Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20180117

She comes out in a few moments, will be asked about that. What is not in plan, wolf and it would keep the government running until february 16th of so a fix for daca, the Deferred Action Program for those dreamer kids and young adults who are still in the country but wondering whats going to happen to them come march 5th when that program terminates. So that is also going to be an issue in this Briefing Room, i suspect, because democrats have been saying, hey, we dont want to sign on to another continuing resolution. We want to sign on to a spending plan that includes a daca fix. It just seems that there are too many trains coming into the station at once. What we may end up seeing over the next 48 hours, wolf, is the house, the senate, and this white house putting together some sort of proposal that throws another token in the toll booth to keep the government running for another couple weeks. That all, of course, remains to be seen, but as of this point, the white house has said repeatedly they dont want a Government Shutdown. We should point out, one of the interesting things thats developed this morning is that the white house chief of staff, john kelly, who as we know is a retired general and so on, he has been doing something that you typically see from nonmilitary style chiefs of staff that weve seen in the past, going up to capitol hill and talking to lawmakers. Its a situation that we dont really typically see john kelly n but he was doing that earlier this morning, talking to lawmakers about some sort of fix for daca. He was explaining to reporters that the president is Still Holding firm in his insistence that there be some sort of wall or barrier along the u. S. mexico border in exchange for these protections for the dreamers that are being sought by democrats. So a lot of moving parts, wolf. A lot of chainsaws theyre juggling here at the white house. I suspect well get some answers, maybe not alwal the answers, but maybe a few when Sarah Sanders comes into the Briefing Room. Lots of other questions likely to be asked as well. Lots of sensitive issues going on here in washington right now, jim. Thats right. Keep in mind yesterday dr. Ronny jackson, the white house doctor for President Trump, was in here giving a long briefing. As weve been noting over the last almost 24 hours since dr. Jackson concluded that briefing, there have been some questions raised by our own sanjay gupta, our chief medical correspondent, about the president s health and whether or not he does, in fact, have heart issues that werent really fully explored and exposed during that briefing yesterday. I imagine, wolf, there will be other questions about that. I think the other looming question thats really, perhaps, hanging over this briefing today, wolf, i strongly suspect that somebody here in the Briefing Room will ask about that very tough speech from senator jeff flake we heard earlier this morning. It is not every day where you hear a member of the president s own party compare the president of the United States to Joseph Stalin. But that is what senator jeff flake did earlier this morning, saying that rhetoric that the president has used, like referring to the press as the enemy of the people, is just not american. My guess is and weve seen this from the rnc so far, theyve fired back at jeff flake pretty hard earlier this morning. My guess is, wolf, that the white house is going to do the same here in the next several minutes. So you want to hold on to your hats for that as well. Remember, senator john mccain has an op ed in the Washington Post right now thats also raising similar concerns about the president s very, very tough rhetoric aimed at the media over tese last several months, really over the last year since he was sworn into office. Yeah, so far the president has not tweeted about senator flakes comments, which were extremely, extremely pointed against him, but i anticipate that will happen probably sooner rather than later. Jim, stand by. Were going to get back to you. Were waiting for Sarah Sanders to show up, and w briefing. Lots of sensitive questions, no doubt, will be asked. Well see what the answers are. Can House Republicans in the meantime round up enough votes to keep the federal government from shutting down . The House Speaker paul ryan was asked that question earlier today. Wouldnt say if they have the votes necessary, but he blamed democrats for the threat of a shutdown. Weve been very clear, we want to see a daca. But a daca solution has got to be a balanced solution. It has to be a solution that also not just treats the symptom, which daca is, but the root cause of the problem in the first place. Look, i feel that it makes no sense for democrats to try and bring us to a shutdown, to try and cut off c. H. I. P. Funding for the States Running out of minnesota like minnesota and washington and kentucky and other states. So i think cool heads hopefully will prevail on this thing. Democrats are hoping to back Republican Leaders into a corner by making it clear that a deal on daca could prevent it. Most are taking a wait and see approach. While we await the white house briefing, lets bring in our analysts. David gregory is with us. Sarah murray is with us. And our chief political analyst Gloria Borger is here. The speaker says a shutdown makes no sense, but its clearly still very possible. Well, yeah, and hes of course blaming the democrats. What hes done is hes proposed a measure that hes not sure will clear the house, but what it does is it dangles, you know, funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program in front of democrats for six years. Theyre hoping they can get some democratic support on that. But even in the house, there are conservatives who dont want to vote for a shortterm spending measure. Democrats are saying, look, we want to resolve this issue on dreamers as part of this, once and for all. So even if the house does pass it, what do Senate Democrats do, and what do Senate Republicans do . So this is just his first foray to try and get it out of his chamber if he possibly can. And thats really unclear. What if they give a commitment that, yes, well extends it for a month, until february 16th. The government will keep operating. Another temporary spending bill, known as a cr, a congressional resolution. But they promised the dreamers that issue will be included by february 16th. Theyll resolve it. As you know, theres an early march deadline for the dreamers to be allowed to stay. 700,000 or 800,000 depending on your count. I think we kind of already did that and blew that deadline once. If youre a dreamer trying to sit here and plan your fate, i dont think this fills you with a lot of confidence in any of the parties who are governing right now. Certainly not in the white house, where theyve said the dreamers dont have to worry, but the president is the one who pulled the pin out of daca in the first place. I dont know that anyone wins any awards for political courage by kicking this can down the road road. A month from now, it might give them a little more time to hash out a solution. What weve seen from the president and that closed door meeting with republicans and democrats is theres certainly not a lot of goodwill on either side. What they did do, the republicans, in this temporary spending bill, theyve given the democrats and a whole bunch of republicans who like it as well a sixyear extension of the Childrens Health Insurance Program known as c. H. I. P. Thats something that the democrats want and a bunch of republicans want it as well. Thats included in this temporary cr. And its not just a monthtomonth kind of payment. It pays it over six years, which theyre under the impression will save money over time. Talking about 9 million american kids. So its certainly significant. Paul ryan, you know, with the aw, shucks, i wish they couldnt call for this shutdown, this is washington. This is a gamesmanship of washington. I think weve been so overheated in this past week over the president s comments behind closed doors and the break down of the negotiations over immigration that weve lost sight of the fact that i still think its possible to get a deal on immigration. If you look at the short history of it, its really hard. Its been really hard since 9 11. George bush almost did it. When he tried to do it again later in the administration, conservative republicans undermined him. I think trump has the potential to do it, and i have no idea from one day to the next where his head is going to be, where his heart is going to be. But i think he wants a deal on daca. I think democrats would be smart to stay at the table on this, go up until march, and see if they can pull a deal on immigration. Dont forget, this was a president who said i want a deal, i want dpcomprehensive Immigration Reform. Lindsey graham and dick durbin were on their way to the white house to give it to them when they kind of got ambushed the other day. Graham is, i think, trying to get back to the president and figure out where they are on this. The question is whether the president , when he said ill take the heat and i want to do it, really mechant 2it. Who knows what he means. He was at one place at that earlier meeting that a lot of us watched. It was 55 minutes on television. He was one place there. He wants a deal, a bill of love. Hes ready to take the heat. But a couple days later, all of a sudden, Lindsey Graham, dick durbin, they thought they had a bipartisan compromise. Not happening. He also said, im going to let you guys hash it out. You hash out an agreement, bring it to me, and ill sign it. Said he would take the heat, like you said. That certainly isnt the case. I think youre seeing a president who on the one shorthand a deal maker, he does want to get something done and have some kind of accomplishment he can point to, but hes constantly concerned about how what hes going to do is going to play with his base of supporters. Thats why you saw some of those immigration hardliners trotting into the oval office to meet with him and warn him. Thats something this president is perpetually fearful of. I want to bring up what senator flake did today. Hes a republican from arizona. Hes not seeking reelection. He went on the senate floor and delivered a blistering attack on the president of the United States, also a republican, because of what the president has said about the news media here in the United States. Listen. No longer can we compound the attacks on truth with our silent ak wee yes sense. No longer can we turn a blind eye or deaf ear to those assaults on our institutions. An american president who cannot take criticism, who must constantly distract and distort, who must find someone else to blame, is charting a very dangerous path. And a congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to that danger. Gloria, it was a very, very powerful speech. It was a powerful speech. It was something obviously that hes given now that hes not running for reelection, i might remind you. But i do think that he is trying to kind of zwrgin up some sense among republicans thats their obligation, as members of the president s party, to fight him when he does things like call the press the enemy of the people. We saw john mccains op ed today in the New York Times where he echoed that sentiment and talked about the importance of a free press in this country. I think it will fall on deaf ears in the white house, to be quite honest with you. But it is extraordinary to have a speech likepresident s own party on the floor of the United States senate. Almost every day since hes taken office, during the tr transition, also as a candidate, he speaks about fake news. Thats right. He does speak about fake news. This is a very thinskinned president. He was very thinskinned candidate. They like to call it punching back in the white house. Look, part of being president of the United States means that people rrnarent knocking down r door to praise you for all the great things youve done. You catch a lot of flak when things are going wrong, and you dont get a lot of thanks when things are going right. I think thats something most president s historically have come to realize when they get into office and understand the rating of the office. Thats not true of this president. His number one sort of foe, his favorite punching bag, has been the news media. Hes so hypocritical on this. Its so obvious, but its not that obvious. You talk to a lot of people, they dont like the press, they dont like the media, they dont like what they consider to be obsessive coverage. They dont like what they consider to be hatred for trump in the media. And we have a fractured media environment. We know that. When you Start Talking about Joseph Stalin or Adolph Hitler or the nazis, these are people who shut down a free press apparatus completely. They dismantled it and had agents with propaganda to put out misinformation. This is a president who actually loves the media. He loves it like human beings like oxygen. He cant quit the media. He does interviews all the time. He banters with the press because if theres no media attention, there is no donald trump. It gave rise to him in many ways going back to his tabloid wars. So its different. He has crossed the line by beating up on the media and saying its fake news. It is an attack on the truth. Its wrong, but it also strikes a cord with a lot of people. His own hypocrisy is what people need to take a step back and look at. Whatever problems youve got with the press, lets look at how much he likes the press, how much he deals with them and how this is, you know, a cynical game on his part to try to discredit criticism against him. He wants to be loved. You know, bottom line is this is a president who wants to be loved. When he was in the entertainment business, he wanted to get ratings. The same way that they show that ratings show approval. Hes not getting that from the people he has to deal with every single day, which is us in the media. Try as hard as he might. So thats why the labels are fake news and youre lying. And can i just connect that to something i think is bigger . Going back to immigration, i think he wants to be big. I think he wants to achieve big things. Really, what he cares about is being a jobs president , which is why he focuses so much on the market. Theres the vulgarity of the administration and then theres the Financial Markets and the economy. Hed much rather be a cnbc president in that regard, focused on that. Thats why i think ultimately he does want to come around to do big deals he can take credit for, but part of his base requires that he pulls off the guy who is toughest, meanest. But he wants to win overall, whatever it is. Everybody stand by. A very important point, by the way, senator flake made. Overs have made it as well. Its not just one pillar of the democracy, the news media, but its the Law Enforcement community that hes undermined, fbi, the Intelligence Community that hes undermined, the cia, the deep state. He says thats out there to get him, buried inside the federal bureaucracy. Hes gone after many aspects of American Democratic traditions. Everybody stand by. Were awaiting the start of the press briefing over at the white house. Well have live coverage of that. Meanwhile, the president s fired chief strategist cutting a deal with special Counsel Robert Mueller in the russia investigation. Youre going to hear what has just happened and what this means for the white house. Good afternoon. Let me start by previewing some of the president s plans for the rest of the week. Tomorrow he will travel to h jk Equipment Company near pittsburgh, pennsylvania. It began as a small Family Business a half century ago. 2017 was the best year in company history, which they credit to the president s pro jobs, pro worker, pro growth economic agenda. Thanks to the passage of the trump tax cuts, h k will now be able to expense 100 of the investments they make in new equipment in the same year they buy it. According to h k, this means their investment back into the company will be higher th 50 higher than the last year. When they buy more trucks and equipment for their rental fleet, they hire more technicians to service them, buy more Service Vehicles to transport those from customer site to customer site, and buy more parts from suppliers. All of this Economic Activity spurred by the tax bill will result in more jobs, higher wages, and a brighter future. The president looks forward to spending time with some of the workers who are reaping the benefits of the tax cuts and reforms and we know this is just the beginning. On friday, were excited to announce that the president will become the first sitting president to address the march for life from the white house live via satellite. This will take place from the rose garden. The president is committed to protecting the life of the unborn, and hes excited to be part of this historic event. Now we have a guest here with us today from the department of justice. Ed ocallahan is here to discuss the section 11 report released yesterday by the department of justice and the department of Homeland Security. I wont steal mr. Ocall hans thunder, but this highlights the urgent need for congress to adopt the Immigration Reforms identified in the administrations priorities. Ill bring him up now so he can make a statement, answer a couple of questions, and as usual i know you will all be on your best behavior and ask him questions on this topic only. Then i will be happy to come back up and answer other questions on news of the day. Good afternoon. My name is ed ocallahan, and i am the Principle Deputy assistant attorney general in the justice departments National Security division. In my capacity as Principle Deputy, i assist the acting assisted attorney general in the supervision of the 350 dedicated investigators and prosecutors who carry out the departments highest priority, protecting the United States from threats to our National Security. Ive been with the National Security Division Since november of last year. Previously from 1999 to 2008, i was an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of new york. From 2005 to 2008, i was cochief of the terrorism and National Security unit in the Southern District of new york. So much of the cases i worked on, of course, during that time included the investigation into the 9 11 attacks that occurred while i was an assistant United States attorney in the organized crime and Terrorism Unit of the Southern District of new york. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about yesterdays release of the department of justice and department of Homeland Security section 11 report. The report titled after section 11 of President Trumps executive order 13780, protecting the nation from terrorist entry into the United States, was a collaborative effort between the doj and dhs to respond to eo13780s directive to provide information to the American People regarding the number of foreign nationals charged with or convicted of terrorismrelated offenses or removed from the United States based on terrorismrelated or other National Security reasons. The justice departments National Security division maintains a list of individuals convicted of International Terrorism related charges and u. S. Federal courts between september 11th, 2001, and december 31st of 2016. As indicated in the report, as of december 31st of 2016, there are 549 individuals on that list of convictions of terrorism, International Terrorism related offenses. A subsequent dhs analysis of those 549 individuals convicted of International Terrorism related offenses determined that approximately 73 or 402 of these 549 individuals, were foreign born. A further breakdown of the u. S. Citizenship status of these individuals at the time of their respective convictions shows that 254 were not United States citizens. 148 were foreign born naturalized and received u. S. Citizenship. 147 were citizens by birth. Ill point out that one of the cases thats highlighted in the section 11 report refers to a defendant who we convicted in the Southern District of new york. He came into the United States, i believe, in 1980 as a Family Member of a legal permanent resident. He was ultimately convicted of providing Material Support to al qaeda. It was a case i supervised when i was chief of the Terrorism Unit in the Southern District of new york. The evidence in that trial showed that he attempted to assist other individuals who were affiliated with al qaeda to try to enter the United States based on false statements in immigration documents and, in fact, he assisted and took on the persona of one of the individuals who he was attempting to try to get back into the United States to commit terrorist acts here. The individual statements provided by that individual demonstrated that he was attempting to come back into the United States to commit attacks on gas stations in new york, my hometown, and by the fact that we were able to prosecute him, it stopped the attempt to engage in additional terrorist attacks here in the United States. Additional items included in your report demonstrate that the u. S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement provided information that shows that there have been approximately 1,716 removals of aliens since september 11th, 2001, because of National Security concerns, a designation that is determined by i. C. E. Within the department of Homeland Security. Obviously there are certain times where although there are National Security concerns about foreign born individuals who are in the United States, a federal prosecution for one reason or another is not the suitable way to go about dealing with a threat posed by that individual. So the immigration thauthoritie have other tools at their disposal, one of them being a removal tool, as indicated by i. C. E. In the section 11 report. Its the case that threats are not relenting. In 2017 alone, dhs encountered 2,554 individuals on terrorist watch lists, formerly known as the fbis terrorist screening database. Those individuals were attempting to get into the United States. Additional important statistics provided by dhs and documented include that a total of 355,345 noncitizen offenders were arrested after previously being convicted of an aggravated felony or two or more crimes, each punishable by more than one year. During that same time period, according to dhs, 372,098 noncitizen offenders were removed from the United States after conviction of an aggravated felony or two or more felonies. And between fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2017, customs and border protection, cbp, identified and prevented the boarding of 73,261 foreign travelers on flights destined from the United States who may have presented an immigration or security risk. In a statement yesterday about the report, attorney general sessions indicated that there are currently thousands of terrorism related investigations into thousands of people in the United States, including hundreds of people who came here as refugees. In addition, citing surveys previously commissioned by doj components, the report noted that there are an estimated 23 to 27 honor killings every year in the United States and that there are an estimated approximately half a million women and girls in the United States at risk of undergoing the abhorrent practice of female genital mutilation. In october of last year, the Trump Administration laid out a series of immigration policy objectives to ensure safe and lawful admission to the United States, to defend the safety and security of our country, and to protect American Workers and taxpayers. There are three pillars to this immigration policy. Border security, immigration enforcement, and a meritbased immigration system. From the cases i have worked on, i know that foreign terrorism organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and other individuals and entities that wish to harm the United States undoubtedly seek to exploit weaknesses in our immigration system when it benefits them in accomplishing their unlawful schemes. President trumps immigration policy is designed to serve the interests of national, enhance vetting and screening, and continuing screening promote the discovery of information that would help immigration and Law Enforcement authorities identify foreigners who may pose National Security threats to the American People. Rather than basing admission on visa lotteries and extended family chain migration, adopting a meritbased system rewards skills and qualities that include but are not limited to education, english Language Proficiency or fluency, and or job skills. As a prosecutor tasked with protecting our nations security, i know some of our cases have involved exploitation of vulnerabilities in our current immigration system. The attorney general is committed to restoring law and order in our immigration system so that we can address and work to eliminate the vulnerabilities that can be exploited by those seeking to undermine our public safety. Those are my brief remarks. Im happy to take some questions. Sir, in the middle. Thank you. Do you find it alarming that more than 25 of people convicted of International Terrorism related charging were natural born u. S. Citizens, and what is the administration doing to address that issue . So the department of justices enforcement of the International Terrorism laws are focused on the conduct found to be committed by individuals, no matter where theyre born. The statistics that you have for the first time compiled in this way in response to the executive order and directives therein demonstrate that the International Terrorism offenses that we have prosecutors in the National Security division and achieve convictions on, that theres 73 of foreign born. Were going to prosecute. Anyone we can make cases against that are posing threats to the National Security of the United States. The statistics brought before you in the section 11 report respond directly to the directive in the executive order about International Terrorism offenses, and those are the statistics that my division and National Security division keep. In the middle. Thank you. My question is very simply this. Has there been any change in the administrations stated policy about using guantanamo in dealing with International Terrorists . Im not aware of any changes in the administrations stated use of guantanamo. The administration is committed to enforcing our terrorism laws and any law that we can against anyone who will present harm or threats to the United States. There are considerations as to how any potential case may be addressed so that any threat that is posed by any individual is neutralized. The administration and attorney general sessions are committed to consider all options as to how we can neutralize any threats posed by anyone that may fall into a terrorism category. So guantanamo is still going to be around for a while, and theres no plans to close it at all . Im not aware of any administration plans with respect to guantanamo. I can tell you its still around. Sir . Thank you. Im hoping you can explain some of your logic here a little further. You talked about the immigration system and reforming immigration system to protect americans in the United States, but a lot of the crimes that youre using as examples to justify changing the immigration system are crimes that were attempted crimes or would have taken place outside the United States, people wanting to travel outside the United States to fight, providing support to fighters outside the United States. I understand theres a nexus there with u. S. Forces in those regions, but the point is to reform the immigration system to protect americans. Can you provide more information, more statistics that show doing so would have prevented people from coming in who committed more crimes inside the United States . Can you give maybe better examples that fit what youre trying to say . So a few points. One is this is the first iteration of this report in response to the executive orders directives. We, in working together with dhs, certainly expect to have more statistics and address some of the issues we werent able to address in this initial report in future iterations of this report. In terms of the cases that are reported, i mean, if you look at the cases, some of which are included in the section 11 report, there are certainly cases that relate to conduct that has been committed in the United States. Conduct that is in support of, for instance, al qaeda or isis. So there are plenty of examples of conducted committed in the United States which would in the way that we define it qualify as an International Terrorism investigation because it relates to a Foreign Terrorist Organization or terrorism conduct. So secondly i mean, thirdly, i would say, of course were trying to prevent there any way we c we can prevent terrorist attacks. So the most successful prosecution that ive ever been involved with are ones where were able to stop it at a conspiratorial stage so there are individuals who clearly through their conduct and their activity and what theyre saying are agreeing to commit a terrorist act in furtherance of the goals of a Foreign Terrorist Organization. But we in conjunction with our Law Enforcement agents are able to prevent it, convict them, and theyll be included. Sir, im just trying to figure out and maybe im not understanding this, how preventing people from coming in who were conspireing, for instance, to go fight in syria would have protected people in the United States. These are International Terrorism crimes, and they werent all, you know, planning attacks in the United States. They were planning things overseas. You want to reform the immigration system, and it seems like the focus there should be on things that people did in the United States to people in the United States. So the Administration Immigration reforms focus on getting more information. Enhance screening, enhance vetting, more information, more agents, more officers asking more questions, more prosecutors prosecuting more cases. All of that in conjunction with all the other National Security efforts by the administration will lead to a safer United States. I firmly believe that. And i know that the fact that there are individuals here in the United States that are willing to, in support of isis related philosophies, engage in and talk about engaging in committing acts here in the United States that were able to prevent. I think that makes the American People safer. And i know the Trump Administration does. The discussion today is focused on National Security. Id like to ask about National Security as it relates to the arrest recently of the excia agent, mr. Lee. Can you talk about the significance of that arrest and why action was not taken against him sooner. So i will say that thats a very important arrest, as demonstrated in the complaint that was unsealed related to that case. That former cia officer retained classified information. As that case proceeds through the courts, i would expect that more information about the conduct that underlies those charges in the complaint will come out. But as of now, im just that case was investigated before i came to the National Security division. Its an important case. It goes to illegal retention of classified information. So hes going to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Yesterday when the report was released, the white house put out a fact sheet that said it found that approximately three out of four individuals convicted of International Terrorism related charges in the time period studied are foreign born individuals who entered the United States through our immigration system. My understanding was that those numbers that you cited to us included people who had been extradited here to face trial, which is to say they didnt enter through our immigration system. My question is, is that correct and if so, how many of them were immigrants. The data included focuses on foreign born individuals who were well, its all the International Terrorism offenses. International terrorism offenses is something that is categorized by the National Security division based on specific provisions of the United States attorneys manual. There are two categories of offenses. Category one offenses that list sections of the federal criminal code that are in and of themselves labeled International Terrorism offenses. Then there are category two offenses that do not qualify as category one offenses, but those offenses are committed and individuals are convicted of those offenses like false statements or obstruction of justice that are committed in a course of an International Terrorism investigation. So those are the ones that are reported in the 549. Some of which include foreign born, some of which include foreign born but naturalized u. S. Citizens that include u. S. Citizens. There is, undoubtedly, because ive been involved in a lot of the cases, certain number of those foreign born individuals who have been brought into the United States by extradition or otherwise to face charges. But the underlying important fact about those cases is that we were able to prove that those individuals committed terrorism offenses against the United States and are now serving either life sentences or very long sentences that will neutralize their threat to the United States Going Forward because we were able to convict them under an International Terrorism statute here in the United States. Thank you, all. Thank you. Well save time and jump straight into questions today. Sarah, there have been some suggestions in the media today that the president does, in fact, suffer from Heart Disease, his weight is larger than was indicated yesterday. Does the white house stand by dr. Jacksons report . Absolutely. Dr. Jackson has been a white house physician for the last 12 years, trusted by president s bush, president obama, and now President Trump. He is the only doctor that has weighed in on this matter that has actually examined the president. So i think a doctor that has spent the amount of time with the president as dr. Jackson has is not only the most qualified but the only credible source when it comes to diagnosing any health concerns. We support what he said yesterday 100 , that the president is in Excellent Health. I think he exhausted just about every question that you guys have and showed probably that hes in pretty good health too, to stand up here for an hour and take questions. John . Not too long ago, senator jeff flake of arizona took the senate floor to again denounce the president , this time likening him to stalin in his approach toward the media, saying hes inspired dictators the world over. This is paired with a statement from senator john mccain, saying the president should stop attacking the press. At some point today, youre supposed to give out fake news awards. What do you think of what senators flake and mccain have said and whats up with the awards . In response to senator flake specifically, i found it quite interesting that he is coming out to attack this president considering hes one that was recently defending an actually oppressive regime. He went to cuba a few weeks ago and served as a mouthpiece for the oppressive cuban government. Hes not criticizing the president because hes against oppression. Hes criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is looking for some attention. I think its unfortunate. And certainly i think our position here at the white house is that we welcome access to the media every day. Im standing right here taking questions. The president does so regularly. To act as if were anything but open to that back and Forth Exchange is utterly ridiculous. Whats going on with what senator mccain said and the awards . I havent had a chance to read all of what senator mccain said. And the awards . Well keep you posted. Itll be something later today. Well be looking for that. I know youre all waiting to see if you are big winners, im sure. Indeed. Theres been frustration from both republicans and democrats who were in the room yesterday with steve bannon when he was being asked about some of the claims that hes made about this administration and the president s family. Specifically some of the criticism has been aimed at the white house because of guidance that has supposedly been given as to what can and cannot be said, specific topics off limit, and the scope of executive privilege. Without getting into the details of that, can you at least define for us what the white house is telling attorneys . Yeah, i can tell you that this white house is following the same practice that many white houses before us have that have gone back decades, that there is a process that you go through any time you have congressional inquiries touching upon white house. The congress should consult with the white house prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicial recognized process. We want to follow through that. Weve been fully cooperative with the ongoing investigations, and were going to continue to do so, and we encourage the committees to work with us to find the appropriate accommodation in order to ensure congress obtains all the information that theyre looking for, but theres a process that this works through. And its not just isolated to this instance. Executive privilege is something that goes back decades because its something that needs to be protected, whether its during this administration or one 20 years from now. We want to make sure we follow the process and the precedent, and thats all thats taking place here. What about the allegations on the scope of that privilege . The time after and the time during the transition, its broader than in past administrations. I cant speak to the details of that. I can simply talk about the process and that were following the same process and past practice that previous administrations. And are there categories again, i cant get into the details. I can only discuss the process. Ashley . Following on that question, theres a report out today that Steve Bannons attorney was relaying the questions asked by the Senate Intel Committee in realtime to the white house. My questions are, who was he relaying the questions to . Is that something the white house specifically asked his attorney to do . And if so, why did the white house think that was a necessary step in handling bannons testimony . Thats the same process that is typically followed. Sometimes they actually have a white house attorney present in the room. This time it was something that was relayed via phone and again was following standard procedure for an instance like this and something that will likely happen again on any other number of occasions, not just within this administration, but future administrations. Jordan. Thanks, sarah. The house Republican Leadership is proposing a funding bill that would provide the government funding through february 16th and reauthorize c. H. I. P. For six years. Is that a proposal that the white house supports . We do support the shortterm cr. However, thats not our first choice. Wed still like to see clean funding bill, a twoyear budget deal, but we do support the shortterm cr. Were going to continue moving forward in that process. Sarah, does the president think its acceptable for republica republicans or democrats to allow a Government Shutdown at the end of the week . Obviously different options here, but does he think its acceptable for a shutdown . The president certainly doesnt want a shutdown. If one happens, i think you only have one pla its ce to look. Thats to the democrats, who are holding our military and National Security hostage by trying to push through other policies that have nothing to do with the budget. We would like to again get a budget deal done, a twoyear budget deal a clean budget deal, and then focus on negotiations following that deal with finding a permanent solution to daca and responsible Immigration Reform. Weve said that many times before. Our position has not changed. Republicans control congress. They control the white house. It takes 60 votes, and republicans dont have 60 votes. So democrats either need to decide that their goiyre going come here to do their jobs and govern and put our National Security ahead of their own personal political agendas or theyre not. Its really simple. Thats a decision youre going to have to ask the democrats, whats more important, National Security or political agendas . I cant answer that for you. You just said the president certainly doesnt want a shutdown. Last year he tweeted that a shutdown would be a good thing. So what caused his views to he said it would be good politics. Thats never been a preference of this administration. It wasnt then, it isnt now. And again, if that does happen, the blame, the fault will all lie at one place because we would like to see a budget deal happen. John . Thank you, sarah. In an interview last friday with news max television, the ambassador of pakistan, commented on the president s decision to roll back most of the aid for Security Assistance to the islamabad government. And he said pakistan does not want aid but more importantly, and i quote, pakistan wants respect, pakistan wants recognition of our work and our contribution and our sacrifices. Regarding the president s comment, pakistan has responded to the aid with, quote, lies and deceit. He simply said, we wont dwell on that part because its not beneficial to either party. Your response to the ambassador. Look, our position is firm that we believe that withdrawing that aid is important. I would refer you to the state department on anything beyond that. Does it stand by the lies and deceit comment . Yes. First a followup. On the first point about steve bannon, understood your points about process and how this all works, but broadly, is the white house afraid of what steve bannon might say . Not that im aware of. I think weve been clear what our position is in regards to this entire process. There was absolutely no collusion, but in terms of, you know, what he might say, i cant answer that. I cant speculate on that. I can simply tell you that were following the procedure, whether it was in this committee or any other committee down the road, this is a process thats important to protect and thats what were doing. And the president has talked about wanting to find a bipartisan solution. You said you want democrats to come to the table. If there is a Government Shutdown three days from now, does the buck stop with President Trump . Im not sure how it would. The president s laid out what he wants. He wants a budget deal. He wants to have republicans and democrats agree on a budget, and were happy to talk about other things. But the budget should not be tied to a political agenda that the democrats are driving. Those are two very separate things. Mike . Some legal experts are suggesting the subpoena for bannon shows this investigation is becoming more aggressive instead of winding down. A couple questions. Is the president prepared for this investigation to last into the months to come . And following up on halle, are you would you encourage that bannon to tell all like his camp is saying he will to mueller . Look, as weve said regardless of who it is, were going to be fully cooperative with the special counsel and encourage everybody involved in the process to be fully cooperative. The first part of your question is are we prepared. I think weve been dealing with this hoax for the better part of a year. If we have to endure the ridiculousness for another month, we can certainly handle it. Do the American People deserve that . No, i dont think they do. In the interest of clarity, youve spoken of how the white House Counsel has been involved in this process on the hill. Has the white house to this point actually asserted executive privilege, or are you talking about the potential . Im talking about the process. I cant go any further. A question on the cr. You speak of how the president would like to see a shortterm cr passed. Is he going to lean on fellow republicans in the House Freedom caucus to see to it they vote for it . Like i just said, we support the shortterm cr. Our preference is the longer twoyear budget deal, but we support the shortterm. So the answer would be yes, that he will encourage the House Freedom caucus to vote for it . Yes, like i said, we support the shortterm and think it is certainly better than not having that and having a Government Shutdown as the alternative. Again, our preference would be a longer term deal. Blake . When you look at the calendar, january 17th, a budget deal potentially goes to february 16th, the daca expiration is up march 5th. Does the president want to see a daca deal get struck before the next cr would end, or is he willing to potentially take this up to the deadline in early march . I think what wooeed like toe happen is lets make a budget deal by friday, and then lets come back to work aggressively on monday and make a deal on daca and responsible Immigration Reform. Wed like to do all of those things and be happy to do them quickly if democrats are willing to work with us and get on board. You also are rolling out an infrastructure plan this month. If the daca if the cr gets passed this week, is priority number one next week for infrastructure . We want to get a deal on dacca. Thats a big priority for us now but we can manage more than one thing at a time as were used to doing around here and if the infrastructure is rolled out by the end of the month or first part of next month, well certainly be working on that as well. Sarah, thank you. This weekend, President Trump planning to go to florida and apparently some celebrations for one Year Anniversary of his inauguration, is that appropriate if theres a Government Shutdown or is he changing his plans . Again, we hope that republicans and democrats will come together and well have a budget deal. We still are focused on that being our top priority. If that doesnt happen and theres a schedule change, well certainly let you guys know. How does he see his role, sarah in, getting the ball over the finish line . Hes the president. So how does he plan to make sure this government stays open . Were doing everything we can to encourage members from both sides to make sure that we get a deal. The president has made very clear his number one priority is his National Security and fully funding our military and that would be obviously something of utmost importance and i think that democrats should share that same passion and priority as the president and hopefully, we dont have to go through this process come friday. One last question. Thank you, sarah. North korea and south korea march together under a unified korea flag. Does the president support north and south korea marching together and come closely together during the olympics . We see this as an opportunity for the regime to see the value of ending its International Isolation by denuclearization. Were very much focused and hoping that it happens. This isnt the first time that the two countries have marched together and we hope that this experience gives north korea and athletes a small taste of freedom and that rubs off and thats something to spread and impacts in these negotiations and in these conversations. Thanks, guys. All right, there she is. The White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders wrapping up a briefing in which she said, yes, the president is ready to keep the government operating after midnight on friday by supporting a shortterm spending bill that would allow the government to continue at least until february 16th. Although, the preference of the president is to get a two year deal. That seems very unlikely at this point. As far as the dreamers are concerned, the president wants a deal, not necessarily going to be part of this shortterm spending deal, but it would be separate. She keeps talking about what she calls responsible Immigration Reform down the road. In a ceremony thats covered this president for a long time, a lot of people suggest, yes, hes open to a comprehensive Immigration Reform deal, although, when he hears from conservatives and others who say this is amnesty, you cant do it, he backs off. This is a constant problem. Hes swayed by the last person he talks to and right now, still staffed in the white house by a lot of people who think the deal that dick durbin and Lindsey Graham brought together was too liberal, went too far. And so thats what theyre up against. This is a president who wants to get big things done and wants to be a deal maker but hes surrounded by people with hard line tendencies and those are continuing to collide. How did you see it . I think thats right and what you see the administration doing right now is relying on a misleading report and misleading data. The one example there of saying, three out of four International Terrorists were foreign born and blaming that on immigration when in fact, as pointed out in the briefing there with the Principal Assistant deputy general, these are a number of people extradited to the United States, not trying to immigrate to the country. Thats just an example of how misleading the argument is, to look at a minority of people who might try to exploit the freedoms of america to do harm. This is the same line of thinking from Jeff Sessions and others who said after 9 11, oh, watch out. We cant have Immigration Reform because the terrorists are coming through the Mexican Border and theyre going to get us from there. It didnt happen. It was a scare tactic now and the same thing now. I think theyve reverted. Theyre backed up on immigration and the best thing they can do is to try to put the pressure on democrats to get the shortterm deal. As far as steve bannon is concerned, appeared before the House Committee yesterday and the white house told him not to answer those questions and then was subpoenaed and now new developments unfolding. What she said, sara murray, they were simply following in her words the same practices and processes that earlier white houses have followed. Steve bannon did a particularly good job of inf infuriating republicans and democrats. Its not easy because of the scope of the way he talked about privilege. Its not unusual for the white house to be talking to these witnesses, to be going back and forth and protect privilege. They didnt admit they invoked executive privilege but didnt refuse to talk about things that happened. Once in the white house, he refused to talk about things in the president ial transition before donald trump was the president of the United States. And i think thats one of the key questions the white house hasnt answered. How far are you pressing these witnesses to be tight lipped . It seems like the transition is part of that and what is the legal grounds for that . Why can you tell people not to discuss even conversations that occur during the transition before trump was president . He obviously talked about these things publicly to michael wolf in an incendiary way. Thats why he was called. He said the meeting was treasonous and at the heart is money laundering. Special Counsel Robert Mueller could assume he knows something and called him because they assumed he knew something as well. Whats important with the special counsel or mueller does and whether he has direct information about this or can confirm certain details, we dont know the full scope of what the special counsel has and how bannon could corroborate certain facts but i think shes right in the point about executive privilege but we dont know the full extent of what theyre trying to protect. I want to bring in our chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta. You were there at the briefing yesterday with dr. Ronnie jackson who has said the president is in excellent physical shape, even though hes overweight and just heard Sarah Sanders say they support 100 his assessment of how excellent the president is doing physically. Well, you know, i mean, its a tough one. When you talk about health, as a general rule, people define this in different ways but it means theres absence of disease. Sort of optimal in terms of their health, and he has been taking medication for high cholesterol and he has evidence of Heart Disease, base on an exam thats many people taking around the country, a calcium ct scan and borderline obesity. So i dont know these things can necessarily be consistent with Excellent Health. I think what dr. Jackson was saying and obviously dr. Jackson spent a lot of time with President Trump, when you do what are called functional tests of the heart and looking at the function of the heart including ultrasound of the heart and stress test of the heart to see how the heart performs under stress, those tests were normal, according to dr. Jackson. But wolf, you know, a lot of people know you can still have plaque in the blood vessels that lead to the heart. That plaque can be concerning if it becomes too much plaque and cause blockages. That has to be addressed and something that can be addressed through medications and lifestyle and something dr. Jackson talked about, but i think Excellent Health may not be the best way to describe this but certainly Addressable Health concerns and wolf, very typical for someone of his age. Hes 71 years old. Heart disease is a very common issue in many people his age and its something that can be addressed. That calcium score, we heard dr. Jackson saying a few years ago when it was around 60 and then up to 90 and now in the 130s and you say that 130 number underlines Heart Disease. Its indicative of Heart Disease. Explain that. What is a number that really underscores Heart Disease . In this case, theres different ranges of numbers but basically, once you get 100 and beyond, its considered Heart Disease, even below 100, its considered mild Heart Disease. What were talking about here is a cat scan that looks specifically for plaque within the blood vessels that contain calcium. Sort of a hard plaque. If you see that, that can be scored depending how much and how extensive it is. If you get above 100 and this is in the literature, shows about 100 is considered Heart Disease and its moderate. Heart disease, considered to give a moderate heart problem down the line. For a 71yearold man, very typical. He falls right in the mid range of the risk factors for this. So its not at all atypical, but its clearly Heart Disease. He has Heart Disease based on that test. Thats the reason you order the test to try to figure out if Heart Disease is present. Hes taking a statins and theyre increasing the dosage, right . They are. Dr. Jackson talked about a few things yesterday. Increasing the dosage of the medication saying hes on the low dose of the statins medication and Lifestyle Changes in terms of diet, focusing on a low carbohydrate, low fat diet and starting some sort of exercise regiment. There really wasnt an exercise plan in place as of yet but certainly wanted to encourage that. But yes, increase that medication which is probably one of the biggest