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april 2020. >> the death toll as of this morning doubled in the last three days. >> america was hurting. >> new unemployment filings. >> record unemployment. >> 6,638,000. >> ballooning deaths, an economic recession. >> current reality is beyond painful. >> not a good equation for a president running for reelection. >> he's frustrated by what we've seen happen in the stock market. the numbers he knows of job losses and people who have filed for unemployment are through the roof and going to potentially be incredibly damaging to him in november and that's his fear. >> so the president wanted to push governors to restart the economy. at least in part to resuscitate his reelection campaign and the only way to do both, reopen the

country as soon as possible. that seemed unrealistic when models were predicting 100,000 or 200,000 deaths. according to the washington post, an inpatient president trump saw it different. which some white house economic advisors delivered. >> "the washington post" is reporting that the white house led by economic advisor kevin hassett built a different coronavirus model that shows that deaths would have already peaked and there would be far fewer fatalities than initially foreseen. "the washington post" is reporting this presentation affirmed skepticism within the west wing about what people like dr. nfauci and red field and bix are saying about the severity of the crisis. is that true. >> as kevin himself said, that is not true, jake. absolutely not true. what he was doing was taking the

gates model from the university of washington and basically smoothing it out to show what is actually happening. there's a difference between a forecast trend and what is actually happening so we didn't change anything based on that. >> we want to have our country open. we want to return to normal life. our country is going to be open. >> on april 16th, administration announced a plan. >> our team of experts agrees we can begin the next front in our war. >> with nov vaccine on the horizon, the country had to increase testing and contact tracing capability decreasing cases over 14 days. >> tests and isolate the person who is infected. trace the contacts. quarantine them. but we didn't do the first part of this well enough and that's affected everything else down stream. >> you think there doesn't seem to be kind of an effort to get in front of that.

it's always like the u.s. is a couple of steps behind. >> but the country has struggled with testing since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. testing is limited to small groups, health care workers and people that had known contact with a sick patient or this is crucial, people with symptoms. but now in order to reopen the country and prevent further out breaks, the country needs lost of tests because as scientists announced in mid april, people might be most contagious two to three days before they develop symptoms when they're asymptomatic. >> what's really critical is this constant surveillance for asymptomatic individuals. >> constant surveillance and wide spread testing so those with the virus can be quickly identified and immediately isolated from the rest of us to stop the spread.

and according to one study by harvard center for ethics, the quite ne united states needs at least 500,000 tests to be conducted every day in order to safely reopen, maybe even more than that. >> we probably in this country need to be testing one to 2 million people a day ultimately. >> i think we're going to have to have 300 or 500 million tests before we get out of this. sufficient quantity of good tests with high quality, easily available to anyone who wants one. >> we're testing more than anybody. >> and listening to president trump speak about testing in mid april, it sounded as though the u.s. had quantity and quality. >> we have a great testing system. we have the best right now, the best testing system in the world. >> but that claim does not square with the facts and what the experts were saying. >> dr. anthony fauci is raising questions about the readiness saying more coronavirus testing

is needed saying quote, we have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on and we're not there yet. >> excuse me. excuse me. i know your question. the governors are supposed to do testing. >> the president also continued to clash with governors but the governors argued with ventilators and ppe that they don't have the power of the defense production act. >> we're going to need testing, more testing, faster testing than we now have. >> only the president has that power, to force companies to get testing up to speed. only he has the power to force companies to make tests, testing reagents and swabs to hire lab workers and to manufacture lab equipment. >> more help is needed from the federal government on testing. >> this is probably the number

one problem in america and has been from the beginning of this crisis. >> there is tension between state government and federal government that has always existed since the founding of our country, but this is now life and death, and this question of who should i rely on to keep me alive. >> we actually spoke with several of the president's political advisors who say they believe the reason the president is pushing the responsibility for testing off on states is that then the president won't be the one to deal with the fallout if there is any. >> thank you. >> this was a back and forth between the president and the governors that created gridlock and confusion. >> it's hard to argue that there hasn't been lost time in this fight over who should be responsible and who is to blame. >> it's frustrating in someways it's disheartening because we can do this. >> tens of thousands of protesters are promising to show

up to the capitol here to protest the stay-at-home order. >> what happened on april 17th didn't help. >> those protests encouraged by the president himself. >> when president trump took to twitter tweeting in caps liberate minnesota, liberate michigan, liberate virginia. >> these are great people. they have cabin fever. they want to get back. they want their life back. >> he sees some benefit in bolstering this anti-government message. he is encouraging people to go against what their own governors have said. >> even encouraging protestors to go against the white house's own guidelines. >> to encourage people to go protest, the plan that you just made recommendations on, it just doesn't make any sense. we're sending completely conflicting messages out. >> that's been one of the issues throughout this entire outbreak is that even though we're called the yats united states of ameri when it comes to strategies for

putting a stop to the outbreak, we have not been very united. >> working very hard with governors on testing. want to help them out. >> the president and governor seemed to unite around testing a few days later. >> using the defense production act to increase swab production. >> the president planned to use the tpa to force production of desperately needed swabs for testing. federal testing labs were offered for some states to use. and the latest economic relief bill allocated $25 billion for testing. so by the end of april, diagnostic testing was progressing. though, still, nowhere near where it needed to be according to health experts. >> we are working with more than 400 test developers, 220 labs around the country. >> ultimately, we're doing more testing i think than probably any of the governors even want. >> four days later, the white house announced a blueprint for testing puts the responsibility back in the hands of the states. >> we have enough testing to

begin reopening and the reopening process we want to get our country open. >> a plan that had administration taking a victory lap. >> i think that we've achieved all the different milestones needed. so the government, federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story. >> the federal government has done a spectacular job. >> but the plan had medical experts reacting quite differently. >> the white house planned calls for around 7 million a month. we're talking about a million a day. you can see the delta. it's four times off in terms of the amount of testing we need to be doing here. >> it isn't perfect and we're not there yet and we're not but we're going to get there. we're going to get there soon, i hope. >> and they'll need to because the only true end to the pandemic, the wholly grail a vaccine is still on the horizon. >> i think there is no question that the speed at which these vaccine trials have been going is unprecedented. vaccines can take decades to

make. hiv aids 40 years and we still don't have a vaccine. that gives you an idea how challenging this can be. >> this is a race against time to reopen, to get back to some semblance of normal and most importantly, to save lives. it will be a marathon the experts say, not a sprint. and with every step serious communication failures that took and continue to take the country off track. >> the virus -- >> such as down playing the threat and severity of the pandemic. >> when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away, that's true. >> hydroxychloroquine. >> or pushing a drug, hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of covid-19. a drug the fda just warned against using outside of a clinical trial or hospital. >> what do you have to lose? take it. >> supposing we hit the body -- >> and then of course, the

recent disinfectant situation. >> then i see the disinfectant where it knocks out o s it out minute, one minute and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning. >> an unbelievable and perplexing moment that had people calling hot lines asking many they should be using disinfectant on themselves to combat the virus. >> this idea from tprompted stas from the makers of lysol and clorox to say do not try this, it could kill. >> requiring doctors, public officials and organizations to shift their focus from fighting covid-19 to actually warn the public not to ingest disinfectant. >> i certainly wouldn't recommend the internal injection of a disinfectant. >> we wanted to ask a white house about all of this but they

declined to participate in this documentary. for now, americans need to keep their eyes looking straight ahead to the finish line. listening to the experts and not get distracted by confusing unfounded messages. >> i don't think there is only one path to defeat covid. we need our leaders to be focused, serious, honest, to be able to deal with new fast-moving scientific information. that's the path to defeat covid. >> why is it the time now in the middle of this pandemic to start investigating the record? well, while we were producing this documentary, the united states hit a grim milestone, 1

million americans diagnosed with covid-19 a startling number. that reminds us every day how lives are literally at stake. this month, we passed a death toll 65,000. not long ago, it was projected the u.s. would not hit until august. that's the reason that we do this now, not because we want to point fingers or blame the chinese government or governors or president trump, the reason we look back so the same mistakes are not repeated as these numbers continue to rise and just in case there's another outbreak later in the year or next year we want to get the facts on the record when the president is weeding out and replacing truth tellers, government watchdogs like the inspector general acting of the department health and human services telling a truth that apparently president trump did

not want told. the time to get the facts on the record is when memories are fresh and when people can remember what was done and what could have been done faster or better or at all. one step forward as coronavirus deaths tick past 66,000. more states dip their toes into reopening. and those that have not face protests. can the economy reopen now without many more getting six? i'll speak exclusively to

michigan governor whitmer and maryland governor hogan, next. and return to normal. more than 30 million people are newly out of work and wondering what the future will look like. >> i'm a growth guy, an optimist. to me, that's the key. >> larry kudlow joins me to discuss, next. then three's company. first he left the republican party. now he's running for president. >> i believe i have to affect the constitution whichever way works best. >> how will his candidacy affect the race? justin amash joins me in moments. hello, aim jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is worried. more than 60,000 people in the united states have died from

coronavirus at this hour. just think about this, one coronavirus death in this country was reported every 44 seconds during the month of april and many experts predict another major wave of coronavirus could happen in the fall or the winter and yet president trump spent his, quote, working weekend at camp david, seemingly on twitter, tweeting not primarily about those who have lost loved ones or livelihoods but attacking journalists, criticizing george w. bush and the mueller investigation, touting his approval ratings and expressing happiness that kim jong-un with alive and well, among other matters. today, despite concerns from health officials that it's premature, americans across the country are no longer under stay-at-home orders. more than half of states are relaxing their guidelines and opening more nonessential businesses as states look to ease the severe economic pain this pandemic has caused. top experts are now predicting the worst economy of our lifetimes in the last six weeks. more than 30 million americans

have filed for unemployment for the first time. to give you some perspective, that's equivalent to the entire population of texas. joining me now to discuss the economic challenges from the white house, president trump's top economic adviser, larry kudlow, mr. kudlow, good to see you, thanks for joining us. i want to start with what the government is doing to help americans through the crisis. do you think there will be a phase iv stimulus bill and should it include money for state and local governments? >> i don't want to get too far ahead of the story, jake. there may well be additional legislation. there's kind of a pause period right now. you know, we've put up $3 trillion of direct federal budget assistance in one way or another. the federal reserve has actually put in as much as 4 to $6 trillion. so it's a huge, huge package. let's see how it's doing as we gradually reopen the economy. we probably will have some ideas. i want to say this, that regarding the states, as you know, the president has from time to time spoken about linking that to sanctuary

cities. i don't think anything's been decided yet regarding health care and all manner of medical equipment. we have poured hundreds of billions into the states. perhaps there will be more of that. we'll wait and see. from our perspective too, jake, look, we know the economy is still in terrible contractionary phase, tremendous hardships everywhere. that's why we've put up several rescue packages led by president trump and with the bipartisan support of the congress. so we're working through that. it's going to be very difficult in the months ahead, no question. having said that, i will note that the congressional budget office and a bunch of private forecasters, "wall street journal" surveys and so forth, are looking for a very strong second half economic rebound and

suggesting that 2021 next year could be one of the fastest growth rebounds in american history or recent history. so we're trying to get from, you know, one side to the other. we're trying to get through this, we're trying to work through this. i don't want to rule in or out anything right now. we are in discussions internally and with leading members of congress. >> right, but you talk about a pause, a moment of pause that we're in right now. the fed chair, jerome powell, indicated this week he believes congress needs to pass additional measures providing direct fiscal support no americans. i don't understand the reason for a pause. why not take action aggressively now, considering how dire a situation so many americans are in? >> well, look, first of all, we have to execute the last package. and the numbers are very strong. these are the small business

loans. as of, i guess, friday, we've put up over $100 billion already just in a few days. that's of course on top of the prior $350 billion. look, jake, 175 million americans, 175 million americans, have received federal assistance in one form or another. that includes the direct checks, of course, and the unemployment compensation, and the small business assistance. so i guess what i would say to you at this particular juncture, let's execute the continuation of what we've already done. let's see what the results are. the outlook in the weeks and months ahead directly is not positive, as you noted. the unemployment is very, very high, almost 30 million people. we are covering them with generous relief packages. just trying to stabilize things and get folks through this. and then we will see, we will see in a couple of weeks, jake, what needs to be done and perhaps how to do it. >> so the second tranche of money for the small business administration's paycheck

protection program, sba just a few minutes ago released numbers suggesting of that $310 billion, $175 billion has already been approved. in just one week, $175 billion approved. doesn't that suggest that there is a real need and waiting further doesn't really make any sense? plaudits to the administration and the congress for getting this money to the sba, getting it out the door. the average loan is smaller, suggesting that it's going to smaller businesses. and that's all great. but doesn't that also suggest there's a real need for more money in that program? >> it may be, jake. it may be. we haven't made a decision yet. i agree with your points. this has been an extremely

popular and effective program, no question about it. you know, keeping folks on the payroll is so important. and even if they're furloughed for a while, they'll be picked up by the unemployment compensation. so yes, that suggests, i might add, potential strong springback once the states gradually phase in their reopenings in the transition months of may and june. i don't want to rule it out. i think your point is well-taken. we waited a little bit too long, i thought, when the last tranche ran out, let's not make the same mistake again. we'll be looking at that. but we also want to look at some medium term items. the president is very keen on a payroll tax holiday for workers, we had one for business, we would like to see one for the workers. we would like to see tax deductions for business, entertainment, going to sports events, we're trying so hard to help everybody open up. we're looking at people being able to write off, if you have new expenses in any area,

whether you're inventing vaccines or whether you're redoing your factories or office buildings to help on the covid-19 medical side, best practices, we would like to see that completely expensed. we would also like to see some shield on liabilities, because we don't want small business to stay closed because they think they're going to be sued right away. so these are all -- i call them economic growth incentives, so we have lots of cash and liquidity, now it's time to look forward to economic growth incentives. we did it once, jake, we had a very strong economy during the trump years and the first few months of this year. we would like to apply the same free enterprise principles

besides the second half rebound, i think 2021 could be a spectacular year in the economy with the right set of policies. >> right. well, from your mouth to god's ears. "the washington post" is reporting that the white house led by white house economic adviser kevin hassett referenced a model which shows there could be fewer fatalities, affirming skepticism within the west wing about what people, health experts like dr. fauci and dr. birx, are saying about the severity of the crisis. is that true, was there a model by kevin hassett that fend skepticism in the west wing? >> as kevin hassett himself said, that is not true, jake, absolutely not true. i've known kevin many years, he's a brilliant guy and a person of great integrity. look, what he was doing was taking that bill gates -- the gates model, it's not bill gates, but the gates model from the university of washington and basically smoothing it out to show what is actually happening.

there is a different between a forecast trend and what has actually happened. he was clarifying the situation. he was not changing the situation. we have from day one abided by the advice and guidance of our top medical people. dr. fauci, ambassador birx, and many others in hhs and fda. this idea that somehow we were creating a new model is simply not the case. sometimes you can clarify it, it may be a little complex for our purposes this morning, but it was basically a smoothing technique for real world actuals, less of a forecast. we didn't change anything based on that. mr. hassett is a person of great integrity and i will defend that, i will absolutely defend it, his quotes in that story couldn't have been clearer. >> i guess the reason for the disconnect is that sometimes the people who understandably want to get the economy up and running have been saying things that contradict what some of the

people who are health experts in the administration are saying. for instance, at the end of february, dr. nancy messonier who apparently got in the doghouse with president trump for saying in a conference call that it was not a matter of if but when there would be a severe disruption to the american people and our way to live life. that's the same day, as you know, that you said this. let roll that tape. >> we have contained this. i won't say airtight, but pretty close to airtight. we have done a good job in the united states. >> so i guess the question is, is there a disconnect between what people such as you who want things to be better than they are so as to help the economy are saying and what people in the health field are saying. >> well, look, jake, for the

umpteenth time i will say, my quote then was based on the actual facts which at the time there were only 40 or 50 cases and it was contained, particularly after president trump boldly put up travel restrictions with china. i didn't make the forecast. so far, and that was just -- there was hardly any cases, okay? now, yes, some doctors were more fearful. other doctors had many different things to say. i don't want to get in and play this game, who said what and when. political leaders, one well-known political leader in the house went to chinatown in

san francisco and said everything is okay, okay? one important anchor on your network as late as mid-march said basically the covid-19 virus was no worse than an ordinary flu year. my quote was at that time, there were very few cases. then, as the virus spread exponentially in ways that virtually no one could have predicted, of course we changed our mind. going forward, the president and the vice president have taken strong measures, step by step by step, okay, strong measures to deal with this unexpected, uh, outbreak. and i think, you know, this sort of ankle biting that's going on in washington is just incorrect. you have to deal with the information at hand. when the information changes, you change. we changed our strategy. so did everybody else around the world change their strategy. so i'm just not going to -- i'm not going to accept that, jake, i'm sorry to push back, you and i have known each other a while, but that is the fact. we did what we had to do, as soon as the situation became much clearer. and right up to the recent times, dr. fauci, deborah,

others, from the vice president's task force and ultimately the president's direction, we issued guidelines, best practices, testing, diagnostics. we produced the goods on the face masks, the ventilators and other -- >> okay. >> -- forms of equipment. we unleashed a tsunami of help to the states, to the hospitals. we've worked well with the governors. i mean, this is very important because i think this line of reasoning that somehow the president was wrong or late or this or that, there were a lot of different voices, but his leadership has brought us to this point, jake, here's my bottom line, this point. we are entering a transitional period. the economy will be gradually reopened state by state based on our guidelines and what the governors guidelines, and we've been meeting through the governors throughout this period. i think we've done -- you know, things that happen once every hundred years, jake, they're pretty hard to predict precisely at the moment, i think you'll concede that. but we are optimists now, we have to get through the next month or two, we're optimists about the economy based on economic growth incentives and a

rescue mission for the unemployment problem. >> so i could respond with 15 minutes' worth of stuff right there, but unfortunately i don't have the time. we have three other interviews to get to. no, it's fine, you obviously felt passionate about that, i mean, there are certainly issues people could raise but i'm not going to bring them up right now because i don't have time to let you respond which would be the fair thing to do, so let me just thank you and i hope the economy goes the way you want it to. larry kudlow, appreciate it. coming up, protesters, some of them armed, demanding an end to one state's coronavirus restrictions. we'll talk to governor of michigan gretchen wilmer next. the presidential field may be expanding, i'll talk to a lawmakerer about his presidential bid, ahead. we're at the movies and we need to silence our phone. who knows where that button is? i don't have silent. everyone does -- right up here. it happens to all of us. we buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. what i do is help new homeowners overcome this. what is that, an adjustable spanner? good choice, steve.

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welcome back. this week, protesters, some of them armed, took the michigan state capitol. we should note it is legal in michigan to carry a firearm into the state capitol. the protesters were demanding an end to the emergency stay-at-home order put into place by democratic governor gretchen wilmer in march. the state has the third highest coronavirus death toll in the nation with more than 4,000 lives lost. governor whitmer joins me now. governor whitmer, thank you so much for joining us. these protesters who entered the michigan capitol building on thursday, we all understand people are feeling economic pain right now, but what did you make

of protesters with firearms inside the state capitol? i know some democratic lawmakers expressed concern and fear, even. >> you know we know that people are not all happy about having to take the stay-at-home posture and you know what, i'm not either. the fact of the matter is we have to listen to epidemiologist and public health experts. displays like the one we saw at the state capitol are not representative of who we are. there are swastikas, confederate flags, nooses, people with assault rifles. that's a small group of people. when you think about the fact that this is a state of almost 10 million people, the vast majority of whom are doing the right thing. that's why we've seen our curve get pushed down, we've saved lives in the process. we have to keep listening to the epidemiologists and experts and not listen to the partisan rhetoric, or these political rallies or tweets, for that matter. we have to keep doing the next right thing. >> these protesters came after president trump tweeted "liberate michigan," he tweeted, quote, the governor of michigan should give a little, put out the fire. he said that these are very good people about the protesters that were featured in the video, to which the executive director of the jewish democratic council of america, who is from lansing, michigan, she compared those comments to president trump referring to those marching

alongside neo-nazis in charlottesville as very fine people. is that how you see these protesters, in that vein, in that extreme? >> well, some of the outrageousness of what happened at our capitol this week, you know, depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country. the confederate flags and nooses, the swastikas, the, you know, behavior that you've seen in all of the clips, is not representative of who we are in michigan. and the fact of the matter is, i mean, we're in a global pandemic. this isn't something we just

negotiate ourselves out of, as a political matter. this is a public health crisis that's taken the lives of almost 70,000 americans, has put 30 million people into unemployment. we've lost in the last 24 hours almost the same number of americans that were killed on 9/11. and that's just in the last 24 hours. we need to listen to the expertise and our institutions of higher learning and our health system and make decisions that are going to protect the lives of everyone. whether you agree with me or not, i'm working with protect your life if you live in the state of michigan. i'm going to continue to do my job regardless of what tweets come out or what polls come out or what people think makes sense. we're going to listen to facts and science because we've got to get this right. >> white house senior adviser jared kushner told "the washington post" yesterday, quote, question figured out how to get all the states enough complete testing kits to do the testing they requested.

we can get to a really big number in may. the biggest thing holding us back is not supplies or capacity, it's the states' ability to collect more samples, unquote. is that true, in michigan the biggest problem is the states' ability to collect samples? >> that's not true in michigan. i can't speak for all the other states. but i've heard a lot of my fellow governors on the same calls that we've been on with the federal government, and i know that many of us are still looking to get swabs and reagents and additional test kits. and so we've never been able to get to full capacity because we are missing things in the supply chain. and that's part of why i think so many of us on both sides of the aisle have really called on more of, you know, a national strategy on these fronts. i think that in michigan, we -- across the country we should be doing 1 to 2% of our population a week.

we're far short of that. the supply chain is one of those factors. >> i want to turn now to former vice president joe biden, who denied on friday an allegation made by a former senate staffer of his, tara reade, who says he sexually assaulted her in the early '90s. you've said that you believe vice president biden. i want to compare that to 2018 when you said you believed dr. christine blasey ford after she accused now justice brett kavanaugh of assault. kavanaugh also, like biden, categorically denied that accusation and blasey ford, to be honest, she did not have the contemporaneous accounts of her view of what happened that tara reade does. you have spoken movingly about how you're a survivor of assault yourself. why do you believe biden and not kavanaugh? are they not both entitled to the same presumption of innocence regardless of their political views? >> jake, as a survivor, and as a feminist, i'll say this.

we need to give people an opportunity to tell their story. then we have a duty to vet it. and just because you're a survivor doesn't mean that every claim is equal. it means we give them the ability to make their case. and the other side as well. and then to make a judgment that is informed. i have read a lot about this current allegation. i know joe biden. and i've watched his defense. and there's not a pattern that goes into this. and i think for these reasons, i'm very comfortable that joe biden is who he says he is. he's -- and you know what, that's all i'm going to say about it. i really resent the fact that every time a case comes up, all of us survivors have to weigh in. it is reopening wounds and it is -- you know take us at our

word, ask us for our opinion and let's move on. >> just for the record, the reason i'm asking you is you're the only democrat on the show today, not because you're a survivor and not because you're a woman. thank you so much for your time. >> it's not a criticism of you, you're doing your job and i appreciate that. i'm just sharing i think some of the simmering, you know, anger that we survivors have every time, that we've got to confront this from someone else's behavior that we weren't a party to, that we weren't even a part of the reality in the moment. what i think is this. we owe it to every woman who has a story, to listen to that story, and then to vet that story, ask the questions and be critical thinkers and then make the judgment based on all of those pieces. i've done that in this instance. and i'll tell you this, i don't believe that it's consistent with the joe biden that i know, and i do believe joe, and i support joe biden. >> all right, governor gretchen whitmer, thank you so much for your time. i want to apologize to our viewers for the technical difficulties we were having with the shot, governor whitmer, the words were great about the screen was a little blurry. that's the price of doing business in the pandemic when everybody is remote.

coming up, the lack of coronavirus tests so dire, one governor purchased some tests from south korea and is having them guarded in an undisclosed location so the federal government doesn't confiscate them. we'll talk to him about that, next. stay with us. as homes become schools at&t has created a $10 million dollar fund to support distance learning tools, curriculum and resources to help educators and families keep school in session because the key to keeping kids learning, is keeping kids connected.

welcome back to "state of the union." i'm jake tapper. more than half of states have started reopening essential businesses. the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases is still on the rise of maryland. joining me is republican governor larry hogan of

maryland, also chair of the national governors association. governor hogan, nice to see you. i want to ask you to respond to white house economic adviser larry kudlow who says they're taking a pause right now, not sure when they're going to do, if anything, in terms of further economic help to citizens or to states or cities. what do you make of that? >> i'm not really quite sure what to make of that, jake. i just did listen in and hear that this morning. but the message seems to sort of change almost on a daily, sometimes several times a day. i think we're making progress. and look, i believe that -- i think the first three, 3 1/2 stimulus packages have been helpful, and everybody is trying their best to get all of that money out to the people who really need the help, the individuals who have lost their jobs and the small businesses that are hurting under this

terrible economy and the shutdown that everybody has had to do for the virus. and i think we are going to need more help. and i think we are going to be able to get something done in a stimulus package, both money out to the states, where i think we're in the best position to provide those services and hope those people that really need it. now the message seems to be changing. i'm just hoping -- i'm hoping we can put aside all this kind of divisiveness and partisanship because we just have to get this done for the american people. and it seems like we have people jumping in saying we'll do it if we get this. the other side says well, we'll do it if we get that. i think we ought to focus on this crisis, on this economy, on trying to get people back to work and not cloud it with multiple other outside issues either from the democrats in the house or the white house or the republicans in the senate. let's just focus on helping the

people and coming together in a bipartisan way. >> you heard larry kudlow say this morning, he reflected what president trump has been saying about states that have sanctuary cities -- i believe baltimore is a sanctuary city -- that they may have to change those laws in order to get funding. what do you make of that? >> baltimore is not a sanctuary city and maryland is not a sanctuary state. >> i apologize. >> that's exactly what i'm talking about jake. the democrats are saying we'll do it if we get this additional funding for these other things. republicans in the senate are saying we'll do it if we get these other liability issues for businesses. now the white house is talking about sanctuary cities. i think everybody ought to stop talking about all those things and just focus on getting people the help they need without bringing all these other outside political issues into the debate. it's no time for divisive

politics. it's time to get something done. >> let's start with testing. you said that 500,000 coronavirus tests you've recently acquired from south korea are being guarded in an undisclosed location by the national guard and maryland state police in order to prevent the federal government or anyone else from seizing them. is that really necessary? >> i'm not sure it's necessary at this point. the question really came up about a week or so ago when i was asked about flying the test kits in from south korea and we were very careful about that because there have been several reports of shipments being intercepted or diverted from the federal government from colleague governors around the country. we wanted to make sure that didn't happen which is why we flew a plane into baltimore washington international instead of dulless where they formally

land. we're working together with the federal government right now. an outbreak in salisbury on the eastern shore of poultry workers infected, fema is helping us there. and we have the tests with the partners working together. so, it's not a concern any longer, but honestly it was an issue we were looking at as we flew them in. >> yesterday a group called reopen maryland trekked more than 150 miles from frederick to salisbury to stage protest rallies on both sides of your state. andy harris spoke at one of the rallies. he had interesting words. take a listen. >> i didn't wake up and communist china, and i didn't wake up in north korea this morning. and tomorrow morning i should be able to go to the church of my choice and worship the way i choose. >> that's your fellow maryland

republican comparing the way you're running your state to communist china and north korea. what's your response, sir? >> well, first of all, look, i think everybody has a right to protest and express their feelings. a couple of dozen people did so yesterday, and they have every right to do that. sadly, we had far more people die yesterday in maryland than we had protesters. congressman harris, i'm not sure where he woke up yesterday morning, but maybe he confused north korea and south korea. south korea's doing a great job on testing, and we just saved the lives of thousand of marylanders from getting those half million tests from south korea. he's got the right to say whatever crazy things he wants to say, but i don't really need to respond to him. >> yesterday was a gorgeous spring day on the east coast. we saw people in new york city, in washington, d.c., crowding

into parks n. washington they went to the national mall, filling it. in this photo that i'm putting up now, it does not appear to be much social or physical distancing going on. and the national mall, of course, not that far from the state line. what's your reaction when you see images like these? >> well, it's one of the things that we've been concerned about and we're -- look, we're very anxious to get our state reopened in a safe way as soon as we possibly can because people are getting frustrated. and there have been -- inside of their homes and especially we want to get them outside and enjoying fresh air after being couped up. people are ready to do that. and we want them to be able to do it but in a safe way with social distancing. the district of columbia has a stay-at-home order in place, has limits of no crowds larger than ten or more. it appears as if thousands of people are jammed into the national mall in direct violation of that law in

washington, d.c. and it's one of the things we're concerned about. you see this happening around the country as states try to open in a safe way. unfortunately, the pressure is to do it in a not-safe way. and that's something we're very concerned about. and one of the reasons we're being cautious and trying to do things in a slow, safe, and effective manner. >> governor larry hogan of the great state of maryland, thank you so much for your time, sir. we really appreciate it as always. >> thank you, jake. thanks so much for joining us. much more of cnn's coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. that's next. allows us to stay connected to our 80 plus locations across the country. we use verizon throughout our entire day. it's an integral part of how our practice runs. we need our project managers and our superintendents to be able to communicate. we don't have to be together to work together. (vo) at verizon, we're here, and we're ready. we're open 24/7 online with tools and support

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