This is a rush transcript from “The Five," July 28, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everybody -- THE FIVE. All right, we are moments away from a very busy hour of breaking news, President Trump set to hold a news conference at the White House. We'll have that for you live. But first, tensions high over on Capitol Hill today, Attorney General Bill Barr clashing with House Democrats repeatedly over the response to violent protests in some of America's cities.
Democrats saying Barr and the Trump administration are playing politics by sending federal agents to stop the unrest in places like Portland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president wants footage for his campaign ads, and you appear to be serving it up to him as ordered. In most of these cities, the protests have begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. And the protesters aren't mobs. They are mothers and veterans and mayors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We fought for a democracy for the right to speak freely, and you are attempting to take that away. What's worse, you're doing it for the sole purpose of furthering the president's political agenda and generating footage for Trump campaign commercials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: And Barr firing back, arguing it's his responsibility to protect federal property.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- a federal court. Is that ok? Is that OK now? No, the U.S. marshals have a duty to stop that and defend the courthouse. And that's what we are doing in Portland. We are at the courthouse defending the courthouse. We're not out looking for trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: And, of course, partisan politics were on full display. There were plenty of moments where Democrats just kept talking over the Attorney General. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I gave instructions as to what --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reclaiming my time.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to let him answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reclaiming my time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The effort there was --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Barr, let me tell you -- I'm starting to lose my temper.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not taking down public health orders, we were making narrow --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reclaiming my time. Will you restore my time, because this witness is taking my time?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: OK. We have Dana back here. And let's go to Greg Gutfeld. Greg, what did you think about today's hearing?
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, first of all, after that -- that was the worst thing I have ever seen on TV, and I include Morning Joe. After that fiasco, we have to reclaim our time for America. Have you ever heard of a more infantile loser defense in the hearing that you can ask a question then cut the answer off with I'm reclaiming my time?
It creates a one-way street, in which you could actually accuse somebody of murder. You could accuse them of treason and then you deny them the opportunity to defend themselves. Meanwhile, this is a party of compassion? I saw nothing but fascists. These guys are -- no wonder they think the mob -- the mob in Portland and Seattle is not a bad thing. The mob is just their street team.
And by the way, they keep using this whole -- this idiotic excuse. You know, the majority of protesters are peaceful. Bad tings do not become exempt in small amounts. The majority of Americans aren't serial killers, but you don't need a majority of serial killers to create a crime wave. So let's just lose this bait and switch when we send the police in to deal with violent criminals.
We're not going after the peaceful. It's stupid. This was a contest between who can ask the dumbest question. And for their premise to hold, they had to deny the reality of violence, that 60 days of violence. Three police officers permanently blinded, and Bill Barr has to sit there like a calm gorilla swatting these stupid flies off his nose calmly because they're so stupid.
And I've got to ask. How could anybody in America put up with this? If I was sitting where Barr was, I don't know what I would do. They would have to pump me full of xanax because -- or either that or they would have to put me in a cage like Silence of the Lambs. Have something stuffed in my mouth and hung upside down because I would lose my mind.
I honestly -- I have never seen anything more disgusting on TV. I thought the Kavanaugh hearing was an injustice. This is pretty damn close.
WATTERS: All right. We're going to cost (ph) Greg Gutfeld off the Attorney General list because he would never be able to cut it. Dana, why don't you take the reins from here?
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Yeah. Sorry about that. I will give you back your time since I was frozen there. Katie, one thing that I noticed is the Democrats have been asking Bill Barr to come and testify for months. And they finally get this date and he gets there. Unfortunately, Chairman Nadler was in a car accident this morning. The hearing started 45 minutes late, understandable.
But even -- not only to Greg's point did they not let him answer. They didn't even allow him to have a break to get a bite to eat. Like, he was so calm during all of that.
KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS HOST: What happened today was really a disgrace, Dana. And the spokesperson for DOJ tweeted after it finally was over, Kerri Kupec, and said I'm reclaiming this day. And I think anybody watching felt the same exact way. The Democrats made a clear choice today. They not only didn't condemn the violence but they defended it.
There was no condemnation of anything that was going on. When Bill Barr was asked do you think that the courthouse, the federal courthouse in Portland would be standing today if federal law enforcement agents weren't brought in for back-up to defend the property and the agents inside? And he said I don't think it would be still standing.
He was also asked if maybe the mob wants to come up to the Capitol building and decide that they're going take that over -- attack that with fireworks, do you believe the Democrats and the body would be willing to defend the Capitol. And Bill Barr said, you know, with this body, I'm not exactly sure. And their behavior in continuation of cutting him off and not allowing him to answer any of the questions about very serious issues showed that this is just an extension of the impeachment trial in terms of their behavior.
And they can't move forward. And while they accuse Bill Barr of being political, they were all very political today in trying to put the administration on trial again. And, you know, attacking every single aspect of what they're doing without allowing him to explain anything. And he is much smarter. Greg is right. This was so -- it was really difficult to watch.
PERINO: All right. And a hearing like, this when you have an election year and you have tensions rising high, you can almost bet, Jesse that you could see a direct line from the hearing questions today, probably from both sides to their fundraising appeals back home to their campaign donors. But I don't think Biden is on the same page as the rest of these folks.
The former vice president took questions today. And we're going to talk about that in the B block, but he took questions today. And he was asked about the violence and the protests and what should happen to those who are violent. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we do need to hold those who violate the law accountable. You should never let what's done in a march for equal rights overcome what the reason for the march is. And that's what these folks are doing. And they should be arrested -- found, arrested, and tried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: All right, Jesse, your thoughts.
WATTERS: Well, that was too little too late. And I think everybody fell asleep during that answer, because it wasn't forceful enough and he just slid that in there and then just condemned Donald Trump for the rest of it. All you need to say if you're a Democrat is can we not light fires to federal buildings? It's really not that hard to do.
But for some reason, the Democrats just can't bring themselves to do that. It's like if Donald Trump is against people setting fires to a federal courthouse, they all of a sudden have to be for it. I just think it is terrible politics. This was not a hearing. This was a cancellation. They just wanted to cancel Bill Barr.
They were not interested in hearing or listening to anything he had to say, and then because they know he's armed with facts. He's calm, cool, and collected, and they're just angry. They're furious. They look unserious. They look unprofessional. And they're just screaming at him. And it's kind of bad energy tied up from him turning the tables with the Russia hoax.
And him defending Donald Trump, because Donald Trump, love him or hate him, he's still acting within the boundaries of executive power. And he is not the wing man of the president, as Eric Holder said he was with Barack Obama. He's upholding the rule of law. And really, that's the problem with the Democrats. They do not want the rule of law upheld.
If it was up to them, and you can just see by their actions, they would be OK with Antifa burning down courthouses. They're OK with violent protesters attacking police, because they won't condemn it. Because when you show the video at the top, as Jim Jordan did, of all the violence taking place in Portland against a federal property, they didn't even want to discuss that.
It was like the first time they had ever seen it. And it's sad. And I think if you're watching this and you are a Democrat or you're Antifa, you felt like you have been given license to riot because they're not policing their own. They don't like police, and the irony of Jerry Nadler denying someone else lunch -- not cool, not cool, Jerry.
PERINO: All right. Juan, let's get your take on how do you think today's hearing went.
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS HOST: Again, I thought that it was pretty boring, because again, I thought that what was said, you know, kind of foreseen. Everybody knew positions beforehand. I don't think there is much arguing, Dana, that the Justice Department under Bill Barr is extremely, extremely politicized. It was in February that 1,000 former Justice Department officials called on him to resign over his handling of the Roger Stone case.
And then in May, 2,000 former Justice Department officials called on him to resign over his handling of the Michael Flynn case, right? So what you get Barr is doing everything that Jeff Sessions -- nobody's liberal, nobody's protester (ph) Jeff Sessions would not do. And here I'm talking about things like getting rid of the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who is looking into Rudy Giuliani, Trump's confidant.
I'm talking about assigning somebody, John Durham, to look into the origins of the Trump probe under Barack Obama, as if there is some crime there. I mean, I think that what Bill Barr has done -- and I think that's what you are seeing today is people saying, you know, Mr. Barr, you have undermined public trust and equal-handed application of the law in this country. And we are a country of laws, and this is damaging. And I think that's the big message.
PERINO: All right. So lots of different people can watch a hearing and have different takeaways from it. We'll keep talking about this. The president has a press conference coming up. We'll take that to you live as soon as it starts. But meantime, Joe Biden, he's going to make a big announcement about his vice presidential pick. We're going to tell you about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: President Trump coming out soon for a news conference at the White House. Meanwhile, Joe Biden making a lot of news today, the former VP saying he will announce his running-mate next week, Mr. Biden also unveiling the fourth pillar of his economic plan. It focused on social justice and racial economic inequality. He also said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I think I have laid out the most detailed plans on the economy and on issues relating to healthcare and the rest of any president in modern history. I mean, it's awfully detailed. If I'm elected and this passes, I'm going to be good to go down as one of the most progressive presidents in American history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Dana, I wonder what you think of that, because Bernie Sanders says much the same. That Biden would be one of the most progressive presidents in American history, although some Sanders supporters say they don't think Biden is liberal enough.
PERINO: I have a lot of thoughts. I don't know how many we can get out in the time that we have -- wow. So, you know you think very election is about the future, if that's what we're supposed to believe, right? So hope and change for Obama. That worked out very well for him. Joe Biden, after all this time in Washington, saying that now he's going to be the agent for change, but delivering it in a way is so -- I guess weak and it seems feeble.
And so there is that for the broader audience. And then for the progressives, one of the things that happened today is a former co-chair of the Sanders campaign said that having to vote for Biden is like having to eat a bowl of S-word.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Say it, Dana. Say it.
PERINO: I'm trying to be the plus. And I'm not going to curse on air. She said it. And I'm quoting her. And I think one of the things you see is that Joe Biden is constantly having to try to shore up that progressive base for -- to say things like he would be the most progressive president ever. But I thought you just won a primary because you won't -- I mean, you can forgive us for being a little confused.
WILLIAMS: All right. So Jesse, the other part of the big news was his announcement that he's going to name his vice presidential pick next week. There was some kerfuffle in Washington today because Chris Dodd seemed to be dismissing a little bit Kamala Harris, the Senator from California, much talk about Karen Bass, the Congresswoman from California, and Susan Rice, and of course, Elizabeth Warren in the mix. What do you make of all this?
WATTERS: I've just never seen this little interest in a vice presidential pick. No one cares. No one is talking about it. It's generated this much buzz. And the buzz only exists in the beltway. I think he set the wrong expectations when months and months ago he said he was definitely going to pick a woman. So that kind of takes the surprise factor out of it.
And then he's kind of hinted that he's going to pick a woman of color. So then that really shrinks the size of the available people to pick. And right now, there is just not a lot of people that are generating nationally the excitement or the interest as who -- who Joe Biden's VP is going to be. It's the not the Michelle Obama, you know, that name's not out there.
It's not -- you know, Elon Musk. It's not an outsider or something like that. It's really your just kind of cookie-cutter, you know. Draw it up in the lab. This is what's going to get me this percentage of this demographic. It's boring, to be honest with you.
WILLIAMS: Jesse, I have to interrupt you, because the president is coming out for his briefing.
DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: -- has taken a momentous step forward achieving American pharmaceutical independence, very, very big, big step. A focus of our campaign to bring America's critical supply chains and medical manufacturing back to the USA, we have been working on this for a long time. This is a core of our strategy to protect our people from the horrible China virus, should have never happened, should have never been here.
They should have stopped it. In the decades before I took office, foreign nations were allowed to freely plunder our factories and loot our industries. Take our business out of the United States. Millions of jobs were vacuumed out, taken out so easily. Our politicians let that happen. And our communities were stripped and shipped, in many cases, to China and all over the world -- countries all over the world.
Nearly four years ago, we launched a bold effort to revitalize American manufacturing. Enact fair trade deals and bring our industries back home where they belonged. When the China virus landed on our shores, it became clearer than ever before that restoring American manufacturing is a core matter of national security.
We must never be reliant on a foreign nation for American's medical or other needs, and that includes many other needs. I just want to say that Pfizer just announced a little while go that they're combing phase two and phase three trials. And the vaccine looks like it's really heading in a very rapid direction, a very positive direction, first time that's happened.
And they're many months ahead of any other trial. There has never been anything like it. So it's the fastest ever. And to me, it's very exciting. Today, I'm proud to announce one of the most important deals in the history of U.S. pharmaceutical industries. My administration has reached a historic agreement with a great American company. You remember this company.
It's called, from the good old camera age, the old days, to begin producing critical pharmaceutical ingredients. It's called Kodak. And it's going to be right here in America. So I want to congratulate the people in Kodak. They have been working very hard. Members of my administration are present in Rochester right now -- Rochester, New York, good place.
And they are trying to finalize this groundbreaking deal, and they will be announcing this deal. I want to thank Governor Andrew Cuomo and his representatives. We've worked really well together on this deal. It's a big deal. It's a great deal for New York and a great deal for Kodak. Ninety percent of all prescriptions written in the United States are for generic drugs.
We have approved more generic drugs than any other administration by far. Generic drugs can be just as good as the brand names but cost much less. Less than 10 percent in the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to make these drugs, they're currently manufactured in America. More than 50 percent, however, are made in India and China.
And you will be seeing a lot of things have happened -- it's been happening, but it's happening at a more rapid pace right now. With this new agreement, my administration is using the Defense Production Act to provide a $765 million loan to support the launch of Kodak Pharmaceuticals. It's a great name when you think of it, such I great name. It was one of the great brands in the world.
And then people went digital and Kodak didn't follow. But now under very extraordinary leadership, they are following. And they are doing something that's in a different, and it's in a field that they've really hired some of the best people in the world to be taking care of that company and watching that company, watching over it.
But it's a breakthrough in bringing pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the United States. Under this contract, our 33rd use of the Defense Production Act, remember when you were saying I didn't use it enough. I didn't use it enough. And now you heard. It's the 33rd use. We don't talk about it all the time. We used it. And we used it as a little bit of a threat, frankly, with certain companies that weren't doing it as we were asking them to do.
And it came through as both a threat and a usage. But this is our 33rd use of the Defense Production Act. Kodak will now produce generic, active pharmaceutical ingredients. This is a big deal. Using advanced manufacturing techniques, Kodak will also make the key starting materials that are the building blocks for many drugs in a manner that is both cost competitive and environmentally safe, will be competitive with almost all countries and soon with all countries.
Once this new division is fully operational, in addition to all of the other plants that we have opened with other companies throughout the United States recently, it will produce as much as 25 percent of all active ingredients needed to make generic drugs in the USA. It's a big number, 25 percent. This agreement will directly create 360 new jobs at Kodak's factory in Rochester.
That's just in the initial phase. And in Minneapolis, a place I have gotten to know very well, and it is a great place. And I'm very happy that we're able to help them with the problems that they have had recently. The National Guard, I want to thank the National Guard, both state and beyond. I want to thank them for the incredible job. They went in and they did some beautiful job.
They cleaned it up. You didn't hear about the problems any more. And indirectly, I want to create -- we created thousands more jobs all across our pharmaceutical supply chains. We have now been building a very big pharmaceutical supply chain. Not only coming out of China, coming out of other countries also. I want to thank Peter Navarro, Adam Boler, and Admiral Polowczyk for their tremendous work to make this deal possible.
Today's action is our latest step to build the greatest medical arsenal in history. We'll be able to do that through the Defense Production Act and other authorities. We have invested more than $3 billion in our nation's industrial base. We've contracted with companies such as Ford, General Motors, Phillips, and General Electric to produce more than 200,000 ventilators by the end of this year.
Nearly seven times more than we would ever do in a typical year. We've contracted with Honeywell, 3M, O&M, Hillyard, MOLDEX, and Lydall to increase U.S. production of N-95 masks. And we've brought it from less than 40 million a month to over 100 million a month by August, and we'll have 160 million in a very short while, 160 million a month.
That's many times what we use to do, if you go back two years ago, many, many times. We're increasing domestic production of gloves by 1,000 percent, 1,000 percent. We will be manufacturing 450 million gloves annually by next year. We're finalizing contracts with our textile industry to make gowns in America with American fabric, which makes a lot of our businesses happy that produce the fabric.
We have 13 million reusable gowns in the stockpile, and we'll continue to grow that number to 72 million this fall, which is a rapid escalation indeed. We made major investments in new rapid point-of-care tests, so we have -- there is nothing like the rapid point where you get your answer in five minutes to 15 minutes, to maybe 20, 25 minutes at the max.
And we're already at about a 50 percent level. And we're bringing it up substantially from there. We're growing domestic production from less than 250,000 test kits per month in May to 8 million test kits per month. There is nothing like this that has ever taken place anywhere in the world or close. Through our partnership Puritan Manufacturing in the state of Maine, great state, we've increased production of test swabs from 30 million per month in June to 56 million month now.
I see you remember I went to Maine. I went to the plant where they do this. It was incredible. It was a great experience. And we will produce over 100 million swabs per month by January. We've dramatically ramped up production of materials needed for a vaccine and are on track to rapidly produce 100 million doses as soon as a vaccine is approved, which could be very, very soon, and 500 million doses shortly thereafter. So we'll have 500 million doses, and logistically we're using our military, our great military, a group of people. Their whole life is based around logistics and bringing things to and from locations, and they'll be able to take care of this locationally and bringing it where it has to go very, very quickly. They're all mobilized.
It's been fully set up. A very, very talented general is in charge. And when we have that vaccine, it will be discharged and taken care of. It'll be a very, very rapid process all over the country. And perhaps we'll be supplying a lot of the vaccine to other parts of the world, like we do with ventilators and other things that we all of a sudden have become very good at making.
When the China virus struck our nation, we mobilized the entire government and the private sector to acquire, source, and deliver lifesaving supplies. HHS, FEMA, and the private sector combined have coordinated the delivery of more than 196 million N95 respirators, 815 million surgical masks, 20 million gloves, 34 million face shields, and 354 million gowns. That's a lot of gowns.
Last week, FEMA completed a second shipment of personal protective equipment to over 15,000 nursing homes in the United States. Our big focus has been on nursing homes and senior citizens. As you know, that's where we want to take care. We have to take care of the most vulnerable, especially if they have a medical difficulty, a medical problem, in particular heart or diabetes.
We've provided a total of 1.2 million pairs of protective eyewear, 14 million masks, 66 million pairs of gloves, and 13 million gowns. We have replenished the long-neglected national stockpile. In January, the stockpile had 17.9 million N95 masks. Today the stockpile has over 50 million N95 masks, and we'll be doubling that in a very short period of time and then doubling that number.
We've shipped more than 14,000 ventilators to areas of need across the country, and we've more than 75,000 available to deploy. Not a single American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. And if you remember, early on, when we were first hit with the virus, ventilators were very hard to come by. And now, we're the largest maker anywhere in the world by far, and not only are we fully supplied in stock, but we're helping other nations, because ventilators are hard to build and hard to get.
This is just the beginning. In the coming months, we will continue the largest onshoring campaign in American history. We will bring back our jobs, and we will make America the world's premier medical manufacturer and supplier. That's what's happening already. It's been happening now for quite some time.
We're seeing improvements across the major metro areas in most hotspots. You can look at large portions of our country. It's corona-free, but we are watching very carefully California, Arizona, Texas, and most of Florida. It's starting to head down in the right direction, and I think you'll see it rapidly head down very soon. But if you look, California, Arizona, Texas, and for the most part, most of Florida starting to head down.
In the wake of the recent mass gatherings Americans have witnessed in the streets of Portland and Seattle, we are also tracking a significant rise in cases in both metropolitan areas because of what's been going on. And we, as you know, have done an excellent job of watching over Portland and watching our courthouse, where they wanted to burn it down. There were anarchists, nothing short of anarchists, agitators, and we have protected it very powerfully. And if we didn't go there, I will tell you, you wouldn't have a courthouse. You'd have a billion-dollar burned out building.
We're also working aggressively to combat the virus in Native American and Alaskan Native communities. Under the CARES Act, we provided $8 billion to address the coronavirus in tribal communities, and we've worked very hard with tribal communities. They're very vulnerable to this horrible plague. That's the largest investment in Indian country in U.S. history. There has never been an investment that big in Indian country.
We need every American to help protect our fellow citizens and prevent the spread of the disease. It's critical that younger Americans remember that even though they are at lower risk and in fact, some age groups are at extraordinary low risk themselves, they can unknowingly spread the virus to others who are at higher risk.
I ask all Americans regardless of background or age to practice social distancing, which people have gotten very used to, but we have to keep doing it. Remain vigilant about hygiene. Avoid indoor gatherings and large gatherings, but especially indoor, especially where you have crowded bars, and that you wear a mask whenever appropriate.
Through the genius of our scientists, the devotion of our doctors, the skill of our workers, and the dedication of our people, we will achieve victory over the virus and emerge stronger than ever before. We're looking at a very powerful year next year economically. The job numbers are looking outstanding, to put it mildly, setting records. The numbers on retail sales came in two weeks ago at the highest number in the history of our country.
So, we look like we're heading to some very, very good economic times. That means jobs. That means stock market. Stock market is already doing very well. It's getting to a point very close to where it was when we had this - - when we were hit with the plague. So, I just want to thank everybody for being here. Steve, please, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you clarify your acceptance speech for the Republican nomination? Are you physically going to be in Charlotte, or will you give the speech here or somewhere else?
TRUMP: We'll be doing a speech on Thursday, the main speech, the primary speech. Charlotte, they will be doing nominating on Monday. That's a different -- that's a different period, a different thing happening, but they'll be doing nominations on Monday. I speak on Thursday, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From where?
TRUMP: We'll go -- we'll be announcing it soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you could be going to Charlotte?
TRUMP: Does anybody have any ideas? We'll be announcing it very soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, the negotiations are ongoing right now for the next relief measures. Republicans -- Senate Republicans have put forth their plan. Do you support what Senate Republicans have put forward, and are there certain aspects that they have put forward that you don't support?
TRUMP: Yes, there are, actually, and we'll be talking about it. There are also things that I very much support, but we'll be negotiating. It's sort of semi-irrelevant, because the Democrats come with their needs and asks and the Republicans go with theirs. So we'll be discussing it with Mitch and all of the other people involved. Kevin has been very active, as you know, all of the people involved. Steven Mnuchin has done a great job, keeps everybody together, both Democrat and Republican.
And we'll see. We want to do what's best for the people. I want to do what's best with the people. I want to do what's best for the economy, because that means jobs and lots of good things, all right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What Senate Republicans put forward, sir, what do you make of what Senate Republicans put forward?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, two questions. First, can you clarify your position on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine after you retweeted a video of making claims that it is effective?
TRUMP: I wasn't making claims. The recommendations of many other people including doctors, many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine coupled with the zinc and perhaps the Zithromycin. But many doctors think it's extremely good, and some people don't. Some people -- I think it's become very political. I happen to believe in it. I would take it. As you know, I took it for a 14-day period, and I'm here, right? I'm here.
I happen to think it works in the early stages. I think front line medical people believe that, too, some, many. So, we'll take a look at it. But the one thing we know, it's been out for a long time, that particular formula, and that's essentially what it is, the pill. It's been for malaria, lupus, and other things. It's safe. It doesn't cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem. I felt no different. I didn't feel good, bad, or indifferent. And I tested it, as you know. It didn't -- it didn't get me, and it's not going to hopefully hurt anybody.
So, we know because it's been so many years, from a safety standpoint, it's safe. I happen to think, based on what I've read -- I've read a lot about hydroxy. I happen to think that it has an impact, especially at the earlier years. There were some very good tests at Ford, and the doctor from Yale came up with a very, very strong testament to it.
There was a group of doctors yesterday, a large group that were put on the Internet, and for some reason, the Internet wanted to take them down and took them off. I guess Twitter took them off, and I think Facebook took them off. I don't know why. I think they're very respected doctors. There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it, that she's had tremendous success with it, and they took her voice off. I don't know why they took her off, but they took her off. Maybe they had a good reason. Maybe they didn't. I don't know.
I can only say that from my standpoint and based on a lot of reading and a lot of knowledge about it, I think it could have a very positive impact in the early stages. I don't think you lose anything by doing it, other than politically, it doesn't seem to be too popular. You know why? Because I recommend it. When I recommend something, they like to say, "Don't use it." John, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On that note, Mr. President, last night, you made tweets that were deleted by Twitter. You said that Dr. Fauci misled the country about hydroxychloroquine. How so?
TRUMP: No, not at all. I don't even know what his stance is on it. He was at the -- he was at the task force meeting a little while ago. I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci. It's sort of interesting. We've listened to Dr. Fauci. I haven't always agreed with him, and that's, I think, pretty standard. That's OK. He did not want us to ban -- to put up the ban to China when China was heavily infected very badly, Wuhan. He didn't want to do that, and I did and other things.
And He told me I was right, and he told me I saved tens of thousands of lives, which was generous, but I think it's you know, I think it's a fact. Then I did the ban -- I did a ban on Europe. But I get along with him very well, and I agree with a lot of what he said. So it's interesting. He's got a very good approval rating, and I like that. It's good. Because remember, he's working for this administration. He's working with us, John.
We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn't have to be Dr. Fauci. He's working with our administration. And for the most part, we've done pretty much what he and others, Dr. Birx and others who are terrific, recommended. And he's got this high approval rating, so why don't I have a high approval rating with respect. And the administration with respect to the virus?
We should have a very high. Because what we've done in terms of -- I was just reading off about the masks and the gowns and the ventilators and numbers that nobody's seen and the testing at 55 million tests. We tested more than anybody in the world. I have a graph that I'd love to show you. Perhaps you've seen it, where we're up here and the rest of the world is down at a level that's just a tiny fraction of what we've done in terms of testing.
So it sort of is curious. A man works for us, with us very closely, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Birx also, highly thought of, and yet they're highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could I just ask you, also, DHS announced today that it is going to undertake a thorough review of the DACA program to decide whether to continue it and, if not, how to disband it. You had mentioned after the Supreme Court ruling about DACA that you were thinking about a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. Are you still thinking of it?
TRUMP: We're going to work with a lot of people on DACA, and we're also working on an immigration bill, a merit-based system, which is what I've wanted for a long time. That decision was an interesting decision, because it gave the President as a President more power than many people thought the President had.
So the President is now, which happens to be me, in a position where I can do an immigration bill and a healthcare bill and some other bills, and you've seen some of them come along. We're going to do tremendous -- we just signed it three days ago. We're going to do tremendous prescription drug price reductions, tremendous. It could be over 50 percent. Whether it's favored nations clauses or anything else, I mean, it's tremendous numbers we're talking about.
You know, you go to some countries, and they'll sell a pill for ten cents, and in the United States, it costs $2.00. And it's the same basic factory. It's the same everything. The United States bears the cost of all of these low prices that you see all over the world, where people go to Canada to buy a prescription drug from the United States. It's not going to happen with me. It's not going to happen with me.
So John, I think one of the exciting things got very little coverage, and that's OK, but the people understand it. I think we will be reducing prescription drug prices by massive amounts, numbers that have never been done before. Other thing, in 51 years, we got, as you know, last year drug prices came down. The first time in 51 years that they came down.
Now, with what I signed last week, I think that drug prices can come down by numbers like 50 percent and even greater in certain instances.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wonder if I could come back to where I originally started. Are you still considering a path to citizenship for current DACA recipients?
TRUMP: We are going to make DACA happy and the DACA people and representatives happy, and we're also going to end up with a fantastic, merit-based immigration system. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. On the drug pricing, you had said that pharmaceutical representatives would be here today for a meeting to talk about bringing drug prices down or to negotiate. That meeting was canceled. Why?
TRUMP: I didn't know a meeting was canceled -- oh, a meeting with the drug --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said there would be a meeting today with drug companies.
TRUMP: Well, I said there would be a meeting. Yes, a meeting sometime this week, yes. They want to meet. I mean, I don't know that it was canceled. They want to meet. I thought the meeting was actually scheduled for tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, we'll see, I guess.
TRUMP: I thought the meeting was scheduled tomorrow. Sorry about the dates. I see how upset you are by it.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the FBI headquarters, sir -- on the FBI headquarters --
TRUMP: Go ahead, please, Bloomberg. Bloomberg, Mr. Bloomberg. You look like just a Mr. Bloomberg. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President. Do you support a separate extension of supplemental unemployment aid if the deal that there has to be out of Congress isn't completed by the end of this week?
TRUMP: We'll do something. We're going to take care of the people. Yes. That's a good question. We're going to take care of the people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, the woman that you said was a great doctor in that video that you retweeted last night said that masks don't work and there is a cure for COVID-19, both of which health experts say is not true. She's also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they're trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.
TRUMP: Well, maybe it's a sign, maybe it's not, but I can tell you this.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: She was on air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine. I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came, I don't know which country she comes from, but she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her. Yeah, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said masks don't work. Last week, you said --
TRUMP: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Real quick, last week, you said masks --
TRUMP: OK, thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: That was President Trump at the White House giving an update on the Coronavirus and talking about increased supplies of gloves, gowns, and even supporting some companies that could provide a vaccine in the future.
We're back now with THE FIVE. Let me ask Jesse. Let me ask you. The President got into a real discussion there about his relationship with Dr. Fauci and criticism last night of Fauci. What do you make of that?
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: I thought it was hilarious that he says that, you know, I'm the guy that brought Fauci in, and he's got this rocket sky high approval rating. And you know, I'm doing everything pretty much that Fauci tells me. So the only reason the approval rating is different, it must be my personality. I thought that was pretty self- deprecating.
I think we do want to -- do we want to get to Greg's book? Yes.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes, let's do that.
WATTERS: And we'll get to Greg's book. As the resident reader on the show, me, it is only fair that I plugged Greg's new book. "The Plus: Self-help For People Who Hate Self-help" is out today. All right, Greg, I have a copy right here. It's not inscribed with anything nice. It's all just slander and some of the things I can't even say on television. But tell me about the book, why you wrote it, and maybe a suggestion for people that might need self-help.
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: I thought that I could become a more positive person. And if I could become a positive person, I would actually write about it. Because I have absolutely -- I am probably the most cynical least positive person. And I woke up and I thought, you know what, if I could just actually reverse this as an experiment, this was like a middle of the night thought, I'm going to do it.
And I realized that it really was a psychological challenge because all of my issues in my life, the things that bother me, can be fixed psychologically. So that's what the book is about. The book is about how to deal with, I think, constant persistent issues in your life by just slightly changing it a little bit. That was my goal. So, it's weird that I'm actually doing a positive book.
WATTERS: Right. You say you need to brainwash yourself. I definitely agree you've been brainwashed. I'm not sure if you've been becoming more positive or not. One of the things you said is if you aren't getting happier as you're getting older, you're doing it wrong, and resist the media's command to expand destructive narratives.
Dana, have you read the book, did you get an early copy, and is this all what it's cracked up to be?
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: It is what it's cracked up to be. I did get a copy. In fact, we'll talk about a little bit later. We're going to do a little live signing later tonight.
WATTERS: All right.
PERINO: We all get to take some questions from readers who have bought the book. But, Greg, when you talk about that it, did you find it there was any certain trick or tip that you could use to go from having a negative thought to a positive thought?
GUTFELD: Yes. You know what, I realized that all the negative thoughts come from a sunk cost because I've invested time and effort into something. It's like being in a bad relationship. And it's like, that's how you are with ideas. So, you might hold on to an idea for a long time because of the time itself being an investment.
So realizing that a sunk cost is already gone, allows you to just let go of a lot of ideas and stuff that's been driving you crazy. But the best part is, and the thing that I found has been most constructive, is that allows me to admit when I'm wrong about something, and I can actually let go of mistakes that I made much easier than I did before.
WATTERS: Juan, would you agree that Greg is now admitting when he's wrong a little bit more?
WILLIAMS: You know what -- you know what caught my attention was Greg gave some interesting advice. He said don't tweet when you're drunk, and I thought, has this happened to Greg? How does Greg know this?
GUTFELD: Because it has. Here's the deal. I want to -- here's the problem with tweeting and drinking. It's not that your tweets are bad, it's that the quantity increases, so you create more opportunities for getting in trouble. I wrote about this when the -- when the Covington kid incident took place that I was tweeting about it.
I tweet about it once negatively about the Covington teen because I was sitting at a restaurant drinking it on a Saturday afternoon and I like, you always think your ideas are so important after two glasses of wine. And I'm -- if I had a -- so I always talk about that. I always eliminate the -- I eliminate the alcohol variable and life is a lot better when it comes to tweeting. It's not much better in other areas, but when tweeting it controls that.
WATTERS: All right, Katie, you get the last shot.
KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you can say something positive -- if you can say something positive about Twitter, I think that's a good thing, Greg. And I like the new Greg and the more positivity, but I want to know why you called it The Plus. I know there's a philosophy behind that.
GUTFELD: It was the idea that I would look at every single thing that I was doing, especially on social media, and also in like in meetings and stuff and ask myself if what I was about to do was going to add anything or take anything away. So it became like a plus or a minus equation in my head.
So I was walking around like the Terminator with this little thing going on in my head. Is what am I about to do -- what am I about to say to my wife plus or minus? And it ends up just shutting me up. I'm completely silent, although you really haven't noticed it here.
WATTERS: Not at all, Greg. All right, so go get The Plus wherever books are sold. It is available now. And go check out Greg and Dana tonight doing a live signing somewhere. I'm sure it's going to be very interesting. And "ONE MORE THING" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: All right. It's time now for "ONE MORE THING." I have some breaking news for you coming across the wires just now. We have exclusive footage of Greg Gutfeld going out on his book tour. If we could go to that please.
Yes, Greg is willing to go to any lengths to get there to your book signing. There he is getting a hitching a ride across a lake just to get to the book sign of which we are going to do tonight 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Central. I'll get to interview him. And you can find that also at our Facebook pages. It'll be on live. And you won't want to miss it because I'm really going to find out more about The Plus, a great book indeed.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: All right, Jesse.
WATTERS: Dana, I'm going to be sending you some suggested questions that I'd like you to ask Gutfeld, so just keep your eyes on your e-mail. All right, Jesse's Hair News now as you guys watch. Look at the move. On Friday, we asked you guys if I should get a haircut. A bunch of people weighed in.
Chiefsfancharlotte said yes sir, unless you are going to have to start singing Achy Breaky Heart. And even gut filled couldn't help himself commenting on Instagram. He should shave his head and paint it half blue. So he wants to see me naked only wearing a bolo tie and with my half shaven head, in blue.
All right, the results are in. 45 percent say no, 55 percent say yes. So I am going to get a haircut. I'm going to get it tomorrow. And I'm just getting the back cut. We're just going to cut the mullet. We're going to keep the top long. And hey, stay tuned for more hair news.
PERINO: Stay tuned indeed. All right, Juan, what do you have today?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think you guys know Blue Bayou. That's a great song by Roy Orbison. I think you know, Blue Diamond. That's one of the rarest, most expensive gems. And maybe you know about the Blue Angels, the Navy flight team. But do you know about the blue lobster? Yes, they exist.
And get this. The blue lobster existed at Red Lobster. I'm not joking. A blue lobster was found at the Red Lobster in Akron, Ohio. So the restaurant workers alerted an aquarium and they arranged for a new home -- new home for the blue lobster at the Akron zoo. The blue lobsters only occur one in every two million, Dana. It's a genetic anomaly. I can't tell you how it tastes but it sure looks cool to me. That's different.
PERINO: 2020 it gets wilder and wilder. A blue lobster, I don't know. Katie, we're going to have to skip you today. But of course, we love having --
(CROSSTALK)
PAVLICH: No problem. The blue lobster was fun.
PERINO: -- Facebook. All right, "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next. We have Shannon Bream.
Hi, Shannon.
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