Trump says he's just received another coronavirus briefing from a "talented" group. He says he made the correct decision on travel restrictions, even though this was "ridiculed" by some people.
Trump says the risk to Americans is "very low" and that there is also a low number of US cases.
"We started out by looking for certain things," Trump says of his response to the virus. He says "we're going to spend whatever's appropriate," but hopefully "not too much," because they've been having "tremendous success" in handling this.
Trump on what he's just learned: "The flu in our country kills from 29,000 people to 69,000 people a year. That was shocking to me." He further explains that it's "what we call 'the flu' - 'hey, did you get your flu shot?'"
Trump says we're ready whether it's a breakout of "larger proportions" or still at this "low level." He says it'll soon be down to just five people as people recover. He says Johns Hopkins says the US is #1 most prepared for an epidemic.
In short, Trump is being Trump while briefing the country on the virus.
Trump: "I'm going to be announcing exactly right now" that I'm putting "Vice President Mike Pence in charge" (on coronavirus). "And Mike will report back to me, but he's got a certain talent for this."
Trump talked only about the first 15 US cases, calling them "the original 15" and repeatedly referring to them, even though the rest of the government now says there are 60 confirmed cases.
Pence, talking now, emphasizes that the risk remains low. He tells Trump that the American people can be confident in the federal response "under your leadership."
The government's distinction here is between cases among people who've been repatriated to the US and cases in the US itself; Azar says it's 15 US-specific cases. Trump only talked about that group.
Earlier, Trump touted the work of China's President Xi and cited the numbers out of China, though he suggested he didn't know if they are believable, to say that things are getting better.
Trump: "We have the best people in the world." He says "it's nice, for a change" that Congress is willing to provide more money than they're asking for.
Trump: "It's gonna be very well under control. Now, it may get bigger. It may get a little bigger. It may not get bigger at all."
Trump asked about possible travel restrictions on other countries: "I'm the president of the United States, I'm not the president of other countries." He says he's willing to be "placing a very strong situation on the border" if needed.
Asked about making Pence his point man on this, Trump says, "Anybody that knows anything about health care, they look at the Indiana model. And it's been a very great success."
In passing, Trump finally acknowledges the cases among people who've come back into the country with the virus. He says "I call that - I have a different group."
Trump says he knows a lot about the stock market and he thinks it went down because of the possibility both because of this virus and because people think the Democratic candidates are so bad.
Trump says he has worst-case-scenario plans for things like quarantines, but he doesn't think they'll be necessary.
Asked what he'd say to Americans considering what to do about travel plans, he says, "Hopefully they'll be able to do that," but "they're going to have to remain a little bit flexible." He adds, "This ends. This is gonna end." He says hopefully sooner than later.
Trump says this virus is going to keep people home instead of traveling abroad, and the US has the greatest places to visit. "The greatest tourism country in the world."
Trump: "I think Speaker Pelosi is incompetent." He boasts of his standing in the polls, claiming to be "leading everybody," though he is not, at least not nationally. He adds, "I've been beating her routinely, at everything."
Trump says Schumer shouldn't be making statements like that the government needs many billions more than what the White House proposed. "We should be working together." He says, "It's so bad for the country." He then bashes Pelosi for problems in San Francisco.
Trump: "There is no reason to panic, because we have done so good."
Asked about his campaign's lawsuit against the New York Times over a column, Trump says, "There'll be more coming."
Asked if schools should prepare for the spread of the virus, Trump says yes, "get ready, just in case," but "this will end, this will end." He says "you look at flu season," and repeats that he's never heard that there are tens of thousands of people killed by the flu.
Asked if financial markets are overreacting to the virus, Trump says the markets are very upset that the Democratic candidates, one of whom might be president, you never know, are such "fools."
Asked about his budget's proposed cuts to the CDC and whether he now has any pause over this, Trump says, "No...we can get money and we can increase staff." He adds, "If we ever need 'em, we can get 'em very quickly, rather than spending the money."
Trump: If you feel you have a flu, "sort of quarantine yourself, don't go outside."
Trump is criticizing the Federal Reserve.
Asked about Rush Limbaugh and other Trump supporters spreading nonsense about the virus, and claiming it's being exaggerated to hurt him politically, Trump says he agrees that this is happening and wants it to stop. But he says the CDC is good and not doing this.
Trump says you've probably heard that he washes his hands a lot. He tells people that they don't necessarily have to "grab every handrail." He says they should view this the same as the flu. "When somebody sneezes, I try to bail out as much as possible."
Asked about his criticism of Obama not being tougher re Ebola, Trump says, "This is a much different problem than Ebola. Ebola, you disintegrated. Especially at the beginning." He says this is different because it's "a flu."
Asked about the coronavirus situation in Brazil, Trump says he's a very good friend of Bolsonaro and Bolsonaro ran on a platform of making Brazil great again.
"We may cut certain additional countries off" depending on what happens with the virus, Trump says.
Asked why he put Pence in charge, Trump says it's because...Health Secretary Alex Azar is too busy with things like reducing prescription drug prices. "I think it's perhaps the most complicated job that we have in government."
"He is working so hard on this problem...they are very tough and very smart," Trump says of Xi Jinping. "Really, really hard," he adds.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells Trump that the flu mortality rate is 0.1%. Trump says it's much higher than that.
Trump falsely claims his trade deals with China, Canada and Mexico are the biggest in history. He says Xi is working "as hard as you can work," then leaves, saying he'll leave the experts behind to answer more questions.
