On mask wearing, and in her words is acting like a petulant child. This comes amid growing concerns that many more americans will be infected and die as every state in the nation moves ahead on reopening. The rate of new case is now trending up in 17 states. And a new model is predicting spikes in some states that reopened early, particularly in the south. Lets go to jeremy diamond. The president says he wore a mask offcamera, behind the scenes, back stage, but he refuses to do so when there are any cameras present. Thats right, wolf. The question heading into today was whether the president would or would not wear a mask following Michigan State law and fords own rules for the manufacturing plant. The answer, wolf, was decidedly no. Even as the president goes for unproven methods of preventing coronavirus, like taking hydroxychloroquine, the president is still defying the one step that Public Health experts are recommending all americans take to slow the spread. President trump defying the state of michigan and the Ford Motor Company, touring a ford manufacturing plant without a mask. Pushing for a return to normal. Even as he was surrounded by others Wearing Masks, the president sticking to his guns and saying he chose not to out of spite. I wore one in the back area but i didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it. I put it on and it looked very nice. It was very nice. Reporter michigans attorney general warned the president would not be welcome back if he refused. Is the president no longer welcome in michigan . Well, i would say speaking on behalf of my department and my office, thats right. Thats exactly right. I mean, todays events were extremely disappointing, and yet totally predictable. This is not a joke. And hes conveying the worst possible message to people who cannot afford to be on the receiving end of terrible misinformation. Reporter the president tonight also insisting he has no plans to fire his cdc director. Are you looking to replace dr. Redfield or is it no. Reporter the questions about the cdc directors fate come amid tensions between the white house and the cdc including the president s push to reopen churches more quickly. One of the other thing i want to do is get the churches open. The churches are not being treated with respect by a lot of the democrat governors. I want to get our churches open. And we are going to take a very strong position on that very soon. Reporter while trump tries to spur a return to normal the governments Health Experts are warning the pandemic is far from over. The dr. Anthony fauci warning. Now is not the time to tempt fate. People ask, do you think we will be back to normal this summer . I say i dont think so. It is going to be a new normal, not the way we had it before. Reporter dr. Fauci also raising concern has the name of the governments effort to manufacture a vaccine by 2021 screwed. When they hear prapoperation wa speed. 2. 4 million americans filed for unemployment last week, sending the total number of americans applying for firsttime Unemployment Benefits to 38. 6 million in just nine weeks. Wolf, while the president claims that ford officials told him it wasnt necessary to wear a mask during that tour we do now have a statement from the Ford Motor Company. They say, bill ford, the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a mask during a private viewing of three ford gfs from over the years. The president later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit. We should also note, wolf, a reporter got to ask bill ford the chairman of the company, whether indeed it was up to the president , whether they gave him the choice and all he said was its up to him. Jeremy diamond reporting for us. Thank you. Lets get the latest on moves to reopen the United States and the risk americans are facing. Erica hill is in new york for us. What are you learn being restrictions being lifted out on the west coast . More are being lifted. Two thirds of californias counties have been cleared to move further into phase two. That means inperson dining and shopping can resume, even some shopping malls. That is relief of course for a number of business owners. Officials, though, are weighing that with Public Health, as you know, and perhaps some of the starkest comments that we have heard coming today from the governor of rhode island, who said if she knew back then, just a couple of months ago, what she knows now, she would have absolutely shut her state down sooner. Graduates faced six feet apart. The stadium at half capacity. I absolutely felt safe. Reporter hundreds of seniors accepting diplomas in northern alabama. An hour south, hospitals are maxed out. Right now, if you are from montgomery and you need an icu bed, you are in trouble. Reporter montgomery, alabama, has seen new cases double since the beginning of may. It is one of several areas that could continue to see numbers raise according to a new model from a team at the Childrens Hospital of philadelphia and the university of pennsylvania. They are findings show states that opened early like alabama and more Populated Areas like miami are at particular risk. I think the value of our forecasts is that there is still time to modify behavior. Reporter Governor Andrew Cuomo today said new york is moving in the right direction. March 20th to may 20th, in that period of time that will go down in history a lot of pain, unique period. But we got through it. We got through it. We got over the mountain. Literally and figuratively. Reporter camp grounds, inperson dining, casinos and graceland just a few of the new additions across the country today. Michigan, which has grabbed National Headlines for its stuff stayathome measures announcing inperson retail and gatherings of ten or less can return on tuesday. Universal orlando has a phased reopening which could start in early june. We are going to ramp up slowly in terms of making sure that all of the procedures and all the practices that we are putting in place actually work. Florida is one of 17 states reporting an increase in new cases over the past week. The Scientific Evidence clearly indicates that physical separation has worked. But not completely. If you look at the curves in our country, it isnt like everything is dramatically going down. Now is not the time to tempt fate and pull back completely. Reporter a sobering report from referencers at Columbia University finds as many as 36,000 american lives could have been saved if social distancing measures had been put in place just one week earlier. There are also new questions about testing data after learning some states have been combining information for diagnostic and antibody tests. 38. 6 million americans have now filed for Unemployment Benefits since mid march. And with each report, concern grows about the businesses that may never recover. I never thought i would be in a position that i would have to close a successful business due to reasons outside of what i can control. Reporter as we know, so much of this has played a role in decisions being made by leaders, on local, county, state levels, wolf, as we move forward. And slowly you will see more news making more things out in the headlines. Tennessee for example, just today saying they are going to increase the number of people who can be at a gathering. Currently at ten, wolf. Pretty soon 50 people will be allowed to gather together. And you will see more awe approach the holiday weekend. Lets hope for the best. Lets talk more about the reopening moves across the country and the breaking news on President Trumps trip to the midwest. We are joined by the republican governor of ohio, mike dewine. Mike, thank you for joining us. You have certainly been a leader in the every to try to contain this pandemic. What message first of all did the president send today with his refusal in michigan to wear a mask in public while visiting that ford plant . He did wear a mask, you reported. I think that is a signal itself. He wore it governor, he only wore a mask behind the scenes, back stage. He didnt want to wear a mask when there were any cameras because he said he didnt want to give the news media the pleasure of seeing him wear a mask. He refused to wear a mask when he was in public Walking Around with all the ford executives even though all of the executives were Wearing Masks. Well, i dont know, wolf. I am focused on ohio. You know, we are encouraging people of course to wear masks when we are out in public, you know, if they are going out somewhere. You know, that gives that added layer of protection. And you know, i get asked i have been asked. People say, mike, you werent saying wear a mask two months ago. I said, well, we werent opening back up two months ago. So it gives that added layer. We just encourage people to do that. You know a lot of things we are focusing on. We are focusing obviously on getting our testing up. It is not where we want it. But it is a lot more than it was a couple week ago. We are optimistic we are going to continue in that direction. You have a lot going on, as we know. Ohio, like michigan, is the home to various auto plants. If the president were to visit your state, want to tour a plant, would you ask him to wear a mask . Well, i dont discuss my personal conversations with the president. You know, the president is going to do what the president wants to do. You know, thats that is what it is. So yeah, you know but, clearly if you went into a sensitive area where there were a lot of workers many of whom are risking their lives just to get the job done, you will be wearing a mask, you wouldnt have any hesitation, being photographed, seen in public, wearing a mask, would you . No, but im not the president. You know, i we go out, you know, somewhere we dont go out very much, but if we go out, you know, i put a mask on. We walk over to our daughter and soci soninlaw and their four kids down the road from here. When we get close to the house we put a mask on because we want to keep that distance we keep the distance, too. Actually it was my wifes birthday and we went over there, but we kept the distance and kept the mask on except when we were eating the cake. These are just things that you know, we are trying to tell ohioans, that we are opening back up, so the risk goes up. We know the risk is up. And we have got keep the distance. And at the same time, you know, we add an additional layer in regard to the mask which you know is helping. It doesnt help as you know, you talked a lot about it. Doesnt help you so much, it helps the other person. It is a courtesy to other people in case you have been exposed and you are asymptomatic. It is a courtesy, you are not going to pass it on to someone else. Certainly, it is the right thing to do. And certainly for the president i think to show the American Public there is nothing wrong with wearing a mask. An important aspect all of this, unfortunate, but really important. Lets talk about some of the other issues you are following right now. I am curious about something the president keeps harping on, in michigan, because he visited there specifically. He slamming vote by mail practices. I know in your state of ohio residents can vote by mail. I think in 30 or more states people can vote by mail. Have you seen any evidence to support the president s claim that milein voting leads to what he calls tremendous fraud . Well, wolf, we have done this in ohio for a long time. I dont know how many years, but it has been a long time. We have basically 28 days that you can vote before the election by mail. But you also can go into the board of elections and vote. And then of course you can vote on election day. So we have very open voting in ohio. So we have a lot of experience with it. Our secretary of state, you know, runs a good operation. So, you know, we dont anticipate any concern this fall. I know some people are saying, well, are you going to vote in person . Look, we do both. And we think that, you know, thats going to cover it very well. Because, especially in the time of the pandemic. People are nervous, they are going to wait in line, and go into a public place, especially elderly voters. They want to be able to vote by mail. And it is happening all over the country. In some states, thats the way they do it. What i dont understand is why the president is so adamant in saying this leads to fraud . Well, i dont know. I dont know what the president is looking at. My frame of reference frankly is very narrow. It is just the state of ohio. You know, we have just done this for a long time, and its you know, it has worked out, we think, pretty well. Thats what i hear from governors all over the country. They dont really see any evidence yeah, there is minor little here and there, but they dont see any evidence of major fraud. The president is clearly threatening michigan right now if they allow mailin voting, he is going to cut back federal funding to michigan, which obviously is very, very concerning. As usual, governor, my thanks for everything you are doing for the people of ohio. Thanks wolf. Thank you for joining us. Of course we will continue these conversations down the road. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. And good luck to everyone in ohio. Just ahead, i will get reaction to the president s new defiance against wearing a mask in public from cnns dr. Sanjay gupta. And in some places tensions over wearing or not wearing mask versus actually led to violence. We will have a full report. Announcer the situation room w wolf blitzer, brought to you by Tractor Supply company, providing pet food, animal feed and gardening supplies. You know when your dog is itching for an outing. Or itching for some cuddle time. But you may not know when hes itching for help. Licking for help. Or rubbing for help. If your dog does these frequently. They may be signs of an allergic skin condition that needs treatment. Dont wait. Talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp. Com. Truly transformative sleep. So, no more tossing and turning. Because only tempurpedic adapts and responds to your body. So you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. During the tempurpedic summer of sleep, all tempurpedic mattresses are on sale we are back with break news. President trump again refusing to follow his owned a strayings guidelines on wearing a mask in public. Hes suggest his defiance is driven by his animosity for the news media. Saying he doesnt want to give the news media the pleasure, his words, the pleasure of seeing him in a mask. Lets bring in our panel, sanjay, watch how the president explained why he didnt wear a mask in public during his visit to michigan today. I did wear i had one on before. I wore one in this back area. But i didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it. But, i had it in the back area. I did put a mask on. Had you effective are masks. How effective would it be if the president modelled that behavior and actually encouraged more americans to wear them . You know, we are getting increasing evidence about just how much of an impact masks are making. And also some evidence of the fact that most americans do want to wear masks at least some of the time. So like what we are seeing with the president there, who should be wearing a mask was told by bill ford at the Ford Motor Company there that he should wear a mask and decided not to most americans are still, you know, they understand the importance of this. I think it is worth pointing out, wolf, that you know, the president may have had an exposure at the white house because there is people who tested positive at the white house. And three of his top Public Health officials not only are Wearing Masks but are in some form of quarantine as a result of that exposure. Very different approach there is. Obviously, the Public Health official are the ones who i think we need to model and Pay Attention to. What does it tell you, gloria, that the president doesnt want to be seen wearing a mask . Well, it is hard to get into Donald Trumps head but there are a couple of things that seem pretty obvious to me. One is i think that for some unexplained reason he sees the mask as a sign of weakness, as a sign that the country is not back to normal. Because wearing a mask is not part of the normal he wants to get back. To it should become and will become a part of the new normal for the foreseeable future in this country until there is a vaccine, until people feel safe. But as far as the president is concerned it is not the image he wants to project. There is another thing which comes to mind, which is vanity. I dont think the way he looks in a mask. I dont think any us like the way we look in our masks. But he said i dont want to give the press the pleasure of seeing this. It is because he isnt want a picture taken of it . Why didnt he want a picture taken of it . Because he doesnt like the way he looks in it and he wants to show the public that he is in control and the virus is not in control. When in fact, we all know that unfortunately, the virus is in control of our lives right now. Yes, indeed. Dr. Mcclellan, the president wont wear a mask but he will take an unproven drug, hydroxychloroquine. Is he taking the best steps to protect his own health . Well, wolf, i wish we had more treatments that have been proven to be effective available. Fortunately, there are many in the pipeline. I think very important for americans to know there are warnings against using hydroxychloroquine, especially if you are certain risk groups. And very importantly there are some Clinical Trials going on right now involving hydroxychloroquine. So hopefully we will get a better answer soon. But we do need better treatments available. And i think we will hopefully be able to get there quickly. The fda, your former agency, issued a Public Statement saying it is not advisable, it is not going to prevent someone, necessarily, from goating coronavirus. You know from getting coronavirus. Sanjay a clearer picture is emerging from parts of the country