Pool Reports of April 6, 2020

WH in-town pool report #1/ Checking in

Greetings from the White House on a sunny day.

The daily guidance shows POTUS has lunch with VPOTUS at 12.30pm (closed press).

There is a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at 5pm. Do send in any questions and I'll try to ask them.

WH in-town pool report #2/ Larry Kudlow speaks to reporters

Just after 10.30am Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, spoke to reporters in the White House driveway for 12 minutes. Video playback here:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?470999-1/larry-kudlow-speaks-reporters-whi...

Some highlights:

On the idea of a phase 4 stimulus package and a second round of direct checks to Americans:

"I think we've all said – the President has said, Secretary Mnuchin has said, I've said – particularly for the payroll protection program, if we need more money, we'll seek more money... I'm just saying, 'if'. Big 'if'. We've got a great start on that, a lot of loans.... $38 billion and it's 130,000 loans from 2,400 lenders, big banks included, a lot of it's community banks.

"Let's see what happens. Our job is to execute what we've got. So you've got assistance going out to 175 million people. I keep using that stat only because for somebody like me, who's been around a while, it's unbelievable: government assistance, 175 million people."

He added: "Let's get it out. I think we're doing OK, frankly, I know there are always a few glitches but I'd give it an A. You might not agree, but whatever and, if we need more, we'll ask for more, but day at a time, week at a time, let's see how this works."

On the idea of coronavirus "war bonds". Would it be like selling a 30-year bond that's rebranded?

"I don't know, I don't know. We might want to rebrand it. My pal Jimmy Cramer's right. We've kicked this around before. The Secretary and I and the President and others talked about selling long term paper. If you have a mortgage, you should be refunding, if you haven't already."

Is it a serious proposal?

"We're just looking at it. Again, let's see where it leads. Again, we have to execute what we've got on the table, it's a massive package, give it a few weeks minimum, a month, and let's see how effective we are, let's see how efficient we are, and let's see if we need more money, we'll go and seek more money, and to that point, we'll finance it. I don't think it will be hard to be financed.

"I do want to add one point, that I believe one reason we've gotten off to a good start and covered a lot of bases, including the health care side, which is really in a sense the most important side, we're using the private sector. President Trump's great innovation over time with crises – I don't know if they're similar crises, but other crises I'll say – government tends to try to do things by itself, and President Trump has brought in the private sector, you've seen all these CEOs come here and we're constantly on the phone.

"At the risk of going too far I would say that some of these private people are a whole smarter than we are, they're more efficient than we are and they're more innovative than we, so I think that's a good thing."

On reopening the economy:

"Look, the task force meets every day, I'm on it, I sit through it. We're looking probably first and foremost at the data, the facts, and evaluating those facts. I don't want to make an evaluation. It's not my place. They're the experts, I'm not. Implementing the testing, the equipment, hospitals, whatever it is, get all that out.

"So they're working on their execution, we're all being guided by the facts, and the economics team has been working, too. We've been looking at various best ways and best practices ways to open up the economy for economic activity. As the president has said, we don't want the cure to be worse than the problem."

Kudlow added: "I still believe, given our assistance package and hope and maybe prayer that we're at a four-day week period, we can get a pretty good snapback, a good snapback. That's my hope... The sooner we begin to reopen, the faster that snapback's going to be. That's the rule of thumb that I think most economists would agree with. Again, as I've said, we came into this with a very strong economy. It got interrupted by the virus – if that's the right word – and if this can be stabilised fairly soon, yes I do think we'll see a snapback. That may be more of a prayer than a hope, I understand that, but that's my view. I'm an optimist – I can't help it."

WH in-town pool report #3/ Lunch lid

At 12.36pm, a lunch lid was called until 2pm.

WH in-town pool report #4/ Pharmaceutical companies

This was sent by Judd Deere, deputy press secretary:

Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke by telephone with executives of pharmaceutical companies to discuss the all-of-America response to COVID-19. The President acknowledged the industry's progress in developing therapeutics to fight this pandemic and promised the Federal Government will continue to be a helpful partner with science and data leading the way. The executives thanked President Trump for directing his Administration to break down barriers, cut red tape, and encourage cooperation across all industries and Government to best meet the needs of the American people during this unprecedented time. President Trump continues to lead a whole-of-Government response to combat the health and economic effects of this invisible enemy.

The following participated in the call:

Trump Administration
President Donald J. Trump
The Vice President
Dr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration
Adam Boehler, Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
Marc Short, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Pat Cipollone, Assistant to the President and Counsel to the President
Joe Grogan, Assistant to the President and Director of Domestic Policy Council
Tim Pataki, Deputy Assistant to the President, Director of Office of Public Liaison

External Participants
Robert Bradway, CEO, Amgen
Alexander Hardy, CEO, Genetech
Daniel O'Day, CEO, Gilead
Leonard Schleifer, CEO, Regeneron

WH in-town pool report #5/ Briefing delayed to 5.30pm

The White House announced that today's Coronavirus Task Force briefing has been put back to 5.30pm.

WH in-town pool report #6/ Briefing delayed to 5.45pm

The White House announced that today's Coronavirus Task Force briefing has been put back to 5.45pm.

WH in-town pool report #7/ Briefing brought forward

The White House announced that today's Coronavirus Task Force briefing will in fact start in two minutes.

WH in-town pool report #8/ Briefing starts

POTUS entered the briefing room at 5.41pm. Mike Pence, Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci are among those present. Live stream is here:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

Chanel Rion of OANN is at the back again.

WH in-town pool report #9/ POTUS departs briefing

POTUS left the briefing room at 7.17pm. VPOTUS is now at the lectern. VPOTUS said: "We know we're at the beginning of a very tough week for America."

WH in-town pool report #10/ briefing ends and lid

The Coronavirus Task Force briefing ended after two hours and 10 minutes at 7.51pm.

A travel/ photo lid was called at 7.53pm.