That they allowed those u. S. Patients who tested positive for coronavirus back into the United States. Though today you saw him at that press conference acknowledging that in the end he does believe that was the right thing to do. But, two, also that federal officials were going to place some of those patients at a fema facility in alabama which the president faced blowback for getting calls from lawmakers saying, no, you cant just do this, including the governor of alabama and one of the senators, Richard Shelby of alabama. And were being told by sources, including my colleague kevin that the president wanted to fire people over this over these decisions made by his administration, though its not clear who he wanted to fire. And its not determined whether or not anyone has been terminated over this. We do not believe anyone has. But it does speak to the frustration the president has had behind the scenes of all this. Publicly he is really trying to calm the waters here, assure people that its going to be a shortterm problem as he was saying today. Its not going to have this longterm effects on the economy, even though we saw how the markets were suffering yesterday because of these fears about the outbreak of the coronavirus and how people are going to respond to it. We do know the administration is taking steps. They have requested over a billion dollars in funding last night for this as they continue to combat what their plan is going to be. And thats not really something the president telegraphed today. What steps theyre taking, what concrete steps theyre taking though the question is whether well hear from the health and Services Secretary over this on the next few days. But, yes, our reporting shows the president is not as calm privately about the coronavirus as he is acting publicly at least. Appreciate that reporting. Lets talk about this big picture. Our chief Business CorrespondentChristine Romans is back with us along with senior political analyst ron brownstein, also Senior Editor at the atlantic. Even people who have been close to the president , worked for the president like Anthony Scaramucci telling the washington post, quote, if he gets real correction, a Market Correction of 10 to 15 , down draft in the markets, it would take one of the legs off a very big part of his reelection campaign. The economy means so much to this president , and he does not seem to think that this is going to have an impact. And he himself has made the stock market his personal popularity poll, right . A guy who a couple of years ago said im not a stock market guy is now someone who is making stock Market Strategy calls kind of on a daily basis here. He has made the stock market a barometer of how hes doing. And so if there were another tumble in the stock market, obviously, hes going to try to find ways to say that its not his fault. The coronavirus is not this administrations fault. How it handles it is what will be the big test for this administration. And my sources this morning are saying that one of the important reelection arguments for this president , a Strong Economy and a strong stock market, will not be as strong as an incumbent in an Election Year would like to see. Ron brownstein, the substance of this is, who is handling it . Theyve cut foreign aid programs, including programs that speak to Global Health with the impression being that, well, those are foreign problems, not american problems. With the pandemic, its everybodys problem. So do you know who is overseeing this and should we have confidence in the folks who are doing that . Well, the way you just describe it is emphatically not the president s world view. The contrast with how barack obama handled the Ebola Outbreak is very elumative of the way they approach the world. Obviously the president obama named an ebola czar, ron clane who was joe bidens chief of staff and former white house counsel. But he also was very engaged with the front line states in terms of sending u. S. Assistance to them to help them manage the outbreak on the front lines, on exactly the theory that you laid out. That if a pandemic develops, ultimately its everybodys problems. Look at the contrast between the president s language when he said were handling it very well and no sense of kind of interconnectedness with the other countries but, in fact, this has been from supply chains to actual infection, this is just a reminder of how difficult it is to hide behind walls in the modern world. It was just a few months ago that our polling showed that 76 of americans feel good about the economy. Can you talk about if this extends beyond apple feeling the pain of this china slowdown when mom and Pop Companies that import from asia across the midwest are to feel that pain, what that could mean. That poll was the highest in 20 years, the highest since the dotcom bust. That was a notable number and something the supporters were noting. Usually these kinds of pandemics and epidemices have a shortterm impact on the stock market, on investors but business and Companies Get over it longer term. The reason why theres some concern here now is because the hyperglobalization of the last 20 or 30 years. Something the president wants to sort of undo, right. That hyperglobalization has meant that china and its supply chain is so much more interconnected with the Global Economy and its so much more intertwined that history isnt a good guide for how quickly companies and mom and pop businesses will get over this and be able to move forward. Its not just supply chain, is it not . China accounts for about onefifth of the worlds economic activity. You look at chinese streets empty, right . People 760 Million People in china under residency restrictions to help control the spread of this. That means chinese economic slowdown. Do we know, and china notoriously lies about its Economic Growth figures, but do we have any sense of how much china has slowed down in the First Quarter, and can we make any guest mate as to how much that impacts the economy in that quarter and beyond. There are a bunch of different scenarios. Most everybody is operating on the most mild scenario that this saul done a is all done and wrapped up by april. But if its worse than that, Morgan Stanley is saying First QuarterEconomic Growth in china of just over 3 or 3. 5 . Thats a dramatic slowdown from the past few years of almost 10 growth. That will have a knockon effect on shippers and other companies. Ive been looking at from the cruise lines and tourism which is obvious, but even things like lobsters and wedding dresses and shoes and sporting equipment. You have some companies in europe that are talking about sending people with briefcases to get important parts to carry them out of the country to make sure that they can get the right parts they need for some of their important hightech products. Its really kind of hard to game out how long this will take. Whats really important is how countries respond. And the president this morning sounded like the United States is this island with these closed borders. He said weve closed our borders. Thats not how the Global Economy works. Its not. Ron, help me understand the politics or whatever it is behind the sort of theres nothing to see here moment from the president. As i said, thats his world view. Its a problem somewhere else. Its not our problem. But, in fact, as were all saying, it doesnt work that way in the modern world. The economy is critical to his fortunes. As we talked about many times on this show, the president does face more resistance from voters satisfied with the economy than any previous incumbent. Something like 20 of the people who approve of his handling of the economy still say they disapprove of him overall. And or still say theyll vote for one of the leading democrats. But as the economy improves, most people who are satisfied still do approve of the incumbent president , even if its a smaller share than usual. His approval rating, which is the best marker has been drifting up as economic satisfaction has been drifting up. And if, in fact, that hits a bump in the road, you are back closer to where hes been for most of his presidency in the low 40s in approval. And thats just a very different reelection for any incumdebent. Its a completely different scenario. So he has a lot riding on this, but as i say, his world view is such that it is something happening there. We can literally wall ourselves off from it and aagain, that just does not work in the modern economy or the way people interact in the modern world. Its also not how viruses operate. Right. There are no borders. Ron brownstein, Christine Romans, thanks very much. The president was also asked if he believes the Intelligence Communitys assessment that russia is again meddling in u. S. Politics. He did not answer that question. He instead went after democrats suggesting, without evidence, that right now there is an effort within the Democratic Party to make sure that Bernie Sanders is not the democratic nominee. Listen to this. And he shouldnt be leaking things like that. Thats a terrible thing to do. But basically theyd like to see bernie is probably winning and it looks like hes winning and has a head of steam. They maybe dont want him for obvious reasons. So they dont want him so they put out a thing that russia is backing him. Again, making that assessment without putting out any evidence. Lets talk about that and a whole lot more with denny heck. Its good have you. Just your response to the president s assertion about the chairman of your committee. Four plays in his playbook, not five, not three, just four. One deny, two, attack, three, play victim and four, change the subject by saying something outrageous. This is out of the fourth play in his playbook. His Intelligence Community his Intelligence Community has assessed that russia is playing. Director of fbi Christopher Wray said this some months ago. That seems to be obvious, selfevidence and an established fact. The only question is what are we going to do about it . Hes not inclined to do anything about it. No one disputes that russia is meddling again in 2020. What caused the kerfuffle last week was the read that russia again has a preference for trump in this election. That, of course, was the assessment in 2016 and it was dnc emails that were stolen and released during the Democratic National convention to hurt democrats. Podestas emails were stolen, released 22 minutes after the access hollywood tape. Given that youre on the committee, is there evidence that russias preference has changed since 2016 . Jim, i, obviously, cant either confirm nor deny anything that occurred during a classified briefing, but, obviously, as i have said for three years when asked, is russia going to be back, i have always responded, what do you mean back . Theyve never left. Look, its really important that we all step back and understand why this is so important. Our great republic, any healthy democracy, sits atop a threelegged stool. First leg, the rule of law. Second leg, guarantee of individual freedoms. Third leg, a perception that we conduct free, fair, open elections with integrity. And if we lose the latter because somebody is trying to cheat, then basically what happens is the election outcome will not be considered legitimate. And at the end of the day in any democracy, Good Government is predicated on the consent of the government. Congressman, id like to turn the attention to tonight. Theres a big debate tonight. And the frontrunner now in the Democratic Party, in your party, is senator Bernie Sanders, a selfproclaimed democratic socialist. You have said you want a, quote, honest debate for the future of our country. What do you think democratic socialism would mean for the future of america . So, poppy, can i preface this by saying, i havent endorsed anybody in this race. That was the next question, congressman. Well, look, i unlike some of my colleagues, im not entirely sure there are a lot of people waiting around to see who it is im going to vote for or endorse. But ill have to make my mind up fast because my state votes on march 10th. So im giving this all due consideration. What i hope for. I hope for a debate tonight that is completely unlike the last one which, frankly, i likened to a middle school food fight. Im looking for the candidate who puts out a strong vision about where they want to take america and who appeals to our better angels, who ask us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. To move the country forward. I didnt see that the last debate. And i sure hope and pray that thats what well get tonight. Question, if i can, because it relates to what you brought up just before that. Relates to 2020, which is, you know, without the impression of the confidence in free and fair electi elections, thats enormously damaging to the country. The president didnt address this, this morning. What has the president done to prevent interference in the 2020 election, based on your knowledge, particularly on the committee . And what evidence is there that the president has prioritized preventing russia and other countries from interfering again. Jim, selfevidently has he not only failed to do anything to prevent interference, hes effectively encouraged it. He encouraged it when he specifically and explicitly called out for russia to interfere last cycle. He affirmed that perspective when in helsinki he publicly said that he believed Vladimir Putin over his own Intelligence Community. And hes done it many times since, including by failing to sanction russia. I think senator schumer is right when he announced this week that we ought to levy sanctions on russia because, heres the deal. Until the pain is so great that russia stands down, theyll continue to do this. This is a rigged game. The fact of the matter is that were engaged in an unchecked and uncontrolled equivalent of an arms race in cyberspace. And we are at structural disadvantage. We are at structural disadvantage because when you engage in cyberwarfare, theres inevitably collateral damage. And our values are such that we dont like collateral damage. They dont care. Were also at structural disadvantage because of the economics of this thing. People who can engage in the kinds of cyberexpertise to enable us to compete in this place are highly competed for in the private sector. Theyre very cheap in the countries that are coming after us. So it enables them to punch way above their weight. So we have a structural disadvantage. And thats why its far past time for us to step up and lead an effort globally for some kind of an International Treaty to stand down on this neverending cyberwarfare. Sadly here we are four years later and its sort of friendly fire internally. Congressman denny heck, thanks so much. Always good to have you on. Still to come a critical debate for democrats, days before the South Carolina primary. 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