Ms. Sanders good afternoon. I would like to start by saying the president and all of us at the white house were thrilled to see scott congressmans the least back on the floor today. Our thoughts and prayers have been with him and his family for many weeks now, and we will continue to root for him as he makes a full recovery. Today, the president actively engaged in the Recovery Efforts in puerto rico. He received an update from the femur at the fema administrator. The full weight of the United States government is engaged to ensure food, water, health care, and other white saving resources are making its way to the people who need it. The president waved the jones act. This ensures that resources make it to the islands, but we will focus on the challenge of distributing those resources. Challenges. Esents government relief workers are there, including 7200 troops on the island working tirelessly to get people what they need. We have prioritized lifesaving resources to hospital, and can report that 44 of the hospitals are operational. The army corps is restoring power and providing the diesel necessary for sustainable emergency Power Generation. They are also working to restore Power Generation around the island. There is a long way to go, but we will not rest until everyone is safe and secure. Our message to the people of puerto rico is this, the people are behind you. Are, the entire country. Your unbreakable spirit is an inspiration to us all. We are praying for you, we are working for you, and we will not let you down. The president traveled to indianapolis yesterday. Our framework is based on four key ideas. First, we will cut taxes for the everyday working americans. Second, we will make the tax code simple, fair, and easy to understand. Third, we will cut taxes on businesses to restore our Competitive Edge and create better jobs and higher wages. Finally, our framework encourages American Companies to bring back the trillions of dollars in wealth from overseas. Owns a business in indianapolis. She and her husband bought the business in 1991, and have tripled in size. They worked fulltime in the shop and employ three additional people. Robin describes it that her family is living the american dream. However, Small Businesses have been neglected and put on the back burner. Theis excited about what president is proposing. She believes this tax cut will be a boon for her business and customers. Requirees on risks that printing services. Robin is thrilled about the possibility of a tax code being simplified to allow the average taxpayer to save time and money, and they can invest in their families and businesses. People like robin are at the heart of the tax relief plan. To talk more about that, i would like to bring up nec director gary cohen. We will also have tom bossert up to answer questions specific to the Hurricane Relief efforts. You guys are exit insistent and have other topics to cover, i will come back up. Mr. Cohn thank you, sarah. Openinging to make remarks, but you covered a few of them. A couple things i will say is that the president has made his goals very clear what he wants to achieve here with tax reform and cutting taxes in the United States. I think you know where we are in the process. The group of six has been working well together. We are now in the hands of congress. We want to go through a normal, regular process in the senate and the house. We are working well with both tax drafting committees. We will continue working well and quickly, and are trying to drive tax reform as quickly as we can. The basic premise behind that, you know. I will not take you through it. Weuestion i get asked a lot, do need to make basic assumptions about where we will end up with the brackets. Assumptions, ar typical family earning 100,000 with two children that has been deductor, dr. Can expect a text adoption of a thousand dollars. That is where we can continue to be. I will open it up to questions. Reporter gary, the big criticisms is giving away to the rich. The one criticism that seems to netiquette,fort california, other states, is by eliminating state and local deductions, there are some certain people who will suffer double taxation. Is that a hard and fast red line with you, or would you be willing to give that up . Based on our plan is lowering rates and expanding the base. It is very simple if you think of what we are doing. We expand the base by getting rid of the loopholes. The loopholes that the wealthy taxpayers have used to pay tax on less of their incomes. We have designed a plan where we will pay lower rates, that is a basic core premise of our plan. We are committed to it and we are sticking with it. Reporter the criticism is there are some people in the middle income who become the itemized. 25 of American Families today itemized. 75 of American Families do not itemize. Youre talking about 25 of the population. Arelso have many things we doing in the tax plan to help out American Families. We are going from seven rates to three rates. We are expanding the zero rate up to 24,000 for that family. The first 24 thousand dollars of income, they will pay zero on. The next rate will be 12 . We are doing things to help that family. We are expanding the parameters for child care. We will move the upper bounds to who is eligible for child care so that family may be eligible for more. You have to look at this plan in its entirety. The one thing i would bake you all to do is not look at any one piece. Look at the plan in its entirety. We are looking at it in its entirety. Reporter john was asking about the standardized versus itemized adoptions. There deductions. There are people who think you will suppress the real estate market. People will not be interested in buying homes because they will not use itemized deductions. Mr. Cohn first, we are protecting the deduction. Second, the Home Builders association came out in favor of our deductions. The reason people build by holmes is they are excited and optimistic about their economy. They are confident they will have a job tomorrow. Upward wageere is pressure, mobility in their job, and they feel good about the economy. That is when people buy homes. We have not been in that situation for the last decade area we have to get america back to the place where they feel excited about the economy. Buy will spend money and homes. People do not buy homes because of the mortgage deduction. 75 of emilys to not use itemized of families do not use itemized deductions. Reporter how do we ensure taxpayers do not abuse it . Mr. Cohn that is a good question. We have spent time on the antiabuse portions. The last ring we want to see our wealthy individuals move their tax rate down from the 35 rate to the 25 rate. We are spending time on that. The tax writers are acutely aware of this situation. We are acutely aware of that. Should not belf able to reduce our Tax Liability by 10 . Reporter one thing you said this morning and something said yesterday. You said you could not guarantee that no taxpayers would pay more taxes under this plan. Because of the details you were talking about before, this is a real possibility. Lower income people could see a very small cut. Is it a redline for you and the taxpayersthat all have cuts under the plan . The president said yesterday this cut would not help him, and it would be bad for him. What little we know about his finances, he could get a big cut million. C, 31 on past income. Is obviously not paying his state tax. How can he say this is not going to help him . Reporter the American People are concerned about their financial position. What they are concerned about is when they get their paycheck at the end of the week, how much do they get to keep . How much goes in their pocket versus the government . How much do they get to spend . If we allow a family to keep another 1000 of their income, what does it mean . They can renovate their kitchen, via new car, take a family vacation, increase their lifestyle. That is what our tax plan will do. It will give more income to hardworking americans. Reporter speaking of the president saying this tax plan would not benefit him. Dont you think it would be a good idea for the president to prove that by releasing his tax returns . Mr. Cohn what we are all working on in the white house is to increase the lifestyle of american citizens, our hardworking citizens who get up every morning and work as hard as any people in the world to try and keep more of their hardearned income. Our tax plan is trying to get the economy to get the growth rate back to a normalized rate above 3 . 3. 1 st had a quarter of gdp. People did not think we could get there for a while. Can we go higher . What is 1 of gdp mean . That means 3 trillion. That is what we are trying to do with our tax cut. Reporter if you cannot guaranty all middleclass americans will see their taxes go up, doesnt that contradict the central promise of this plan . Mr. Cohn our tax plan is aimed at making sure we give middleclass americans a tax cut. The are going to give the class americans a tax cut. That is what we are spending all of our time on doing. We have a lot of tools at our disposal to do that. As i said this morning, and i will say it again i could read my statement from this morning again i cannot guarantee that. You can find me someone in the country where their taxes may not go down. We have 50 states, counties, cities, longterm and shortterm Capital Gains. We have all types of structures. Findrantee you could someone in this country, maybe one person, whose taxes will not go down. Reporter can you walk us through the timeline for how the committees will get through this . And what confidence do you have, given this year on capitol hill, that they will get this done . Decidedid you see to stay at the white house in the wake of the charlottesville . Ms. Sanders mr. Cohn i am confident mr. Cohn i am confident they are working as hard as they can. If you look at the house ways and means committee, they came in on sunday to start working on the tax plan. They continue to work every day. They willrady says get through the tax plan as quickly as they can. We hope they will get through the house in october and be in the senate in november and have a bill done by this year. I am here just for this reason. Think about the opportunity i am involved in in being able to rewrite the tax plan, something that has not been done in 30 years. The amount of impact we could have on the u. S. Economy, changing the foreign outlook of the United States, this is a onceinalifetime opportunity and i would never miss that. Reporter does that mean that when youre done with tax reform, you will no longer be at the white house . Mr. Cohn there are many more onceinalifetime opportunities at the white house. Reporter and the child tax credit, which we have heard ivanka trump talk about. Can you give us any kind of description on what that would look like . What is the goal . Mr. Cohn i think we said in our outline yesterday, the existing job care credit childcare credit is refundable and will stay refundable. The additional money we will put into the credit will be nonrefundable. We want to encourage people to work. The size of it, we are still working out. With the outer range in mind. We are working on delivering a large middle income taxcut to American Workers that they rightfully deserve. The plan will add 2. 2 trillion to the deficit. Mr. Cohn we think they are wrong. The way they score. Lets not argue that. We firmly believe that this tax plan will have a dramatic impact on economic growth. We know the 1 change in gdp will add 3 trillion back. If they are right, we will only pay down 800 billion of the deficit. I can live with that. Reporter on the corporate side, your critics say that on the repatriation of overseas assets, history would Show Companies do not always use those assets to invest in manufacturing and jobs you are talking about. They share buybacks. How can you guarantee that will not happen . Mr. Cohn we have heard that numerous times. If that is our worst Case Scenario that companies repatriate their money and use shared by the acts, what happens . They buy that share through dividends. We get another 20 tax on Capital Gains or dividends, and the people who get that money back we invest in the economy in new investments, in new capital. We are putting very enticing rolls into the system that will encourage people to invest into the system. We are giving people a fiveyear writeoff. We know that money will get invested back in the economy and drive jobs, economic growth, wages, and prosperity. Reporter we asked the question twice, and you did not answer it. I get your messaging on the middle class, this tax plan appears it will benefit the president and his family. Why not be candid about that . Mr. Cohn i told you, it will benefit the middle class. American taxpayers care about what they take home. They care about what they have to spend. That is what they care about, that is what i care about. Saying he will not benefit, but it appears the way it is put together, he actually will. People do care about that. Mr. Cohn let me take you through the components that you are all obsessed about. Taxall talk about the debt and that being a great benefit. The t biggest drivers comew the repeal of the death taxo the two biggest drivers, the repeal it has theax, biggest effect on them. Wealthy americans do a lot of estate planning. They can use trust, all types of things that are legal in the tax code to make sure they do not pay a death tax. On the amt, i will not get into deep regulations calculations. , once youo the amt get rid of the deductions of state and local taxes, that is the biggest ad back. It becomes irrelevant once you get rid of the deduction of state and local taxes. You are not looking at the plan in its entirety. They do not make sense once we redo the plan. Gary . Er just as a followup question on that you decided to use the worry of groups like the seniors association, that you were going to drag out repeal of the death tax, that it would not be immediate. Is that final . Is it going to be an immediate repeal and go off the books as soon as the new tax reform package is passed . Mr. Cohn in our outline, it is immediate. Everything is a media. The everything is immediate. Speaking of small yesterday, senator schumer said democrats may be willing to work some kind of Small Business tax relief into whatever comes out of all of this. Mr. Cohn our opening offer and are on the table. We are happy to start at 25 and go lower. There is our opening offer. If he wants something lower, we are very negotiable. Reporter one more . Ms. Sanders thank you, gary. Mr. Cohn the boss says i have to go. Ms. Sanders trying to be respectable of your time, tom bossert will talk about the Hurricane Relief efforts, and i will come up after that. Mr. Bossart thanks, sarah. That afternoon. , President Trump has put people first and give her. He has had us pull out all the stops and put as much relief into mexico and the Virgin Islands as possible into puerto rico and the Virgin Islands as possible. I am here to take some questions. I know you have heard some reporting, so if i could just jump right in . Reporter first of all, thanks for being here. Critics say act, the white house should have moved forward quickly in waiving the jones act. Why is that an unfounded complaint . Mr. Bossart it is an unfounded complaint. The jones act is a rule that flag. Vessels. If there are not enough to make the joneswe waive act. At this point, we had enough to exceed the requirement in need of diesel fuel and other communities and other commodities. Now we are seeing backlogged diesel fuel needs in the island. It was misunderstood that we had a capacity problem and had to waive the jones act. Not the case. Commodities as necessary, the challenge became landbased distribution. That remains a priority today. Last night, governor rosella called me and said to ensure that the Additional Needs are to pullwould be good out all the stops to make sure that capacity problem ran into the problem. President waved it right away. It was not too late or too early. Reporter at this point, distribution is one of the biggest challenges. You talked about 44 hospitals being up and running, necessary to bring in people whose lives are at risk. What percentage of the population has the chance to explore to see how they have been impacted by this . Mr. Bossart it is hard to answer, but i will answer it this way. Through aerial surveillance, we have seen the entirety of puerto rico. Some of the southeast sections of the island has a little more sparse on foot exploration, but it is the interior of the island presenting the biggest problems. The mountainous interior is where we are focusing our efforts. The margins are open to airports and seaports. Question,e jones act we had up until the waiver last night, and of capacity in u. S. Meetwaving vessels to demands. If i can pivot for the next question, it is the challenge or function of two problems. First, the capacity was diminished because those people are victims as well, who work for state. And local authorities. Also, debris and downed power lines had to be pushed out of the way. That is the challenge remaining. The central interior will be removed reviewed very carefully to make sure we are getting the needs to the people. Governor not the a waiverd protectively of the jones act, would you have seen compelling reasons to waive it . Mr. Bossart i did not recommend it until i got the governors request. Sometimes you see the carriers request the waivers. Sometimes you see the Carrier Companies call us and say, please waive it because we see an issue. We did not get any carrier requests, but once the governor called, i think we should listen to him, and the president agreed. Perhaps it is misunderstood. Whoink there are critics believed it was a price issue, and i cannot answer that. I can tell you it was already back bought and paid for by the american taxpayer. It is a wise investment to save lives. We have u. S. Virgin islands citizens, puerto rico citizens, all american citizens. I think it is the right decision to make. Whether it changes the price points, i dont know. But the lifesaving requirements, that is the need, and we had that capacity met. Challengesith the that are coming, what are the conversations about what they are dropping in certain areas . People talk about running out of food. What is happening with that conversation . D cruise ships, what else is going on . To bossart with respect distribution of commodities, that is the biggest challenge right now. But the restoration of power is a big challenge, and i will tell you why. Supplying the hospitals, providing medical care to the wounded and those who had medical needs. There is a dual priority going on in terms of restoration, emergency power, and blocking pushing out of the way the roads. Is drivers for the trucks, so we are pushing in personnel to push those commodities. What you saw today was some reporting of some trucks sitting on ports and docks. Moving those trucks quickly, and prioritizing what comes off first. Reporter will it circumvent that rebuilding the structures . Mr. Bossart if aircraft is under consideration, i am not aware of it, but i would promote it. We have a one star general in place in charge of all ground force operations to make sure there is one person in charge of marshaling those efforts. They need helicopters to evacuate the island. He says there are people burying their family members in front yards. Ication is badly needed communication is badly needed. There is a little bit of disconnect between what i am hearing here and what they are seeing their. Re. Mr. Bossart mr. Bossart if that is accurate, that needs to be remediated immediately. I want to be careful not to micromanage it from here. I believe that we have enough resources marshaled and deployed forward to make decisions under the right command and leadership models. Ise did is documented augmented local and state authorities through to the lower levels. There are federal officials identifying the requirements, augmenting the state level to validate those requirements, and providing them. We are in every stage of the identification, validation, and delivery of provisions to people in need. First, people saying 24 or 48 hours problems, it is my sincere belief that food and water will get to them before that deadline and we will save their lives. We have over 10,000 people there now, and they are more there are more on the way. I will read the numbers. Dotoast guards, one Maritime Administration vessel, six commercial ships with en route. N route we have 1. 3 million meals. That is moving in today, and youre saying the distribution problem unclog. If someone is burying someone in their front yard, that is a terrible story. I dont want to project that as a norm. Right now, we have seen 16 fatalities confirmed. No fatalities are acceptable. If that number increases significantly, that will be a devastating blow. We are doing everything they can to avoid that. We are trying to marshal our resources. Reporter senator rubio just got back from the island and said there are significant logistical concerns, because there is no clear command control, no communication between local and federal agencies. Is using the dod an option on the table . Mr. Bossart it has already been undertaken. I was with the senator in puerto rico, and i think he is identifying some we already had a solution for. He is identifying a traditional problem between municipal and State Government authorities. Normally fema and the federal government would provide resources, and they would work it out with the local authorities. You saw this implement it over the weekend, the lack of capacity coupled with this insular, divided by an ocean problem. ,e provided federal authorities and fema emergency managers, to stand next to each of those municipality leaders, whether mayors or local Authority Figures like the water Authority Figures. There being augmented by federal forces. We have addressed those challenges. Is something that was not necessarily apparent to the senator when he got there. It was a problem already being fixed, and he probably was not able to see it for two reasons. Neither of us could get out to municipal levels on monday, and there was a Communications Error of great import that persists to this day, and that communication problem is tied to the Car Restoration problem. If i could, let me explain why the power restoration how the power restoration processes unfolding. We are putting the United States army corps of engineers in charge of power restoration. To your question of whether the military is in charge, it depends on the mission and function. Arepeople of puerto rico strong, confident, and they are in charge. But where they are not able and have diminished capacity, we are taking extreme steps. Direct federal assistance orders were given, a Mission Assignment was given. I have heard others quibble about whether it was a mission or not. The army corps of engineers has been given a mission to restore power on puerto rico, full stop. Though those are the big diesel run generators. Generation restoration on the island. Transmission, lines that transmit power to and from, and the hook up to the houses. Those are his priorities, and i am certain that portray can people will see the results. Is airdrops will help, why are they not happening . Is it a military issue . Mr. Bossart it is my understanding that the government and municipalities have identified groundbased as being best. I want to make sure i dont step into something. If the Ground Force Commanders down there has identified and airdrop mission that is faster and more productive, i endorse it here. I would not question his judgment. It was my understanding earlier today that they did determine the fastest method to be on the ground. They need security forces, and we have applied those. There is a security plan for the drivers so they can feel safe. Reporter eight flights have gotten out of south florida and gone to the island to deliver food and water without having physical problems. There is severe criticism coming, saying there is mismanagement coming all the way from the president. How do you respond to that . Mr. Bossart i am not certain who you are talking about, but i am confident reporter getting a flight into the island in unloading, the problem you are having logistically are your own making am not taking action sooner and bringing in the military sooner. Mr. Bossart i think the mayor for i thank the mayor for providing aid. What we have been doing, and how blown away you will be when you see the full picture. I am certain the mayor has had positive experiences, but he has probably just not he is probably not yet informed on the fact. Reporter why are there 10,000 containers waiting at the border . Mr. Bossart we are getting a lot of supplies through. Click could just be misunderstanding of that fact. Reporter the president referenced some of the debt and economic problems puerto rico has faced. You talk about the municipal and state levels, are you faulting local officials for a lack of preparing . Mr. Bossart let me be clear, when i talk about capacity, i talk about the capacity problem of people being victims who would otherwise be first responders, repairers, and managers of municipal functions. We are trying to restore municipal functions because they have been affected. The homes are destroyed, their families put in peril. Money, italk about believe the Island Authority in general, 72 billion dollars in debt, there is a restructuring effort underway. Congress weighed in, and that 72 billion is being restructured. Reporter how is that impacting this response . The president brought it up. Mr. Bossart i know the president brought it up in terms of recovery. It puts the island in a position where we dont have the resources to meet the cost chair requirement for these goods and resources, personnel, material following flowing into the island. President realized that would be a problem at the advice of the fema administrator and secretary duke, and he took a 100 cost share adjustment to pay for this. From power restoration, the army corps of engineers, and the protective measures, police, fire, ems. 180 days, so six months for the Virgin Islands and puerto rico. Until we can get our hands on this, all those missions are 100 federal cost share. We dont want anyone worried about paper, we want them worried about people. We will take two more questions. Reporter i wanted to follow that a little bit and ask, as you are starting to envision down the road, if any sort of aol might be part of the broader recovery . I know the first crack at it will be relatively soon. It could be the first week in october. Mr. Bossart as might colleague alluded to, we are willing to negotiate with congress if there is a better fiscal option. It is important to understand that the my got a 7. 1 billion appropriations release. What will happen now is we will go back for more. We will add in the form of an emergency supplemental to add money into the fund and some of the Recovery Efforts. Whether we have to just at that to adjust at that point is something i will have to take my lead from the economists and Budget Office on. The best idea would be for us to focus on process. The electric Power Authority and Water Authority are the two concerning elements. They will have to be rebuilt under proper management and proper coding codes and standards to ensure they can withstand a future hurricane. Money inut federal this. We should do it wisely and prudently. I dont think we should have to address the debt restructuring issue in the next go around, but if they are willing to step up to that challenge it will have to come in the next two to four weeks. I cannot but you a better date on that. I would direct you to director mullaney. Reporter why has it taken eight days to get a general on the ground to start organizing this . Why eightht days days . Did not require a threestar general a couple days ago. Let me explain the process. We have a threestar general in charge of this, and we had one in charge from san antonio all the way through until today. We Forward Deployed a one star general to take care of ground force command once he realized the problems of logistic distribution had outstripped the capacity of the municipal government. That threestar general was there and running and correlating operations as an extension of norad. We have made a number of adjustments to the marshaling of military resources since the problems in katrina. The threestar command structure lacked back than has been put in place and in place for this ,esponse out of san antonio augmented by a Northern Command structure that has been robust and forward leaning. They have been doing vocal authorities with the paperwork. They have done things on command authority. They do not wait for the governments request. The changed move on day eight was to take that threestar general and put him there, physically located in the field. Have histo get there, eyes on it, and make sure he is comfortable with the interactions, because it is a bit a different Business Plan model on the field. It is an island 1100 miles from florida. Once he is satisfied, i would expect that threestar general to go back into his appropriate command structure. Until then, they will be in charge of grand forces ground toces, and they will try address this significant problem and need. I would like to make that my last question. Mistake as it a would you ignore all it it was a mistake looking back to not have this threestar general on the ground earlier . Mr. Bossart not at all. But did not affect how we structured the response. This was textbook and it was done while. The unusual step was to put the three star general on the ground. Will have that my last question. I will end by saying hello please say an extra special prayer for the people in puerto rico tonight. Are not Virgin Islands getting a lot of coverage, but say a prayer for them as well. Workers,the federal the volunteer workers, the business and women who are helping those in need. This is something that will require weeks and months as we restore power, get food and water, and return to normality. I am very proud of the puerto rican people. Thank you. Thank you, tom. We are running long today, so i will go straight into questions. Steve . Is the president taking these steps to crack down on [indiscernible] the president is not happy with the actions. We are looking at the issue and conducting those internal and a full review. But to be clear, the white house does not have a role on the front and of approving private chartered flights. That is something we are looking into from this point forward, and have asked a halt to be put on any private charter flights moving forward, until those reviews are completed. Reporter full secretary price keep his jobb . Ms. Sanders i think the president addressed this yesterday. We will conduct a full review and see what happens. Reporter i have two things. First, the president has said that the senator is in the hospital. I think that is in reference to a senator who is not in the hospital. The votes for the Health Care Bill to pass . What senator is he referring to, and if the vote exists, why is the senate not voting on this now . Ms. Sanders our understanding was the senator was unable to be here this week to participate in a vote. We are glad he is fully recuperating. The point is we have all the votes of the substance but not necessarily on the process, which is why we are confident we can move Health Care Forward and get it done in the spring. President has wondering, he has ,ade comforted comments saying a lawmaker should not be allowed to serve. Why shouldnt those comments disqualify him from a president ial endorsement . Ms. Sanders i am not going to get into backandforth on political endorsements from the podium. I will not weigh in on a specific race at this point in time. Reporter i want to followup up on that, because as you saidoned, judge moore homosexuality should be illegal, that sandy hook was divine retribution, that a man should not serve in the military because he is muslim. Does President Trump share any of those views i just mentioned . If not, why does he think this person is fit to be a u. S. Senator . Ms. Sanders not that i am aware of. I have not taken a deep dive on every comment the Senate Nominee has made, but i certainly know what the president s stance on those issues and would not see any parallel between the two of them. Reporter are there any beliefs a candidate could hold or actions a candidate could take that the president would not endorse him . Intoanders i will not get every potential hypothetical that a candidate may or may not have. The president is the president. I know where the president stands on specific issues, that is what i can speak about. Not another candidate who is not here. Tom didi didnt get not call on me, so i wanted to ask a question i wanted to understand. In response to what senator rubio was saying, that the pentagon is in char4gge of a lot, but not everything. I dont understand why it is not in charge of everything. Ms. Sanders we are continuing to work with state of issues, including we are augmenting that with federal resources, including over 10,000 federal employees, and a one star general on the ground. Reporter why not have that entity in charge . Why is one person not in charge . Ms. Sanders i think one person is in charge of different parts of this process. The governor is still the governor of puerto rico. We continue to work with him, and one person in charge of the federal component, and that is the one state general working with federal officials. Reporter reset the white house does not approve charter planes ahead of time, but generally speaking, given the focus of the president on cost saving, he did not just want to drain the swamp and have people spend money in more spots always, is there a policy in place for cabinet members to fly commercial . Have they been given guidance as to how they should be traveling . Ms. Sanders when it comes to military aircraft, that is a part the millet the white house plays in the role. Administration has authorized fewer flights than the Obama Administration during the same time period. We are looking at ways to bring that back, under the places where the white house has that direct control and authority. Reporter on the growing war of comments, from the podium, do you want to condemn some of the sentiment that the president , to your knowledge, does not share . Ms. Sanders i would say we do not agree with those comments, but in terms of the backandforth, we are here to focus on the president and the president s agenda. Reporter one more question on that. On at least one of those flights, Kellyanne Conway was flying with him. Are you looking at that one specifically to see if the white house knew about that . Ms. Sanders i didnt say we were not aware, i said we do not authorize those private charter flights. We during we are doing a full review of all charter flights as well as an ig review conducted on all of them. It will be very thorough. Reporter president is watching coverage in puerto rico, is he satisfied with what he sees as the response there . To see thingske moving along faster . Ms. Sanders the president wants to continue to do everything we can to protect the safety and security of the people, both of the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico. That, asntinuing to do thomas spoke very in depth about that process and what it looks like. That is what we will continue to do. People first, paperwork second. The president has empowered all of his agencies to move forward with that, and that is what we will continue to do. Reporter did the president have the chance to talk about this issue of the private jet . Or has he had a private conversation about the secretary about that . Wide,s Administration Every agency . Ms. Sanders specific to hhs. I know they have spoken about this issue previously. I do not believe the president saw the secretary at any point today, though. Reporter following up on that. Does anyone at the white house been thatas cabinet members feel empowered to use private jets . When you have the epa administrator, the secretaries taking private jets, is there something the president has said or done to set this tone that this is ok . Ms. Sanders i think the president has been clear about his position, stating clearly that he is not thrilled that about the airplane use. Reporter i am trying to understand the review process here. A white house component . Hhssanders for specifically, they are conducting an internal review as well as an ig review. The white house is looking at more of an overall, not specific to that department, because there are already two reviews taking place there. Reporter the president said he would donate money to the harvey relief. Did not make a donation to harvey relief, he made a donation to relief organizations. Others,cross and many that are part of all the hurricanes we have experienced over the last several weeks. Those organizations are not donations,nor those a specific storm. They go to the organizations that are helping aggressively and intensely in the Recovery Efforts in the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico as well. Reporter we saw Steve Scalise with that emotional remark at the House Chamber today. To the president s speech him speak to him today or yesterday . Ms. Sanders i did not get details, but i know he welcomed back andand the will continue to keep him in his prayers. Reporter is the president considering delaying his flight for next tuesday . Ms. Sanders right now, we feel comfortable with the president taking a trip on tuesday. If there was any indication it what hold or disrupt Recovery Efforts, we would reconsider. But at this time, the folks on the ground indicated it would be helpful for him to be here. Reporter has Jared Kushner or ivanka truck taken ivanka trump taken any plane rides were given access to ride along with someone else on a private plane . Ms. Sanders i am not sure about those two specific individuals. Cnn isr on cuba, th reporting how would you describe the relationship between the u. S. And cuba right now . Ms. Sanders i will not weigh in on that, getting ahead of any particular action taking place. Itporter cuba says that warns against the u. S. Taking any hasty actions on the targeting of diplomats. How does the white house respond to that . Ms. Sanders we have not taken any action that i will weigh on in on further. Our goal will be the focus on what is best for our country, not cuba. Reporter the president has said that players who kneel or take a knee during the National Anthem should be fired. You said from the podium in response to a very critical tweet by an espn anchor that that individual ought to be fired. You said it was a fire rubble offense a fireable offense. Which rings me to secretary price. His use of these private jets, why is that not a fireable offense . Has he offered to reimburse the government in any way for his use of those private jets . Ms. Sanders that is something we would determine whats the reviews are complete. In terms of reimbursement, i would have to get back to you. Reporter we are understanding that many of the nfl players are still very upset. Ms. Sanders i think so are many americans. Reporter many nfl players are very upset. Many people have different ideas whenpinions on this, but the president weighed in, the nfl said we will be united. What is the president anticipating . What should we expect him to say about this . It is now the nfl against the president. Ms. Sanders the president made clear the should not be about the nfl against the president. It should be the company the country coming together supporting the flag and the National Anthem. Reporter i have a followup. Is saying they are patriots and love this country, but are challenging the system. They are looking at history as a challenge to the system when it came to womens rights issues, as well as civil rights. What does the president say when you look at history and see how people love this country but want to challenge the system to make it better . Ms. Sanders if we are going to look at history, we should have looked at thousands of americans who have given their lives to protect that flag. We should be celebrating those people. We should be looking at every way we can to celebrate our country, bring it together, not ways to divide it. The president is simply talking about what we are for, not what we are against. Certainly this administration will always be for protection and celebration of the flag and the National Anthem, and this will not change. Reporter just to clarify on that ms. Sanders i dont think theres much to clarify. It was pretty black and white. Reporter it is a racial issue for some people. The question is, when the military issue is brought in, the players are saying they are thankful for the military service to allow them to have the freedom to do this. Is there some kind of confusion here, or is it us versus them . Ms. Sanders as i have said several times before, this us versus them, it should bring our country together. These are symbols of what our country stands for, and it should be the opposite of what that is. It should be a unifying moment when the National Anthem plays. All americans should be plat proud to stand up, salute the flag in the anthem, and be part of the process. Reporter the nfl team owners are afraid of their players. What do you mean by that . Ms. Sanders of the blood the backlash. Conflict. G to create the president feels strongly as do most americans, because most agree with him in terms of public polling on that very specific issue. [indiscernible] ms. Sanders i believe they spoke yesterday morning. We will make sure you guys get that. Reporter two quick questions. Followup on the nfl thing. I may not be the brightest guy in the room ms. Sanders you said that. Nobody else argued. Reporter i understand he is saying you should stand up, but the guy is saying, i dont want to stand up, he still recognizes he has a First Amendment right not to come i guess . Part not to, yes . Ms. Sanders i think the president has been very clear on what his position is and he feels very strongly that when the National Anthem stand please, people should stand up. The second question was in regards to the private emails. Is the president concerned about been using private a mouse for public Business Private emails for public business . All staff has been briefed on the need to preserve those records and will continue to do so. Weight will make this a last question the will this a last question. Sen. Cochran office has said there have been plans made for the senator to come