Trump let stay-at-home guidelines expire the same day experts warned him of deadly consequences

President Trump keeps insisting the U.S. has overcome its medical supply shortage. His advisers keep reminding him that's not true.

On May 1, just hours after federal guidelines mandating Americans stay home amid the COVID-19 pandemic expired, Trump announced that "we've ensured a ventilator for every patient who needs one," saying "the testing and the masks and all of the things, we've solved every problem." But that same day, Trump hopped on a conference call with medical experts who told him things weren't as rosy, recordings obtained by Politico reveal.

"The numbers of deaths definitely will be high," Daniel Jernigan, director of the Center for Disease Control's influenza division, told Trump on the May 1 call with FEMA and Health and Human Services Department officials, per Politico. Jernigan was describing what would happen if governors were allowed to reopen their states while COVID-19 cases continued to grow. A return to normal business would likely mean an "increase again in ventilator uses" by the second week of May, one official reportedly said. "Which means cases increase, and by early June, we surpass the number of ventilators we currently have," the official continued.

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Officials on an April 24 call likewise reminded Trump of a shortage of hospital gowns, with one suggesting they decide on "alternatives that can be used in this period of sparse numbers of gowns," Politico reports. "Our main PPE shortfalls continue to be along the lines of gloves and gowns," an official reportedly reiterated on May 1." That warning was far from apparent in Trump's Wednesday morning tweet where he seemingly falsely insisted "gloves, gowns etc. are now plentiful." Read more at Politico.