President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believes some states will be able to "reopen" their economies before the end of April by lifting the social distancing restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Trump's announcement came a day after he claimed "total" authority over when to lift the state-imposed measures. Legal experts say that despite Trump's claims about his presidential powers, he cannot override the public-health measures that were implemented by states.

Still, Trump said during a White House press briefing on the virus that "the plans to reopen the country are close to being finalized."

"I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly," Trump said, "And I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan of their state at a time and in a manner as most appropriate."

"The day will be very close because certain states as you know are in a much different condition and are in a much different place than other states. It's going to be very very close. Maybe even before the date of May 1st," he said.

As he left the briefing in the Rose Garden, Trump said that if the governors "don't do a good job, we're going to come down on them very hard."