Trump May bet Involved in Navy Captain's Case
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A very important person in the military. He knows it better than anybody in this room what he should have done. And I'm sure he feels he made a mistake. But, I'm going to look into it and I'm going to see, maybe we can do something, because I'm not looking to destroy a person's life who's had an otherwise stellar career, as I understand it.</s>BERMAN: New turmoil in the highest ranks of the Navy. President Trump there suggesting he may now intervene after a Navy captain who sound the alarm about coronavirus outbreak -- a coronavirus outbreak on a ship was relieved of his command. And it comes as the acting Navy secretary apologized after calling that captain stupid in a speech to the entire crew. CNN's Ryan Browne live at the Pentagon. Ryan, there are several different levels of embarrassment here.</s>RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: That's absolutely correct, John. It's been a lot of twists and turns in this story in the last 24 hours. Early yesterday we first got the word -- reports of this speech that acting Secretary Modly had given to the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Now just days ago -- days earlier, that same crew had given their former now fired captain, Brett Crozier, a very warm sendoff. But Secretary Modly chose to take that time to slam their former commanding officer for disseminating that memo warning about the coronavirus pandemic aboard his ship, saying that he was either too naive or too stupid to not realize that that memo would get out into the public. Let's listen.</s>THOMAS MODLY, ACTING SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: If he didn't think that information was going to get out into the public in this information age that we live in, then he was, a, too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this. It was a betrayal. He put it in the public's forum and it's now become a big controversy in Washington, D.C., and across the country about a martyr CO who wasn't getting the help he needed.</s>BROWNE: Now, his comments were met almost immediate with sounds of shock and disappointment from the same sailor, you can hear in the recording, and other officials in the Pentagon telling CNN that they were very dismayed by his comments. Initially, Secretary Modly stood by them. He said I meant everything I said in a statement issued after the comments became public. But then several hours later, after several senior members of Congress called for his ouster over this issue, he issued a new statement apologizing for his comments, saying, let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is nadve, nor stupid. I believe precisely because he is not naive and stupid that he sent this alarming e-mail with the intention of getting it into the public domain in an effort to draw public attention to the situation on his ship. So a very about-face for the acting Navy secretary as he faces withering criticism for his actions with regard to that ship and its former commanding officer. Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Ryan, thank you very much for that developing story. So, loans for small businesses and for the owners, they are hitting some obstacles. Millions of unemployed workers are still hoping for answers on when they will get help. So we have all the details in a live report, next.