The threat of the virus for about the first week of april. Today he advocated maskwearing. He warned the American Public its going to get worse before it gets better all appropriate warnings for about the first week of april. And because mainstream media, network, and print were tonight full of straightfaced, unironic and casually normalizing stories about the president s new tone, they called it, and because covering president s and presenting their quotes in the old way went out with those old president s, and because this matters at a time with 140,000 dead, a virus out of control, and now ripping through states like utah, it is fair to presume, as some already have, the president is hoping the electorate forgets that he was an early and consistent coronavirus denier he is hoping the electorate somehow forgets the six months that led up to today and how he has sought to diminish the threat at just about every turn. Were finding very little problem, very little problem now, you treat this like a flu the democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. This is their new hoax what would people gain from wearing a mask, and why are you opposed to wearing one yourself . I just dont want to wear one myself yeah, no, i dont take responsibility at all. The number of coronavirus cases in the u. S. Now approaching 4 million. Infections have been surging across the sun belt especially for weeks. Tonight the president said this. Some areas of our country are doing very well. Others are doing less well it will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better, something i dont like saying about things, but thats the way it is. Thats the way thats what we have the president spoke alone in the briefing room. Remember, this was billed as a White House Coronavirus briefing, the first since april. He brought charts but no expertise with him, no fauci, not even birx, no mike pence, the chairman of the task force, to thank the president for his extraordinary leadership, though trump was asked about the experts. Why are your doctors not here with you today wheres dr. Fauci, dr. Birx . Well, dr. Birx is right outside. Some 80,000 americans have died since the last White House Briefing on the virus. Its the largest Public Health crisis of the modern era, nothing close. The president now acknowledging the safeguards that states moved away from in their rush to open back up. My administration will stop at nothing to save lives and shield the vulnerable. Were asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask. Get a mask whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact weve done more testing by far than anybody were doing massive numbers, and the numbers are coming down. The virus will disappear it will disappear. I think that i always like to say as, you know, either way when you look at it, the governors are working with me. Im working with the governor. Were working hand in hand i think were all responsible. Yesterday you tweeted out an image wearing a mask, and then last evening we saw you not wearing a mask at your hotel. Well, i dont know the hotel. I was pretty far away from people in other words, the president s trying to say last night didnt count heres that video of the president last night that we first showed you at the end of our last night broadcast, wearing no mask while shaking hands and surrounded by a group of people. Tonight House Speaker nancy pelosi made it clear she holds one donald trump responsible for the pandemic toll on the nation. I think a good deal of what we have suffered is clearly the trump virus. So what youre saying is thousands of americans have died because of what the president has done or not done is that what youre saying yeah. Yes, thats what im saying. Meanwhile, we learned today that new cdc data is showing the number of cases in different parts of our country anywhere from 2 to 13 times higher than reported it suggests a lot of people who didnt have symptoms or didnt seek medical care may have continued spreading the virus. The ceo of one of the Biggest Companies to process covid test results now says the virus is spreading faster than it can expand capacity. Amid all that, trump is also trying to work out a deal with republicans for this next relief bill the Washington Post reporting he appears to have backed off efforts to actually cut billions for testing and tracing as well as for the cdc theres also growing backlash to trumps federal deployment of agents in portland, oregon the pentagon says the defense secretary, mark easy per, has raised concerns, of course, within the administration, mind you, about those agents patrolling the streets of our cities dressed in camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by our troops in war zones esper, as you may know, among those cabinet members very careful not to offend the boss today the white house was asked to explain the continuing presence of federal agents on portland streets under the law, we believe that agents can conduct investigations of crimes committed against federal property or federal officers, and in the case where you have someone shooting off a commercial grade firework and then running across the street, we dont believe that extends past our jurisdiction. Also the New York Times has filed this tonight the paper says the u. S. Ambassador to the uk, Robert Wood Johnson iv, an heir to the Johnson Johnson fortune and own heer of the new york jets sd in 2018 that the president had asked me to find out if the British Government could help steer the british open Golf Tournament over to turnberry t on that note and here for our leadoff discussion on a tuesday night, ashley parker, pulitzer prizewinning White House Reporter for the Washington Post. Robert costa, National Political reporter also with the post. Also happens to be moderate Washington Week on pbs and a. B. Stoddard, a veteran of political journalism good evening and welcome to you all. Ashley, i have to say you called it this afternoon in that you predicted a president adhering to script, needing to hit certain marks. He did that before taking questions. It was your paper, toluse olorunnipas headline at this hour last night that indicated bringing back these briefings was an effort to bolster the campaign was today a de facto Campaign Appearance today was not today what you saw was the president sticking to script it went as well as his aides could have possibly expected in the sense that again, he read the words off of the script. He advocated for Wearing Masks he acknowledged a bit of the reality that this is going to get worse before it gets better. But i think if you were watching today, in hernt and even as positive potentially a performance as this was for the president , you also see the risks. If you watched him, he was basically talking in a monotone, looking down to anyone who studies the president even cursocursorily, a not enjoying himself this was not pleasant. He came a bit more alive when he was taking questions from the immediate, but there inlie the problem. As soon as he deviated from the script, he first contradicted his own press skkt, who had been out there before reporters that morning. She had said he gets tested multiple a days for the coronavirus. The president had said he cant ever recall being tested more than once in a day sometimes he gets tested every two days so one of them has the facts wrong. And then more problematically, much more problematically, the president said he wishes Ghislaine Maxwell well so, again, when the president is off script, and by that i mean literally not reading from a script, he has a tendency to make headlines that are not what his team wants if you look at his actualen demeanor when he stuck at the script, i think it raises the questions of how long can he bring himself to continue to do that ashley, indeed i have that moment for you there were no questions about these feds on the streets of portland and perhaps soon chicago and elsewhere. No questions yet on bounties paid to kill american troops in afghanistan that russia was connected to but here comes the question, the exchange about ms. Maxwell, who is in the slammer, who is going to be in the slammer for a year prior to trial, an accused sex trafficker as longtime assistant to Jeffrey Epstein i just wish her well frankly. Ive met her numerous times over the years, especially since i lived in palm beach, and i guess they lived in palm beach but i wish her well, whatever it is ashley, to your point, this is the danger in a president hearing perhaps republicans are wistful, wanting new knowledge, data from the government, the public in Public Health, wanting briefings, and a president who assumes that means they want him. Thats exactly right, and thats ultimately why he stopped the briefings about two months ago. What the public wants and what theyre tuning in for, and frankly what the president s own aides and advisers want is the president to get up and be a leader and be a healer and present to the nation sound, scientific advice that they can use. What should the schools do in the fall when is it safe to return to schools . Why should parents feel confident sending their kids back to schools . What about teachers who are nervous . What is the plan for schools what is the plan for schools if they open in september for inperson learning and theres an outbreak . What happens to those families then and that is just one tiny aspect what happens with Contact Tracing . What is the plan to ramp up testing so you can get results in 24 or 48 hours, not eight or ten days rend ring them useless. That is what the public wants to hear the president confuses it with a campaign rally, a prime time speaking spot as he described it, and just wanting to hear from him that is where he will get in trouble. Today we saw his best, most disciplined effort, and there were hints of that trouble again, the analogy we use at the post is the president is sort of like a teapot. Hes capable of discipline, skrikt reading, following a teleprompter at some point he starts to boil, and he needs to let off steam, and the concern for his team is that happens in one of those briefin briefings where he goes wildly off script and gets some of those tougher questions from the media that you just outlined. Robert costa, over to you and your cell phone. The republicans you talk to, is this the briefing they had in mind it depends on the republicans and whether theyre in congress or out in the states i was talking to a democrat, sylvester turner, the mayor of houston, texas, and i asked him about these briefings. He said he doesnt really care if the president s there at the podium or not at the podium. What he really wants is truth. What hewants is good information, and hes a democrat, the mayor of houston but like so many of these mayors across the country, hes dealing with a population that is looking to the federal government to whether they should wear a mask or not. Theyre looking for guidelines in terms of opening the schools. Across this country, there are officials, mayors, governors, who may be allies with the president , may be political enemies with the president , but they need information. They need money for their schools, for their communities, for their fire departments, their hospitals. This is a serious time, and everyone im talking to, including republicans out in the states, are looking to washington not to see whether President Trumps going to give remarks in front of cameras today or not but whether hes going to provide the country with a plan, a strategy, and clear leadership a. B. , what should we have heard at an event like today right well, brian, again it was very good that the president actually put his head down and read every last word of the script that checked all the boxes republicans were demanding that he checked wear a mask, telling young people not to pack into bars well take care of our seniors he did his usual riff on defending his performance and finding every last ventilator and on and on, but he tried to illustrate, you know, that hes putting in a big effort and hes you know, he really has a lot of empathy for people who have died and whose families have been destroyed. But really he wants everyone to know one more time that the death count is super great it could have been so much worse. More than 85,000 people have died since his last briefing, and what we didnt hear, brian, to your question, is a plan. Theres never been a plan to control the spread of the virus. And on july 21, there wasnt a plan and so after our first case january 20th, a plan should have been in place to use the defense production act, to massproduce masks and every component of testing, vials, reagents, syringes, swabs. We are in a testing crisis we are not finding way enough virus. Its as the cdc says between 10 and 26fold of what we see, and theres no plan to open schools. So what are the briefings resuming for so that the president can get back some credibility that he squandered in these First Six Months without a federal plan, testing, tracing, isolation, and all those resources that Everyone Needs in localities across the country for school, there cannot be a recovery economically or for mitigating the virus because theres no apparatus in place to control the spread the plan right now is its really too bad deaths and infections are up its really tough, but were just going to move on, and ill keep coming to the mics now and then theres not a national plan, and he refuses to impose one well, indeed, a. B. , its why we said it was the best april briefing hes ever given the problem is it comes in midjuly and heresi my followup questin for you. Do you think this is an act of a kind of doubleverse uber gaslighting that the goal is really and sincerely at some level to hope the electorate somehow forgets the last six months right up till today right, i do think that if he he believes he has been begged by all of these Republican Leaders who have been off his message, his antimask message for weeks now. Youve noticed the cries for help theyve been out there pounding the pavement about the reality of the numbers and the importance of maskwearing they have been begging him to address this and act like he cares about whats happening and that hes on it. They understand all republicans do that this is a federal burden, and the government is not responsible for our personal health or our financial solvency, but the government is in charge of our collective security. It exists for that and pandemic preparation and mitigation and protection is the burden is not on the federal government and not all these governors that are trying to keep trump happy in republican states and are just up to their ears in democratic states. So the idea for the president s team is, go out there. Act like youre empathizing, like youre really taking it seriously, like youre not moving on and youre not dismissive say you really understand that its tough but, yes, donald trump will be back to talking about anarchy in the streets as soon as he can possibly take the chance hell be giving more interviews like he did to chris wallace, and he will hope that because he gave a few of these pressers, that the voting public believes that he was, you know, at the table with mike pence and taking it seriously all along robert, we did hear a glimmer, something close to that talking point that youve heard recently that taxpayers who are out of work are making such good money thanks to these government relief checks that its a disincentive to going back to work lets lay that aside for one moment as i ask you what is the status of the talks surrounding the next and, one would presume, final relief legislation back to the legislation at hand, this is about legislation in washington, and we at the post are tracking it minute by minute but theres a human face to all of this. So Many Americans are wondering are they going to get an extension of their Unemployment Insurance, are they going to get another stimulus check, how much will it be, when will it be. And washington is under intense pressure, both parties, to get something done, one, to make sure schools have the money they need if they are going to reopen at some point this summer or fall, and theyre also looking at whether the congress can come together at all on stimulus, whether its a check for americans in october or Unemployment Insurance at this point the white house keeps pushing a payroll tax cut, but im hearing from my republican sources, brian, its likely that gets put on the shelf. Theres not support for it but theres still a lot of disagreement you saw it at the senate gop lunch today about whether republicans can get behind another plan thats 1 trillion or more in scope and the conservative wing of the gop could cause leader mcconnell some problems, but ultimately based on what im hearing, the republicans are going to come to the table because theyre looking at the senate map, brian, and theyre saying we could lose power if we dont get a bill thats passed, something for us to talk about beyond President Trump and his conduct. A lot to ask of our big three tonight, and they delivered. To ashley parker, to robert costa, to a. B. Stoddard, friends all. Thank you very much for coming on and helping us out. Coming up for us, one doctor tonight called the situation in Miamidade County desperate. Well ask the mayor of miami beach if he thinks the president s briefing was too little too late on that score. And later, retired u. S. Army Lieutenant GeneralRussel Honore has some strong words for what hes seeing there on the streets of portland, oregon. Well ask him why he thinks we are misusing the department of Homeland Security and the militarization of our Law Enforcement. All of it as the 11th hour is just getting under way on this here tuesday nigh