U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 83,000; Leaders Named For "Warp Speed" Vaccine Effort; MI Gov. Says She Has Not Talked To Biden About VP Role; Trump Says Fauci's Answer On Schools Reopening "Not Acceptable"; Trump Says Fauci "Wants To Play All Sides Of the Equation" When It Comes To Reopening.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, in THE SITUATION ROOM, we're following breaking news. The coronavirus death toll here in the United States is now more than 83,000 people with almost 1.4 million cases. Globally, there are no more than 4.3 million cases and almost 300,000 deaths. But tonight, sources are telling CNN that the Trump administration that serious senior Trump administration officials are now questioning the accuracy of the U.S. death toll and whether the number is actually being inflated. Just yesterday, on the other hand, Dr. Anthony Fauci told us lawmakers, the death toll is almost certainly higher, higher than what's being reported. But this coming Sunday, almost all U.S. states will be reopened, at least to some extent. At the same time, Washington D.C. is among jurisdictions extending stay-at-home orders and states including South Dakota, Delaware and Arkansas are serious -- are seeing serious Coronavirus cases, right now on the rise. Let's go straight to the White House right now. Our Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us. Jim, a grim new death toll and frightening new projections. But the President and his team, at least some members of his team don't necessarily believe all the numbers.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right Wolf, the tug of war has begun inside the Trump administration over whether the U.S. is over counting the number of dead from the coronavirus, well aware that the President's reelection prospects are tied to his handling of the pandemic. Pro-Trump forces are attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci who has advocated caution in confronting the virus.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): In control of the coronavirus message coming from the White House, President Trump is giving the administration a pat on the back for the U.S. response to the pandemic. With the enormous weight of the pandemic hanging over the White House, sources tell CNN administration officials are questioning the accuracy of the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. and whether the number of dead is being over counted. But that would fly in the face of testimony from top administration health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said deaths are likely being under counted as some residents and hard hitting New York died at home and we're never counted as COVID-19 fatalities.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: So in direct answer to your question, I think you are correct, that the number is likely higher. I don't know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly it's higher.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): The President suggested New York's number of dead was too high last month.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I see this morning where New York edit 3,000 deaths because they died and they're now saying rather than it was a heart attack, they're saying it was a heart attack caused by this.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Trump allies on Fox News have zeroed in on Fauci as an obstacle to reopening the country, blasting the doctors cautious approach to the pandemic.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this the guy you want to chart the future of the country? Maybe not. This is a very serious matter, the decisions we're making right now. Tony Fauci has not been elected to anything.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fauci to be very blunt is the face of this failed administrative title.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well I totally agree.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you've got a question. The entire premise of this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the chief buffoon of the professional has. Dr. Anthony Fauci also seems to favorite what the Democrats want. And that is massive restrictions with no end in sight.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With all due respect to Dr. Fauci his expertise, no one elected him to anything.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): But there's one big problem for the White House, a CNN poll found a solid majority of Americans trust Fauci, not the President when it comes to the pandemic.</s>RICK BRIGHT, DIRECTOR, BARDA: Hospital Preparedness.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Another public health official to watch Dr. Rick Bright a top vaccine expert who was removed from his post he says an alleged act of retaliation. Bright, who is set to appear before a House Subcommittee Thursday warns the U.S. must prepare for the pandemic to get worse, saying in his prepared testimony, without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be the darkest winter modern history. Mr. Trump is brushing off Bright as an unhappy employee.</s>TRUMP: To me he's a disgruntled guy and I hadn't heard great things about him.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): With such dire predictions, the President's son- in-law, Jared Kushner, was asked whether the November election might be postponed.</s>JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR TRUMP ADVISER: It's not my decision to make. So, I'm not sure I can commit one way or the other. But right now, that's the plan.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Kushner later released a statement saying, I have not been involved in nor am I aware of any discussions about trying to change the date of the presidential election. But the damage done to the economy is beyond question. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has working Americans are taking a major hit.</s>JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: Among people who were working in February almost 40% of those in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March. This reversal of economic fortune has caused a level of pain that is hard to capture in words, as lives are upended and made great uncertainty about the future.</s>ACOSTA: Don't worry, I got it. Now on the race for a vaccine, Moncef Slaoui, we're told the former head of the vaccines division at GlaxoSmithKline has been tapped as co-lead on the Warp Speed effort as the administration calls it to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Another official says U.S. Army Four Star General Gustave Perna, has also been selected to oversee the project and the two will split responsibilities when it comes to overseeing that operation Warp Speed effort. As for the November election, the White House is also stressing there are no plans to try to postpone the November election. The fact is the President can't do anything about that. Anyways, Congress ultimately controls when the election is held. And Wolf and just the last few moments. The President has been asked questions by reporters about some of the comments that Dr. Anthony Fauci made yesterday, in that, in that hearing up on Capitol Hill that he zoomed into, I guess you could say, in which Dr. Fauci said, people should not be cavalier about sending children back to school during the coronavirus pandemic. The President says he takes issue with some of the comments that Dr. Fauci made, says he disagrees with some of these comments. Dr. Fauci said, he thinks, according to the President, President says that these schools should be reopening in the fall and he believes Fauci has been, quote playing all sides of this issue. And so Wolf, we're waiting for that video to come back. The press pool, as we call it, there with the President right now, but it sounds as though the president taking issue with some of these statements that Dr. Fauci made at that hearing yesterday. Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, we're looking forward to getting the tape and going through it and playing it for our viewers, as well. We'll see precisely what the President is saying about Dr. Fauci right now very sensitive material, I suspect. Indeed our Jim Acosta. Thank you very much. Let's get the latest now on how the pandemic is actually playing out across the country. CNN's Nick Watt is joining us from Manhattan Beach near Los Angeles right now. Nick beaches, there are once again what they're open, but with some serious restrictions, right?</s>NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf. The beaches opened this morning but it's exercise only and masks are mandatory. We've also just heard within the past hour or so that L.A. County is now allowing all retail to open unless you are located in an indoor mall and it is still curbside pickup only. The public health director also clarified some of her words yesterday, people thought she was saying we were all going to have to stay home another three months. She's not saying that, she's saying that restrictions will be in place some kind of restriction. For the next three months. We will be wearing masks for a long time. And in actual fact, she said it's not really three months. There is no end date to those restrictions.</s>WATT (voice-over): The biggest spike in grocery prices since 1974 says the Bureau of Labor, one in four Americans will lose their jobs, says Goldman Sachs. But as states reopen trying to staunch that economic chaos, one models projected death toll for the U.S. more than doubled in just two weeks.</s>ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUE: The bottom line is our political leaders have not done enough to get us ready to open up safely. And again, a large chunk of that is about testing and tracing.</s>WATT (voice-over): In most states, new case counts are steady or falling for now, but rising in Arkansas, South Dakota and Delaware.</s>JEN KATES, KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION: We're seeing fatigue of staying inside and also some mixed messages. One state is doing one thing and other states doing something else, federal government has provided just very general guidelines. So I think there's also some confusion what is safe.</s>WATT (voice-over): Today New Jersey announced gatherings of people in cars are now allowed.</s>GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): If vehicles are closer than six feet apart, then all windows sunroofs are convertible tops must remain closed.</s>WATT (voice-over): While Washington D.C. reupped its stay home order.</s>MURIEL BOWSER, MAYOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Through Monday, June the eighth, and I should note that based on the data, I can revise this order at any time.</s>WATT (voice-over): A new CNN poll shows a 13% rise and those who say they visited friends or family in the past week.</s>ESTHER CHOO, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: We really did. We took comfort in the fact that our kids were largely safe. And I wonder if some of that is our comfort with relaxing social distancing measures.</s>WATT (voice-over): But now 15 states are reporting rare cases of severe potentially COVID related reactions in children.</s>JUAN DUMOIS, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES PHYSICIAN: Really high fevers, rashes, and sometimes drops in blood pressure causing shock.</s>WATT (voice-over): The CDC planning today to warn physicians to look out for such symptoms.</s>GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We have lost three children in New York because of this. Five year old boy, seven year old boy and an 18-year- old girl.</s>WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile, many states figuring out if and how kids could go back to school in the fall.</s>LILY ESKELSEN GARCIA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Our fear is that people are just going to say this is the date and we'll all rush in and we won't be prepared and that children will be put at risk.</s>WATT (voice-over): The Cal State University system that's nearly half a million students already announced there will be nearly no in person classes. Even in the fall. They don't want to quarter a class sizes and have students come in from all over.</s>EDUARDO OCHOA, PRESIDENT, CSU MONTEREY BAY: We face the prospect of turning the campus into a cluster that would actually single handedly drive the infection rates in our county, we didn't really want to do that.</s>WATT (voice-over): They also have concerns about testing and tracing capability.</s>LATOYA CANTRELL, MAYOR NEW ORLEANS: Contact tracing is a priority.</s>WATT (voice-over): So this weekend when restaurants reopen in New Orleans, it's reservations only. And --</s>CANTRELL: Restaurants should retain a name and contact number for over 21 days.</s>WATT (voice-over): So contacts can be traced as we all mix more.</s>JHA: The CDC has not done enough. They had a contact racing force for a much smaller outbreak than what we have. And I wish we had spent the last two months building up that force.</s>WATT: And of course, while we've all been focused on COVID, our other problems haven't gone away. California just said that wildfires in the state are up 60% so far this year, they're bracing for a bad fire season and figuring out how to continue social distancing. Do we evacuate people early? Do we put them in hotel rooms? Do they somehow figure out how to segregate school, gymnasiums and circulate the air? And by the way, for those of you on the east and the Gulf Coast, the hurricane season this year is also forecast to be pretty bad. Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, it is. All right, Nick Watt, thank you very, very much. We're just getting this pool report in the TV networks. And Governor Gretchen Whitmer has with us. But I want you to listen to Governor Whitmer what the President is now saying, we're going to be getting the tape. We're going to be getting the tape shortly, but let me read what the pool reporter from the TV networks has just reported to us. The President was asked whether he has concerns about reopening schools, as expressed by Dr. Fauci before his testimony. In the Senate yesterday, the President said I'm quoting now from the pool report. He wants to play all sides of the equation, referring to Dr. Fauci, he then said he believes the country will bounce back in the fourth quarter asked further what he meant by his comments regarding Dr. Fauci, the President said once again, I'm quoting from this pool report. I was surprised by his answer. To me, it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools. We'll get the videotape by shortly from the -- from the pool, and we'll have that for our viewers. But those are the President's comments about Dr. Fauci and his testimony yesterday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan is joining us right now. Do you want to give us your immediate reaction Governor to what the President is now saying about Dr. Fauci?</s>GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Well, I can tell you is that the decisions that I'm making are based on our epidemiologists and our public health experts. We are talking to people like Dr. Jha, who was recently on and experts across the country because it's really important that we get this right. It can't be determined based on political pressure. It can't be determined based on a desire to reengage or a feeling that our kids are going to be OK. It has to be driven by the best science and I have an incredible amount of respect for Dr. Fauci. I think he's been one of the consistent, you know, people on the national stage who has given us accurate information and an unvarnished way. This is a novel virus where you're learning something every single day about COVID-19 that empowers us to make better decisions tomorrow and we have to keep listening to the science.</s>BLITZER: Yes, it's you're absolutely right. We look forward to hearing precisely what the President is saying once we get that videotape from the TV network pool reporter. What's your response Governor to the President and some of his aides now questioning whether the coronavirus death count here in the United States is inflated, it's being over, over counted?</s>WHITMER: Well, you know, I was with my chief medical executive today, and we were talking about the numbers that we're showing here in Michigan, we've had over 4,700 people die of COVID-19. And we think that the number probably is higher. When people are dying at home, it's on our public health system to go through and look at all the death certificates. And a lot of these people maybe never got a positive test, but they died of COVID-19. And it is important that our records are reflective of that. And so there is a lag between really collecting all of this information which is incredibly intensive, and making sure that the numbers are really, you know, accurate, and that's why I think that the numbers probably are not as high as what reality is in terms of COVID-19 deaths.</s>BLITZER: That's what Dr. Fauci said yesterday before the Senate Committee as well. The President apparently believes the numbers are inflated right now are too high. Dr. Rick Bright, the -- he used to be the top federal vaccine expert. He was ousted from his job, as you know, in recent weeks. He's expected to warn Congress tomorrow when he testifies that the U.S. could see in his words the darkest winter in modern history, with a ramped up coronavirus response. Are you concerned that these late breaking developments that we're seeing what the White House is now saying is a potential signal that we could in fact see what he's calling the darkest winter?</s>WHITMER: Well, and then the change and what the expectations are in terms of what the modeling is showing nationwide? The one thing that we know with a certainty is that the best tool we have right now is social distancing. And we all are eager to reengage our economies and yet we have to be really smart about it. We have to have built up our public health expertise, our testing, our tracing our ability to isolate people, once we are determined that they are COVID-19 positive or around someone who has. We also in the same time have to be developing protocols and building up our PPE and ensuring that we don't get overwhelmed when there is an outbreak that happens. All of these are critical components of this. And the fact that we still don't have a strategy that covers the nation, a strategy to get swabs which we are getting more of, and we're grateful to the federal government for their help on that. But we should be producing these things in masses, because testing is going to be key until we get a vaccine and we're not doing enough of it as a nation. And we're all eager to do more. But we need these materials. Incredibly, you know, important.</s>BLITZER: We understand there going to be some more demonstrations in the state Capitol Lansing tomorrow. Governor, the last time we saw some of the protesters showing up with, with the weapons, with guns. What's going on -- what are you bracing for tomorrow in the state Capitol of Lansing?</s>WHITMER: Yes, so I'm sad to report that it does appear that there's going to be another demonstration where they're, you know, I'm hopeful they'll practice social distancing and wearing masks. But if last time was any indication, that's that might not happen. And that's a problem. We're also seeing a lot of racist rhetoric around it, and misogynistic, and, you know, hateful, violent threats that are being made. And I think that's something that we have to keep our eye on. It's sad, because this is a small, relatively small group of people in a state of almost 10 million, where the vast majority are doing the right thing. But we're going to focus on this because it is it's outrageous. And I think it's really important that we can observe someone's Second Amendment rights and the right to dissent is something I have a great deal of respect for, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't compromise other people's public safety. And these protests thus far, I have not done it that way. And I think it's very concerning.</s>BLITZER: And it's legal for these guys to show up with AR-15 in the state capitol, is that right?</s>WHITMER: Unfortunately, it is. And the state legislature could have taken some action this week, they chose not to the Capitol commission could have taken action this week. They did not. I think that it is really unwise that we have a policy where people can bring weapons into the state capitol. I know that's not how it is in other parts of the country. And I believe that it's something that should change. No one should have to go to work and feel intimidated. And that's what these state representatives and all of the staff who work there and the sergeants and the police that work in that building, they should not have to feel that way. And I think making our capital a gun free zone would be an important step toward giving people confidence that they can do their job and safety.</s>BLITZER: Before I let you go, Governor, as you know, you've been mentioned as a possible running mate for Joe Biden. Is that an offer you could accept given the very serious crisis this coronavirus pandemic that your state is facing right now.</s>WHITMER: You know, Wolf, honestly, the fact that my name is mentioned that in anything other than, you know, for focusing on COVID-19 is, is something I haven't devoted a whole lot of energy to. This outbreak in Michigan was one of the worst in the nation. We have had the third highest number of deaths in the country, even though our population is the 10th largest. We've had to take a lot of tough actions. I've got to see this through and that's what's driving every thing that I'm doing as governor of Michigan.</s>BLITZER: I know you've been in the forefront in this battle, these are life and death decisions that you have to make. Governor Whitmer, good luck to you, good luck to everybody in Michigan. Thanks so much for joining us.</s>WHITMER: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: Still ahead, a new warning about the mysterious illness that's now striking children and most likely related to the coronavirus. And later the Texas businessman said he offered to make millions of N95 to protect doctors and nurses, but the government never took them up on his offer. Why did the deal fall through? Stay with us.