Pool Reports of April 27, 2020

In-town pool #1

Greetings from a quiet White House. As you probably noticed from the updated guidance, the 5 p.m. coronavirus task force briefing has been canceled.

The president's 4 p.m. meeting with industry executives in the Cabinet room will be opened to the restricted in-house pool.

In-town pool 2 — lunch lid till 2:30

Please disregard misfiled report

In-town pool 3 -- Rose Garden presser added

The White House has added a press conference/briefing for the RoseGarden. Your updated guidance says 5 p.m., but I'm hearing it will bemore like 5:30. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's tweet said it willcover "additional testing guidance and other announcements aboutsafely opening up America again."

The 4 p.m. meeting with industry executives remains open.

In-town pool 4 -- Hassett gaggle

Economic adviser Kevin Hassett gaggled on the driveway for about 6minutes, here is the link to youtube video passed along by BrianKarem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgtx16BXq8&t=4s

In-town pool 5 - meeting with industry leaders

Pool was escorted into the Cabinet room at 4:06 pm.

The president was seated with retail business leaders around the table, observing social distancing.

"The testing itself is going really well," said there were "no complaints " in his call today with governors.

Releasing plan to beef up testing sites at retailers.

More tk

In-town pool 6

Also in the room Kushner, Kudlow,.

VP Pence said governors are "rapidly expanding testing."

No questions

In-town pool 7

Please check transcript against video:

The president: "Forty-five days ago, many of you joined me in the RoseGarden to launch a new partnership with the private sector todramatically increase and accelerate America's capacity to test forthe coronavirus. We made such strides like you wouldn't even believeit. We just had a call with the governors. And I guess they were justabout all on the call, and everybody was very happy, and the testingis going really well."

"Since then, what we've achieved is really nothing short of amazing, the United States now holds the world record for testing and by a lot. We've conducted more than 5.4 million tests, more than any other country anywhere in the world."

"Today we're releasing our blueprint for state testing plans and rapid response programs, together we're accelerating testing for Americans and retail locations across the country, and especially in our African American and Hispanic communities, we're going very very strong in those communities. There are currently 73 retail sites testing sites in 25 states in those specific areas, and we're increasing it very substantially. A lot of progress has been made for African American testing, Hispanic American testing and Asian American testing. So I look forward to hearing from each of these incredible business people who have worked so strongly with us right from the beginning."

We're awaiting a list of attendees from the White House, including theheads of Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and CVS. Seema Verma was also in theroom.

In-town pool 8 -- HHS Secretary Azar was in meeting

For those of you who have asked, HHS Sec. Azar was in the Cabinetroom. Your pooler didn't see him but the eagle-eyed Doug Mills did.

In-town pool 9 -- full list of attendees

>From the White House, a list of attendees in the Cabinet room meeting:

The White House

President Donald J. Trump
The Vice President
Mark Meadows, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
Dan Scavino, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications
Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
Marc Short, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy

Trump Administration

Secretary Alex Azar, Department of Health and Human Services
Administrator Seema Verma, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Dr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration
Admiral Brett Giroir, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health, Departmentof Health and Human Services
Brad Smith, Deputy Administrator & Director, Center for Medicare &Medicaid Innovation
Adam Boehler, Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. InternationalDevelopment Finance Corporation

External Participants

Richard Ashworth, President, Walgreens
Marc Casper, Chairman, President, and CEO, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Heyward Donigan, CEO, Rite-Aid
Julie Khani, President, American Clinical Laboratory Association
John Nims, President and CEO, U.S. Cotton
Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart
Rodney McMullen, CEO, Kroger
Larry Merlo, CEO, CVS
Stephen Rusckowski, Chairman, President, and CEO, Quest Diagnostics
Adam Schecter, CEO, LabCorp

In-town pool 11 — event is starting

Presser in the chilly, breezy Rose Garden starts in two minutes, we're told.
In the front two rows are the retail executives who met with thepresident earlier. Also Dr. Birx, Seema Verma and Adm. Giroir.
In the distance before the event, from the vicinity of 17th Street, wecould hear a demonstrator with a very loud bullhorn expressingnon-stop dissatisfaction with the task force and numerous otherthings. The wind is favoring his message.

In-town pool 12 -- lid

The press conference in the Rose Garden ended just after 6:30 p.m. We have a lid at 6:57.