News media. This is 20 minutes. President trump thank you very much. Its good to have you at camp david, a very special place. We started, as you know, yesterday afternoon. We had a couple of incredible meetings. It is a feeling here you dont have in many places. It was a bonding. We got a lot of work done, a lot of great work for the people. Security discussed. Infrastructure discussed. Military, and all types of military situations and applications discussed, general counsel, general kelly, a lot that is very important. Funding for the military, which is important. We also went into budget, daca, and we hope you will be able to work out an arrangement with the democrats to get something they would like to see happen is something i would like to see happen, so we are very well prepared for the coming year. We finished very strong. One of the things we are discussing is drugs pouring into this country and how to stop it. It has never been like this. We had never had a problem with drugs, whether opioids or drugs in the traditional sense. It has never been like it is, and we are going to do everything we can. Its a difficult situation. Difficult for many countries. Not so difficult for some, believe it or not. They take it very seriously and those are the ones who have less difficulty, but we will be working on that this year. I think we will make a big dent into the drug problem. With that, i think what i will do is ask Mitch Mcconnell to say a few words, and then i will have paul ryan, and perhaps you can ask questions to some of the folks. We have a great group of talent. I will tell you, the meetings were perhaps transformative in certain ways. We are doing things for next year and one thing mitch said is it will be tough to beat the year we left because what we had last year was something special, especially to cap it off with the tremendous tax cuts, tax reform, and do not forget the fact that the individual mandate, such a horrible thing for so many people, was terminated, so it is tough. I would like to ask mitch to say a few words. Please. Mr. Mcconnell thank you. As you suggest, last year would be a tough year to top. You like to see america be a right of center of the country. From a right of center point of view, 2017 was the most consequential year in as many years as i have been here in congress. The president had a phenomenal nominee for the Supreme Court. Judges, the most Circuit Court system was set up in 1991, not to mention deregulation, and to top it off, a boost to our economy through this tax reform bill. But its time to look over it. Look forward. I want to thank you for inviting us up. We had a great Planning Session for 2018. We hope that 2018 will be the year of cooperation in the president s agenda. Things that we believe with a significant number of democrats will help us accomplish, so mr. President , thank you. We are excited about the new year and ready to get to work. Thank you. Mr. Ryan thank you for inviting us to camp david. I am pleased with the fact we had a productive conversation with the president and his team yesterday about how we go forward in 2018. We have big things to do with the American People. We are excited to work on that. As both the president and the leader said, we are set with historic achievements in 2018 we went to believe oh get our economy growing faster. Growing our economy in 2018 is ensuring people enjoy economic things to come. We have to get to focus on closing that gap so everyone can get the kind of life and career they can get in this country and tap the potential. We had issues like infrastructure to attend to, we want to make sure our military have the tools and resources they need to keep us safe, so we have a very bold agenda for 2018. We think it is one that will appeal to everyone between democrats, republicans, and independents, so we are excited about the progress already made and what we have in store in 2018. Thank you. Present trump mike . Vice president pence thank you. 2017 was a year of extraordinary accomplishment. The congressional leaders gathered here are incredible partners with this president and our administration and with interest in American People, rebuilding our military, supporting law enforcement, historic regulatory reform, appointments to our courts to uphold the rule of law and the constitution from the Supreme Court to courts at every level, and of course tax reform, repealing the obamacare, opening up American Energy from alaska to around the globe. The president s policies have been achieving extraordinary results. Nearly 2 million jobs created, unemployment at a 17 year low. Our economy is already growing at a pace most economists are not predict what happened for years. 3 , and were looking too exciting protections for 2018. As the president said, at the close of 2017, were just getting started. Congressional leadership gathered here with members of our cabinet to outline the president s priorities for the coming year. Those include budget agreement, investment in our military to truly rebuild and make the Strongest Military in the world Even Stronger still, Immigration Reform and enforcement, the construction of a wall and border security, as well as the president said, dealing with the issue of daca. We believe there are opportunities after our discussions for bipartisan work from infrastructure, to workforce, to vocational education, and i can say i am even more confident after this weekends discussion that with the president s leadership and the strong leadership in the congress, we will keep delivering for the American People in 2018, and create a stronger and more prosperous america. President trump thank you very much, mike. Any questions for the group . I did not hear any mention of your welfare reform. President trump that is a subject very dear. We will try to do something in a bipartisan way. Otherwise, we will be holding it for later but we will be looking to do that in a bipartisan way. Yes . Reporter mr. President , you are talking about the policy issues you are focusing on, but this morning you would tweeting about your mental state, why did you feel the need . President trump only because i went to one of the best colleges. I was an excellent student, came out, made billions of dollars, became one of the top business people, went to television, and for 10 years was a tremendous success, as you have heard, ran for president one time and won. And then i hear this guy who does not know me at all, by the way, did not interview me he said he interviewed me for three hours in the white house, it is in his imagination, and what i was heartened by, because i talk about fake news media, is really the fact that so many of the people that i talk about in terms of fake news actually came to the defense of this great administration, and even myself because they know the author and they know he is a fraud. And when i saw some of the people say, and do look at some of his past books, he did one on Rupert Murdoch a terrible expose and falls, so much false i consider it a work of fiction, and i think it is a disgrace someone is able to do Something Like that, the libel laws are weak in this country. If it were strong, it would be very helpful and you would not have insight that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head. Just so you know, i never interviewed with him in the white house at all. He was never in the oval office. We did not have an interview. I did a quick interview with him a long time ago having to do with an article, but i do not know this man. I guess sloppy steve brought him into the white house quite a bit, and that is why sloppy steve is now looking for a job. Who else . Reporter just a followup, the meetings now between south korea and north korea, i was going to ask, are you comfortable this will remain just about the olympics . President trump i spoke with the president of south korea. He thanked me very much for my tough stance, and for 25 years, they have not been using a tough stance. When you look at what the clinton did, and you see the famous slip where bill clinton wants to give him everything, and what i said years ago with meet the press many years ago, i talked i do not think anything has changed you have to have a certain attitude and be prepared to do certain things, and im totally prepared to do that. President moon called me and we had a great discussion a couple of days ago, and he thanked me very much. And i hope it works out. I very much want to see it work out between the two countries. I would like to see them getting involved in the olympics and maybe things go from there, so i am behind that 100 . He actually thanked me, he said and a lot of people have written and said without my rhetoric and without my tough stance, and not just the stance, this is what not just the stance, this is what has to be done, that they would not be talking about olympics, they would not be talking up. Reporter are they not also taking this conversation beyond the olympics . President trump i hope they do. I would love to see them take it beyond the ethics. We have a Good Relationship with south korea. I would love to see it go beyond the olympics. And at the appropriate time, we will get involved. I like the idea that they are doing with the olympics. That should be between those two countries. Reporter mr. President , did you ask the white House Counsel to ask attorney sessions not to accuse himself . President trump the story in the times was off, but everything that i have done is 100 proper. Thats what i do. I do things proper. I guess the collusion now is dead because after when you are of study, there has been no collusion between us and the russians. Now, there has been collusion between hillary clinton, the dnc, and the russians. Unfortunately, you people dont cover that much. But the only conclusion is between hillary and the russians and the dnc, and any other questions . Reporter in what way was the New York Times story off . President trump youll find out, but the story was off. Reporter do you stand by attorney general sessions . President trump yes. Reporter and will he remain with gary cohn . President trump yes i hope so, he was here. Did you hear the question, gary . Mr. Cohn i did not. President trump will gary cohen continue or remain in the administration . I said, i hope so. If he leaves, i will say i am very happy he left. [laughter] come here, gary. Are you happy, gary . Mr. Cohn yes, i am happy, how is that . President trump he will hopefully stay for a long time. Yes, maam . Reporter are you willing to engage in phone talks with the president of north korea . President trump i believe in talking. [indiscernible] i will be absolutely i would do that, no problem at all. Reporter so no prerequisites to coming to the table and talking with them . President trump look, right now, they are talking about the olympics. Its a start. If i were not involved, they would not be talking about the olympics right now or it would be much more serious. He knows im not messing around, not even 1 . He understands that. At the same time, if we can come up with a peaceful and good solution, we are working on it with rex, a lot of people, if something can happen and something can come out of those talks, that would be great for all of humanity, for the world, very important. Okay . Yes, sir . Reporter do you plan on involving yourself in republican primaries . President trump yes, that is one of the reasons i believe my poll numbers have gone way up. Youll have to explain that to me someday. But i will tell you, actually, they have been explaining it, but they want me to be involved and we will be very involved, not only with the senate, also with the house. Reporter and protecting incumbants . President trump protecting incumbents and whoever i had to protect. We have to have more republicans. With that we are protecting incumbents and whoever i have to protect. We need more republicans so we can really get the rest of the make America Great again agenda passed, surviving the working incumbents, and anybody else who has my kind of inking. I think we will make a lot of trips. We will be very involved. I think you folks will be happy because you would do a lot of traveling. Reporter does that include some challengers to incumbents . President trump i do not see that happening at this moment, no. I think they have scattered. We had somebody who lost in the state of alabama. As far as i am concerned, it should never have been lost. Its a shame it was lost. With it all being said, we have the right policy, everything. You still need a good candidate. If you dont have a good candidate, you are not going to win. We should never have lost alabama. Okay, any questions . Yes. Reporter i know that you guys have a long list of requirements and what you wanted to see an immigration tied to daca, can you explain what you mean . President trump we want the wall. We will the wall will happen or we will not have daca. We want to get rid of the lottery system and chain migration. We need Additional Border security we want to get rid of the lottery system and the chain migration. We need Additional Border security. In terms of what we want, we want daca to happen. I think i can speak for everybody, we want john cornyn from texas, we all want daca to happen but we also want Great Security also for our country. So important. We want to stop the drugs from flowing in. Very important. We have to get rid of the visa lottery. You know, the lottery is a disaster. They give you people. As you know, the person on the west side highway that killed eight people and so badly injured many more, they came in through the lottery system. And remember this, this is common sense, they are not sending us their finest. When somebody gets picked in the lottery, we are not getting their best, so we had to get rid of it and chain migration. We have to have the wall. Reporter do you want a lottery and change migration in the same legislation . President trump yes, and i think the democrats feel strongly about it, too. I mean, Chuck Schumer is new york. He saw someone who came in through the lottery system. He saw this man killed eight people on the west side highway that he knows well and loves, like i do. I think hes ok with it. I think we will have a lot of democrats support. I hope so. Yes . Mr. President , have there been any more efforts to get mexico to pay for the wall . President trump i believe mexico will pay for the wall. I have a very Good Relationship with mexico. We are negotiating nafta. See how that goes, but yes, in some form, mexico will pay for the wall. Reporter one question . If Robert Mueller asks you to speak with his committee personally, are you committed to doing that . President trump just so you understand, theres been no collusion, theres been no crime. In theory, everyone tells me im not under investigation. Maybe hillary is. I dont know, but im not. It has been a collusion, crime. We have been very open. We could have done it two ways, we could have been very closed and it could have taken years, but you have done nothing wrong, lets be open and get it over with because it is very bad for our country. It is making our country look foolish, and this is a country i do not want looking foolish, and it will not look foolish as long as i am here. We have been very open and we want to get that over with. Anybody else . Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Journalns washington live every date with news and policy issues that affect you. Sunday morning, we take a look at the future of health care and what changes congress is considering with julie ruffner. And the latest on the protests in iran. Plus, the trump administrations response with cspans washington journal, live beginning at cspan eastern sunday morning. Join the discussion. Now, former Republican National chair Michael Steele talks about President Trump and the state of the republican party. This was hosted by the Washington Center for internets and academic seminars. Its just under an hour