CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Mike DeWine

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joining us now, Ohio Governor, Republican Governor Mike DeWine. GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Good morning, Jake.

TAPPER: Governor DeWine, thanks so much for joining us.

DEWINE: Thank you.

TAPPER: So, President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, top aide Hope Hicks, they all now have coronavirus. They may have been contagious when they arrived in Ohio for Tuesday night's debate.

The White House is now telling me, a senior administration official telling me, that they think that the time that all these people got it was at the event two Saturdays ago at the White House, the Supreme Court event.

Has the White House called you, and, if so, when, to let you know that they potentially were carriers of the virus and did not abide by safety protocols when they came into the great state of Ohio?

DEWINE: Well, no, but I think the basic facts are pretty well -- pretty well-known, what happened.

TAPPER: They didn't call you?

DEWINE: Well, I wasn't there for the debate.

So, I was there when the president came into Dayton and when the president came in Toledo. France and I met the plane in Dayton. We went up in the plane for probably seven, eight, nine minutes, 10 minutes with the president.

So, I was not at the debate at all. So, I was not part of that.

TAPPER: No, I know that. But they flew into your state of Ohio, and they likely were contagious. They likely had the virus.

I'm not -- I'm glad that you're OK. And I know that you weren't at the debate itself or you didn't meet him around the debate.

But, I mean, has the White House reached out to you to coordinate with the White House on contact tracing, to make sure that anyone that they came in touch with, whether on the staff of the Cleveland Clinic or any other Ohioan, that they're paying attention to them and they're making sure that they don't get the virus or, if they do, they get the medical care they need?

DEWINE: Well, they have not reached out to me.

Now ,I know that I talked to the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic the other day, who gave me an update, gave me a report. So, I don't know whether they have reached out to the Cleveland Clinic or not. They have not talked to me about it, no.

TAPPER: Well, I have to say, Governor, the president and his team were -- I mean, empirically, they were reckless. In all likelihood, they brought the virus into your state. You have been working so hard -- you have been on the show many times to talk about it -- to try to help save lives in your state and to contain the spread.

[09:10:01]

The president didn't get tested before entering the hall, even though he was supposed to. Some on his team turned down masks offered to them by Cleveland Clinic officials. Members of his family who walked in with masks took the masks off during the debate.

You're the governor of the state of Ohio. Does it bother you that the president and his team put your citizens at risk?

DEWINE: Well, I think it's important what the president has done.

The president went to the hospital. That will -- could not have been an easy thing for him to do. I'm sure he didn't want to go the hospital. He made the right decision.

They put up two videos of the president talking to the people of this country. I think that is very positive.

And I think, look, this is -- what I said at a press conference I did the other day, this is -- should be kind of an alert to everybody that anybody can get the virus. Even the president of the United States can get the virus.

And so we ought to use this, and simply just learn from it. And so people who -- maybe who have not worn masks in the past, I'm hoping that they will look at this and say, look, the president can get it, I can get it, it can happen to anybody.

And I hope that that's what happens and that's what comes out of this.

TAPPER: Yes.

DEWINE: And we pray for the president, and we pray for the first lady and everybody else who has -- who has the virus.

TAPPER: I hear you. And, of course, we all pray for the president and the first lady and anyone who has the virus, of course. We're all concerned about the president's health.

But I'm asking you, as the governor of Ohio, whether you resent individuals coming into your state and recklessly risking the health of the citizens you were elected to protect, whether at rallies, which the president staged, and masks were not required, and there was no social distancing, or at the debate in Cleveland.

Doesn't that upset you? I mean, it's really a pretty simple question. You were elected to protect the citizens of Ohio, and the president and his team were putting them at risk.

DEWINE: Look, the president's team recommended people wear masks at these rallies. There were some masks, I believe, handed out. If you saw everybody on the stage behind the president, they were all

given masks. They were all told to have -- to have the mask on.

So, this is something that we have been dealing with, not only in Ohio, but in this country, is that we have people who don't think that they should be wearing a mask. And what we have tried to talk to everyone about is that, if you do wear a mask, you just -- you're going to cut down the spread, and you're doing it for other people.

And so we're going to continue -- Jake, we're going to continue to message this and talk about this, because we know it does, in fact, make a huge -- make a huge, huge difference.

TAPPER: It's not just...

DEWINE: So, I'm not -- I'm not resentful.

TAPPER: It's not just that people aren't wearing them.

(CROSSTALK)

DEWINE: Look, it -- go ahead.

TAPPER: It's not just that people aren't -- people aren't wearing masks.

The president has been leading the charge, mocking people who wear masks, in fact, your own lieutenant governor encouraging individuals -- again, you have been responsible. Your administration in Ohio has been responsible.

But you're -- you -- the crowd openly booed your own lieutenant governor when he tried to encourage them to wear masks. take a listen.

DEWINE: Yes, was -- look, that was...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. JON HUSTED (R-OH): Hang on. Hang on.

(BOOING)

HUSTED: Just listen up. Just listen up.

(BOOING)

HUSTED: All right! I get it. You could at least say that you're trying to save the country by wearing one of President Donald Trump's mask, all right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Is that not the consequence of the president's rhetoric against wearing masks?

DEWINE: Look, we talk to the president. I have talked to the president. And that's not what he wanted to see.

He's been very supportive of us.

We just this week -- and this has not got reported very much because of the president illness, but we're going to be getting in hundreds of thousands of the new tests, and they're going to come to Michigan. They're going to come across this country.

The vice president has been -- on behalf of the president, meets with us virtually every single week as governors. So, these are things that people don't see, Jake. And they're things that don't get covered, understandably.

But it shows, I think, what the president and what the White House has been doing to try to help the states in regard to dealing -- to dealing with this -- with this problem.

TAPPER: With all due respect...

(CROSSTALK)

DEWINE: What you saw on the video -- what you saw on the video...

TAPPER: Yes.

DEWINE: ... what you saw on the video, my lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, was up there talking to a crowd.

And, look, this was not a -- obviously, this is not a pro -- generally not a pro-mask crowd. And we have people, not only in Ohio, but across the country, who don't wear a mask.

What I hope is that what we have seen with the president is a cautionary tale for people, and people will understand that, look, it can happen to the president, it can happen to you, it can happen to your family, and you wear a mask to help other people.

And so, if anything good can come out of this tragedy of the president and the White House, we hope just people will look at that, and say, we need to wear masks, and this is what we need to do to slow this thing down.

[09:15:11]

TAPPER: Yes, I just don't understand the reluctance to state the obvious, which is, President Trump has been mocking people who wear masks.

DEWINE: Look...

TAPPER: And now there are a lot of Republicans who won't wear masks.

(CROSSTALK)

DEWINE: Look, do I wish -- look, do I wish the president had worn masks all the time? Of course. Of course. When people go vote, there's a lot -- there's other things besides

that. I think the president has done a very good job, as I just detailed, in trying to get us the things that we need, the testing that we need...

TAPPER: Yes.

DEWINE: ... and the PPE that we need.

And that doesn't, frankly, a lot of times get reported. And they have done a very good job.

TAPPER: Well, because the number one thing -- because the number one thing right now to help stop the spread, according to the president's own health experts, is for people to wear masks.

And no one has been more undermining of that than President Trump, who you and I both wish well.

Governor DeWine, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it.

DEWINE: Thanks, Jake.

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