this comes back, where you have another wave in the fall, potentially even right going into the november election, whats being done, i asked the president about one proposal which is having every state have an option for mailin voting and the only thing he told me is that he opposes that idea. He doesnt like mailin voting. So, i dont get the sense theres a lot of thought of this on the white house but its a huge, huge question going forward. Boy, it sure is. Thank you all very much. Well be right back with rahm emanuel and Chris Christie. Thank you all very much. Well be right back with rahm emanuel and Chris Christie. To kw that innovation is not just about that one aha moment. Science is a process. It takes time, dedication. Its a journey. Were constantly asking ourselves, how can we do things better and better . what we make has to work. We strive to protect you. At 3m, were in pursuit of solutions that make peoples lives better. At 3m, were in pursuit of solutions all strength we aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength no sweat we waste up to 20 gallons of water every time we prerinse lets skip the rinse. New finish quantum with activeblu technology, designed to clean without prerinsing. Switch to finish and skip the rinse to save water. My bladder leak pad . I thought it had to be thick to protect. But new always discreet is made differently. With ultrathin layers that turn liquid to gel and lock it inside. For protection i barely feel. New always discreet. Backseat chefs peer inside your oven but youve cleaned off all the baked on business from meals past with easy off so the only thing they see is that beautiful bird. Go ahead let them judge. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Are irritated. Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. Crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. It works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Gum detoxify, from crest. Are you taking steps to ensure that the general election will happen even if this pandemic has reemerged or hasnt gone away the general election will happen on november 3rd. Do you think every state in this country should be prepared for mailin voting . No, because i think a lot of people cheat with mailin voting. You dont send it in the mail. All sort of bad things can happen. If they sign it. By the time it gets in and is tabulated. Theres that Election Exchange on friday between jon karl and the president. Joined now by our political experts, rahm emanuel, former chief of staff for president obama, and Chris Christie, former republican governor of new jersey, close ally of President Trump. Politics in a minute, but first, lets talk about the covid19 spread and the white house response right now. And chris, let me begin with you, youre there in new jersey which is getting hit so hard right now. It really is, george, and i think, you know thats attributable to a number of different things. New jersey, the northern part is a Bedroom Community to new york city, lots of commuters go back and forth to work there. Northern new jersey and new york city as the same region. Also, were the most densely populated state in the country. So Community Spread in the most densely populated state in the country is going to be something very, very difficult to deal with. And so those two factors i think are the overwhelming factors in terms of the numbers youre seeing in new jersey. So far your democratic Governor Phil Murphy seems to be getting along with the president but this tussle between the president and the governors is playing out every single day and it seems like the governors have figured out the path of least resistance is to praise the president whether they mean it or not. Is that a healthy relationship . Theres always a tug of war, every local official when youre the governor and every governor when youre the president wants as much in terms of resources they can possibly get during a disaster. But i think that youre seeing Governor Cuomo have a very effective relationship with the president. And this can hardly be a called a relationship where hes just praising the president. Hes been highly critical at times, but hes been praiseworthy. I think the most important thing as a governor right now is to be honest with the people you represent and you have to tell them exactly whats going on and if thats being critical of the white house so be it. If thats being praiseworthy of the white house, so be it. You cant worry about the politics during a disaster, you have to put your people first, and i think you have Governor Cuomo and Governor Hogan are two examples of people who have been able to effectively do it. Be critical when they need to be and also praiseworthy when it deserved. Rahm, let me ask you the question i asked tom bossert. You used to worked for president obama. Switch hats, if the president called you today, whats the most important thing youd be telling him to do right now . I would have a leader in this effort. Going back to the white house you have jared kushner, boston has former general mcchrystal running their operation, better prepared to get all of the pieces together in coordinated plan. One of the things that happened during the transition, a tabletop exercise that president obama directed that the Incoming Administration had a plan for an impending pandemic. Four people participated. All are gone. Personnel is policy, george. I would put a person in charge of the massive operation, getting the government, get the logistics operation moving and look around the corner thats not happening isnt that the Vice President . Well, its not happening, because its clear those eight weeks from the early warnings that we got of what was happening in china and knowing that china from the cia that told the president and told the Vice President , theyre telling theyre not telling what you need to know, they didnt activate the process and everything that was implemented in that tabletop exercise, between the two administrations, the policies have all been decimated and you need know a general who knows how to direct that operation. With all due respect to mike pence, thats not happening. Thats why we continually out of this white house are literally two steps behind the music. A famous story where president lincoln looking at general mclellan outside of richmond, if you dont plan on using that army id like to use it to see what it can do. We need someone to take charge and not lead from behind as President Trump and the United States can meet this challenge. Its not being organized to do it and you cant do it letting everybody kind of compete against each other as if the United States was a giant ebay process. Thats not the way to do this operation. Every day we learn how its not being done. This will be studied at the Harvard Business school of what not to do in a crisis. Chris christie, it does appears that its settling in on the president the last couple days, talking about the tough weeks ahead, and its also becoming pretty clear that he now realizes his entire reelection effort, especially with the collapse of the economy, is going to be judged on how he responds to this crisis . Absolutely right, george, and in the end, we elect president s, we elect governors, we elect mayors, the executives, on how theyre going to handle a crisis like this is the way theyre ultimately going to be judged. When you hit a major crisis, you know, with me it was Hurricane Sandy, with the president s obviously this pandemic now, in my view politically nothing else matters. In fact, i have never seen a time when an opponent is more irrelevant. Thats not an insult to Vice President joe biden. But in the end, the American People are going to decide, has the president stood up to this crisis and done right by them and protected their lives and property . Almost as if this election will be a referendum on President Trump than a binary choice between the president and the Vice President. I would do you agree with that, rahm . Not really in this case. One level its a measure and a test for the president of the United States. Crises reveal character. While you can have a different policies it will be the quality of the individual comes forward. In contrast, you have competence versus incompetence. You have trustworthy versus actually constantly spin. You have the most important quality which is the ability of a president to be emphatic to the people they lead versus something coming out of the whuse of indif conflict and fig. Just take a moment, look at the captain when he left that ship, the way his men and women responded to him. Thats what you want out of a leader. Those men and women knew that that captain had their back. Nobody can look today at the United States and the leadership and say that this president is bringing the country together in a unified version in that effort and so i agree with chris on one level the first test is about the president. The next test is, do you want a replica, somebody whos just like . Or a replacement of some of the qualities that are lacking from the president . In that way, Vice President joe biden, the character of the person matches up perfectly, because crisis reveals character. Chris, we just heard rahm brought up captain Brett Crozier, do you think the president handled that well . Listen, i think none of us know enough about this to make a judgment. Ill go back to the point that rahm was making for a second, which is, you know, this is going to be judged by how the president conducts himself daytoday and he set it up that way with these daily briefings and being as transparent and as open as any president i have ever seen in terms of taking questions from literally at times an hour, an hour and a half from the media and answering those questions. I think that shows some character as well. Hes not hiding in the white house, hes not refusing to answer these questions. In the end, i still believe, the president s going to be judged up and down. I hear you, rahm. I know youre trying to interru interrupt. Give me a second. I didnt interrupt you. In the end, what i think were going to understand politically is, and i saw this in new jersey, you know, when Hurricane Sandy was done and i was judged to handle that crisis correctly, my Approval Rating was over 75 . I won 61 of the vote in the state thats a blue state, a very blue state. Thats what people say, you put policy ahead of politics. If the president is judged to have done that hell be okay. I would just say rahm, ten seconds. Hoover got replaced because he didnt measure up to the depression. This president is not measuring up. We lost critical time. I would just say to you, we have an acting secretary of the navy replaced a 20year career veteran and thats not right and congress should have a hearing on that. Thank you both very much. Well be right back. Whaso lets do the rightver chanthing, today. Ow. Lets stay at home. Lets wash up. Lets always keep our distance please, six feet apart at least. Lets look after ourselves, as well as others. It will all be worth it. We can all do our part. So those on the front line can do their part. And when this is over, we will all, continue, to thrive. Back now with a closer look at one of the back now with a closer look at one of the most dangerous yet underreported aspects of this pandemic. The rapid spread of covid19 in prisons. This New York Times headlines captures the dilemma jails are petri dishes. Only states have taken steps on their own to mitigate the risk. Late friday, attorney general barr called for the transfer of inmates most vulnerable to home confinement. Beginning with federal facilities in ohio, connecticut and louisiana. Five inmates have already died from the virus. New cries from help from one of the nations most overcrowded prison system. Abc news has obtained a video inside alabama prisons. Its fixin to be a mass grave site up in these prisons. This is a dormitory. We stupid crowded. We stupid crowded. Now, as you see, walking down the aisle and they got the turn, and, see that aisle is too small. Its way, way too small. These are the beds. Theyre right beside each other and this is the space. Stretch your arms out again. Thats how thats how close we are. See these are the people that they should be letting go due to the coronavirus. What in the world can this man do . The sinks are very outdated. We cannot wash our hands simultaneously at the same time, you know . My thing to the outside world is help. Help. Help for the overcrowding. Help for sanitary purposes. Help for a release mechanism. We need to release some of these people. We need help. Traumatic video there. We reached out to the Alabama Department of corrections, they acknowledged that Current Conditions mean they cant enforce social distancing adding the department is doing everything in our power to mitigate the spread of the virus. To date, no a single inmate has tested positive for covid19. Were joined by dr. Venters and former chief medical officer for the new york city jail system. A former inmate who spent three years in prison for a nonviolent drug offense. And Bristol County sheriff hodgson. Dr. Venters, let me begin with you, just give us a sense of the scope of this Public Health crisis in americas prisons right now. Sure, and good morning. We have 5,000 county jails and state and federal prisons and probably juvenile detention centers. These places are almost perfectly designed and run to promote the spread of this virus throughout these institutions. Affecting not only those who are held there but the staff. We saw in new york city, just a couple of weeks, we went from 2 cases to 38 cases to now over 500 cases, split evenly between staff and detained people. So the danger here is that were not only really going to see the explosion of cases among people who are detained and the people who work there, this is going to drive the entire epidemic curve for this nation up just as were trying to flatten it. Topeka, you lived inside some of those facilities, give us a sense of how difficult it is, we saw it right there in the video, to accomplish social distancing inside these prisons. Absolutely, george. Theres no such thing as social distancing inside of prisons. As you saw, the conditions are no different from when i was incarcerated in five different prisons around this country. That video is heartbreaking. You said it best first that this is a Public Health issue. Mass incarceration is a Public Health issue, and now that this outbreak has happened, im happy that were taking a look at prisons in a different way and the people in them. Unfortunately as you see, theres no way to properly be six feet apart. Theres no way to properly wash your hands. Theres not enough soap. They cant use Hand Sanitizer because of alcohol products that are in them, theyre considered contraband. That was an open dorm. Where i was, there were cells and in those cells were were locked in, sometimes up to 21 hours a day. I just received a call from a federal prison in dublin, california, where theyre locking the women in for five days out of seven days, so theyre only allowed out of their cell for two days a week, tuesdays and fridays for 15 minutes a day, to take a shower, make phone calls and get to fresh air. This has to stop. We have to begin to release our people from prison. Because not only is the incarcerated population thats impacted its the officers, its the chaplains, its the workers who come home to the community and spread the disease even further in the community. Sheriff hodgson, the question is, how do you balance those very real health and Public Health concerns against the risks of releasing too many prisoners . Thats a great point. Look, its about your protocols in the prison. And how well your stiff is prepared. Weve been dealing with h1n1, sars, its all about the control you have in your prisons. Now, if you let people out into the streets, 80 of our populationave drugrelated issues, they have compromised immune system. You let them out into the community, theyre at higher risk, become carriers, theyll start feeding their addiction, they have no support to get medications, theyre going to have no rehab till tif programs out there, theyll be wandering into stores. If they have overdose, you have the emergency medical people having to respond and we worry about ingesting a particle of fentanyl, never mind the cov happen. The other thing is, these people have no where to go. Many of them are going to go and stay in apartment with sometimes five families in a fiveroom apartment. I cant think of anything more dangerous, if were talking about distancing, i cant think of anything that more distancing than having the prisoners in the jails, protecting the people from inside from having more carriers and more exposure. We have the protocols in place, we have no covid19 people, we have been at this for a month. Most of the prisons i think except for one facility in the state in essex county excuse mee, middlesex county, had one prisoner. This is such a difficult dilemma. I wish we had more time to look at it today. Well definitely revisit it. Thank you all for your time this morning. And thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and ill see you tomorrow on gma. Ht and ill see you tomorrow on gma. Up next as cases of coronavirus increase in the state, Governor Newsom taking responsibility for testing problems and gives his new plan to fix it. And look at that soggy picture from our exploratorium camera. Low 50s, breezy, lighttomoderate rain but heavy downpours. You may have had some but more is to come. Ill have the detailed ill have the detailed accucalifornia phones offers free specialized phones. Like cordless phones. phone ringing big button, and volumeenhanced phones. Get details on this state program. Visit right now or call during business hours. Ive been involved in. Communications in the media for 45 years. Ive been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. For me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. And i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. It has helped me an awful lot. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Getting outside more now than ever before. Its spring. Orthe ason we spa were here to help you make your home the best it can be. And accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state Program Visit right now
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.