This is the game this guy plays all the time. The powerhouse round table takes on this. From abc news, its this week, here now, chief anchor george stephanopoulos. Good morning and welcome to this week. It was a tale of two saturdays. As the number of covid cases in the u. S. Closed in on 1. 5 million, the death toll topped 88,000 and most states took tentative steps to reopen. President trump was out of sight at camp david but not out of mind. Dispatching dozens of messages of followers of his twitter feed. Continuing a stream of attacks on his predecessor, at least 160 tweets from last sunday that trump boils down to a single word obamagate. Earlier this week, president obama tweeted out a single word of his own the vote. But on saturday, the former president in virtual commencement addresses, he delivered a pointed critique of how the Trump Administration has handled the coronavirus crisis. More than anything, this pandemic has fully finally torn back on the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what theyre doing. A lot of them arent even pretending to be in charge. We begin with the response this morning from President Trumps top advisers during this crisis, peter navarro. Mr. Navarro, thank you for joining us this morning. President obama continued this in his second commencement address last night. Suggesting that peopthis things screwed up. Your response. Im glad mr. Obama has a new job as joe bidens press secretary. I note for the record in his speech that i read there was no mention of manufacturing, no mention of china, as far as im concerned, his administration was a kumbaya of incompetence in which we saw millions of manufacturing jobs go off to china. His new normal was a flatline in terms of wage growth. Im happy to report that this president , donald j. Trump, in 3 1 2 years built the most beautiful economy in modern history and the chinese did take that down in about 30 days, but we are in the process right now of rebuilding that and this president , donald j. Trump, is the one who has the skills to do. Because you know what, george, were going to do were going to back to the future. Buy america, innovate. What i do mean by that brings the jobs back home, make it here. You say the chinese took down the american economy, youre saying they deliberately unleashed the covid virus on the united states. Any evidence . The virus. Correct me if im wrong, the virus was spawned in wuhan, china, patient zero was in november. The chinese behind the World Health Organization for two months hid the virus to the world. They they could have kept it in wuhan, instead it became a pandemic. So, thats why i say the chinese did that to americans and they are responsible now george, one other thing i think thats unconsicionable about the chinese behavior. As with speak, they promised not to steal our intellectual property. Guess what, the fbi has now issued warnings that the Chinese Government is hacking the intellectual property so that they can steal vaccines for the world and what would they do with it . It wouldnt be a benign experience. Theyd use that vaccine to profiteer. So, yes, i blame the chinese. Really interesting as to how this election unfolds because you got joe biden, who has been a long friend of china. Versus President Trump, whos the only president whos ever stand up to china. On thursday, Vice President biden spoke out about this and took on President Trump directly. Trump was praising the Chinese Government, downplaying the threat to the American People. As i was warning, the need to get the people into china to see what was actually going on and the Chinese Governments word, you know, we squandered critical time. So i just dont and now hes trying to play this china chard. The Vice President had an oped in the usa today in january, he warned in february, all through month of february, President Trump was praising xi of china. He was saying president xi was being transparent. Thats why Vice President biden said that the president was downplaying the threat from china. Well, joe bidens got 40 years of sucking up to the chinese, including eight years of Vice President. We know about the billion dollars that his son took from the chinese thats not factual, sir. Thats not a fact. He didnt take a billion dollars from china. Be that as it may, i think this election will be a referendum on china. What we do know, the Pew Research Group did a poll which showed over 90 of the American Public think that china is a threat in some way and over 70 have an unfavorable opinion. In my judgment, the behavior of the Chinas Communist Party over the last three months, particularly, unleashing this pandemic, so well have joe biden long friend of china, president donald j. Trump, the only president in modern history to stand up to china. Going into november, what this is about, its not going to be about the pandemic its going to be about jobs. You know, you keep talking about were going to talk about the economy. You keep talking about china. All during the month of february, as i said, the president was continuing to praise china, president xi of china, trying to work out that trade deal with china. Wanted to preserve that, wanted to preserve the gains in the stock market. President trump was praising china all through the month of february and, you know, theres a lot of evidence that those lost weeks made a difference. So, first of all, i think its great that we have a president who can get along with all world leaders. Thats number two. Number two, theres no lost weeks. This starting gun for the china pandemic started on january 30th when President Trump had the courage to pull down the flights from china, that was an enormously courageous decision. He took a lot of heat from that. From that day, we were moving on three vectors of attack in february vaccine development, development of therapeutics like remdesivir and building up the capacity for things like n95 masks, and the work we did throughout february has borne beautiful fruit here in the spring, because what we saw on friday in the rose garden was the announcement of a 14company race to a vaccine, with the goal of december, what we have seen is therapeutics like remdesivir already going into hospitals right now to save american lives and we had a company like honeywell building two factories in five weeks, george, instead of nine months. Five weeks thats trump time, to produce 20 million n95 masks a month. Dont tell me we lost february. Because i was there, im right here, and this president was directing us to move as quickly as possible, even as publicly we were trying to figure out in the fog of war just how serious this pandemic would be. You know, you mentioned what was going on in the month of february, and its true according to all accounts you were working quite hard in the month of february including the accounts of whistleblower richard bright. Talk about several meetings with you in the month of february on all of the issues that you just mentioned. He said you and he were allies on this trying to break through roadblocks coming from hhs and other parts of the government. Now you call him a deserted in the war against the virus, why . Well, lets be clear about this. Im i report directly to the president. Im one of the top five policy advisers to the president. So everything i was doing, with the help of rick bright and others during february, was the trump white house, all transparent with the task force. Heres what happened with rick bright and its an american tragedy, george. This guy is quite talented. But he was asked to be the field commander over at nih, to storm the testing hill, instead of accepting that mission, he deserted. He went into a foxhole, wrote up the complaint and now hes part of a capitol hill partisan circus where hes just become another pawn in the game. The tragedy is, george, this man has talent. Hes a smart man. We could have used him on the battlefield. Hes not there now and its because of the decisions that he made. Its a shame, george. His expertise is in vaccine. Theyre putting him in diagnostic testing. Why shouldnt a vaccine expert be working on vaccines. Heres the thing, george, ive been with the president since the campaign. I came here to do trade policy. What am i now, a conscript in the war on the virus . Do i complain . No, thats my mission for this president , for this country. We do what we have to do for this country. Rick bright made a choice, he could have been making a tremendous contribution over at nih to testing and you and others have been complaining about testing. He could have been the field general and now hes off the battlefield and it was by his own choice, sir. Lets talk about the economic response, we saw some tough numbers at the end of the week on jobs, on manufacturing, on retail sales. The house passed that 3 trillion, the next stimulus package on friday, is that a basis for negotiation . Is the president prepared to sign another relief package . So, nancy pelosi basically lost me with that package when she has 1200 checks for illegal immigrants, and it just goes downhill from there. What we have to do, george, is basically go with the fiscal and monetary stimulus that we have been going through. We have a lot coursing through the system now. We may need more. Ill let others negotiate that. What im focused on chairman powell says we do need more. What im focused on, george, and this is the real key to success is going to be the structural adjustments we have to make. Were going to have replace that with manufacturing jobs, which do have a high multiplier in terms of creating Service Sector jobs again. So what im focused on buy america, deregulate, innovate agenda, which will start bringing our pharma supplies homes, bringing our medical supplies home. Build it here. Both good economics, but also Good National security, and from there, were going to fan out and basically this president going back to him as a candidate promised to bring our jobs home, thats going to be key to the future with innovation. Ib novation is going to be the key. The General Motors plant for ventilators went up in 17 days in kokomo, indiana, through innovation. They not only assembled that factory in 17 days, they took 700 components of the supply chain to make up the ventilator, use their manufacturing might to rep rereplicate that. That was a miracle, george. We can replicate that throughout this economy, repurposing our factories, this is the jobs president , the innovation president , the manufacturing president and this is how were going to get through the other end of this crisis here. Finally, sir, i want to get that firing of the state Department Inspector general on friday night, steve linick. Fourth Inspector General removed by the pseraweeks. What do you say to democratic critics who say what the president is unz mining any of idea of independent oversight . Thats way out of my lane here. The president has the Legal Authority to do that. What i can tell you, george, based on my experience here, theres a bureaucracy out there. A lot of people in that bureaucracy. Tremendous problem with some people call it the deep state. I think thats apt. I dont mourn the loss of people when they leave this bureaucracy. Theres always going to be somebody better to replace them, someone more loyal to the trump agenda, thats whats important. The trump agenda. This president has transformed the Republican Party into the party of the working class. Im here because the president loves creating good jobs for americans. Who work with their hands. Anybody in this bureaucracy, who hates buy america or bring our supply chains home, they dont really belong here. I support whatever this president does in terms of his hiring and firing decisions. Peter navarro, thank you for your time this morning. Up next, the democratic response from senator Bernie Sanders in his first sunday interview since leaving the race for president. For president. This moment. This moment right now. This is our commencement. No, well not get a diploma or a degree of any kind. But we are entering a new chapter in our lives. Our confidence is shaken; our hearts cracked. The kind of a crack that comes from the loss of a job; from life plans falling apart. We didnt ask for it. But we are rising to meet it. And how far weve come isnt even close to how far we can go. We just have to remember how patient we were. How strong we can be. how strong you can be. and remember this; theres a crack in everything for a reason. How else can the light get in . Tomorrow starts today. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good. High protein. Low sugar. Mmm, birthday cake. Pure protein. The best combination to help you stay fit. Pure protein. Fifty years ago, humpback whales were nearly extinct. They rebounded because a decision was made to protect them. Making the right decisions today for your longterm financial future can protect you and your family, and preserve your legacy. Ask a Financial Advisor how retirement and Life Insurance solutions from pacific life can help you plan for your future. A lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations. Thats the clarity you get with fidelity wealth management. Let me state the obvious what nancy pelosi is proposing will never pass the senate. This is nothing more than a messaging exercise by house democrats. They didnt have any input from republicans. Its a parade of absurdities that can hardly be taken seriously. Republican senators there on the stimulus package passed by the house on friday. Were going to get more on all this now from senator Bernie Sanders. Senator sanders, thanks for joining us this morning. And i do want to get to that, but lets begin with, where we just left off with peter navarro, the president s firing on friday of the state Department Inspector general steve linick. Now the fourth Inspector General fired in several weeks. You heard what mr. Navarro said, he said hes worried about the deep state. The president deserves to have people loyal to his agenda. Look, this president thinks hes above the law, hes above criticism, he wants to get away with anything that he can and he does not understand that in the function of government you have a congress, you have Inspector Generals who say, by the way, mr. President , what youre doing is wrong and it may be illegal. This has been his m. O. From day one. Lets talk about the economic stimulus package that was passed by the house on friday, its the basis for negotiations with the senate, weve heard those Senate Republican leaders dont seem to be in any rush to pass anything. If this came to the senate floor would you vote for it . I would vote for a very substantiative piece of legislation. Its amazes me, mr. Navarro has talked about how the Republican Party worried about the working class. In the last two months, 35 Million People have lost their jobs, millions of people today who are hungry in america, there are people today who cannot afford to go to a doctor even when they have coronavirus symptoms. There are elderly people who are sitting home alone, who are scared to death about the future. If youre concerned about the working class of this country, understand the extraordinary suffering, unprecedented, thats now taking place, demand that congress act. Now i think what pelosi did in the house is significant. Its important. I have some disagreements with it. I want to see the senate improve upon it. Among other things, i happen to believe that we should go in the direction of a paycheck security process, similar to what has been done in europe, which says to every worker in america you will continue to receive your paycheck and the other benefits which you had when you were on the job and when this crisis is over, hopefully sooner than later, youre just going to go back to work. I also believe that during this crisis, instead of funding the cobra program, we should make sure that all people in this country, including the 87 million who are uninsured before the pandemic, have access to health care. And you do that by allowing medicare to fill in the gaps. I think pelosi at least, unlike the Republican Leadership said, you know what, we have terrible suffering in this country, we need to get money out to the cities and towns, to the hospitals, we need to protect working people and id hope that the republicans wake up and understand the severity of the crisis that were facing and the suffering. One of the other things that we heard in mr. Navarros response. Theyre going to full bore on Vice President biden and his relationship with china over the years. Theyre saying that President Trump has been tough on china. Democrats led by joe biden have not . Yeah, right. Well, look, you have a president who blames everybody in the world for the problems that we face except himself. This is a guy who, you know, used to talk about president xi as being a great leader, good friend of his, the leader of north korea whos probably the worst dictator in the world, a wonderful human being look, what theyre trying to do now instead of address the pandemic that we have and i should say, george, that the scandal of the moment is that we dont have National Policy. This is the president of the united states, we should have National Policy based on science, we should testing going on all over this country so that when we reopen the economy, workers understand