Seeing what was happening
around the world, top American
public health officials were
increasingly convinced that
halting flights from China was
not enough.
>> I think most health officials
agree that at best, it delays,
and as the secretary says,
kind of pauses things.
>> SMITH: Dr. Fauci and two
other officials planned to
confront the president on
February 26.
>> A broad pandemic throughout
the world, travel restrictions
are not gonna help.
You can't just travel-restrict
everyone.
>> The public health officials,
Redfield, Anthony Fauci at the
N.I.H., Stephen Hahn at FDA,
they had all decided that was
gonna be the day they were gonna
tell the president, "Hey, look,
we need to, we need to be more
aggressive here."
>> SMITH: But before they
could do that, Dr. Nancy
Messonnier, a top CDC official,
spoke out publicly.
>> Tonight, the CDC is calling
the coronavirus a "tremendous
health threat."
>> We are working to ready
our public health workforce to
respond to local cases, and the
the possibility this outbreak
could become a pandemic.
>> SMITH: It was a dire
warning.
>> The virus has killed more
than 2,200 people and infected
infected nearly 77,000
worldwide.
>> SMITH: The president was
on his way to India.
>> Thank you, Mr. President.
>> SMITH: There, he was
reassuring.
>> You may ask about the, uh,
coronavirus, which is, uh, very
well under control in our
country.
We, uh, have very few people
with it.
>> SMITH: But as he prepared to
return home, Messonnier spoke to
reporters again.
>> Ultimately, we expect we will
see community spread in this
country.
It's not so much a question of
if this will happen anymore, but
rather more a question of
exactly when this will happen
and how many people in this
country will have severe
illness.
>> Federal health officials said
today that coronavirus will
certainly begin spreading...
>> It is not a question of "if,"
but "when."
>> As Nancy Messonnier is giving
this briefing to reporters, the
president is just getting on Air
Force One in India to fly home.
So, as he's flying home, the
stock market crashes a thousand
points.
>> Wall Street continues to sell
on those coronavirus fears,
the Dow falling close to 900
points today...
>> TV is broadcasting nonstop
about how this is gonna change
the way Americans live, and of
course, the president hadn't
been briefed on any of this.
So, by the time Air Force One
lands, Wednesday morning on
the 26th, he's fuming.
He's angry.
The big economic success that
he's constantly touting is under
assault, from his viewpoint.
He picks up the phone and calls
Azar, yells at Azar, says,
"You're scaring people to death
here.
What's going on?"
But the, but the big
consequence of, of that is that
the briefing that the public
health officials had intended to
do for Trump, that evening after
he had returned, that briefing
never happens.
>> SMITH: Angry with his public
health advisers, Trump refused
to meet with them.
Talk of more aggressive
measures, such as stay-at-home
orders and strict social
distancing, was put off.
Messonnier's warnings were
heresy.
>> They then, the next day,
dedicated an entire presidential
press conference to walking back
the, the warning and the
assessment that she had given.
>> Thank you very much,
everybody.
Thank you very much.
>> And with the benefit of a
month's hindsight, she was 100%
right.
She accurately anticipated what
was about to happen.
She tried to warn the country of
that.
And, uh, the White House tried
to furiously walk it back.
>> Mr. President, the CDC said
yesterday that they believe it's
inevitable that the virus will
spread in the United States, and
it's not a question of "if" but
"when."
Do you agree with that
assessment?
>> Well, I don't think it's
inevitable.
It probably will, it possibly
will, it could be at a very
small level or it could be at
a, at a larger level.
Whatever happens, we're
totally prepared.
We have the best people in the
world.
>> As someone who served in
government, I can tell you, that
kind of behavior sends a very,
very clear signal to government
workers about what is and is not
permissible to say.
>> SMITH: It's interesting that
it's very much like what
happened in China in late
December and early January.
>> The parallels are very, are
very striking.
I think it's immensely
irresponsible of people in this
administration to be blaming
China for that kind of behavior,
even as they have engaged in it
themselves.
>> SMITH: Dr. Nancy Messonnier 
would be sidelined.
Alex Azar was removed as head of
the task force.
He was replaced by Vice
President Pence.
>> Mike is gonna be in charge,
and Mike will report back to me,
but he's got a certain talent
for this, and, uh, I'm gonna ask
Mike Pence to say a few words,
please, thank you-- Mike?
>> SMITH: What talent Vice
President Pence was bringing
was not clear.
>> Thank you, Mr. President.
>> SMITH: When he was
governor of Indiana, he had
slashed the state's public
health budget.
As a staunch evangelical
Christian, he had questioned
scientific advice.
>> So you don't feel like
you're being replaced?
>> Not in the least, I'm, I...
>> He's not.
>> When the, when this was
mentioned to me, I said I was
delighted that I get to have the
vice president helping in this
way-- delighted, absolutely.
>> SMITH: The daily press
briefings became a platform for
the president's positive
messaging.
>> You are hearing the line
that the risk for Americans is
low, which comes from
everybody's mouth, from the
president on down.
>> How should Americans prepare
for this virus?
Should they go on with their
daily lives, change their
routine?
What should, what should they
do?
>> Well, I hope they don't
change their routine, but maybe,
Anthony, I'll let you, uh, I'll
let you answer that, or Bob?
If you want to answer...
>> Sure, Mr. President.
Thank you.
I think it's really
important that, as I said, the
risk at this time is low.
The American public needs to go
on with their normal lives.
>> SMITH: You said, February 29,
"The risk at this time is low.
The American public needs to go
on with their normal lives."
>> It was true at that time,
Martin.
I think the risk was low.
>> SMITH: But by this time,
China had had an outbreak.
Iran was in the midst of a
major outbreak, as was Italy.
And you're saying, "At this
time, the risk is low."
>> Yeah, well, the risk was low
to the general American public
at the time.
>> SMITH: But the fact is that
we had stumbled in February to
test adequately, to test enough
people to know where things were
going.
How can you say that when we had
such inadequate testing?
>> Well, the purpose, I'm sure,
of your documentary is to help
identify lessons and correct
them so we don't repeat this.
Many of us are in the arena,
where, as Teddy Roosevelt
would say, we're marred and
bloody.
Uh, we're trying to dare
greatly.
Hopefully, at best, we'll know
the triumph of high achievement,
and, you know, at worst, we'll
fail by daring greatly.
(crowd cheering)
>> SMITH: Throughout February,
the president had continued to
hold his rallies.
>> Hello, Phoenix.
Hello, Las Vegas.
Great to be with you.
Where else would you like to be
but a Trump rally, right?
(crowd cheering)
>> SMITH: He blamed others
for exaggerating the threat.
>> Now the Democrats are
politicizing the coronavirus.
You know that, right?
Coronavirus.
They're politicizing it. 
And this is their new hoax.
>> SMITH: The president would
not call for social distancing
for another two and a half
weeks.
>> We have leaders throughout
much of January and February
saying that this is a hoax.
>> 35,000 people on average die
each year from the flu.
Did anyone know that?
35,000.
And so far, we have lost nobody
to coronavirus in the
United States.
>> It's a complete denial of
science, and leading to
all sorts of decisions that are
harmful to our country, to our
planet.
>> SMITH: You're quoting the
president.
He made these comments.
Is it your view that he knew
better than that, or was he
simply misinformed?
>> I cannot psychoanalyze the
president, but we know that
he, he has a tendency to, to
believe he's the best at
everything.
And he probably thinks he's
better than the scientists.
>> And you wonder, the press is
in hysteria mode, fake news,
and their camera just went off.
(crowd jeering)
The camera.
>> I think if he were
practicing medicine, he would
be negligent, and he would be
prosecuted.
>> The president's behavior,
the president's resort to
repeated falsehoods, is a
function of the way he is
approaching this crisis.
He's approaching this crisis
about how it affects his own
political survivability and
re-electability.
>> Uh, this is a list of, uh,
the different countries.
United States is rated number
one, most prepared.
>> I would equate it to
something like seeing a
hurricane offshore that has just
taken out a couple of
Caribbean islands and is
strengthening to Category 5 as
it heads for Florida, and not
bothering to tell people to get
off the beach and board their
windows.
And only starting to do that
when you see the storm surge
coming ashore, by which point,
it's, of course, far too late.
