Governors from coast to coast are demanding an answer to. Because the president says keeping us safe, the testing is on them. They tell you. One after the other, as youll hear tonight, they cant do it. So if trump says he has total authority to decide what happens, but he doesnt have total commitment to making sure it happens, where will we be . Its not in americas best interest. We have to prepare a way forward before people all fall back. Our answer is for us to be on this question, together ever as one. Lets get at it. You know, such as the story of the coronavirus. As we finally seem to start coming together in big collectives and quiet areas and staying at home, we see the curves starting to flatten. We see the worst expectations being backed off by experts. Thats good. That is proof that the remedy was realistic. It doesnt mean they were wrong. That is a silly notion. Because their projections were based on whether or not we did the right things. Were doing the right things. Its working. But if we dont have as good a plan going forward, what happens when we remove the only measure keeping us safe . This will meet you with urgency. But maybe not as much as it meets my ears. Because im sick. Because i talk to people who are sick all the time. And i am kind of bathed in their battles. And i cant believe that this president would want to expose any more of them to what i may battle as someone who is strong and lucky for a month. I cant believe that we would put parents and people, young and old, in that position, all across this country without a plan. It makes no sense. The president cant reopen the country with a big bang without a big plan. Youve got to have one. You got here by not having a plan. Repeating it would be insanity. It literally makes me sweat just as an idea. So lets talk. Lets be calm. Lets be pressured and lets be persistent, okay . Our first guest tonight is the connecticut governor. All right . Now, he has been watching whats been happening. I want him to respond to this latest notion about what our future should be. The president of the United States calls the shots. When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. Thats the way its got to be. Total . Your authority is total . Its total. Governors know that. The governors know that. You have a couple of excuse me, excuse me. Nobody knows that. Lets be very clear. Were about to talk to a governor. The governor of new york, my brother, he doesnt agree with this. Nobody agrees with this. Theres a legitimate tenth amendment issue about states rights in the absence of those rights being directly delegated to the federal government. They are reserved in the states. But this is a bigger problem that i dont want to burden the governor of connecticut with. But i want you to have it on your shoulders. Hes saying he has the absolute authority to reopen. But he will not own the responsibility to do testing, identification, isolation and treatment of those who have cases when we do reopen. He says thats on the states. The states say they cant handle it, so you believe that your ultimate authority, this all powerful, all powerful he is, how does he use that power, and when . Would he use it to have our manufacturers make the things we need . Will he take with that authority the responsibility of having a plan to test what will be fundamentally important to the wellbeing of your family and mine . No. Then what kind of power does he really have and how can we even consider him exercising it with this type of record . Perception of risk and disregarding it. Connecticuts governor is ned lamont. He has developed a reputation for being a student of the situation here. Watching what was happening in other places, making smart decisions for his state. Governor, thank you for joining us. Well, thank you, chris. Its nice to see you. Now, in ill tell you what i saw when i heard that. Go ahead. Verbal hand grenades. Two weeks ago he told your brother and myself, i want a mandatory quarantine of the new york metropolitan area. We called him up and talked him down. We got something more reasonable. Now, two weeks later, he wants the mandatory opening up of everything. He likes us to run down these rabbit holes. Youre right, the governor is going to make the determination whats best for their state. We care deeply about the health and safety of our citizens and get our economy going in a prudent, thoughtful way. You said verbal hand grenade. The problem is, it will blow up in your face. Now he says, well, testing, thats on the states. My decision is just to reopen the economy. Well deal with what he is doing in a moment. Lets be painfully honest. I know in new york they cant handle that kind of responsibility, not with that kind of scale. Can you in connecticut guarantee the people who voted for you and those who didnt, frankly, youre in charge of all of them, if they reopen, the job markets and all of the attendant services in connecticut, that you can mark any new cases and make sure you can Contact Trace and get people treated . Absolutely not. But were working our heart out right now to get the reagents in place, make sure we do the molecular testing, ramp up our antibody testing. Obviously, if the feds would take the lead on that, it would be a lot more effective. Short of that, look, andrew cuomo, myself, phil murphy and six other governors got together and said well take the lead in the absence of the federal government. Were going to set up the rules and standards in terms of how we do our testing. Connecticut will never be safe unless new york is safe and vice versa. You guys are doing it on the east coast. Were seeing it happening also on the west coast. The president says youre wasting your time, governors. You dont have the power. The power is mine to reopen the economy. Including everything that involves in your state and your people. Do you agree . Hes got the bully pulpit but we have to enforce it. Everybody knows that its the governors, where the rubber meets the road. I think every governor knows what it takes to get it done. Just like he said when im in a mandatory quarantine, new york city, we had to say, mr. President , there are 120 roads, not to mention ferries and railroads in and out. Theres no way to do that. He didnt do it. Now, if he says to you, listen, im doing it, youre right, youll figure it out ned lamont, governor of connecticut. But im telling you right now, youre going to reopen. How can you follow that order . How can you comply when you know you cant keep your people safe . I could not keep my people safe if we tried to do that overnight. Telling me that anybody go in and out of Nursing Homes when our Nursing Homes are on fire. Look, weve still got a rising infection rate in this state. We still have rising hospitalizations. Not as fast as two weeks ago, thank god, but theyre still going up fast. The boat is very tippy right now. This is the time for steady leadership. Lets not throw any more of these verbal hand grenades. You know why he throws them, governor. Again, im very careful, not just with my brother but all the governors, all the leaders. I dont want to put you sideways with the president. I know he can punish. I know you have to think about your people, getting the resources. Im telling you, if nobody stands up and says, i know it sounds good, i know its what a lot of us want to hear. I want to hear it, governor. Im sick of being in my basement. I want to get out and be better and go out and do the things i want to do. You know what, im not ready. I still have a lowgrade fever. Im a metaphor for this country. They think it sounds good. Theyre going to keep saying the right things and youre saying the wrong things. Unless governors like you stand up and say hes not not giving it to you straight, were not ready to reopen, can you say that . I can say that. Thats what we had nine governors today say. They said were going to open it up on a thoughtful basis. Im not going to send hundreds of typhoid marys in the community and have another round of reinfection. Talk about taking the confidence out of this economy. Talking about taking people down. If we let that happen, shame on us. Not one governor will let that happen. Not to their state, not to their broader community. Governor, just quickly, again, because you have been, i believe, fairly called out in a good way, whatever the good version of being called out is, celebrated for being a student of the situations around you. Okay . Youve watched, youve acted with deliberate speed. Good for you. Is there any question in your mind that this federal government didnt have more that it could have done sooner to help those who got hit earlier . Look, within a month were going to have all the ventilators, most of the ppe and other probably even testing that we needed. Imagine, if we had started this three months ago, what a difference that would have made. That said, well have plenty time of elections and history books to realize the mistakes that were made in the past. I think every governor is saying what do we do know to get the states on track and slowly, methodically open up the economy again. I agree with the analysis 100 , governor. Its not for me about looking back. Its about understanding how you move forward. This president is denying that he did anything wrong because he wants to give america a false sense of confidence that he knew what to do then and he knows what to do now. If we dont do better now than we did in the first phase, well repeat the same situation. I just dont want to see that human pain. Governor ned lamont, thank you for your candor. I know it can come at a price. But i think right now were at such a pivotal moment, we need our leaders with one voice to say weve got to do this right or it shouldnt be done at all. Governor, thank you for keeping us apprised of the situation in connecticut. Thank you for making yourself available and we are available to you. Youre looking good, chris. Believe me, the governors will be speaking with one voice on this. Nice to see you. Thank you. God bless and be well. Now, look, it is not easy for a governor to say what he just said. Hes going to ask for things from the federal government. He may or may not get it. They punish. Im telling you it happens on a regular basis. If youre not nice to trump, hes not nice to you. The problem is, he wields all of the tools in the federal basket. When he wants to punish you, it can stick. Governor ned lamont has no reason to not want to reopen. There is no upside to being closed economically and from a morale. But its about leadership by balancing equities. I want to turn to the medical takeaways on this. Okay . You know sanjay gupta. You know he understands Public Health. Can you reopen an economy if you are not ready for the Public Health ramifications . Sound like a no brainer question, right . Why are we just about to answer it the wrong way . Next. And here we have another burst pipe in denmark. If you look close. Jamie, are there any interesting photos from your trip . Ouch, okay. Huh, boring, boring, you dont need to see that. Oh, here we go. Can you believe my client steig had never heard of a home and auto bundle or that renters could bundle . Wait, youre a lawyer . Only licensed in stockholm. What is happening . Jamie anyway, game show, kumite, cinderella story. You know karate . No, alan, i practice muay thai, completely different skillset. Thats why working together ist more important than ever. At t is committed to keeping you connected. So you can keep your patients cared for. Your customers served. Your students inspired. And your employees closer than ever. Our network is resilient. Our people are strong. Our job is to keep your business connected. Its what weve always done. Its what well always do. But one thing hasnt breakfast. And, if that feels like a little bit of comfort, its thanks to. The farmers, the line workers and truckers, the grocery stockers and cashiers, and the food bank workers, because right now breakfast as usual is more essential than ever. To everyone around the world working so hard to bring breakfast to the table, thank you. Listen to doctors from the start. To everyone around the world working so hard the coronavirus. What would joe biden do differently . Restore the white house pandemic office. Open 10 mobile testing sites per state. Faster hospital expansion. Produce enough safety gear. Vaccines at no cost. And extend obamacare enrollment. When im president , we will be better prepared, respond better and recover better. Unite the country is responsible for the content of this advertising. 450degree oven, to box, to you, know that from our its our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. And were taking extra steps, like no contact delivery, to ensure it. And even though tables are empty at the moment. Now you can be there for them. While the doors may be closed, the kitchens are open for delivery. There will be parties and family gatherings. There will be parades and sporting events and concerts. To help our communities when they come back together, respond to the 2020 census now. Spend a few minutes online today to impact the next 10 years of healthcare, infrastructure and education. Go to 2020census. Gov and respond today to make americas tomorrow brighter. Its time to shape our future. President was doing what he does best today. Attacking those who criticize him. It doesnt matter. This is no time to back away from power. We have to call out the facts. The facts are very clear. This administration led by this president down played the threat of the coronavirus for weeks. If we had used those weeks to enforce the messages and get the resources that we did since, we would be in a different situation. The president wants you to believe the most important thing to do was closing off china. Heres his argument. What do you do at the time the month of february. You know what we did . What do you do what do you do when you have no case in the whole United States, when you excuse me. You reported it. Zero cases, zero deaths on january 17th. January. I said in january. You dont have during the time of the travel ban, what happens a lot. A lot. Again, facts. Okay . Closing us away from china so the chinese dont come here and vice versa, europe as well. Those were pieces. But the fundamental piece, was, is, always has been what we communicate to and among one another. Do you understand . It was always about shutting down our movements in communities here and he never wanted any piece of it. And it is demonstrably false that after he closed down china, this quiet period of about a month that they were doing so much. No they werent. He was lying to you about this idea of this being bad, being a hoax by democrats. That there will be a trickle of cases that would magically disappear. Whats most important for you to remember, he was being told by people in and around him in the white house that that wasnt true. For weeks. Lets bring in dr. Sanjay gupta. Sanjay, my friends in washington say dont get too heated up. Dont get too heated up. This is the time, brother. This is the time. Because you reopen the economy without a plan that allows for people to be rapidly tested, traced, identified, treated and isolated, there will be thousands more like me losing months of their lives to this virus. You know it and i know it. Its unacceptable. We cant have it go forward if they dont have a plan, sanjay. Not if we can avoid it by getting the American People on the same page. Theres plenty of evidence now, chris. You know, both around the world and throughout history of that being a problem. If you open up too early, theres resurgences. Now theyre modeling it for all the different counties around the United States. Chris, i want to bring up a point that i think youll appreciate. A nuanced point but it goes back to the timing of things. Put up the timeline i created for a second. I want to show you something, chris. This whole pandemic has not had the same level of concern throughout. I think thats the nuance, chris. January 7th, we find out theres a Novel Coronavirus. Big deal. Public health community, okay . New virus circulating in humans. Whats this going to be . Keep in mind, sars when that happened that was a coronavirus also problem. But it ended up infecting only 8,000 people around the world, 800 people died. People are thinking is this another sars. We worried about that, that wasnt a big deal. Or is this something worse. We fast forward to the end of january, they put in the ban for flights from china. You know what also happened on that day, january 31st, Anthony Fauci went to the lectern and he said, theres a concern that there may be asymptomatic transmission of this virus. Thats a huge deal. Chris, thats a huge deal. As early as the end of january, certainly by middle of february when i interviewed dr. Redfield, we knew there was asymptomatic transmission. Theres a nuance in here. At what point was it a big enough concern to say its here, its spreading, spreading asymptomatically. Its going to be a problem. As early as january 31st. Certainly within a week or two after that, that was clear. Thats the real issue here. Certainly stayathome orders werent recommended until a month later. In washington, sanjay, not only are you right that the stayathomes werent until a month later. Remember, those were precipitated by who . The governors. The president didnt want his hand on them. He never wanted to say, we need to close down. Thats why he didnt want to own testing. Because testing would reveal realities that would force his hand so he was backing off testing as the federal requirement. But more importantly, back up sanjays timeline. Thank you so much for this. So instructive in terms of what we knew and what we did not do. January 21st, if you were to go january 25th or 6th and talk to the washington governor, you know what he was saying, right . We got to shut down. Remember how when they realized it was happening in that elder facility, they started locking down everything out of real justifiable panic. That that was the only way to stop the spread. We had plenty of time, sanjay. We didnt do it. Now the president says i have absolute authority. Not your bailiwick. I think he has 10th amendment issues. Lets push past the law. Testing is not my thing, sanjay. Thats on the stage. Thats on the states. But whats on me is doing the big bang and im going to do the big bang. If we reopen and the states, like connecticut, where his governor, ned lamont was just honest and said i cannot keep my people safe with testing if we reopen, what kind of mix does that give us around this country . I mean, that is the problem, chris. I mean, testing im talking about testing for the virus. Theres good stuff that can come out of testing for the antibodies as well. Im saying the basic testing weve been talking about since january. Without that, widely available and widely distributed because we keep talking about the numbers of tests, thats a good thing to Pay Attention to. Can people still get them at the end o