The Wall Street Journal - 13.03.2020

A4| Friday, March 13, 2020 PWLC101112HTGKRFAM123456789OIXX ***** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

WASHINGTON—President
Trump’s rare prime-time
speech Wednesday was de-
signed to reassure the nation
about his administration’s re-
sponse to a quickly spreading
coronavirus.
Instead, Mr. Trump’s
scripted speech included errors
about health-insurance pay-
ments and European travel re-
strictions, people involved in
the speechwriting said Thurs-
day. He also inserted his own
mistakes as he spoke, the peo-
ple said.
During the 10-minute
speech—with its one stray
word suggesting that the U.S.
would ban cargo from Europe—
stock futures fell sharply, and
the global market rout that fol-
lowed led to U.S. stocks’ worst
drop since 1987 on Thursday.
Coronavirus has challenged
Mr. Trump’s unusual leadership
style—blunt, improvisational
and shoot-from-the-hip—like
no other issue to confront his
administration. It also has
threatened his economy-fo-
cused re-election strategy.
Mr. Trump in recent days
has contradicted the statements
of his administration’s own ex-
perts, challenged official esti-
mates of the mortality rate,
misstated how soon a vaccine
would be ready, and inaccu-
rately claimed Americans who
wanted a test could get one. He
has accused Democrats and the
media of hyping the virus and
likened his handling of the situ-
ation to his “perfect” call with
the Ukrainian president that led
to his impeachment.
The missteps have eroded
his political standing and pri-
vately frustrated his own team
after they had been feeling es-
pecially confident. Just last
month, Mr. Trump was acquit-
ted in his impeachment trial
and flexed his power by purg-
ing impeachment witnesses
from his administration. He de-
lighted in the fractious Demo-
cratic presidential primary. He
raised $14 million in a West
Coast swing, boasting how his
own campaign would reap ben-
efits of a strong economy.
Inside the West Wing, Mr.
Trump has decentralized
power beneath him, giving as
many as a half-dozen White
House staffers the ability to
report to him directly and go
around the chief-of-staff posi-
tion. As aides were drafting
the speech on Wednesday, it
was unclear who had authority
to approve changes, White
House officials said. In some
instances it was the vice presi-

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

dent’s office. Other aides said

they sent changes to multiple

senior officials, hoping the ed-

its would be made.

The president encourages

top advisers to argue in front of

him, often deciding the direc-

tion of a policy based on which

staffer argues more forcefully.

He is rarely burdened by de-

tails, preferring graphics and

bullet points to dense briefing

books. And he insists on being

his own communicator in chief.

That approach to handling

the virus, so far, hasn’t worn

well with Americans, according

to a Quinnipiac University poll

released Monday that showed

49% of those surveyed disap-

proved of Mr. Trump’s response

compared with 43% who ap-

proved. It has resulted in Mr.

Trump at times playing down

the seriousness of a virus that

government health experts pre-

dict will get worse.

Privately, Mr. Trump has

been angered by news cover-

age, telling advisers that he

viewed the outbreak of the

novel virus on par with the flu

or SARS, the severe acute re-

spiratory syndrome that

caused no deaths in the U.S.

Multiple White House offi-

cials said that the policies out-

lined by the president on

Wednesday would help prevent

a spike in virus infections in the

U.S., adding that any errors

from the speech were quickly

corrected and that challenges

always arise when trying to im-

plement major actions with ur-

gency. A spokesman pointed to

the president’s decision in Jan-

uary to stop travel from China

as a key move that has already

helped curb spread of the virus.

“This White House is work-

ing around the clock to protect

all Americans from the corona-

virus,” White House spokesman

Judd Deere said. “As President

Trump said last night, we are

using the full power of the fed-

eral government and the pri-

vate sector.”

The speech on Wednesday

from the Oval Office was based

on extensive dictation from the

president and suggestions from

Vice President Mike Pence, who

told fellow officials that insur-

ance executives had promised in

a private meeting to waive co-

payments for coronavirus treat-

ments, according to people fa-

miliar with the matter. Those

companies dispute that claim.

It was written largely by Ste-

phen Miller, the president’s se-

nior policy adviser, and Jared

Kushner, the president’s son-in-

law and senior adviser, and

overseen by staff secretary

Derek Lyons. The three men, all

BYMICHAELC.BENDER

Crisis Tests

President’s

Ad-Lib Style

Mr. Trump’s coronavirus speech contained errors, including a suggestion of a trading ban with Europe that jolted stock markets.

DOUG MILLS/REUTERS

familiar with the matter, who

said Mr. Mnuchin had also

been in contact with Republi-

can lawmakers.

Mrs. Pelosi said the House

would vote on the legislation

intended to combat coronavi-

rus “one way or another” on

Friday, before the chamber

leaves for its weeklong recess.

She also said she expects law-

makers to take up more bills

related to the economic and

health impact of the pandemic

in the future.

Efforts to put together a bill

began this week as lawmakers

rushed to respond to the pan-

demic that has tanked finan-

cial markets and infected a

growing number of people

worldwide. Democrats delayed

procedural steps Thursday on

the bill to allow for further ne-

gotiations and the possibility

that they could amend the leg-

islation.

Republicans had raised con-

cerns about the Democratic pro-

posal to offer paid leave, criti-

cizing the decision to have the

Social Security Administration

run the program in particular.

Mrs. Pelosi said that Democrats

were reviewing proposals from

Mr. Mnuchin.

“We’re negotiating with

them. Secretary Mnuchin had

some suggestions, all very rea-

sonable, I think none of them

will prevent us from moving for-

ward with the bill,” she said at

Officials Assess

Trump’s Exposure

WASHINGTON—Concerns

about the possibility that Presi-

dent Trump has been exposed

to coronavirus mounted on

Thursday after a Brazilian offi-

cial who met with the president

last weekend tested positive for

the virus.

The White House is assess-

ing who might have been ex-

posed to the virus and hasn’t

determined the next steps, press

secretary Stephanie Grisham

said on Thursday. She said Mr.

Trump, 73 years old, and Vice

President Mike Pence, 60, had

“almost no interactions” with the

Brazilian official and didn’t need

to be tested for the virus.

Fabio Wajngarten, communica-

tions secretary to Brazilian Presi-

dent Jair Bolsonaro, was part of

the delegation that dined with Mr.

Trump at his Palm Beach, Fla., re-

sort Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.

Mr. Wajngarten is now in

home quarantine. Mr. Bolsonaro

is being tested for the virus, his

son said, with results expected

by Friday.

Two senators who encoun-

tered the Brazilian delegation in

Florida have since quarantined

themselves.

Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.), who

met with the Brazilian delegation

on Monday, on Thursday said he

was self-quarantining after being

in the same room as Mr. Wajn-

garten but that his physician had

advised him he didn’t need to be

tested. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.,

S.C.), said he would also quaran-

tine himself and was awaiting re-

sults of a test.

— Rebecca Ballhaus

White House staffers since Mr.

Trump took office, haven’t been

deeply involved in the coronavi-

rus response, officials said.

Mr. Kushner hasn’t attended

a single task-force meeting, ac-

cording to one official who has

attended each meeting. Many of

the officials who have been

working on the issue for weeks

said they were cut out or ig-

nored during the speech writing.

The result was a speech that

White House officials said hit

the correct themes, but was

riddled with errors.

But the speech itself caused

a divide inside the White

House. Mr. Kushner was among

those who thought it was im-

portant to deliver an address to

calm fears and show the admin-

istration’s seriousness. White

House counselor Kellyanne Con-

way advised against it, telling

colleagues that it was a terrible

idea and the message could be

conveyed through a videotaped

message that the president

could release on Twitter.

Mr. Trump signed off on the

speech and the latest travel ban

during a three-hour meeting in

the Oval Office. Still, aides

emerged from the meeting un-

sure if the speech would hap-

pen: Mr. Trump had more meet-

ings lined up in the afternoon,

including one with bank execu-

tives. Those were the types of

meetings, aides warned, at

which Mr. Trump would some-

times change his mind on previ-

ously agreed-upon decisions

and upend the White House’s

fragile policy process.

The speech was being re-

written up until the time it was

fed into the teleprompter, aides

said. And there were multiple

mistakes. Insurance companies

aren’t waiving deductibles for

coronavirus treatment, as Mr.

Trump read from the remarks.

Nor are there exemptions in the

new travel ban from Europe for

Americans who have undergone

health screenings; the ban is on

foreign nationals, not Ameri-

cans. The administration is

working on a second parallel

policy aimed at screening

Americans returning home

from abroad.

Mr. Trump then inserted his

own costly mistake, according

to a review of draft speeches

and officials familiar with the

process. Instead of saying that

the travel ban won’t apply to

trade and cargo, Mr. Trump in-

serted an extra word, saying

the prohibitions “will not only

apply to the tremendous

amount of trade and cargo.”

White House aides who had

been part of the task force

meetings for the past week,

where the EU ban was debated,

were furious, and Mr. Trump

later had to clean up the mis-

take via Twitter.

It was the latest in a series

of misstatements about the

health crisis that have drawn

criticism.

On a visit to the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention

last week, Mr. Trump wore a

red “Keep America Great” cam-

paign hat and compared his

handling of the outbreak to his

phone call with the Ukrainian

president, a conversation that

led to his impeachment. “This

was not as perfect as that,” Mr.

Trump said. “But pretty good.”

Mr. Trump said a vaccine

may be ready within months,

despite his own administra-

tion’s health officials telling

him that it was at least a year

away. He said that coronavirus

tests were available for anyone

who wants one, which remains

inaccurate.

“That’s not how diagnostic

testing works in the United

States or, frankly, almost any-

where in the world,” Health and

Human Services Secretary Alex

Azar said about the president’s

remark on Tuesday.

The president also has per-

sonalized the crisis, focusing

closely on market declines,

which he ties directly to his

prospects for re-election. Last

week, he didn’t want a Carnival

Corp. cruise ship with sick pas-

sengers aboard to dock on the

West Coast because of how it

would reflect on him.

“I don’t need to have the

numbers double because of one

ship,” he said March 6. “That

wasn’t our fault.”

The ship eventually docked.

The president also has spent

weeks playing down the dis-

ease. On Feb. 26, he told report-

ers that there were only 15 peo-

ple infected and the total

“within a couple days is going

to be down to close to zero.”

He also was reluctant to ap-

prove the first virus-related

travel ban aimed at China, con-

cerned about the signal it

would send to markets and his

relationship with President Xi

Jinping, aides said. He agreed

to it on Mr. Azar’s advice, aides

said, and now touts it.

At the same time, the White

House has been taking precau-

tions to protect the president.

Extra cleanings are happening in

the West Wing. Hand sanitizer

is widely available. And the Se-

cret Service now checks if visi-

tors have visited any foreign

countries in the past 30 days.

Still, Mr. Trump has main-

tained an optimistic view of

the coronavirus from the start.

In some of his first public re-

marks on the topic, on Jan. 22

in Davos, Switzerland, the

president said, “We’ve already

handled it very well” when

asked if he had a plan for coro-

navirus in the U.S. “We’re in

very good shape,” he said.

The U.S. reported its first

confirmed case that week and

now has more than 1,600.

—Catherine Lucey

contributed to this article.

her weekly press conference.

Also Thursday, Democratic

presidential candidate Joe Biden

said that the nation needs to

harness a comprehensive public-

health and economic response

to the coronavirus, offering a

look at how he would address a

crisis in the White House.

The former vice president, in

a speech near his home in Wil-

mington, Del., said the nation

must respond aggressively to

combat the disease, with prac-

tices and staff he described as

grounded in science.

He said President Trump’s la-

beling of the outbreak as a “for-

eign virus” during a Wednesday

night Oval Office address “does

not displace accountability for

the misjudgments that have been

taken thus far by the Trump ad-

ministration.”

“Let me be crystal clear, the

coronavirus does not have a po-

litical affiliation,” Mr. Biden said.

“It will infect Republicans, inde-

pendents and Democrats alike.”

He said the U.S. should lead a

coordinated, global response

that prepares hospitals and pub-

lic-health workers and responds

to the economic fallout. “Presi-

dent Trump is welcome to adopt

all of it today,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s campaign said in

response that the president had

“acted early and decisively” to

fight the virus, and he had put

the U.S. “on stronger footing

than other nations.”

—Kate Davidson

and Ken Thomas

contributed to this article.

WASHINGTON—House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said

House Democrats and the

Trump administration were

nearing a final agreement on

legislation aimed at aiding

Americans affected by the

spread of the coronavirus.

“We’re close to an agree-

ment, subject to the exchange

of paper and hope to have an

agreement tomorrow,” she told

reporters Thursday night.

Mrs. Pelosi (D., Calif.) , who

had earlier spoken with Trea-

sury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

eight times, said that the

House would not move forward

with a vote on Thursday as

talks continued. House mem-

bers are set to leave Washing-

ton at the end of the week for

a previously scheduled recess,

while the Senate canceled its

break next week to consider

the bill.

House Democrats released a

bill late Wednesday that pro-

vides for paid leave for people

affected by the virus, expands

unemployment insurance, and

requires that health insurance

cover diagnostic testing for the

disease for free, among other

measures. While Republicans

raised objections to measures

in the bill, talks continued

throughout Thursday.

There was a growing expec-

tation among White House of-

ficials that a deal will be

reached, according to a person

BYANDREWDUEHREN

ANDNATALIEANDREWS

Agreement Nears on Virus Aid Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Treasury Secretary

StevenMnuchin ‘had some suggestions, all very reasonable.’

TOM BRENNER/REUTERS

The White House

staff was divided on

whether to give an

Oval Office address.