Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20

Africanamericans. Jim, the president is now trying to downplay the revelations in Bob Woodwards book but americans can hear what he said for themselves. Reporter that is right, wolf. President trump is facing new allegations he lied about the severity of the coronavirus in a new book legendary Journalist Bob Woodward lays out how the president privately acknowledged coronavirus was more deadly than the flu even as he said otherwise to the public. This time the president is on tape saying, quote, i wanted to always play it down. Sources tell Us White House aides were worried twa is a bad idea for mr. Trump to do these interviews with woodward fearing the book would be damaging to the president. President trumps lengthy record of false statements on the coronavirus may well be catching up with him. In writing his new book about the Trump Presidency rage Journalist Bob Woodward recorded the president admitting on tape he intentionally downplayed the severity of the virus i wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Yes. Because i dont want to create a panic. Reporter in responding to the book the president insisted he only wanted to keep people from panicking. A cheerleader for this country. I love our country. I dont want people to be frightened. I dont want to create panic. We want to show confidence. We want to show strength. Mr. Trump then argued he is not responsible for the approximately 190,000 americans who died from the virus i think if we didnt do what we did we would have had millions of people die. Reporter in a sign the white house was initially caught by surprise by the recordings White House Press secretary kale eeg mcenany tried to deny what was clearly caught on tape. The president never downplayed the virus. Once again the president expressed calm. Reporter mr. Trump acknowledges in early february that covid19 is more deadly than the seasonal flu. It goes through air, bob. Thats always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch you dont have to touch things, right . But the air you just breathe the air and thats how its passed. That is a very tricky one, a very delicate one. It is also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. Reporter yet on mouch 9th the president tweeted covid19 is not as dangerous as the flu as he held packed rallies during the early months of the pandemic the president told the public that the coronavirus would disappear. Its going to disappear one day. Its like a miracle. It will disappear. It will go away. You know it is going away. Reporter listen to what the president told woodward on march 19th that the virus poses a danger to americans young and old. Now it is turning out it is not just old people, bob, just today and yesterday some startling facts came out. Its not just older yeah, exactly. Plenty of young people. Reporter in the months that followed the president argued it was safe for children to go back to school. If you look at children, children are almost, and i would almost say definitely but almost immune from this disease. So few, theyve got stronger, hard to believe, i dont know how you feel about it, but they have much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this. And they do it, they dont have a problem. Reporter woodward reports top officials around mr. President trump raised questions about his leadership. Dr. Anthony fauci is said to have described the president s Attention Span like a minus number. His sole purpose is to get reelected. Fauci responded to that on fox. I dont really want to get involved in the kind of stuff that is very distracting to the kind of things im trying to do and were all trying to do with this outbreak. You would question that account . Yeah. Reporter woodward writes former defense secretary james mattis believes mr. Trump was dangerous and unfit. An aide overheard mr. Mattis say my f ing generals are a bunch of expletive. On the black lives Matter Movement the president blows off mr. Woodwards question about whether mr. Trump is blinded by white privilege. Do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent . As it put me, and i think lots of white, privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country . No. You really drank the koolaid. Listen to you. Wow. No, i dont feel bad at all. White house officials are now pointing fingers over who is to blame for allowing the president to talk to bob woodward. Multiple sources tell us the president and his soninlaw Jared Kushner signed off on the interviews. Kushner also spoke to woodward for the book. The president appears to only have himself to blame. As were told he went around his own press office to speak to the legendary journalist. Aides to the president had concerns and, quote, voiced them repeatedly that mr. Trump should not speak to mr. Woodward for this book we are told. Earlier this afternoon the president tried to change the subject as he held what was a thinly disguised Campaign Event here at the white house where he talked about his picks for the Supreme Court if he wins a second term in office. The president tried to coax reporters into avoiding the woodward book but the reporters asked about the revelations anyway forcing the president to acknowledge that, yes, he did intentionally downplay the virus. Wolf . Very, very dangerous indeed. Could have cost potentially thousands maybe tens of thousands of lives in the process. Jim acosta thank you very much. Joining us now our chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta and dr. Tom freden former director of the centers for Disease Control and prevention. Sanjay, you heard the president on tape admitting back in early february that the coronavirus was more deadly than even your strenuous flus as he called them. Just three weeks later you came here to washington. You attended a White House Press briefing. You pushed the president on this very subject. Let me play the exchange you had with him. Reporter with the flu in comparison to the coronavirus the flu has a fatality ratio of 0. 1 . This has a ratio of fatality between 2 and 3 . We dont know exactly. And the flu is higher than that. The flu is much higher than that. More people get the flu. This is spreading and is going to spread maybe within communities. It may. Does that worry you . No. That seems to be what worries the American People. No because were ready for it. It is what it is. Were ready for it. We are really prepared. We have as i said the greatest people in the world. We are very ready for it. We hope it doesnt spread. There is a chance it wont spread, too. And there is a chance that it will. Sanjay, the president knew on february 7th according to this tape that we now have of his conversation with bob woodward that the virus was airborne and deadly, yet that is how he answered your question. What is your reaction now, knowing what we all know . You know, i think since that time, wolf, going back to february 27th, i had always wondered did the president know and just wasnt telling us because the data was coming out at that point. The numbers i was citing to him were numbers that were in the medical journals. I thought that his health team, his Public Health team would probably brief him on that and he would know this. I didnt know whether he didnt know or he knew and he just was lying and not acknowledging what he knew at the time. Now i think it is pretty clear. 20 days earlier he says that the coronavirus is deadlier than the flu and even says five times deadlier than the flu which is very interesting. The data that was coming out around that time suggested it was around that number, so, clearly, you know, he had been briefed i think before he gave that interview to bob woodward or he had had a conversation with the president of china. I dont know how he got that. But, clearly. He knew three weeks earlier. Then when i asked him, he sailesailed, no, the flu is clearly much worse. That is a huge problem. We talk about this lost month of february, wolf. That is the time frame, february 7th, when he gave that interview to woodward. February 27th when you just heard that exchange with me. Could have saved a lot of lives if he had taken direct action in early february. The decision to publicly downplay the coronavirus, delay implementation of measures, social distancing, Wearing Masks, stuff like that ultimately cost a lot of american lives. We have no idea how many. But presumably some suggest tens of thousands, more than 190,000 americans have now died. 6. 3 americans have come down with coronavirus. Those numbers could have been way lower, right . I think without a doubt, wolf. Youre right. It is hard to know exactly how much lower we do know as you and i have talked about for so many months now, there are other countries such as south korea where the first patient was diagnosed on the same day the first person was diagnosed in the United States. Theyve had fewer than 350 people total die during this pandemic. Weve had over 190,000. So, you know, we could have implemented some of the same types of measures perhaps that other countries did and had a significantly lower death toll. Columbia university ill just show you this modeling quickly in may they sort of said, okay. Now if we look back and say, had we gone into this sort of pause mode earlier, even a week earlier, by that point and im talking again about in may they think it would have prevented at least 36,000 deaths. Two weeks earlier, 84 of deaths they say could have been prevented. Again, these are models but i think to your question, wolf, there is no question that a lot of lives could have been, the majority of lives could have been saved. Doctor, you are the former head of the cdc. Given what we now know about the president s knowledge of this virus back in early february, what should the federal response to this virus have looked like starting in february . Wolf, there is a proven way of communicating about health emergencies. Be first, be right, be credible, be empathetic, give people practical, useful things to do. If you think about those five things, none of them have been done, not first, not right, not credible, not empathetic, and not giving people things to do. What that means is we didnt start Wearing Masks when we should have. We didnt take it seriously. We didnt shut down soon enough in some places. Other places we shut down too soon too long. This has been a failed federal response. The u. S. Is a global laggard in our response. And were coming up to a new, really important decision. Vaccine. What are people going to think when people talk about the vaccine . We have to be able to trust or we cant control the pandemic. And for epidemics those key principles of being honest and telling people what you know, when you know it, thats essential not just for the talking point. That is essential for what people do to stop the spread of a deadly virus. Dr. Frieden, dr. Fauci, a man you know, a man sanjay knows well, i know him, he is quoted in Bob Woodwards book as telling others that President Trumps leadership in his word was rudderless and he reiterated yesterday that public trust is absolutely essential to combatting this health crisis. If you are going to convince people to wear a mask, stay home, social distance, get a vaccine, all of those things, dr. Frieden, require public trust and cooperation yet we now know the president has been actually misleading the American Public since the very beginning of this outbreak. How damaging is that . Well, for many months many of us in Public Health have been totally surprised to see the lack of concerted, focused, federal leadership in communication, in planning, in guiding the response. This is the biggest Public Health emergency in a hundred years. The federal government drilled for this. Was ready for this. In fact, if you look at the things that the cdc was saying at that time, they were accurate and honest. They were saying disruption to every day life may be severe. We have to behave as if this is a pandemic. We have to be humble because there is a lot we dont know about this virus. That was accurate. If they had been allowed to continue to lead the public communication, we would have understood why it is important to wear masks. We would have understood why it is important to shut down and been able to open up earlier. It would have saved both lives and money. Sanjay, dr. Fauci is quoted in the book by bob woodward of being very critical of the president s Attention Span. How important is it to have a leader who actually pays attention to all of the very important details during a Public Health crisis like this . Well, i think it goes without saying. It is incredibly important to really look at all these details and be able to consolidate them into some sort of plan. I will say, and tom frieden is here, during the ebola outbreak, you know, he was front and center every single day or seemed like just about every day talking about the things he just mentioned really instilling that sense of trust. So it is clearly important for the president to have significant command over these details and make decisions but i think also i mean to allow the Public Health experts to be out front on this stuff and actually be talking about it on a daily basis. No one likes bad news. But the idea that you present the bad news with a plan, here is the bad news but heres what were going to do about it. It is what we doctors do all the time and in some ways the same thing that should have been done here. So i think, you know, we saw the same thing with Richard Boeser who you know well during h 1 n 1. That is probably what needed to have been done but we still havent seen that. And there is still stuff that needs to be done that potentially could save thousands of american lives. Dr. Gupta, dr. Frieden, to both of you thanks very, very much. Just ahead joe biden responds to the revelation about President Trumps downplaying of the coronavirus in an exclusive interview with cnns jake tapper. Well be right back. Now is the time for a new bath from bath fitter. Every bath fitter bath is installed quickly, safely, and beautifully, with a lifetime warranty. Go from old to new. From worn to wow. The beautiful bath youve always wanted, done right, installed by one expert technician, all in one day. Weve been creating moments like these for 35 years, and were here to help you get started. Book your free virtual or inhome Design Consultation today. New garlique healthy Blood Pressure formula helps maintain healthy Blood Pressure with a custom blend of ingredients. Im taking charge, with garlique. Back with breaking news President Trump now admitting he downplayed the risk of coronavirus despite knowing back in early february how deadly it could be. Were getting reaction from joe biden to the stunning revelation in Bob Woodwards brand new book biden sitting down a little while ago for an exclusive interview with cnns jake tapper. Mr. Vice president thanks so much for doing this. Happy to do it. Reporter so big, breaking news. In his upcoming book bob woodward reports that President Trump understood the serious risk posed by the Novel Coronavirus in early february. Take a look at what the president told woodward february 7th. You just breathe the air. Thats how it is passed. So that is a very tricky one, a very delicate one. Its also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff. Reporter as you know the president spent much of february and even march downplaying the risk of the Novel Coronavirus saying it would disappear saying the heat would make it go away. What is your response to this news about what he was telling bob woodward on february 7th . Disgusting. We learn this on a day that 190,000 americans are dead and he knew this . I understand he had just gotten off the phone when he did the first interview with woodward he had just gotten off the phone with xi jinping where he is praising him about transparency and this is nothing to worry about and this is going to go away like a miracle. What in gods name would a man like i dont get it. I truly dont get it. Its like what he the way he talks about our veterans. I mean, its astounding to me. Reporter the way that President Trump explains it and he said this to woodward on march 19th if you take a listen i wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Yes, sir. Because i dont want to create a panic. Reporter he said something similar this afternoon. He said he didnt want to create a panic. Thats why he downplayed it. He said leadership is about confidence. Yeah. Thats why we have no confidence in his leadership. I mean, look. You saw what Columbia Medical School pointed out in march. Had he acted one week earlier there would be over 31,000 more people alive. Two weeks earlier would have been 50 some thousand still alive. This caused people to die. What did he do the whole time . He acknowledged that if you breathed it, its in the air, and he wont put on a mask. Hes talking about its ridiculous to put on masks. What do you need social distancing for . Why have any of these rules . It was all about making sure the stock market didnt come down, that his wealthy friends didnt lose any money, and that he could say that, in fact, anything that happened had nothing to do with him. He waved a white flag. He walked away. He didnt do a damn thing. Think about it. Think about what he did not do. And its almost criminal. You can hear all of jakes exclusive interview with joe biden on cnns the lead tomorrow, 4 00 p. M. Eastern. Right now lets turn to another bombshell in Bob Woodwards<\/a> book but americans can hear what he said for themselves. Reporter that is right, wolf. President trump is facing new allegations he lied about the severity of the coronavirus in a new book legendary Journalist Bob Woodward<\/a> lays out how the president privately acknowledged coronavirus was more deadly than the flu even as he said otherwise to the public. This time the president is on tape saying, quote, i wanted to always play it down. Sources tell Us White House<\/a> aides were worried twa is a bad idea for mr. Trump to do these interviews with woodward fearing the book would be damaging to the president. President trumps lengthy record of false statements on the coronavirus may well be catching up with him. In writing his new book about the Trump Presidency<\/a> rage Journalist Bob Woodward<\/a> recorded the president admitting on tape he intentionally downplayed the severity of the virus i wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Yes. Because i dont want to create a panic. Reporter in responding to the book the president insisted he only wanted to keep people from panicking. A cheerleader for this country. I love our country. I dont want people to be frightened. I dont want to create panic. We want to show confidence. We want to show strength. Mr. Trump then argued he is not responsible for the approximately 190,000 americans who died from the virus i think if we didnt do what we did we would have had millions of people die. Reporter in a sign the white house was initially caught by surprise by the recordings White House Press<\/a> secretary kale eeg mcenany tried to deny what was clearly caught on tape. The president never downplayed the virus. Once again the president expressed calm. Reporter mr. Trump acknowledges in early february that covid19 is more deadly than the seasonal flu. It goes through air, bob. Thats always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch you dont have to touch things, right . But the air you just breathe the air and thats how its passed. That is a very tricky one, a very delicate one. It is also more deadly than even your strenuous flus. Reporter yet on mouch 9th the president tweeted covid19 is not as dangerous as the flu as he held packed rallies during the early months of the pandemic the president told the public that the coronavirus would disappear. Its going to disappear one day. Its like a miracle. It will disappear. It will go away. You know it is going away. Reporter listen to what the president told woodward on march 19th that the virus poses a danger to americans young and old. Now it is turning out it is not just old people, bob, just today and yesterday some startling facts came out. Its not just older yeah, exactly. Plenty of young people. Reporter in the months that followed the president argued it was safe for children to go back to school. If you look at children, children are almost, and i would almost say definitely but almost immune from this disease. So few, theyve got stronger, hard to believe, i dont know how you feel about it, but they have much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this. And they do it, they dont have a problem. Reporter woodward reports top officials around mr. President trump raised questions about his leadership. Dr. Anthony fauci is said to have described the president s Attention Span<\/a> like a minus number. His sole purpose is to get reelected. Fauci responded to that on fox. I dont really want to get involved in the kind of stuff that is very distracting to the kind of things im trying to do and were all trying to do with this outbreak. You would question that account . Yeah. Reporter woodward writes former defense secretary james mattis believes mr. Trump was dangerous and unfit. An aide overheard mr. Mattis say my f ing generals are a bunch of expletive. On the black lives Matter Movement<\/a> the president blows off mr. Woodwards question about whether mr. Trump is blinded by white privilege. Do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent . As it put me, and i think lots of white, privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country . No. You really drank the koolaid. Listen to you. Wow. No, i dont feel bad at all. White house officials are now pointing fingers over who is to blame for allowing the president to talk to bob woodward. Multiple sources tell us the president and his soninlaw Jared Kushner<\/a> signed off on the interviews. Kushner also spoke to woodward for the book. The president appears to only have himself to blame. As were told he went around his own press office to speak to the legendary journalist. Aides to the president had concerns and, quote, voiced them repeatedly that mr. Trump should not speak to mr. Woodward for this book we are told. Earlier this afternoon the president tried to change the subject as he held what was a thinly disguised Campaign Event<\/a> here at the white house where he talked about his picks for the Supreme Court<\/a> if he wins a second term in office. The president tried to coax reporters into avoiding the woodward book but the reporters asked about the revelations anyway forcing the president to acknowledge that, yes, he did intentionally downplay the virus. Wolf . Very, very dangerous indeed. Could have cost potentially thousands maybe tens of thousands of lives in the process. Jim acosta thank you very much. Joining us now our chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta and dr. Tom freden former director of the centers for Disease Control<\/a> and prevention. Sanjay, you heard the president on tape admitting back in early february that the coronavirus was more deadly than even your strenuous flus as he called them. Just three weeks later you came here to washington. You attended a White House Press<\/a> briefing. You pushed the president on this very subject. Let me play the exchange you had with him. Reporter with the flu in comparison to the coronavirus the flu has a fatality ratio of 0. 1 . This has a ratio of fatality between 2 and 3 . We dont know exactly. And the flu is higher than that. The flu is much higher than that. More people get the flu. This is spreading and is going to spread maybe within communities. It may. Does that worry you . No. That seems to be what worries the American People<\/a>. No because were ready for it. It is what it is. Were ready for it. We are really prepared. We have as i said the greatest people in the world. We are very ready for it. We hope it doesnt spread. There is a chance it wont spread, too. And there is a chance that it will. Sanjay, the president knew on february 7th according to this tape that we now have of his conversation with bob woodward that the virus was airborne and deadly, yet that is how he answered your question. What is your reaction now, knowing what we all know . You know, i think since that time, wolf, going back to february 27th, i had always wondered did the president know and just wasnt telling us because the data was coming out at that point. The numbers i was citing to him were numbers that were in the medical journals. I thought that his health team, his Public Health<\/a> team would probably brief him on that and he would know this. I didnt know whether he didnt know or he knew and he just was lying and not acknowledging what he knew at the time. Now i think it is pretty clear. 20 days earlier he says that the coronavirus is deadlier than the flu and even says five times deadlier than the flu which is very interesting. The data that was coming out around that time suggested it was around that number, so, clearly, you know, he had been briefed i think before he gave that interview to bob woodward or he had had a conversation with the president of china. I dont know how he got that. But, clearly. He knew three weeks earlier. Then when i asked him, he sailesailed, no, the flu is clearly much worse. That is a huge problem. We talk about this lost month of february, wolf. That is the time frame, february 7th, when he gave that interview to woodward. February 27th when you just heard that exchange with me. Could have saved a lot of lives if he had taken direct action in early february. The decision to publicly downplay the coronavirus, delay implementation of measures, social distancing, Wearing Masks<\/a>, stuff like that ultimately cost a lot of american lives. We have no idea how many. But presumably some suggest tens of thousands, more than 190,000 americans have now died. 6. 3 americans have come down with coronavirus. Those numbers could have been way lower, right . I think without a doubt, wolf. Youre right. It is hard to know exactly how much lower we do know as you and i have talked about for so many months now, there are other countries such as south korea where the first patient was diagnosed on the same day the first person was diagnosed in the United States<\/a>. Theyve had fewer than 350 people total die during this pandemic. Weve had over 190,000. So, you know, we could have implemented some of the same types of measures perhaps that other countries did and had a significantly lower death toll. Columbia university ill just show you this modeling quickly in may they sort of said, okay. Now if we look back and say, had we gone into this sort of pause mode earlier, even a week earlier, by that point and im talking again about in may they think it would have prevented at least 36,000 deaths. Two weeks earlier, 84 of deaths they say could have been prevented. Again, these are models but i think to your question, wolf, there is no question that a lot of lives could have been, the majority of lives could have been saved. Doctor, you are the former head of the cdc. Given what we now know about the president s knowledge of this virus back in early february, what should the federal response to this virus have looked like starting in february . Wolf, there is a proven way of communicating about health emergencies. Be first, be right, be credible, be empathetic, give people practical, useful things to do. If you think about those five things, none of them have been done, not first, not right, not credible, not empathetic, and not giving people things to do. What that means is we didnt start Wearing Masks<\/a> when we should have. We didnt take it seriously. We didnt shut down soon enough in some places. Other places we shut down too soon too long. This has been a failed federal response. The u. S. Is a global laggard in our response. And were coming up to a new, really important decision. Vaccine. What are people going to think when people talk about the vaccine . We have to be able to trust or we cant control the pandemic. And for epidemics those key principles of being honest and telling people what you know, when you know it, thats essential not just for the talking point. That is essential for what people do to stop the spread of a deadly virus. Dr. Frieden, dr. Fauci, a man you know, a man sanjay knows well, i know him, he is quoted in Bob Woodwards<\/a> book as telling others that President Trump<\/a>s leadership in his word was rudderless and he reiterated yesterday that public trust is absolutely essential to combatting this health crisis. If you are going to convince people to wear a mask, stay home, social distance, get a vaccine, all of those things, dr. Frieden, require public trust and cooperation yet we now know the president has been actually misleading the American Public<\/a> since the very beginning of this outbreak. How damaging is that . Well, for many months many of us in Public Health<\/a> have been totally surprised to see the lack of concerted, focused, federal leadership in communication, in planning, in guiding the response. This is the biggest Public Health<\/a> emergency in a hundred years. The federal government drilled for this. Was ready for this. In fact, if you look at the things that the cdc was saying at that time, they were accurate and honest. They were saying disruption to every day life may be severe. We have to behave as if this is a pandemic. We have to be humble because there is a lot we dont know about this virus. That was accurate. If they had been allowed to continue to lead the public communication, we would have understood why it is important to wear masks. We would have understood why it is important to shut down and been able to open up earlier. It would have saved both lives and money. Sanjay, dr. Fauci is quoted in the book by bob woodward of being very critical of the president s Attention Span<\/a>. How important is it to have a leader who actually pays attention to all of the very important details during a Public Health<\/a> crisis like this . Well, i think it goes without saying. It is incredibly important to really look at all these details and be able to consolidate them into some sort of plan. I will say, and tom frieden is here, during the ebola outbreak, you know, he was front and center every single day or seemed like just about every day talking about the things he just mentioned really instilling that sense of trust. So it is clearly important for the president to have significant command over these details and make decisions but i think also i mean to allow the Public Health<\/a> experts to be out front on this stuff and actually be talking about it on a daily basis. No one likes bad news. But the idea that you present the bad news with a plan, here is the bad news but heres what were going to do about it. It is what we doctors do all the time and in some ways the same thing that should have been done here. So i think, you know, we saw the same thing with Richard Boeser<\/a> who you know well during h 1 n 1. That is probably what needed to have been done but we still havent seen that. And there is still stuff that needs to be done that potentially could save thousands of american lives. Dr. Gupta, dr. Frieden, to both of you thanks very, very much. Just ahead joe biden responds to the revelation about President Trump<\/a>s downplaying of the coronavirus in an exclusive interview with cnns jake tapper. Well be right back. Now is the time for a new bath from bath fitter. Every bath fitter bath is installed quickly, safely, and beautifully, with a lifetime warranty. Go from old to new. From worn to wow. The beautiful bath youve always wanted, done right, installed by one expert technician, all in one day. Weve been creating moments like these for 35 years, and were here to help you get started. Book your free virtual or inhome Design Consultation<\/a> today. New garlique healthy Blood Pressure<\/a> formula helps maintain healthy Blood Pressure<\/a> with a custom blend of ingredients. Im taking charge, with garlique. Back with breaking news President Trump<\/a> now admitting he downplayed the risk of coronavirus despite knowing back in early february how deadly it could be. Were getting reaction from joe biden to the stunning revelation in Bob Woodwards<\/a> brand new book biden sitting down a little while ago for an exclusive interview with cnns jake tapper. Mr. Vice president thanks so much for doing this. Happy to do it. Reporter so big, breaking news. In his upcoming book bob woodward reports that President Trump<\/a> understood the serious risk posed by the Novel Coronavirus<\/a> in early february. Take a look at what the president told woodward february 7th. You just breathe the air. Thats how it is passed. So that is a very tricky one, a very delicate one. Its also more deadly than your, you know, even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff. Reporter as you know the president spent much of february and even march downplaying the risk of the Novel Coronavirus<\/a> saying it would disappear saying the heat would make it go away. What is your response to this news about what he was telling bob woodward on february 7th . Disgusting. We learn this on a day that 190,000 americans are dead and he knew this . I understand he had just gotten off the phone when he did the first interview with woodward he had just gotten off the phone with xi jinping where he is praising him about transparency and this is nothing to worry about and this is going to go away like a miracle. What in gods name would a man like i dont get it. I truly dont get it. Its like what he the way he talks about our veterans. I mean, its astounding to me. Reporter the way that President Trump<\/a> explains it and he said this to woodward on march 19th if you take a listen i wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down. Yes, sir. Because i dont want to create a panic. Reporter he said something similar this afternoon. He said he didnt want to create a panic. Thats why he downplayed it. He said leadership is about confidence. Yeah. Thats why we have no confidence in his leadership. I mean, look. You saw what Columbia Medical School<\/a> pointed out in march. Had he acted one week earlier there would be over 31,000 more people alive. Two weeks earlier would have been 50 some thousand still alive. This caused people to die. What did he do the whole time . He acknowledged that if you breathed it, its in the air, and he wont put on a mask. Hes talking about its ridiculous to put on masks. What do you need social distancing for . Why have any of these rules . It was all about making sure the stock market didnt come down, that his wealthy friends didnt lose any money, and that he could say that, in fact, anything that happened had nothing to do with him. He waved a white flag. He walked away. He didnt do a damn thing. Think about it. Think about what he did not do. And its almost criminal. You can hear all of jakes exclusive interview with joe biden on cnns the lead tomorrow, 4 00 p. M. Eastern. Right now lets turn to another bombshell in Bob Woodwards<\/a> brand new book President Trump<\/a>s admitted lack of interest in understanding the pain and anger felt by many africanamericans. Listen to the president in his own words in a recorded interview with bob woodward. But let me ask you this. I mean, we share one thing in common. Were white privileged who my father was a lawyer and the judge in illinois and we know what your dad did and do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent . As it put me and i think lots of white privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out to understand the anger and the pain particularly black people feel in this country . No. You really drank the koolaid, didnt you . Listen to you. Wow. No, i dont feel bad at all. Lets discuss what we just heard with the mayor of Atlanta Keisha<\/a> lance bottoms. Mayor bottoms, thank you so much for joining us. You just heard the president in his own words say he doesnt feel any pressure to examine his own white privilege. So what is your response when you hear that from the president of the United States<\/a> . Therein lies the issue that we have in this country right now. There is no moral leadership from the white house. This is a man who has an inability to empathize. This is a man who doesnt understand where we are in 2020 and doesnt even have the selfawareness to take a step back and understand why people across this country are frustrated. My blood is boiling, wolf. To hear it in his own words, it is despicable. My husband began today getting an mri because he still awakes with debilitating headaches almost two months after having covid. 190,000 people in this country have died. People are still suffering. People are out of work. And this man downplayed a pandemic and we are suffering the consequences. If the American People<\/a> dont understand that elections have consequences in our response to this pandemic and this racial reckoning and crisis that we are having in this country in large part is due to the leadership of the man who sits in the white house, then god help us all. Your husband is still suffering, sadly, from coronavirus. You had coronavirus. Your son had coronavirus. The president has now weve learned in early february, he knew how dangerous and potentially deadly it was but he said he didnt want to panic the American People<\/a> by telling us how bad it really could be. When you heard that audiotape of his interview with bob woodward today, give us a little bit more on your reaction because for you and your family it is very personal. Well, he downplayed it and not only that he influenced leaders across this country to also downplay it. I immediately thought back to one of the first conversations that i had with our governor, on coronavirus. And his comparison with it with the flu. While the president may have known he was misleading others, i dont know that the leaders that he was misleading knew that they were being misled. So at this point weve heard it. He misled the American People<\/a>. He misled governors across this country. People have died. We now have all of the information that we need. So maybe this is an opportunity for us as a country to press reset for those who are not listening to the scientists and to the Health Experts<\/a> and now take this opportunity to listen to the experts on this because you cannot listen to the president of the United States<\/a>. Because if everybody started wearing 95 of the American Public<\/a> wore a mask, thousands, tens of thousands of americans will be alive at the end of this year as opposed to being dead from coronavirus. Lets get back to the issue of race. Youve seen unrest in your city, mayor, as our nation has experienced a moment of reckoning around Racial Injustice<\/a> in our country. Bob woodward reports the president says he has done a tremendous amount for the black community but hes not feeling any love. It sounds like he views this as a transaction, as a business deal, doesnt it . And we know what type of businessman hes always been. Hes been a failure as a businessman. If you dont have the ability in 2020, with what we have seen play out, the way weve seen injustices play out before our eyes, the way weve seen people pour out into our streets to cry out for Something Different<\/a> in this country, if you dont feel moved by that, i think it confirms the worst of all that we think of this president. He is incapable of showing empathy. He is incapable of leading us as a country. But again, wolf, ive said this to you before. We know the beauty of our democracy is that we get an opportunity to correct. There is an opportunity in november for the American People<\/a> to elect joe biden and Kamala Harris<\/a> to lead this country. We cannot look to this president for leadership because he is incapable of offering leadership to us. Until we have more leadership in the white house, we will not get to the other side of these social justice issues that we are confronting in our cities because it takes coordination and it takes belief that we can do better. This is the man who doesnt wish anything better for us as a country. Speaking of the democratic Vice President<\/a> ial nominee senator Kamala Harris<\/a>, last night the president said that if she were ever to become president of the United States<\/a> it would be in his words an insult to our country. An insult to our country. This is certainly not the first time he has attacked women of color but what is your response when you heard him say that about Kamala Harris<\/a> . I think its despicable. This is a woman who is a sitting senator in this country, who certainly is qualified to be the Vice President<\/a> of the United States<\/a>, and for him to make these personal attacks just really speaks to the small mindedness that he displays to us each and every day. But its very personal for him because he has articulated that he wishes that his daughter would be the first president , female president of the United States<\/a>. So it is no surprise that he is going to try and discount her leadership and her standing but, again, we have an opportunity to counter that by voting in november. And it is my hope that for each person whos not registered to vote that they will do that today. And that they will vote and they will also fill out their census form because our census is important and what we know is that the president is attempting to disrupt the census in the same way that he is attempting to disrupt the election in november. Please wish your husband our very, very best. Hopefully he is going to have eventually a speedy recovery. I know you and your family have gone through a lot as a result of this coronavirus. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms<\/a> of atlanta, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Bob woodwards new book also recounts how President Trump<\/a> slammed his military generals and admirals using vulgar language to accuse them of being weak. Joining us, a senator and u. S. Veteran Tammy Duckworth<\/a> who just delivered a scathing set of remarks on the u. S. Senate floor about the president s disrespect for wounded warriors. Senator, thank you so much for joining us. What is your response to the president in the wake of these repeated and very offensive comments he makes about u. S. Service members like you who have made great sacrifices for our country . Well, you know, whether or not he said what he said in the atlantic article we know it is very much in keeping with the things he has said in the past. After all, you know, he said terrible things about senator mccain, about how he was not a hero for having been captured in vietnam. And now the things that he has actually said over the weekend about generals, about leaders in the pentagon, you know, whose real duty is to lead our troops into battle and watch out for their training and to safeguard their well being. He accuses them of loving war and profiteering. This president is not fit to be commanderinchief. He time and again has disrespected our troops, our military families, and he continues to not provide our veterans with the support that they need to recover from the wounds and the injuries they have from their military service. You speak as an iraq war veteran, purple heart recipient at the same time. Bob woodward, senator, also gives yet another account of the president s comments about military leaders in his new book writing, and let me quote from what the president said, he said this. My fing generals are a bunch of ps. They care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals. The president likes to say he has Great Respect<\/a> for the u. S. Military but does this sound to you like a commanderinchief who respects the armed forces not at all. It sounds to me like a failed commanderinchief. I call him the cowardinchief. He is a man who does not value courage because he himself is a coward. He is a man who does not value loyalty because he himself shows no loyalty to others. He is a man who continues to call our troops terrible things. He called our war dead losers and suckers for having laid down their lives in defense of our nation. This man is not fit to be commanderinchief for another four minutes let alone another four years. Bob woodward also in his new book reports that former u. S. Defense secretary retired general jim mattis said President Trump<\/a> was in his words dangerous, unfit, and lacked a moral compass. He also writes that the former director of National Intelligence<\/a> dan coats believed russia actually had something on the president. How concerning are these revelations in this book, revelations from Top Trump Administration<\/a> officials . Deeply concerning but ive often wondered myself, wolf, what Vladimir Putin<\/a> has on donald trump. Why is it that he would take putins word . Why is it that he would believe putin over that of our own Intelligence Community<\/a> . Why has he not confronted putin for the alleged bounties that he has placed on our troops heads in afghanistan . You know, ive asked the department of defense. Ive asked this president. Why have you not conducted an investigation to see if any of the deaths of our troops in afghanistan has been as a result of bounties placed on their heads by russia . And theyve refused to even conduct this investigation. I have to answer to families and again, President Trump<\/a> doesnt care about gold star families. He denigrated them. I wonder what exactly does Vladimir Putin<\/a> have on donald trump . What is the answer they give you . There are no answers from this president. In fact, he continues to try to confuse the American People<\/a> and try to basically gas light us. But you know what . Those of us here in the senate, we democrats will stand up to him. We will hold him accountable. We will call him out when he does not support our troops. He is supposed to be the commanderinchief. He is supposed to be safeguarding our troops. He is supposed to be looking out for our military families. He is supposed to be caring for those who have borne the battle and he has done none of those. Instead he continues to take the word of a foreign adversary russia and its autocratic leader putin over that of americans and that is shameful i remember when i was in helsinki at the summit between President Trump<\/a> and putin, at that News Conference<\/a> that they had, the president said he agrees, he sides with putin over the objections of the u. S. Intelligence community including the director of National Intelligence<\/a> dan coats at that time. It was a Pretty Amazing<\/a> moment. You remember that moment dont you . I very much remember that moment. Remember, this man is in charge of our military. If he is not willing to ask putin why, whether or not he has actually put bounties on american troops heads he does not deserve to be commanderinchief of our military. Our military families deserve better than a commanderinchief who is subservient to some other nations leader and, frankly, our troops deserve far better than this president who himself dodged the draft five different times in vietnam and compared his own bouts of trying to avoid venereal disease to his own personal vietnam. This man is shameful and a disgrace. Senator Tammy Duckworth<\/a>, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Just ahead well break down a whistleblowers disturbing claim he was told to stop providing intelligence reports on russian interference because it would make the president look bad. Well be right back. Priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. combative yelling he used to have bad breath. Now, he uses a capful of therabreath fresh breath oral rinse to keep his breath smelling great, all day long. combative yelling therabreath, its a better mouthwash. At walmart, target and other fine stores. I had moderatetoseveres rheumatoid arthritis. Therabreath, its a better mouthwash. Ive always been the ringleader had a zest for life. Flash forward, then ra kept me from the important things. And what my doctor said surprised me. She said my joint pain could mean permanent joint damage. And enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop that joint damage. Ask about enbrel so you can get back to being your true self. Enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and Blood Disorders<\/a> and allergic reactions have occurred. Tell your doctor if youve been someplace where fungal infections are common. Or if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores have had hepatitis b, have been treated for Heart Failure<\/a> or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Visit enbrel. Com to see how your joint damage could progress. Enbrel fda approved for over 20 years. Following multiple breaking stories here in the situation room bombshell excerpts and audiotapes from Bob Woodwards<\/a> new book and were learning more about why a major drug maker halted trials of its coronavirus vaccine. Lets bring in dr. Peter hotez. Thanks as usual for joining us. Lets talk about this drug maker astrazeneca. Oxford university now confirming theres been what they call a second pause in their vaccine trial. Dr. Fauci says that while this pause is unfortunate, it shows actually that the system is working. Is that how we should view this setback . Yes. I think so. This is a large 30,000person trial. The point is it can capture rare events. What weve seen now with the Oxford Astrazeneca<\/a> vaccine is that one individual woman experienced a condition known as transverse myolitis inflammation of the spinal cord. It happens after an infection. It can happen in association with multiple sclerosis. We dont know a lot about the true cause of it but it seems to trigger an auto immune response and the question is whether that is related to the vaccine. There was actually a second episode of multiple sclerosis according to a report with the vaccine. So were still learning more about this. We have to remember that when you see rare events in 30,000 people think of it this way. Think of it like a city of 30,000 people and things are happening all the time in a city of that size. So the question is, is this related to the vaccine or not . And the better part of caution is to interrupt the trial and try to really parce out what exactly happened and see if there is any relationship. I am told, dr. Hotez, this inflammation of the spinal cord potentially is a very, very serious issue right now, that it potentially could even lead to death. What can you tell us about that . Well, transverse myolitis is arm weakness or limb weakness, it can cause bladder and bowel dysfunction, sensory problems. Most of the time it does resolve but sometimes people can have permanent or long lasting injury. We wish her well and now weve got to really look to see whether there is a link with the vaccine. It is a reminder of why we dont want to rush clinical trials, why we need big trials to get a full understanding of the safety profile of the vaccine. And so americans should feel reassured that that is in fact what happening. Were not trying to rush this under the gun. How do they determine, dr. Hotez if the inflammation of the spinal cord was the result of the vaccine or some other cause . Well, one of the ways to do it is to look at the timing and see if the timing makes sense, whether that is a possibility. And sometimes we never really sort it out. Because people are getting vaccinated all the time and people do get transverse myolitis so the real answer is if this is a oneoff event that i think the American Public<\/a> can feel reassured. If there are multiple events then that is a very different story. There are other things we can do. We can look at the type of antibodies that are occurring in association with transverse myolitis. We have ways of doing that and looking at the type of inflammation, so the neurologists have a number of different protocols they can follow. Sometimes you never fully resolve it. And you hope that this is just a oneoff entity or twooff entity and after this were not going to see additional cases. We clearly did the right thing by taking a pause right now to determine what happened. Absolutely. As usual we are grateful for your expertise. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, wolf. Just ahead a new whistleblower complaint alleges Top Trump Administration<\/a> officials directed intelligence reports to be altered to please the president. The lexus es. Every curve, every innovation, every feeling. A product of mastery. Lease the 2020 es 350 for 359 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Gimme two minutes. Eligible for medicare. Experience amazing and ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza. [mmm pizza. ] is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 percent. Medicare will pay for. Whats left. This slice here. Well. Thats on you. And thats where an aarp Medicare Supplement<\/a> insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company<\/a> comes in. This type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. 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Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Astrazene. We have more breaking news this hour involving a whistleblower complaint by a former Homeland Security<\/a> official. He says he was actually told to stop providing intelligence reports on russian interference in the United States<\/a> because it would make President Trump<\/a>, quote, look bad. Were joined by our senior justice correspondent evan perez. Tell us more about this whistleblower complaint. What is he alleging . His name is brian murphy, and he served in a top position in the Intelligence Section<\/a> of the Homeland Security<\/a> department. And one of the things they do is they produce these intelligence assessments that they send out to state and local governments with information, for instance, on the russia threat. And ill read you just a part of what he says. He says back in mid may, the acting secretary of dhs, chad wolf, asked him to cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of russian interference in the United States<\/a> and instead start reporting on the interference activities by china and iran. The president doesnt want to hear about the threat from russia. Weve seen this from the white house and other officials in the government. Theyve been emphasizing the threat from iran, from china, which is obviously a threat. But the russia threat is one they dont want to hear about. Theres also an allegation, evan, about playing up the threat from antifa. What about that . Thats right. Part of what, wolf, what brian murphy is saying in his complaint to the Homeland Security<\/a> inspeck sor general, wolf, is that one of the instructions he had from top officials was to minimize the threat from White Supremacists<\/a> and people who might be supporters of the president. Instead, what they wanted to see emphasized was the threat from leftist groups like antifa and anarchists. This is something weve seen in other parts of the government from other officials in the administration, including from the white house. The president has made a point of making a big deal about the threat from antifa and anarchists who are doing some of the protests and some of the destruction surrounding the protest in the wake of the george floyd murder. Barr, evan, he told me last l week, he emphasized the threat from antifa. He emphasized the threat from china over russia when it comes to interference in the u. S. President ial election. So, this is not just over at the department of Homeland Security<\/a>, right . Thats right, wolf. You know, one of the things we see is that the throughout the administration, we see an effort by officials, including by the attorney general to make sure that their statements are aligned with what the president says and not necessarily reflecting what the intelligence and what the information theyre getting from the professionals in their agencies. So, weve seen this repeatedly, especially with regard to antifa, the antifa protesters and their role in the protest in the wake of gorge floyds killing that they wanted to talk about the role of antifa, even though weve seen a lot more cases, wolf, brought against white wing extremist groups like the movement folks and instead focusing more on the threat from anarchists and from antifa. Weve seen this repeatedly from him and from others in the administration. And theres an assessment that White Supremacists<\/a> potentially represent a greater threat. Is that right . Reporter thats right. Thats one of the produced an assessment that said there was a greater threat from White Supremacists<\/a>. That report, by the way, has been stifled according to murphy because it did not fit with what the administration has been saying. Its all serious stuff, indeed. Evan perez, thank you very much for that. Well have much more news after this. Ial the hand modelsenges to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressives home quote explorer. International hand model jonjon gets personal. Your wayward pinky is grotesque. Then a high stakes pattycake Battle Royale<\/a> ends in triumph. You have the upper hands its a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. Only on the upper hands. To show up. For the sweet. The hectic. The tender. The tense. And the fiery. But for many, migraine keeps them. From saying. I am here. We aim to change that. With. 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Finally tonight as we try to do every night, we honor some of the truly wonderful people who lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic. David lopez alvarado, jr. , of texas, married father. He was a talented musician, playing in bands for over 40 years. David was said to complete a University Degree<\/a> next year with plans to become a special education teacher. Lucia of new york was 77. She worked as a nurses aide for 40 years bringing love and joy to her patients. Lucia loves knitting and gardening and was an active member of her church. She leaves behind three children and her husband of 48 years. May they rest in peace, and may their memories being a blessing. Thanks very much for watching. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Erin Burnett Outfront<\/a> starts erin Burnett Outfront<\/a> starts right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com outfrontnext, trump on tape, the president in his own words admitting he deliberately misled the American People<\/a> and down played the coronavirus, his words. How many lives did that cost . Plus the white house in full on damage control, pointing fingers. Why did trumps advisers allow him to speak to a journalist whose last book was so damaging in the first place. He is the reporter republicans to turn to, now he says trump is dead wrong about voter fraud. Lets go outfront. Good evening to you all. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, the president in his own words","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801704.us.archive.org\/10\/items\/CNNW_20200909_220000_The_Situation_Room_With_Wolf_Blitzer\/CNNW_20200909_220000_The_Situation_Room_With_Wolf_Blitzer.thumbs\/CNNW_20200909_220000_The_Situation_Room_With_Wolf_Blitzer_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240619T12:35:10+00:00"}