Transcript - Remarks: Donald Trump Meets With Republican Lawmakers on the Coronavirus - March 10, 2020 | Factba.se

Donald Trump

00:00:00 - 00:00:20 (20 sec)

So we just had a great meeting. Tremendous unity in the Republican Party. And we're working on a lot of different things. We've also had some very good updates on the virus. That's working out very smoothly. Tremendous people. It's a tremendous task force. They have done a great job -- not a good job, a great job.

Donald Trump

00:00:20 - 00:00:40 (20 sec)

As you know, it's about 600 cases, it's about 26 deaths, within our country. And had we not acted quickly, that number would have been substantially more. But we -- we just had a meeting on stimulus, and you'll be hearing about it soon. But it was a great meeting. There's great unity within the Republican Party.

Question

00:00:40 - 00:00:51 (11 sec)

Mr. President, Republican senators yesterday, they seemed rather skeptical of this. They weren't sure that they wanted to do it on a payroll tax holiday. How do you convince them? Is that the right approach?

Donald Trump

00:00:51 - 00:01:03 (12 sec)

Well, I was just with the Republican senators, and there was -- they were just about all there, mostly all there -- and there's a great feeling about doing a lot of things. And that's one of the things we talked about.

Question

00:01:03 - 00:01:07 (4 sec)

And what about the ideas proposed by Nancy Pelosi? It raised some --

Donald Trump

00:01:07 - 00:01:26 (19 sec)

Well, we're going to see. They came in very chopped up. A lot of them are things that she wanted to get for other things, and we're looking at the people. We're looking at solving this problem. Also, some very good numbers coming out of some countries where it started earlier. And we're seeing some fairly good numbers come out of those countries -- that's a good thing -- including China.

Donald Trump

00:01:26 - 00:01:34 (8 sec)

And they've released numbers, and we've gotten some numbers from China that look pretty promising. So we'll be able to further report. Please.

Question

00:01:34 - 00:01:39 (5 sec)

But why not get tested yourself? I mean, you've interacted with Matt Gaetz and Doug Collins in the last few days.

Donald Trump

00:01:39 - 00:02:02 (23 sec)

Well, I don't think it's a big deal. I would do it. I don't feel that -- any reason. I feel extremely good. I feel very good. But I guess it's not a big deal to get tested. And it's something I would do. But again, I spoke to the White House doctor -- terrific guy, talented guy -- he said he sees no reason to do it. There's no symptoms, no anything.

Donald Trump

00:02:02 - 00:02:12 (10 sec)

And you know what? If there were, you people would be the first to know it. You would -- you would maybe even tell me about it. Yes, please.

Question

00:02:12 - 00:02:19 (7 sec)

Mr. President, have you been briefed that up to 100 million Americans would ultimately be exposed to the virus?

Donald Trump

00:02:19 - 00:02:21 (2 sec)

I've been briefed on every contingency you can possibly imagine. Many contingencies. A lot of --

Question

00:02:21 - 00:02:23 (2 sec)

But that number.

Donald Trump

00:02:23 - 00:02:46 (23 sec)

-- a lot of positive. Different numbers. All different numbers. Very large numbers. And some small numbers too, by the way. Look, right now, I guess we're at 26 deaths, and if you look at the flu -- the flu, for this year -- we're at 8 mil- -- we're looking at 8,000 deaths. And, you know, hundreds of thousands of cases, but we have 8,000 deaths.

Donald Trump

00:02:46 - 00:03:01 (15 sec)

So you have 8,000 versus 26 deaths, at this time. With all of that being said, we're taking this unbelievably seriously, and I think we're doing a really good job. And, again, the task force, headed up by the Vice President, has been fantastic.

Question

00:03:01 - 00:03:08 (7 sec)

Why has the U.S. been so slow with testing? Other countries have tested tens of thousands.

Donald Trump

00:03:08 - 00:03:28 (20 sec)

No, I think the U.S. has done a very good job on testing. We had to change things that were done, that were nobody's fault. Perhaps they wanted to do something a different way, but it was a much slower process from a previous administration. And we did change them. We made the changes. But the testing has gone very well.

Donald Trump

00:03:28 - 00:03:44 (16 sec)

And when people need a test, they can get a test. When the professionals need a test, when they need tests for people, they can get the test. It's gone really well. Look, the biggest thing that we did was stopping the inflow of people early on, and that was weeks ahead of schedule, weeks ahead of what other people would have done.

Donald Trump

00:03:44 - 00:03:49 (5 sec)

In fact, other people, mostly, would probably not have done it even until now. And that's made a big difference.

Question

00:03:49 - 00:03:53 (4 sec)

Are you planning to fire anyone --

Donald Trump

00:03:53 - 00:03:54 (1 sec)

Question

00:03:54 - 00:03:58 (4 sec)

-- because of the spread of the virus in the United States. The numbers have changed --

Donald Trump

00:03:58 - 00:04:20 (22 sec)

No, I think the people are doing a fantastic job. In fact, just today -- I have it inside -- Governor Newsom, Gavin Newsom of California, said tremendous -- there's an article that just came out; I had it inside and I showed it to the senators, and I showed them other articles too -- where governors -- Democrat governors are saying we've done a fantastic job.

Donald Trump

00:04:20 - 00:04:38 (19 sec)

Gavin Newsom said there's not a thing that he's asked for that we weren't able to get him. And, you know, he's been -- he's a critical guy, like we all are. But it was a very positive statement. Many Democrat governors have said that the task force and the federal government, what we've done, has been terrific.

Question

00:04:38 - 00:04:42 (4 sec)

Mr. President, how long should Americans be prepared for the economy to suffer?

Donald Trump

00:04:42 - 00:05:04 (21 sec)

Well, this was unexpected. This was something that came out of China, and it hit us and many other countries. You look at the numbers; I see the numbers with just by watching you folks. I see it -- it's over 100 different countries. And it hit the world. And we're prepared, and we're doing a great job with it. And it will go away.

Donald Trump

00:05:04 - 00:05:22 (18 sec)

Just stay calm. It will go away. We want to protect our shipping industry, our cruise industry, cruise ships. We want to protect our airline industry -- very important. But everybody has to be vigilant and has to be careful. But be calm. It's really working out. And a lot of good things are going to happen.

Donald Trump

00:05:22 - 00:05:37 (15 sec)

The consumer is ready, and the consumer is so powerful in our country with what we've done with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things. The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now. So a lot of good things are going to happen. Thank you very much, everybody.