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US coronavirus: Trump says national guard to be sent to New York, California and Washington – live
US coronavirus: Democrats block bill over lack of worker aid as Trump briefs nation – live
(32 minutes later)
Rand Paul becomes first senator to test positive for Covid-19 as New York governor offers scathing indictment of government’s delays and missteps
Rand Paul becomes first senator to test positive for Covid-19 as New York governor offers scathing indictment of government’s delays and missteps
Trump is asked if he sold stock in the run up to the outbreak. He describes it as a “nasty” question. He goes into a rambling answer even by his own standards. “It cost me billions of dollars to be President,” he says before praising Melania as a great first lady and a then segues into a riff about the fact that George Washington had two desks. He then adds he is now a “wartime” president.
That’s us done for the day, thank you for reading. Here’s a summary of events:
The number of Covid-19 cases in the US has now gone past 33,000, with 417 deaths.
New York is a hotspot for the virus, accounting for 5% of cases worldwide.
Rand Paul has become the first US senator to test positive for Covid-19.
The national guard have been deployed to New York, Washington and California to help with the outbreak in those states.
Democrats have blocked an economic stimulus package, claiming it favored big business over the rights of workers.
Trump signs off by saying he will be back for another briefing tomorrow. He also says his initial instinct is to cut foreign aid during the coronavirus outbreak but he may reconsider. “By the time they walk those list into my office, I say, we have to keep doing that. That’s humanity,” he says.
Trump is asked if he sold stock in the run up to the outbreak. He describes it as a “nasty” question. He goes into a rambling answer even by his own standards. “It cost me billions of dollars to be president,” he says before praising Melania as a great first lady and a then segues into a riff about the fact that George Washington had two desks, presumably a reference to the fact that he was the president and a businessman. Trump then adds he is now a “wartime” president. “I’m glad that this team and me are here for this horrible thing,” he says.
Trump is upbeat about medicine’s fight against Covid-19, despite the fact that a vaccine is in all likelihood at least a year away.
Trump is upbeat about medicine’s fight against Covid-19, despite the fact that a vaccine is in all likelihood at least a year away.
“I don’t want to get anybody overly excited, but I’m very excited by the prospect of it,” says the president. “Then in addition to that, NIH is working on vaccines and they’re making great progress. But the vaccine does have to be tested for a long period of time because you can’t give thousands and millions a vaccine and it turns out to be dangerous, so that does have to be tested. But this one’s been taken for a long time, so we know pretty much one result.”
“I don’t want to get anybody overly excited, but I’m very excited by the prospect of it,” says the president. “Then in addition to that, NIH is working on vaccines and they’re making great progress. But the vaccine does have to be tested for a long period of time because you can’t give thousands and millions a vaccine and it turns out to be dangerous, so that does have to be tested. But this one’s been taken for a long time, so we know pretty much one result.”
Trump is asked if undocumented people are welcome to be tested without fear of being reported to authorities. He defers to the Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, who says that undocumented workers should be allowed to be tested. Mike Pence adds that Border Protection are not targeting emergency rooms to look for undocumented people.
Trump is asked if undocumented people are welcome to be tested without fear of being reported to authorities. He defers to the surgeon general, Jerome Adams, who says that undocumented workers should be allowed to be tested. Mike Pence adds that border protection are not targeting emergency rooms to look for undocumented people.
More from the Associated Press on the delay in the $1tn economic stimulus package today:
More from the Associated Press on the delay in the $1tn economic stimulus package today:
Trump says no one said “thank you” after he gave away his salary as the US president. “I get excoriated all the time,” he says. What this has to do with a global pandemic is unclear.
Trump says no one said “thank you” after he gave away his salary as the US president. “I get excoriated all the time,” he says. What this has to do with a global pandemic is unclear.
Trump is asked about help for New York City, with the Mayor, Bill de Blasio, saying the city needs urgent help and supplies. Trump says De Blasio is “trying very hard” because no one has “ever seen this scale” of a disaster. Trump then talks about sterilizing facemasks so they don’t need to be thrown away and how alcohol companies are manufacturing hand sanitizer.
Trump is asked about help for New York City, with the mayor, Bill de Blasio, saying the city needs urgent help and supplies. Trump says de Blasio is “trying very hard” because no one has “ever seen this scale” of a disaster. Trump then talks about sterilizing facemasks so they don’t need to be thrown away and how alcohol companies are manufacturing hand sanitizer.
As news breaks that the Senate has failed to advance the coronavirus bill, Trump says the economic stimulus package is important so US companies - large and small - can be helped. He is then asked if he will reach out to former presidents for advice. He says he has an “incredible” team already and he “doesn’t see” a situation where he would reach out to George W Bush or Barack Obama.
As news breaks that the Senate has failed to advance the coronavirus bill, Trump says the economic stimulus package is important so US companies – large and small – can be helped. He is then asked if he will reach out to former presidents for advice. He says he has an “incredible” team already and he “doesn’t see” a situation where he would reach out to George W Bush or Barack Obama.
Trump resumes his criticism of China. He says he wished China “had told us three months sooner” about coronavirus. He adds that “we could have saved a lot of lives.”
Trump resumes his criticism of China. He says he wished China “had told us three months sooner” about coronavirus. He adds that “we could have saved a lot of lives.”
Trump is asked if he ill free elderly, non-violent criminals from federal prisons to alleviate the outbreak in the penal system: “We are actually looking at it, yes” he says.
The president is asked when the last time he had contact with Rand Paul, who has tested positive for Covid-19, was. Trump says it was not recently. He is told four senators are now in isolation after coming into contact with Paul. When he finds out that one is Mitt Romney he says, with a hint of a smile: “Gee that’s too bad.” He is asked if he is being sarcastic. “No,” he replies.
He is asked if senators in isolation could be allowed to vote remotely on an economic stimulation package. Trump says that he would be in favor of doing so.
Donald Trump is back at the podium to take questions from the press. He repeats Mike Pence’s hopes that a new test will soon be available that will give patients their results much more quickly than under the present system. He repeats accusations that he has made in the past that any problems are not down to him but rather than the “broken” system he inherited.
Pence says America is in a better state than many countries in Europe and Asia because Donald Trump banned travel from China and Europe early on. While countries like Italy are experiencing huge death tolls, many countries in Europe and Asia have - at this stage - much lower deathrates than America and appear to be better prepared.
The vice-president, Mike Pence, is speaking now. He says there is a “bipartisan” spirit to the fight against Covid-19 and it is a great credit to America. He says testing is becoming more widely available every day.
Peter Gaynor, the Fema administrator, speaks and emphasizes that the deployment of the National Guard does not mean martial law has been imposed in the three states where they will serve.
Trump ends by addressing Americans about the fight against what he says is an “invisible enemy”: “It is a challenging time, a great national trial. We will prove that we meet the moment, we are at war in a real sense.”
To those who may feel isolated he says: “We are all joined together as one people ... no American is alone as long as we are united. We are very united. You will have a leader who will always fight for you, this is going to be a great victory.”
He says he thinks the fight against Covid-19 can be won in good time: “This will be a great victory. This is going to be a victory. And it’s going to be a victory that in my opinion will happen much sooner than originally expected. It’s now attacking. The enemy is attacking, 144 countries at this moment. One hundred and forty-four. That’s unthinkable. There’s never been anything like this. And it’s vicious. It is vicious. Some people recover well, some people have a hard time. We all know that.”
He ends by saying that he thinks the economy will bounce back once the outbreak ends: “We will then get our economy up to a level that it was and in my opinion beyond, because there will be a pent-up demand. There is a pent-up demand. And a lot of great things will happen.” Not everyone agrees.
Trump has moved away from figures to tell the country that he has very high poll ratings among military veterans.
The President appears to be less freewheeling than usual, and is unrolling a long list of figures of the relief effort. He goes on to add that he wants to make sure that military veterans are protected during the coronavirus outbreak.
Donald Trump says the US economy will “skyrocket” once the “war” against Covid-19 is won. He says the national guard has been ordered to help with the fight against the virus in New York, California and Washington, where the outbreak has hit hard. He says he spoke to the governors of all three states and they will have control of the national guard in their respective states. He says additional supplies will go the three states, including extra beds and facemasks. He says the supplies will be delivered in the next 48 hours. He also says Major Disaster Declarations have been approved for New York and Washington with approval for California to come.
