Stocks Sink More Than 2,000 Points, Italy Goes On Lockdown And A Total Of 5 U.S. Congressmen Self-Quarantine; Rep. Mark Meadows, President Trump's Incoming Chief Of Staff, In Self-Quarantine As A Precaution.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Good evening. John Berman here, in for Anderson. On a first night of what could be a very long, tense week for people in this country and around the world, that's because the markets suffered an unprecedented point drop. In Italy, a country of 60 million people, effectively closed all its borders to the world. Now, all of that happening as passengers are finally disembarking from a cruise ship now reported in Oakland. At a news conference a short time ago, Vice President Pence said 21 were infected on the ship. However, none of them children. President Trump was also there, or should we say he was there briefly. He use this team to explain the outbreak is, quote, not our country's fault and was, quote, something we were thrown. Also, he talked about a stimulus package he hopes Congress will pass. But then the president left the room before taking any questions. And we want to play you that moment, because tonight, the health of the president is now a concern after several Republican allies in Congress, some who had recent contact with the president, announced they have self quarantined after coming in contact with someone who was infected. Here is that moment after reporters ask, whether the leader of the free world has been tested.</s>REPORTER: Has he been tested? Have you been tested?</s>MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have not been tested for the coronavirus.</s>REPORTER: Has the president? Has the president been tested? He's been in contact with people who were in proximity to somebody who had the virus.</s>PENCE: Let me be sure and get you an answer to that. I honestly don't know the answer to the question. But we'll refer that question and we will get you an answer from the White House physician very quickly.</s>BERMAN: The vice president doesn't know if the president has been tested and we still haven't received an answer from the White House. Now, here is what we do know at this time about the president's health. Four Republican members of Congress have self-quarantined them after they came in contact with an individual at a recent political action forum who has tested positive for the virus. Ted Cruz, Dr. Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Doug Collins. Congressman Collins of Georgia shook the president's hand after exiting Air Force One in Atlanta on Friday, after Congressman Collins came in contact with the infected individual. And then there is Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida. Today, he rode with the president aboard the presidential limo, as well as Air Force One. Gaetz was also a dinner guest of the president Saturday evening, spending the weekend with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Now, Gaetz had previously appeared to mock coronavirus prevention. He appeared last week in a gas mask during a vote on funding for coronavirus prevention and he tweeted out a photo of himself in that same gas mask while in his office. By the way, all of that happened before this weekend when a constituent of his died from the coronavirus. Today, his office responded to the gas mask controversy, quote: Congressman Gaetz had expected COVID-19 to impact Congress given the elevated frequency of travel and human contact and demonstrated his concern last week on the House floor. He demonstrated it all right. Interestingly, President Trump attended the same CPAC conference as the four congressmen who have self-quarantined. That was February 29th, nine days ago. President Trump said of the coronavirus, quote, everything is under control, unquote. And he said it twice. Let's start with Boris Sanchez at the White House tonight. Boris, as we mentioned, Vice President Pence, he couldn't or wouldn't say whether the president has been tested. Is that still the case?</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We don't have any clarity on that at this point, John. You heard Vice President Mike Pence there say at the podium that he would give some clarity to the press. He sort of struggled to answer the question. Ultimately, acknowledging that he, himself, had not been tested. He said that he didn't know what the White House's physician's advice was to Trump on that. We should point out as you saw there, the president totally ignored the question, quickly walked out of the room before answering any questions from reporters. We should also note that the president, just this weekend, over the last few days, has ignored the advice of top experts when it comes to senior citizens protecting themselves from the coronavirus. He's attended a number of fundraisers with hundreds of people in attendance, shaking a lot of hands, John.</s>BERMAN: So what more is the White House saying about the president's interactions with Congressman Gaetz and Doug Collins?</s>SANCHEZ: Yes, not much at all. Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham didn't answer questions I sent her after this news came forward. The White House has maintained that President Trump is fine, and that he's healthy. He, himself, has made clear that this isn't a huge concern for him. But it seems that the tide is turning. Specifically, when you watch the Dow Jones dropped 2,000 points in a single day. That really has gotten the president's attention, especially going into this 2020 re- election campaign.</s>BERMAN: There is no question about that. And that's clearly what he wanted to focus on at this news conference. Saying that tomorrow, he'll hold a precedent where he will announce some kind of economic relief. What was the president talking about there? And does the White House think it'll be enough to stem the losses on Wall Street?</s>SANCHEZ: It's really an open question at this point. From what we understand, the president met with aides this afternoon, going over a draft, different ideas, opinions of what an economic stimulus package would look like. The White House has repeatedly said that they would look to help the airline industry, the cruise industry, support tourism and travel in that regard. There's been speculation about a potential payroll tax. It would also not be a surprise if we see some kind of help for the energy sector, as well, with this price war over oil going on between Saudi Arabia and Russia. There is less demand for oil. We may see the White House try to boost that. The big question on the horizon, and we're still several steps from this but it's an important one to keep in mind, how will Democrats respond to this? Are they willing to help the president pass an economic stimulus package that might turn the tide with the way that the White House has handled this coronavirus crisis? And help the president boost the economy, avoid a slowdown going into November. All right. Boris Sanchez at the White House -- Boris, keep on pressing and let us know if you get any answers tonight. I want to bring in CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk more about what we heard at this news conference a short time ago. And, Sanjay, what do you make of the fact that the vice president couldn't say whether or not president Trump has been tested for coronavirus?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I was a little surprised they didn't know only because it's been such, you know, a topic in the news today. And everyone's been talking about it, reporting on it. So that was a little surprising. The president walked out, John, I don't know if you saw, before he could take those questions. So I think the vice president was a little surprised. At first, he thought -- he thought he was being asked if he had been tested. So I think there was a little confusion there. I do want to say one thing though, John. So the scenario basically is that these Congressmen Gaetz and Collins interacted with somebody who was subsequently found to be positive with coronavirus. And then they interacted with the president. It's not clear whether Congressman Collins or Gaetz have coronavirus themselves, and I think that's going to be an important question. I bring it up only to say, John, as we move forward over the next days and weeks, who should get tested, I think, is going to be a question that comes up. Should you get tested if you came in contact with somebody who was known to have coronavirus? The answer may be no. I mean, the White House doctors may say, hey, look, we think we'll watch you. See if you develop any symptoms. But we don't necessarily want to make this precedent that everybody who has second or third-degree contact should go out and get tested, John.</s>BERMAN: And the members' offices do tell us that as of now, those members are all asymptomatic. Another big part of this news conference was the idea that the CDC guidelines, these new pieces of paper are coming out. What do you make of this, Sanjay? I suppose any information is good, although, maybe it's a little late for some of this.</s>GUPTA: Well, you know, and Dr. Fauci did describe it as being very basic information about how to, essentially, protect yourself at home, at your business and restaurants, whatever it may be. And my -- we haven't seen it yet. I guess it's going to be coming out later tonight or tomorrow morning. But I think it's going to be a lot of stuff that has been discussed. I think, peripherally, in terms of hand washing and disinfecting and -- and the appropriate distance to stay away from somebody. How do you interact with people at a restaurant? In terms of lowering your risk of getting infected. I think you're right, John. I mean, we have been hearing about this but it's been sort of piecemeal. I think what they realize, and they being Dr. Anthony Fauci and Ambassador Birx, that there probably needed to be a more coherent sort of way of presenting all this information to the entire American public. This is supposed to be for everybody. So, yes, I mean, you kind of wish they would have had this sooner. Although they have been talking about it, now we are going to have it in a more organized firm.</s>BERMAN: Just overall, Sanjay, what were your biggest takeaways from this briefing?</s>GUPTA: I think the biggest takeaway for me, when you observe the president at the beginning and I was there for the first press briefing he did around this topic. And I did get the sense that this time around, there was an acknowledgment, more of an acknowledgment by the president, that this was a big deal. Before, I think it was still sort of, you know, not necessarily recognizing -- he had just come back from India. I think he was a bit surprised that he had to talk about it. This time, he said basically, look, everybody's talking about it. I get it. Everyone around the world is talking about it. This is the big topic. So he acknowledged that. And, you know, he talked mostly about the economy. But he did bring up some specific things like helping workers who might have to stay home. We're asking people to stay home. Maybe they can't afford to, you know, an acknowledgment of details like that. So I think that was good. But, again, he spoke for a very short time.</s>BERMAN: He did, which is notable. We'll get to that in a minute. Sanjay, thank you very much. We have a lot more to discuss with you coming up. First, though, I want to talk with a veteran with years of service working on an array of Washington crises, former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, who also served as defense secretary and CIA director. Secretary Panetta, are you surprised that Vice President Pence couldn't say or wouldn't say whether President Trump has been tested for coronavirus, given that the president interacted with people that had come in contact with someone who now has coronavirus?</s>LEON PANETTA, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, CLINTON ADMINISTRATION: That was -- that was kind of not -- not a smart move by the vice president. I think both the president and he knew that question was coming because of the fact that he had contact with members of Congress who have now quarantined themselves. So I -- I think they should have been better prepared to have responded to that question because it is a critical question.</s>BERMAN: And then it struck me that the president, after floating a payroll tax cut and some other wage benefits, he left. He walked out of the news conference early. I'm wondering why you think the White House, perhaps, didn't want him taking questions?</s>PANETTA: It's the president of the United States, the commander in chief, if you will, who's got to stand up there and speak to the American people about what's happening and what we're doing to try to deal with it. I thought it would have been far better, frankly, to not even have the president go out there because it created the impression that the president was not fully knowledgeable about what is happening with the virus, did not want to speak to it, and, instead, wanted to mention the fact that he was going to meet with senators tomorrow to talk about an economic package, which -- which is all well and good. But the fact that he went out there, did not speak directly to the issue that American people are concerned about, and immediately went off stage. I -- I just thought -- I just thought it left -- it left me with a sense that the president, for a lot of reasons, does not seem to have his arms around this issue and does not feel comfortable addressing it, as he should have addressed it at that press conference.</s>BERMAN: What does it tell you that you have concerns about the president of the United States participating in a news conference about coronavirus? That's pretty extraordinary.</s>PANETTA: Well, you know, it's -- it strikes me that the president, for the last few weeks, as we've been dealing with this crisis, has tried to play down the threat of this virus. He's concerned about its impact. He's concerned about what it's doing to the economy. It's -- he's concerned about what it's doing to his presidency. And so, as a result of that, I think he's trying to put the best face on it, without really relying on the scientific facts and the medical facts that are so apparent. I appreciate the vice president, and I appreciate the whole medical team that was there because i, at least, had the sense that they were presenting the facts and the truth to the American people. I don't think this president has come face to face with the truth of what's happening. And as long as that's the case, I have a feeling that we're not going to see the president doing many briefings on what's happening with the coronavirus.</s>BERMAN: You know, every public health expert I speak with says that in a crisis situation, the number one ingredient for public health is public trust. So I guess the question is, what happens when a leader forfeits some element of public trust?</s>PANETTA: Well, you know, the problem is this president has had a hard time with the truth since he entered the presidency and before that. And, you know, the American people want to be able to trust. What -- what the president is what -- what the president is saying to them. But, in many ways, he's forfeited that trust by the fact that he continues to shade the truth. The most important thing in these crises is to present the truth to the American people. And this president, so often, would rather shade the truth so that everything looks fine. When, in fact, this is a crisis that we're all apart of. All Americans are a part of this effort to deal with this crisis, and he should be comfortable, not uncomfortable, with telling the American people the truth about what's happening.</s>BERMAN: You know, I want to ask you a question on a slightly different subject. It has to do with the crisis over oil prices. Now, this has to do with two countries that the president, for whatever reason, has gone out of his way to develop these particularly close relationships with Saudi Arabia and Russia. What does it tell you that he can't just get on the phone, after years of building up these relationships, and say, hey, fix this? Isn't this exactly where you should be using the leverage he claims to have been building up?</s>PANETTA: Well, frankly, what concerned me more today was the fact that the president tweeted out that somehow this crisis on oil prices was going to benefit the American people with lower gas prices. The problem is it's a crisis. We've never had that much of a drop on energy prices for almost 30 years. And when that happens, it creates a very unpredictable marketplace that could impact on our way of life, because we are so dependent on that source of energy. So I -- I would have thought that the president would've really spoken to the danger points that we're seeing now with regards to oil. And also, as you say, he should have picked up the phone with Saudi Arabia and with Russia.</s>BERMAN: Secretary Leon Panetta, so great to have you with us this evening. Stay healthy. We'll talk to you again soon.</s>PANETTA: Thank you, John. You, too.</s>BERMAN: Just ahead, Dr. Sanjay Gupta rejoins us to help us take a step back, take a deep breath, and answer more questions about the coronavirus. Also, a live report from Oakland, a cruise ship with passengers infected with coronavirus has just docked. The latest on the conditions of the passenger when 360 conti -- returns.