Most powerful doctor in the white house. At what cost. Good evening. Im erin burnett. Breaking news, dr. Anthony fauci just speaking out and revealing three things that this country needs to do right in order to get a handle on the deadly pandemic that is right now out of control in this country. What weve got to do is reset. You may need to pull back a bit on a phase. You dont necessarily need to lock down, but youve got to do three or four of five minthings that is critical because we know they work. That is universal wearing of masks, close the bars. I think were going to see a turn around. That is the warning tonight from dr. Anthony fauci. This as the w. H. O. Reports a record in new coronavirus cases around the world. In just the last 24 hours, more than 238,000 new cases. The United States with 4 of the worlds population accounting for nearly 30 of those new cases with cases trending higher in 38 states. Nearly 140,000 americans have died from the virus. At least eight states hitting a Record Number of deaths this week. And yet the president missing in action. He has not held an event on the crisis in ten days. The last Task Force Meeting he attended was in april. And as for the task force itself, we were told there would be a briefing on friday which never happened. The president did not do something really, really important that he actually did do. He never down played oh, youre saying he down played the severity of this . This president has taken decisive and bold actions from the beginning. Okay. Well, lets roll the tape. Here is the president on march 10th. And were prepared and were doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away. On that day, the u. S. Death toll was 28. About a month later, april 9th, this was the president. There are certain sections in the country that are in phenomenal shape already. Other sections are coming online. Other sections are going down. The death toll in the United States on april 9th, 20,638. 20 days late e, april 20th, the president. Its going to leave. Its going to be gone. Its going to be eradicated. The dead on that date, april 29th, 61,960 americans dead. May 15th, again the president. Itll go away at some point. Itll go away. It may flare up. It may not flare up. Well have to see what happens. On that day, 88,669 americans had lost their lives from coronavirus. June 17th, the president. The numbers are very miniscule compared to what it was. Its dying out. U. S. Death toll on that date, 118,363. July 2nd, the president. And the crisis is being handled, and we are, likewise, getting under control. The death toll on july 2nd, 128,803 americans dead. Well, those are not miniscule, dying out, under control, leaving, eradicated, going or any of the other words he used. He down played this. The pandemic has gotten worse and worse. Trump knows it and his entire team knows it. Just today we learned there is an internal document showed that 18 states are in what they call the red zone and that they, this internal document, recommends those 18 states roll back or pause their reopenings because of a surge in cases. Thats an internal document that they know about, people there have read. You wouldnt know that from hearing the president over the past few weeks. Were working to safely and responsibly reopen our country. Were safely reopening our country. Our country is now in the next stage of the battle, a very safe, phased and gradual reopening. Wow. And the document, 18 states. Their own internal document, hes saying the opposite. Kaitlan collins is outfront live outside the white house. The president saying things like this. We went through what happened as the death toll surged in this country month after month after month. Now hes barely addressed the pandemic for ten days. Why . Reporter not a single event dedicated to covid19 happened with President Trump this week. Instead, he focused on other topics not even going when he went to atlanta, he didnt visit the cdc even though he was nearby giving a speech on infrastructure. And it seems to be that this concern that the president is not paying attention to whats happening in the country with this pandemic is sinking in with voters. 60 of americans disapprove of the way that the president has handled the pandemic so far. And those are numbers that are concerning to even his advisers. And now some of them are saying publicly they think he needs to start taking a more forward facing approach to this, Kellyanne Conway suggesting he bring back the daily briefings that were cancelled after he suggested using disinfectants like bleach to try to treat coronavirus, something that no Health Experts have recommended. Erin, just giving you a sense of where the focus has been this week. When you walk into the white house and youre in the grand foyer, you see these two portraits of president bill clinton and george w. Bush. We are now told that in the last week since the president hosted the mexican president last week and we saw those portraits hanging up, they have been moved to the old family dining room. Thats a room thats very small. No visitors go there. Its used for storage of table cloths and old furniture. Instead theyve been replaced by William Mckinley and teddy roosevelt. Its two of the most recent president s there in the grand foyer usually. And in the last week the white house has moved those. We asked for explanation of why the portraits were moved and if it was the president s decision to move those portraits. They did not respond to request to comment. It gives indication of where the white house focus has been as youre seeing cases soar through the United States. Moving portraits around at the white house of president s they dont like. Thank you very much, kaitlan. I want to go to dr. Sanjay gupta and dr. Jonathan reiner who was in the white house, the medical team for eight years. So, sanjay, just going to say, im pretty disturbed about the whole portrait thing. I dont understand why anybody would have any time to focus on anything like that anybody at any level anywhere. But as i take a deep breath and try to move beyond how disturbed i am by that, the president has not had a coronavirus related event in ten days and we know about the internal document prepared which says opposite of what he said publicly. It recommends they pause or roll back reopening in 18 states, red zone coronavirus states, yet the president saying the opposite. Yeah, look, the i think whats in these documents is pretty much reflective of what i think most people frankly know at this point as they sort of reflect those original gating c criteria that came out from the white house, giving these states the idea of how to safely reopen and were basically tossed out the window as soon as they were released. It was basically words, not actions, that came out. We looked at these documents. We looked at these 18 states. None of them are following the criteria. In florida, Governor Desantis is defending keeping gyms open. That would not be something that the task force would recommend, especially given that floridas one of the hottest spots right now in the world with regard to this. Theres a legal battle going on over masks right where i live in the middle of the worse Public Health crisis in our lifetime. So, this isnt about not knowing at this point. They know. I think most people know that are watching television right now. Frankly i think its incumbent on everybody thats watching right now to speak up. Nobody gets to sit this out anymore. No. Everyone has to Say Something because this is getting ridiculous. People are dying. Dr. Reiner, to this point one of the states in the red zone is florida. According to the internal document to the Coronavirus Task force they should be rolling back. Governor desantis as sanjay indicated is recommended that gyms stay open because a Healthy Lifestyle will make you less likely to get really sick from coronavirus. Heres what he said about it. If youre in good shape, you know, you have a very, very low likelihood of ending up in significant condition as a result of the coronavirus. So, thats he was using that, again, as a justification for gyms. Does that make sense to you, dr. Reiner . Is there any situation in which that does add up . No, no. If there was a 25th amendment for florida, that statement might trigger it. It doesnt make sense on any level. Lets just go through this again for the millionth time. The virus affects people of all ages. The virus doesnt care if youre well or fiat had. The virus will infect anyone that it encounters. And the outcome of that infection is not just for the person who acquires it. So, yes, if a heavy weight lifting 18yearold gets it, that person is likely to do fine. But that persons grandfather at home in their house is likely not to do fine. Or the person they encounter on the way home who then gives it to two or three other people. Were talking about viral transmission. The governor of florida was educated in two very worldrenowned places but he doesnt act it. This is basic stuff. Why are we keeping gyms open when 11,000 people in florida tested positive today . If florida were its own country, it would be among the highest number of cases in the world today. So, sanjay, in florida, you know, you have obviously one county with beds full. You have two days in the past seven where you have a record death. And marco rubio is pointing out a big issue here which is that the one drug which has been proven to work in some cases to make a difference, remdesivir, has not been available in florida the way it should be. Heres where republican senator marco rubio on a tweet, new reports late last night of several hospitals in florida with low or no supplies of remdesivir. Shipments are coordinated by the federal government, and we have a bad disconnect between what we think we need and what we really need. New yorks Governor Andrew Cuomo offered to send supplies. Desantis dismissed that. You have gainsmanship going on. Whats going on with remdesivir which the federal government was supposed to be in charge of saying were going to make sure we stock pile this so when theres a surge it gets to where it needs to go. How come that hasnt been happening and at what cost . Its hard to point to the logistics that has worked well here. We heard a lot about the problems with personal protective equipment initially, ventilators, and now this one medication which could potentially have some impact. So, its really unclear. I think i did speak on background today to folks who are helping coordinate things at the level of hhs. They did say that basically bringing in more hospital information through hhs could possibly help address these sorts of problems because they would know ahead of time which hospitals are likely to need things like remdesivir or personal protective equipment. But look, its very hard for me to be convinced. I mean, im a generally pretty optimistic person but nothing has worked well which is why i keep saying jonathan reiner, who is so smart and so eloquent on this, smohould be doing this, should be in charge of this. I know he doesnt want to do that. But we need somebody to create a tsunami of activity to this. We need to overreact to this right now because that will probably be the right level of reaction. Dr. Reiner, i laid out the president over months again and again and again saying the virus was going away as the death toll surged from 30 people to 130,000 people. How significant were his words . You know, the tone is set by the president , and the president can turn things around very quickly now. If i were a political adviser for the president , which im obviously not, i would say to the president , come out to the rose garden tomorrow. Tell the country that were at a pivot point. Were going to take this virus down. Everyones going to wear a mask. Were going open schools only in places that we can open them now. Well get there eventually. Were going to test like crazy. Were going to get our arms around this. Im a wartime president , we can do this. Lets do it. Lets do it together. Im with you. His polling would go up 15 points overnight, and he would look like hes in charge. Instead, he looks like, you know, kind of a sick old man opening that things get better. Look, he looks like somebody that struggles to get out of bed in the morning. He can turn this around. He needs to be a leader. He needs to do it right now. Sanjay, i have to ask you about another big story breaking late today, the Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader ginsburg announced hes undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. She says the treatment is yielding positive results. Those are the words. What are you learning about her condition and treatment tonight . We can put up the various medical issues shes had over the years, and as you mentioned most recently pancreatic Cancer Treatment in august of 2019. May of 2020, she had this nonsurgical treatment but we now know she actually started another form of chemotherapy at that point. The august 2019 therapy did not work. That was a form of immunotherapy. Its really concerning, erin. I think the type of chemotherapy she started now, that is a type of chemotherapy that is typically sort of more of a palliative chemotherapy. Its to try and decrease symptoms. So, you know, she seems to be responding to it. Shes 87 years old. She has recurrent pancreatic cancer and shes on a palliative as opposed to a curative treatment. So, its worrisome. Everyones different, but this is obviously very concerning. All right. Thank you both very much. And next the white house tonight blocking the cdc from publicly testifying about how to row open schools. Why . Why would you silence that . Plus the battle over masks getting uglier by the day, this time a fight breaking out between two couples in a restaurant. Chris christie with a warning for the president , lay out a vision or prepare to lose. But Bristol Myers squibb is working to change things. By researching new kinds of medicines that could help you live longer. Including options that are chemofree. Because were committed to bringing new hope into lung cancer care. Because were committed try wayf r. You got this perfect. Youre welcome. I love it. Howd you do all this . Told ya wayfair. Lets talk dining tables. Yes blow it up. Wayfair youve got just what i need breaking news, the white house blocking the cdc director from testifying on reopening schools. The House Education Committee calling the move alarming as parents, of course, now are in the debate. Were weeks away sending our kids back to school. The cdc also did not release additional guidelines for school as was expected today, saying theyre not now going to come until the end of the month, the cdc calling it a miss and dysfunctional. Outfront now, dr. William schaffner, a former official with the cdc. Thats pretty scary when you have the cdc itself saying dysfunctional mess. The white house in the meantime, we know betsy devos, education secretary and the president himself saying weve got to open schools, weve got open schools, and yet here we are. Were not even going to hear the cdc testify about it. Yeah, it does sound a little bit dysfunctional, doesnt it. Fortunately at the local level i think School Boards are working with their state and local health departments. Theyre getting consultation from their academic medical centers. I know some of my pediatric Infectious Disease colleagues are helping in nashville. Everybodys working their way through. But it sure would be great if we had clear guidance from the cdc. That would help everybody obviously. And not to have dr. Fauci testify, that doesnt seem at all appropriate. So, you know, the guideline now delayed until the end of the month. At that point, youre in it. Youve got School Districts that now are going online for the beginning of school who would be opening. Youve got School Districts across the country opening weeks from then. If the cdc is going to make any real change its going to almost impossible to implement them. When we get to Big Questions like do they put ventilation out there and most Public Schools dont have central air conditioning or anything of the sort. Is there any way that any of this is going to get right in time now . Everybody is going to be doing their best to do their best, and were all going to have to watch that very, very carefully. And you know, the countries that have done this successfully have actually controlled Community Spread first. We havent done that. Were nowhere near control. Its out of control. So, were doing what i like to say and this will make no parent happy a large series of experiments out there. Were trying to find out what will work and can we make things work to reduce the risk for our children and everyone else who works in those schools. So, the senior cdc official that i mentioned called the situation for the guideline with schools a, quote, mess and dysfunctional. Were hearing people on the ground are making decisions. They used to have autonomy to make decisions on this, but now they have to, quote, run them up the chain of approval to the white house. So, how big of a problem is that . Theyre also saying people who used to be privy to information in the past who would be central to these decisions are now not, are being choked off. What do you make of that . Youre breaking my heart, erin. You know im president of the cdc fan club and theyve been put aside and constrained. And a process that should be working efficiently has now been slowed down and has become very politicized in many ways. Thats exactly the wrong way to do it. The countries that have done this correctly have had a National Program that put the Public Health people in front. The politicians have stood in the back and they have supported the Public Health decisions and the communication has been clear, sustained, and very supportive and empathetic. That doesnt sound as though this happens in the United States at all. In fact, quite the opposite. No, quite the opposite. And do you know what . People should take heed to w