About things. That is the way it is. Its what we have. No addition to that, the president gave his fullest endorsement yet of steps to slow the spread. Were asking everybody that when you are not only to socially distance, to wear a mask, get a mask, whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. They will have an effect and we need everything we can get. We are instead asking americans to use masks socially distance and employ vig use hygiene, wash your hands every chance you get and sheltering the high risk populations. We imploring Young Americans to avoid packed bars. Those words may have been spoken by dr. Anthony fauci who was not invited. The briefing can be read as someo something else, an admission that the president has been wrong, about his hands off approach to a virus that has taken 142,000 american lives in. That said, he admitted this things will get worse before they get better, he had little to say what about they would do to make them better. What he did do is he considered himself a wartime president and nearly 142,000 americans are dead. We are in the process of developing a strategy thats going to be very, very powerful. In the process . Its going to be . Whats the wait . We waited for nearly 142,000 lives. He didnt really announce a plan to make testing more available so people are not waiting hourihours or days to get tested. Commercial labs say they are overloaded and no plan to state labs, and university and hospital labs and veterinary facilities. The president spoke of fatalities down 75 since april. They are. However, they are up sharply as the surge in new cases became a surge in hospital patients. He said governors i have they have hospital capacity. In florida, icus are at are above limits, and one in five patients have ventilators, texas reported 131 new fatalities. Yeah, things are getting worse and yes, we had the president ed a mitt it. And we heard the president say things that are not true, and hangs over all this is the question how long until the words spoken out loud this evening with the caveats attached are replaced by the president we have seen and heard the other 99 of the pandemic. Remember, we have been here before. Avoid gathering in groups of more than ten people. Avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating and drinking in bars, restaurants and public food courts. If everyone makes this change or the critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus and were going to have a big celebration all together. That was march 16th. Were all in this together. We will rally together. Well, not even 24 hours later, the puts with on twitter and on the attack failing michigan governor must work harder and be proactive. We are pushing here to get the job done. I stanld with michigan. That was march 17th. On that date, just 131 people died in the country. It took almost 14,000 more americans to die for he niced reality. Do we know what is behind the new words spoken outloud in the press conference . I will tell you, i talked to a white house official who said this is a recognition inside the white house that there is a reception the president was not leading on the pandemic, and of course that is white house speak for they knew the guy was screwing things up. They wanted the president to go out, hit the reset button, look somber and as you just laid out, we have seen in movie before. The question, what does he do for a sequel . I think when you roll through some of what the president said in the press conference, when he was urging people to wear masks, he has been down laying the importance of masks for weeks. The question is how serious will Trump Supporters take it . And you see the videos of Trump Supporters lashing out about now wanting to wear a mask. A lot goes back to the president. When the president is talking act not congregating in bars and crowded spaces. He has been inviting people to go to wrallys where there are thousands and thousands of people and he is 34r57bing to hold a convention in august, and where there are big crowds, and as you know, covering conventions, some of them end up in crowded bars in the end of the night. Soy think the question is whether or not some of what the president says today actually lasts past 24 hours. Well, lets hope it lasts and lets hope people listen. Right now, its just a hope. The thang surprised me most, i dont know if he misread the script. When he said we are developing a strategy, the white house is, and its going to be very, very powerful. Why the wait . Like, why now . Why havent they developed a strategy 142,000 deaths ago . You know, i do think that begs a followup question. I think the president had moments in the press Conference Today where, as much as people are giving him points for style and so on, i think he demonstrated once again that he is just not taking this seriously enough for a lot of americans, when he says that the u. S. Has done more than the rest of the world. That is just not dealing with reality. And when he has thrown off message with questions about Ghislaine Maxwell, i talked to a source close to the white house this evening, that is a question the white house should prepare the fought talk about. And its malpractice to have not have a president to give a better response than qush i wish her well. They dont have a plan, and today is really more of a political plan. This is about the president trying to reassure some of the republicans have lost faith in the pandemic, and a lot independents will swing the election, just rejected his approach. Its more after a political emergency as much as a health emergency. Dr. Sanjay dup ta, maggie, two of the smartest humans i know. Maggie, how did the white house think it went this afternoon, and what do they want to do Going Forward . John, the White House House overwhelmingly very happy with how the briefing with obvious exceptions w the Ghislaine Maxwell. They felt like he was saying things he needed to bh saying. He was not getting outside of his lane, and about treatments and chemicals and what we saw previously, where he was trying to one up the doctors, he was talking about a forward looking picture, that is obviously an incomplete look at it. Because there is a lot of questions that we asked, and its not clear to me that he can sustain this for a number of days, that is always the issue with him. At these kinds of briefings, it starts out fine, and they were happy and they plan to do similar briefings to. They may plan it. Whether he goes along with it, we have to see. Sanjay, dr. Fauci not invited. Dr. Birx left backstage. Not invited out on the stage. What would the scientists have added to this, do you think . Well, i think theres two things. One, just having the united front. The scientists are talking and you get a support from the white house. You know, i think that is important. Because i think a lot of times there is a schism between what the white house is saying and the scientists are saying. Its like point, counterpoint. And speaking with one united front is important. There are areas i think would have been important to talk about moving forward, as maggie was saying and one is testing. We are still not doing enough testing. And the United States does more testing than other countries. But its because we need to. We have a lot manufactuore viru country because we wasted time. Not keeping tabs in february and march. Right now, the testing is only used to flag hot spots around the country. There is a fire over here, there is a fire over here. Its not used to be able to isolate and then quarantine, contact and bring down the trajectory of the pandemic. Schools is another one. That topic number one. What is the real science whether you are going to open schools or not . To be able to implement the physical distancing good lines, and buses, all the things that are real in peoples lives right now. Just to remind you, its almost preposterous to talk about. But containment of the cases, needs 350 new cases a day. That is what we should be aiming for. Heres the goal, heres the problem. That is how we get there. 350 and were at 65,000 to 70,000. Im sure you are pleased to hear the ptds language on masks. He said that people should wear them, even if they are uncomfortable. Should you wear them. However, less than 248 hours ago last night, he was at an event in a washington, d. C. Hotel, where he was not wearing a mask, and he was close to people not wearing masks. How will the message get out in sn what will the public see . I dont know. Its clearly a lot of whiplash for the public. Its a seemingly simple thing to do that can make a huge difference. So overall, im glad he put out that tweet yesterday with him wearing a mask. I happen to live in georgia, where you know the governor is suing the mayor over masks. And im in the a political reporter but the idea that the governors are taking the cues from the president and the president tweets out a picture of him wearing a mask, i think it does make a positive difference. I dont flow. I think that people who are skeptics will say, i dont have to wear a mask either. But hope fwli it makes a difference. Flag guy, both you and jim acosta have mentioned the Ghislaine Maxwell moment. But it was the most holy blank moment of the press conference. And she is in prison, charged with helping epstein groom and abuse under age girls. This is what the president said about it. I just wish her well, frankly. I met her numerous times over the years, especially since i lived in palm beach and i guess they lived in palm beach. But i wish her well. How did that lagnd . The white house . Not well. I want to reiterate that i think its important that the president is stressing mask wearing. And its very late. But i do think its important and its worth noting he did it, and in terms of the maxwell piece, that is an astonishment comment, since associates have been tweeting pictures with maxwell and epstein, trying to draw associations. She is charged with serious crimes, crimes related to young girls and he is wishes her well and astonishing, and when you juxtapose the lack of a benefit of a doubt, and the people of color. This very wealthy woman who he rubbed elbows with in society, he wishes her well despite what his own government has accused her of doing. Im sure i dont flow if he could do it again or not. I dont believe that his white house said this is a good way to do it and plan people are uncomfortable what he said, and averti averting glances tonight. And both of you said, the language he used on the masks to say if you are uncomfortable, you should wear it. Its what people need to hear, whether or not they are hearing it and whether they will take action, we will wait and see. Thank you both so much. We will come back to you in a little bit to talk about new reporting from you and your colleagues about efforts your sources say the president made to steer the story in an establish open golf couto his g resort. And one of more vaccines before the year is out, and later, the military forces on the streets in portland, oregon, and on the threat to send them to other big cities. Its happening in america. Portlands mayor joins us next. burke at farmers, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. Like how nice it is to save on your auto policy. But its even nicer knowing that if this happens. Or this happens. Or this. Or this. Or even this. Weve seen and covered it. So, switch to farmers and you could save an average of three hundred ninetyfive dollars. Get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum vo verizon knows how to build unlimited right. Start with americas most awarded network. Give people more plans to mix and match at a price built for everyone. With 700 off our best phones when you switch. Because everyone deserves the best. This is unlimited built right. I have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. Because i can still make my own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it like its supposed to. Onceweekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. It starts acting from the first dose. And it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known Heart Disease or multiple risk factors. Trulicity isnt for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Dont take trulicity if youre allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain, and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. Were committed to helping ensure trulicity is available and affordable. Learn more at trulicity. Com. Were talking tonight at a president ial Coronavirus Briefing that sounded different. And whether in fact the president will follow it up with concrete measures to get his country out of the man made disaster it finds it sft in now. Later in the program, we will joined by a frant loin doctor in phoenix who and seeing it out. Right now, a doctor in houston, a vaccine researcher in the medicine. And also joining me, the author of the kons to covid, and we spoke to you in the duration of the pandemic. I think i actually spoke with you this morning. I wonder what you thought of the president s briefing . What are your impressions . I he tossed out a few crumbs that show some level of concern. He said that im looking at my notes here. He said its a visucious illnes. We need to shield the vulnerable, i will it will get worse before it gets better and the nation needs a strategy. Thats good. I mean, if those things, if he said those things in march, i would have felt better. But then he goes in the fact we are doing better than most countries and fatality rates, and the lowest fatality rates, going back to the same misinformation. He was told what to say, and said a couple things, it just to me, it just showed lack of comp passion and empathy of a terrible situation we are facing. We had 34 deaths yesterday, we talked about this morning, 131 deaths today. So the deaths continue to spike terribly in texas. Icus getting overwhelmed. Hospital staff getting exhausted and we know mortality will go up. Were in a terrible situation. So again, no real recognition of the massive search, of the spots and no indication that he has urgency. It is likely that by the end of tonight, there will be 1,000 new deaths before the last 24 hours as well, just to give a sense of where the people are, and the president did talk about testing. And the past, he has disparaged expanded testing. He said if doctors and others say we need more of it, then he will agree we need more it. What do you make of that . First of all, i think i agree with everyone. Its a good thing that he finally said that we need masks. But it is far, far short of what we need. We need action. We need strategic plans. We need people helping the people in the southern and western states, we need people who can provide the equipment, and we dont have the plans. I would like see this resolve turned into to real action. If you look at the number of deaths in the world, its about ten people dying every minute. And almost two of those are americans in. That is what to happening right now. Can we do something about it . Yes. But will it be in time for the decision that everybody is making right now . Parents are trying to decide where to tend their children back to school. They have nike decisions on what we know now, and it doesnt look good. And people are out parties. And the young people are out parties. They have to decide whether they go back to college, or if the college is going to be open. We need action, we need it fast, and we need etd it we needed it a month ago. By 142,000 deaths already. There is a matter of cdc data suggesting the u. S. Has ten times more cases than being reported. Thats true, what are the implications there . What does it mean for stopping the spread . Well, we have done it a long time, that the number of confirmed cases is just a fraction, and the scientists debate whether the number is three times more, five times more, ten times more. But we should assume that at least 35 million americans have been infected with covid19 and the numbers are continuing to climb. What it means, when we quote numbers in houston, like we had 1200 cases today, or yesterday, what it really means is probably 5,000 or 6,000 cases. And the idea that we can do Contract Tracing of 5,000 cases in houston, i dont see a path we can do that. And today, i put up we published a paper really looking at a plan for the nation to bring the whole country back down to containment mode by october 1. Other wise, we cant do the Contract Tracing. All the things we talk about, masks, Contract Tracing, it will work best when we bring it down to that low level and then we can prevent the resurgence. And we do it in october, if we had a national strategy. But its frustrating of the federal government, and maybe the glimmer is that the president mentioned it maybe it will happen. I swear i thought of you the moment it happened. An executive said if all goes well, they could have a vaccine ready to go from september onward. You were often skeptical of claims like this, so i want to ask you all day what you they of it . I think its extremely optimistic. He is in a position better than i am to know what the results are. But i have been watching Vaccine Development as peter has for many years and we know its very difficult to ensure the safety and efficacy of vaccines. It wont be in time for children to receive it. You cannot do it in the that time and i can assure you if a vaccine does receive emergency use authorization from the fda, we wont know if its fully effective and we surely wont know if its safe. Its a rash statement. Doctor, we are both smart intersafer after speaking with you. Thank you for being was tonight. Thank you. Just ahead, breaking news from the New York Times. Another possible example of trump mixing his Business Affairs with affairs of state. That is next. Thinking about your financial plan. So are we. Prudential helps 25 Million People with their financial needs. With over 90 years of investment experience, our thousands of Financial Professionals can help. Go to prudential. Com or talk to an advisor. And its mission is to give you truly transformative sleep. Ress. So, no mor