Hello, everyone. The first page of the New York Times is not the venue for discussing classified information. The white house podium is not the venue for discussing classified information. We are here today having this discussion because of an irresponsible, anonymous leaks to the New York Times. There is no good scenario as a result of this New York Times report. Who is going to want to cooperate with the United StatesIntelligence Committee . Was going to want to be a source or asset if they know that their identity could be disclosed . Which allies will want to share information with us if they know that some rogue Intelligence Officer can give that information on the front page of a major u. S. Newspaper . Specifically, there are two bad scenarios that emerge from this report. Number one, this report makes it more difficult to come to a consensus on this matter to verify intelligence. And number two, this level of controversy and discord play directly into the hands of russia, and unfortunately serves their interests. Before President Trump assumed office, damaging and often times erroneous leaks seeking to undermine or delegitimize the duly elected president have been published. According to the doj, classified leaks surged in this administration. There were under president obama just 39 on average criminal leak referrals and in this administration we have seen 100 referrals to the do doj in 20178 in 2018 and 104 on average per year. We have seen targeted leaks of classified information against this president , and it is irresponsible. Meetings with government officials and now reports of alleged intelligence. Make no mistake, the damage is to the ability as a nation to collect intelligence. As a National Security council noted just yesterday, to those government officials who betrayed the trust of the people of the United States by leaking classified information, your actions endanger the National Security. The odni said this leaking of any classified information disrupts the vital interagency work to collect, assess and mitigate threats in places the forceforce is at risk. Its also simply put, a crime. And finally, they said that the leaks compromised and disrupts the critical interagency work to collect, assess culpability. To the Anonymous Sources that leaked classified information coming should notice. You may seek to undermine our president , but in fact, you undermine the countrys safety and the countrys security. And with that, i will take questions. What is the white house officials first [inaudible] i will say this, the president was never briefed on this, and the intelligence bill hasnt been verified. There is no consensus among the community. Does he wish that he had been briefed earlier speed to intelligence information that had no consensus hasnt been verified as still to this day still hasnt been verified and there are several intelligence agencies on the record noting that. You have the department of defense saying that they have no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations and recent press articles havent been verified or substantiated by the Intelligence Community and the odni. We are still investigating what was referenced in the reporting. But that doesnt stop the New York Times from putting it on the first page of their newspaper and stopping us from getting to an ultimate conclusion and ultimate place of having a consensus on the intelligence. If this intelligence does turn out to be true, is the president prepared to take serious action against russia backs the president has always taken tough action against russia. We saw that there is no diplomatic presence on the west coast of the country of russia because the president closed the consulates. The salt that he expelled the officers and a sanctioned hundreds of targets withdrawing from the treaty and try to halt and impose visa sanctions and other actions. Make no mistake this president is prepared to act and will always act in protecting the american troops. We fall in this area in the strikes in 2018 that the mercenaries who were killed, he will always act to protect the american troops. That is a proven track record. [inaudible] will this be a part of his briefing . The president has been briefed on what is unfortunately in the Public Domain because of the New York Times and the irresponsible leaks. He has been briefed but that doesnt change the fact there is no consensus on the intelligence that is yet to be verified. On another subject [inaudible] Lamar Alexander has said the president is aware speed to the president says he has no problem with that and encourages people to make whatever decision is best for their safety to follow the local jurisdictions say. The guidelines are still recommended but not required. The president is the most tested man in america. Its his decision whether to wear a mask. Saying the president hasnt been briefed, in february they concluded this intelligence information so i want to ask whether or not he may have read the briefing [inaudible] it is a topsecret document that is widely disseminated among the government. I will never sit here and confirm or deny whether a topsecret documents i will leave at night. One thing i will say is routine is when there is intelligence, and we spoke with folks over at the nsc and at the white house, when we get intelligence, verified or unverified, deemed credible or not credible, consensus or no consensus, that information if it in any way compromises the safety of the troops, that information goes to the troops on the ground and allies so they can take the appropriate measures. It is up to the president , in this case it was never briefed the president of the United States because there was no consensus. When it is, theres a strategic position to be made. So in this case, if there were a decision to be made on russia, those are the kind of things that are briefed when they are deemed credible. But in this case it wasnt briefed to the president. There is no consensus, but make no mistake this president will always protect the american troops. To followu follow up on thae are two points. One, [inaudible] this is a relevant issue. He might not know that there are policy decisions to be made if the president were presented with this information is unverified, he could be alarmed to change his policy and ask intelligence officials to work to determine if this is true with a series of judgments, so i guess more broadly i would react to question if it was in his material or if the president isnt reading the briefing. [inaudible] this president i will totally miss the most informed person on planet earth when it comes to the threats we face. Ambassador obrien sees him in person twice a day and takes upwards of half a dozen calls with this president. He is constantly being informed and briefed on the intelligence matters. But im not going to allow the New York Times to dictate when we give topsecret information and when we dont give topsecret information. [inaudible] does the white house have a comment on proof or testifying before the committee on [inaudible] no comment on that specifically, thats what i would say more generally is that with bruce and others, that obama a row of government was quite substantial. In the dossier full of lies weaponize against this president , they were involved in the creation of that dossier which was funded by the Democratic National committee and in coordination with the Hillary Clinton campaign and was used to spy on the Trump Campaign to launch a threeyear investigation into the russian collusion that ultimately ended and exoneration among the president and a weight on the tax payer dollars. They had a full line of questions to answer for. Why was it behind closed doors and why wasnt it televised in the Public Interest . That would be questioned for congress, but the public deserves to know his answers on this matter. [inaudible] democratic lawmakers are calling for a briefing from intelligence officials. They were not satisfied with the white house [inaudible] look, i think democrats should come forward in good faith, and if anyone has politicized intelligence, weve had the New York Times acting irresponsibly and the Democratic Party politicizing misinformation, which i think is absolutely disgraceful. The Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said today that russia should, quote from absolutely must be allowed into the summit. This President Trumps agree . I havent spoken on this matter but he agrees many diplomatic relationships with the top economies of the world but theres been no one has bees been tougher on russia than this president. I went through several of those actions. I would also note when it comes to asking on the viable actual credit intelligence, theres been no one who has acted more forcefully than this president. He has a track record of that and has made protecting the troops overseas his highest and strongest priority. In the 6,000 deaths and with other improvised explosive devices and [inaudible] and other attacks in iraq, this is what was done to the american troops. We had president bush declined to strike when he was in the crosshairs according to the New York Times. We had obama and biden who never made an effort to strike. But when he had actionable intelligence to protect american troops, he took that option. He was criticized by democrats and they condemned to strike. They demand answers of the soleimani killing. And the atlantic asked why he killed soleimani now . We removed him from the battlefield to protect the american troops and they felt it was with credible intelligence. And also with all thy daddy who was responsible for 300 public beheadings and killed the prisoners of war. When this president acts come he took action criticized by democrats for it but that is what this president does. He acts in defense of the american troops. Why are they doing this [inaudible] these are rogue Intelligence Officers that are impairing the troops lives. We will not be able to get very likely not be able to get a consensus on this intelligence because of what was leaked to the New York Times. You have the osc, odni noting the damage of this has don thist just the safety of the troops, but care enough to the ability of the United States to aggregate information from allies and to get this valuable information. [inaudible] going after trump come if thats what you are saying . Spinnaker possibly could be and if that is the case it is expendable. [inaudible] are they taking any action like an audit [inaudible] make no mistake on the doj theyve done several referrals, 120 and 2017, 104 on average per year under President Trump, so we do take those steps and we have a president that ultimately when it comes down to the safety of troops, he doesnt take into seduction come he takes deliberate action and resulted in the killing of soleimani and baghdadi and protecting the troops. At the same time, when you have a showdown of the drowned when he chose not to in that moment and to protect civilians and the troops opposed the measure ultimately the only way to protect the american troops do not get into these needless foreign wars. He is on record for decades and decades opposing foreign wars. Iand iraq is a great example. In nearly two decade war you have this president who, when washington was unanimous in saying we are going into iraq, the president said no, thats not the right decision. Hes wound down our troop presence in afghanistan and iraq and ultimately protected american troops and get this country safe. The president has a strong Foreign Policy record to be incredibly proud of. Thank you. This is a crisis. People are losing their lives. With Police Reform taking center stage in congress, watch live unfiltered coverage of the latest developments plus the government response to the coronavirus pandemic. We were going from 30,000 to 25 to 20 and now we are going up. And briefings from the white house on foreign affairs. Congress on healthcare. Insight from the Foreign Administration officials. I think there is a line one should not cross where the governmental power is used essentially exclusively for personal benefit. We will stand proud, and we will stand tall. And the latest from the campaign 2020 trail. Join in conversation every day on the live program, washington journal. And if you miss any of our live coverage, watch anytime ondemand, cspan. Org. Or listen on the cspan radio app. Senate Republican Leaders spoke to reporters about their legislative agenda and answered questions about recent reports of russia offering bounties to the taliban in exchange for killing u. S. Troops in afghanistan. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell also spoke about a potential timeline for passing another Economic Relief bill in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The good afternoon, everyone. As all of you already know, be ndaa has been passed and signed into law for 60 straight years. [inaudible] [laughter] almost that many. [laughter]