Transcripts For CSPAN3 White House Briefing 20180228

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. This afternoon the president is looking forward to officially announcing the new chairman of his board of advisers or the White House Initiative on historically black universities. Johnny c. Taylor judge junior taking on this Important Role is the former. Of the thurgd marshal fund and currently for the society of Human Resource management. As you know the president previously signed skuft order promoting excellence and innovation at hbcus. He believes it will advance the Human Potential and with todays announcement he demonstrate his commitment to hbcus. Before taking questions i want to highlight the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats, an issue that represents a threat to americas interests and security. Compared to the four Previous Administrations this senate has confirmed the fewest nominees senator schumer tactics led to 73 fewer confirmations than the next closest administration. Half of president owe President Trumps nominees are still waiting kpirmgs in the senate. The obstruction is so out of control even some Senate Democrats believe its inappropriate. Senator amy enclose butcher a democrat from minnesota said we shouldnt hold nominees hostage. Hostage is enough. We need people qualified to fill the important positions in our government. In the come days we will be highlighting specific qualified nominees who are as the senator said being held senator by senator schumer. Take for instance the president s nominee to serve as ambassador for germany. A experienced dmom was the longest serve u. S. Spoke person at united nations. He was nominate nominated in september of last year and reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with bipartisan support. He is waiting to represent americas interests and be our country as top voice in a g 7 country. In short, senator schumer hyperpolitical delay puts our National Security in americas Foreign Policy interests in jeopardy. The senate should move to confirm him immediately. We will continue highlighting more of these examples of exact obstruction in the days ahead. Finally im sure on a lighter note im sure you remember 11yearold who wrote into the president wanting to cook for the ppt. . She and her cousin will come to the white house on march 23rd to work with the kitchen staff. We look forward to hosting them. And with that i will take your questions don. Admiral mike rogers the head of the nasa says i hasnt been granted by Additional Authority to confront russian cyberintrusion interference with our election systems. Why has he not been given that authority. Look, just this week they announced through the state department that 40 million is given to the Global Engagement center to begin providing immediate support to private and Public Partners that expose and encounter chinese and russian propaganda appear disinformation. We are looking at a variety of different ways. As i told you last week the department of Homeland Security secretary Kirsten Nelson met with a number of of both state and local and federal officials working on ways that we can best prevent things like this in the future. And were looking at a number of different ogss and continue toing that over the come weeks. But admiral rogers is the one that would have the the agency that could go and confront russian intrusion as a source. And he hasnt been given the authority. In fact, he says that there the russians havent paid a sufficient price to make them change behavior. He is the one with the power with the means to do it. All he needs is a president ial directive, the authority to. I disagree with the premises of your question. Its not just one individual. Its looking at a a number of of different ways. He is in charge of cybercommand. Why not give him the authority. Nobody is denying him the authority. We are looking at a in number of different ways to put pressure. This president as i told you last weak has been tougher on russia than his predecessor. Lets not forgot it happened under obama not under President Trump. If you want to blame somebody on past problems then uvtd look it at the obama administration. The president is looking at all of the different causes and the ways we can prevent it. As we find different ways we can do that we are complementing them. Like you see with the money aloindicated from the state department, as you see with the conversations the secretary from d. H. S. Is having. Were looking at different ways to combat it. I would imagine that will be a part of it but i cant speak to anything further tennessee eon it right now. This is not about the past. This is protecting intrusion in the next election. Exactly. He needs the authority and hasnt been given it. I cant speak to that specifically. I can tell you that we are taking a number of steps to prevent this. And were looking at a variety of other ways that were going to continue to implement over the coming weeks and months. Jeff. I have one on the renewable fuel credit, the housekeeping one on clearances, the Oversight Committee requested details from the white house. About still pending clearances among white house staff. And were there is any derogatory information tlp is he set a deadline of tomorrow. The Senate Committee asked for more information. I wonder if the white house will plan to comply with the requests and if i know youve been hesitant to release some of that information even in ago gri git. Ive been clear we dont discuss the security clearances thats not changing today. It didnt change yesterday. Its not going to change tomorrow. Probably not changing next week. But the request. I said im not discussing security clearance was members of the press. And that hasnt been different at any point during the administration. And we have no intention of changing that right now. Are you going to comply with the. Ill et let you know we have a chance to review that make a decision. Sorry good. He is part of energy producer. It seems that the issue here is whether or not the president and the white house support the tax to lower cost of credit waivers. Process im wondering if you would you could tell us the president s position. The president knows there are differing views on the you issue. We will have conversations. He met with senators cruz, grassley and toomey to discuss that. They had a productive meeting. Well continue working with those members and others as we go through the process. Two questions ditch topic. Returning to something we talked about yesterday, the president s support to raise the minimum age of buying long guns from 18 to 21. He expressed support for the idea in at tweeft thursday. Talked about it with the students, didnt mention it at c pack didnt mention it with the governors. Said he had lunch. To be fair of all the governors when the conversation was hoped none of them mentioned it either in a twohour discussion. But he had sported it. He had lunch with Wayne Lapierre and the chris cox. The nra remained if firmly opposed. S the president said sometimes you have to fight them. Is he willing to take on the nra on this idea of raising the minimum age of buy ago long gun. The president still supports raising the age limit to 21 por the purchase of certain firearms. Were meeting with bipartisan members of congress tomorrow. We expect that to be topic of discussion. He knows everybody doesnt necessarily agree. Were not getting into the details on the specifics wlaf we will propose. But we expect that to be part of the conversation tomorrow. Question number two in the unrelated topic, did Jeff Sessions confirmed a few minutes ago he is opening an investigation into fisa abuses during the election. The president clearly expressed support for this. The president is happy now he is opening the investigation. I havent spoken with him to determine his feelings. But as you said he has had frugs frustration over it. So i imagine he supports the decision to look into what we feel to be wrongdoing. I think thats the role of the department of justice and were glad they are fulfilling that job, margaret. Sarah i had one question but one housekeeping matter before that you. You talked about nominations and how slow congress is to move. Im wondering do you have a time oh line on when the white house will name a nominee for ambassador to south korea. I dont have a time line and no personnel announcement on that position specifically. And then the question i had again going back to dpirl rogers. He said today we are not where we need to be or want to be on cyber. Does the white house or president plan to hold a National Security Council Session to discuss the concerns about having a menu of options to respond to a cybertake the specially relating to russia. In terms of a specific meeting, i dont know a date is set. But there are constantly conversations going on within the administration on this topic. And were going to continue on. Ill keep you posted. Anything so far on russia and cyberattacks. I know he has been briefed on it. In terms of specific id have to keck and get back to you. Thank you, sarah. Did anyone from the white house instruct hope hicks not to answer questions about her time serving in the white house. As is always the case im not compensating on any individuals sbrrkss with the committee. We are cooping because as the president said repeatly there is no collusion. And were going to continue to cooperate. Could you answer the request he. Again im not commenting on individual specific interactions with the committee. Im referring to you outside committees for that. I was picking up on what jordan was asking you, about the idea of fighting executive privilege for conversations taking place during the transition period. Were told thats exactly what hope hicks the Communications Director cited and refusing to answer questions posed to her related to the transition period. Is the president aware is the white house aware that that that no federal court at any level granted that privilege person tares to the transition. Just because we ask the question in different ways im not compensating on individual interactions with the individual. Im not compensating on leaks from what is supposed to be a confidential setting. There continuing to be zero evidence of exclusion and we hope the investigations wrap up shortly. On what margaret was asking you, the state departments envoy to north korea is retiring. How does that impact the dlomtic process. We are appointing people to different processions, whether the ambassador of south korea and a number of other positions. I dont have any specific announcements on it at this time. Secretary eondly the chinesec minority is here for trade talks. What do you hope to hear from him. He is meeting with a few different members of the dprgs but not the president directly. I dont have any specific readouts from any of the meetings at this point. Thank you very much. How speaker ryan today disagreed with the president and arming teachers. He says it should be up to locals whether the teachers should be armed. What is the president s response to not having support from the republican leader of the house . Look, as we have said this is something that will continue to be part of the discussion with state, federal and local officials as well as law enforcement. The president is going to be meeting with bipartisan lawmakers tomorrow. And that will be another topic discussed. And well have further specific policy announcement later this week. Without the support of speaker ryan how can it get any traction in the house. Again this is part of an ongoing conversation. Its something the president still supports. Its something he knows that there are a lot of differing views on. Its one of the topics we expect to come up tomorrow and will continue having the discussion. I think the number one thing that we are looking at is every possible action that we can take that helps protect the safety and security of the school kids across this country were looking at everything we can, a lot of the things you guys brought up today will be part of the discussion tomorrow. And we expect to have some specific policy proposals later this week. Yes, sarah, today the white house announced it is cutting about 8 million in aid to kboedy for what it calls recent set backs in democracy there. Can you talk about what went into the decision and why specifically just cambodia and not other countries where there have also been recent set backs to democracy such as the neighbor thailand . The elections that happened earlier this the elections that earlier this month failed to represent the genuine will of the cambodian people. That gave us great cause for concern. The setbacks compelled the United States to review that assistance. Based on the review, the government will suspend or curtail several assistance problems intended to support the cambodi cambodian government. I dont have anything further at this point. Two questions about two separate topics. Does President Trump believe the governor of missouri, as you know has been indicted, should resign . I havent spoken to him about that. My guess is he would refer to the people of the state of missouri, and but i havent spoken directly with him. The president s the leader of the republican party, and obviously the governor is ill well aware. Hes a republican. I havent spoken with him. Id have to ask him. Can you get back to me on that . Sure. The president is having several meetings with lawmakers from both parties on other topics. Is he going to be talking to them about immigration, the deadline he set, march 5th, is next monday. Congress is nowhere near doing anything about that. Is that still the deadline . Is he encouraging them to get something done . Absolutely. Thats why he laid out exactly what he expected to see in a proposal that would not only help solve the daca problem but also provide border security. The president went above and beyond what Previous Administrations have done and offered on that program. Its really sad that democrats are not willing to come to the table, get something done and actually fix problems and do their job, but the president is still hopeful and were going to continue pushing forward and hope we get something done. On monday, whats going on to happen on monday when the deadline comes . Again, were still hopeful that something will happen on this and congress will do its job. A couple for you as well. One on north korea. The point person on north korean policy has announced hes leaving. Does the president plan to replace him . I dont have any Personnel Announcements at this time. Weve heading into the Midterm Election year at this time. Have white house staff been briefed on the dos and donts of political activity. . I know for sure that cabinet and senior staff have been and i believe a paper memo was distributed to all staff, but id have to verify that to be sure. But i know both cabinet and senior staff have been briefed on upcoming Midterm Elections and what they are allowed to do and not do. Mara . Thank you, sarah. Does the president believe someone who is on the nofly list because of suspected terrorist activity should be able to buy a gun . We havent spoken about that specifically and dont have any policy announcement on that front. I dont want a policy announcement, i just want to know if he thinks that would be policy, whether or not the president supports something or not that would be a policy. I havent spoken to him about it so id have to get back to you. John . Thank you, sarah. Two brief questions. One, i know its been announced the president that was such good timing. I noticed that, too. Youre moving up in the world, john, and it scares your colleagues, i think. Making them nervous. That was such great timing. Sat down and you called on him. Thank you. Thank you, sarah. Thank you, anita. Youre welcome. Youve got a lot of support, john. Reverend Billy Grahams funeral is this friday. We know the president will attend. Has it been determined whether hell make any remarks, any of the eulogies or just there as a mourner and family friender and. Im not sure on the specifics. I do know he plans to attend there as well as head to the capitol tomorrow for that stop. The other question in terms of specific remarks, i dont have any comment on that at this point. My other question is that the president s two immediate predecessors did a lot to build and expand the faithbased programs within the white house and throughout the executive branch of government. Many governors followed that example. One of them your father. It has been said that this president has not followed through on that, that there is no faithbased office within the white house now. Your reaction . Look, i dont think an office is what determines the faith of the administration. I think that we have a number of people [ inaudible question ] right. I think thats something that the president has a Faith Council and an Advisory Council that regularly come to the white house and meet with, but i think in terms of whether or not you have an office doesnt determine the faith of the administration. I think we probably have actually more people front and center speaking openly about their faith and advocating and helping build on that foundation than probably any Previous Administration has. Francesca . Thank you, sarah. You mentioned several times you expect to have some policy announcements later this week. Just want to follow up on that and clarify. Are you saying this week the white house will have a specific list that would be detailed or an outline of the specific policies that the president would like to see in legislation on gun control, gun violence prevention . Is that what youre saying . Specific to school safety, yes, we expect that there will be some policy proposals that will be out by the end of the week. As ive noted, a couple yesterday that the president has already voiced and the administration have voiced support for, both the cornyn legislation as well as the stop gun violence act, both are pieces of legislation that the administration supports. Following up on that, though, youve also said that before the president can support some of those things, hed like to see whats in the legislative text of those bills. Weve talked about universal background checks before, but one of the two senators of this bipartisan bill who would be putting this forward says that theyre not going to put that back forward until they are certain they have the president s support for Something Like that. So conceptively, does the president support the idea of universal background checks and would he will be willing to support senator manchin and senator toomeys legislation on that . At this point, the president , the only two specific pieces of legislation that we are announcing support for are the two that i just mentioned. Anything further will come later this week. The president , as ive said, expects to meet with a number of lawmakers tomorrow from the both sides of the aisle and well have more information about specifics after that. Blake . Sarah, thank you. I want to ask you whats happening in georgia as it relates to delta airlines. They withdrew benefits for nra members and now the Lieutenant Governor there is saying that maybe there shouldnt be a tax break for delta. The Lieutenant Governor said, quote, corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back. On the narrow front, does the white house believe that conservatives are under attack in the state of georgia, and more broadly, does the president think its a good idea for a State Government to target a business for retribution for decisions that the business decides that it wants to make . The administration is focused when it comes to this conversation on what we can do to help the safety and security of americas children. Thats our focus. Were not weighing into other sidebar conversations here. Hallie . I want to ask you about syria, but two quick clarifications. To justins point when he asked about whether the white house will meet the deadline tomorrow from house oversight. Trey gowdy made that request two weeks ago i said i would let you know and get back to you. We dont have any announcement on that at this time. To clarify on jonathans question here, simply yes or no, will the president give the authority to mike rogers to seek additional authorities to go after russia . Im not going to get ahead of any specific direction by the president , but i can tell you that we are looking at a number of Different Things that we can do to prevent this from happening. And were going to continue to be tough on russia. Moving forward, just as we have been in this first year. On syria, it sounds like youre open to doing that, the president is open to the additional authorities . Im sorry, what did you say . Additional authorities . The president is open to looking at a number of different ways to make sure that russia doesnt meddle in our elections. Spoking of international relations, does the United States have reason to believe that north korea is linked to syrias Chemical Weapons Program . I dont have any comment on that at this point. Last question. You said hes meeting with some administration officials, do you know who hes meeting with . Well get back to you with specifics. The president mentioned last week i can tell you its not the president. The president said last week that john kelly has a decision to make about Jared Kushners security clearances. You guys have talked about him quite a bit. Has the chief of staff made a decision on john kelly and can you say what it is . As i said earlier, we do not comment on individual security clearances. We actually havent commented on jareds, as you indicated, but we commented on his ability to do his job, which hes a valued member of the team and will continue to do the important week hes been doing since he started in the administration. Thank so much, guys. Have a great afternoon. Thanks, sarah. Monday on cspans lardmark cases. Well explore the civil rights cases of 1882. The Supreme Court decision that struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, a federal law that granted all people access to public accommodations like trains and theaters, regardless of race. Justice John Marshall harlan cast the lone vote in opposition and his dissent eventually eclipsed the legacy of the majority decision. Explore this with danielle holleywalker and peter. Kirsanow. Watch land mark cases live monday at 9 00 eastern cspan, cspan. Org or listen with the free cspan radio app. For background on each case while you watch, order the copy of the companion book, available for 8. 95 plus shipping and handling at cspan. Org land markcases. And for an additional resource, there is a link on our website to the National Constitution centers interactive constitution. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies. And today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court, and Public Policy events in washington, d. C. And around the country. Cspan is brought to you by your cable our satellite provider. Next on cspan3, a conversation on congressional families and Public Service. In a recent report, Amnesty International says that human rights are being undermined around the world. Then a discussion on politics and race in the u. S. And later, health and Human Services secretary alex azar testifies about the trump administrations budget request for hhs. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you