Good afternoon. Its that time again as many of you have probably noticed, and i know several of you have asked about, for us to announce where the president will be donating his quarterly salary. Last quarter the president s salary went toward the restoration of two projects at a national battlefield. After his donation, additional donors quickly stepped up to bring the total gift to over 260,000. In this quarter, the president will be donating his salary to the department of education. And with that, i would like to bring up secretary devos to tell you about what the department will be doing with the president s money to help equip the boys and girls who will be the leaders of tomorrow. Secretary devos, its my pleasure on behalf of the president of the United States to present a check for 100,000 to the department of education. Thank you very much, madame secretary. Well, thank you so much, sarah. I want to start by saying how grateful i am to the president for this generous gift. The president is committed to our nations students and to reforming education in america so that every child, no matter their zip code, has access to a high quality education. He and i have had many conversations about how best to put students needs first and ensure we are setting them up for a lifetime of success. Theres much work to be done, but we are certainly on the right track thanks to the president s leadership. Just yesterday ivanka trump and i hosted a Summer Reading event at the Smithsonians National museum of American History where the focus was on getting young girls age 6 to 10 excited about learning science, technology, engineering and math. It was fun to see their eyes light up as they got to explore, create and experiment in a collaborative environment. Todays and tomorrows economy require students prepared for s. T. E. M. Careers. Thats why weve decided to use the president s Second Quarter salary to host a s. T. E. M. Focused camp for students at the department of education. We want to encourage as many children as possible to explore s. T. E. M. Fields in the hope that many develop a passion for these fields. We look forward to this exciting endeavor. And i thank President Trump, again, for this generous gift. Thanks. Thank you, secretary devos. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here for that today. Now, i know anthonys probably a little bit disappointed that hes not up here today, but since he did some tv this morning he was able to go ahead and get his hair and makeup done, so i think hell be okay. As anthony said when he was up here last week, were looking to mix things up a little bit. From time to time id like to give us all a little reminder of why were here every day, which i imagine for most of us its because we love our country and want to make it better. Ive spent a lot of time around the president over the last year and i know exactly why hes here. Hes tough, hes a fighter, hes a strong leader and hes somebody who deeply loves this country. And he loves its people and he wants to make America Great again. In washington, its often easy to go to work, get lost in the process and forget why were here every day. The reason were here is to serve the american people. And today id like for you to indulge me and let me tell you a little bit about what that means for me. To the best of my knowledge im the first mom to hold the job of the White House Press secretary. That says less about me than it does about this president. Its not just with personnel, its about people and its about policy. Empowering working moms is the heart of the president s agenda, particularly when it comes to things like tax reform. I have three children, and the oldest, scarlet, starts kindergarten in a few weeks. Scarlet and every little girl in america should grow up in a country that if we deliver on the president s agenda a better jobs, Better Health care and a better tax system that incentivizes women to work and raise children. As a working mom, its not lost on me what a great honor and what a privilege it is to stand here at the podium. And i thank the president for the opportunity. Ill always do my absolute best to truthfully answer your questions and to deliver the president s message. Jonathan, i preempt you from asking that question later. But i also hope to send my daughter a message and to every other kid in america, dont listen to the critics. Dream big and fulfill your potential because in this country you still can. To remind us a little bit more often about some of the forgotten men, women and children that were here to serve and that the president is fighting for, were going to start the White House Briefing every once in a while with a letter or an email we may receive from some of those individuals. To kick it off with that process, id like to read you a letter from 9yearold dylan. My name is dylan harbin, but everybody calls me pickle. Im 9 years old and youre my favorite president. I like you so much that i had a birthday about you. My cake was the shape of your hat. Then he goes onto ask a few questions, how old are you . Dylan, President Trump is 71 years old. How big is the white house . The white house is 168 feet long, it70 feet tall on the sou side and 68 feet of wall and takes 600 gallons of white paint to cover the white house residence. It has 132 rooms and approximately 55,000 square feet. How much money do you have . Dylan, im not sure, but i know its a lot. I dont know why people dont like you. Me either, dylan. You seem really nice, can we be friends . Im happy to say that i directly spoke to the president , dylan, he would be more than happy to be your friend. My picture is in here, so if you can, see me and say hello. Dylan, i hope youre watching because the president wanted me to personally tell you hello. Your friend, dylan. Dylan, thanks for writing to the president. And if youre ever in washington, d. C. , i hope youll stop by and let us show you around the white house. And with that, ill take your questions. Sarah. Steve. Sarah, Jeff Sessions was here today, did he what was he doing here . Did he meet with the president . And what does the president think about the conservatives who are rallying behind Jeff Sessions . Saying hes essential to staying in office. The attorney general was here for other meetings, not with the president. It was a Principles Committee meeting and did not see the president while he was here. I think the president s been very clear about where he is. Hes obviously disappointed, but also wants the attorney general to continue to focus on the things that the attorney general does. He wants him to lead the department of justice, he wants to do that strongly. He wants him to focus on things like immigration, leaks and a number of other issues. And i think thats what his focus is at this point. The attorney general launches a leak probe, would that help his status with the president . I dont think thats the, you know, nature of the relationship. Again, i think that the president is disappointed. Hes stated that. I dont think theres anything more to add beyond that at this point. Sarah, thank you. Couple questions about the new policy on Transgender Service members the president announced this morning. First, what happens to Transgender Service members now . Are they immediately thrown out of the military . Thats something that the department of defense and the white house will have to Work Together as implementation takes place and is done so lawfully. So its possible i see, i mean, the president was pretty clear in his tweet that transgender individuals he will not accept or allow transgender individual to serve in any capacity, so does that mean that those that are now in theater, now deployed to afghanistan, for example, will have to be immediately sent home . Again, the implementation policy is going to be something that the white house and the department of defense have to Work Together to lawfully determine. You know, i would imagine the department of defense will be the lead on that and keep you posted as that takes place. Why did he decide to do this given during the campaign he declared he would be he would protect the rights of transgender individuals. He said he would be better on this issue than hillary clinton, and now hes turned the clock back on this issue regarding the military. The president has a lot of support for all americans and certainly wants to protect all americans at all times. The president s expressed concern since this obama policy came into effect, but hes also voiced this is a very expensive and disruptive policy. And based on consultation that hes had with his National Security team came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion and made the decision based on that. Kevin. Thank you, sarah. If i could follow on what jonathan just said, that the president actually tweeted thank you to the lgbt community, i will fight for you while hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs. So im wondering, you said the policy the president in general wants to protect all americans. Does this shift in policy protect Transgender Americans . And what is the message that he is attempting to send to them by making this shift in policy . And if i could follow on health care let me answer that first question, then well come back to health care. On that the decision is based on a military decision. Its not meant to be anything more than that. And its simply about obviously its a very difficult decision. Its not a simple one. But the president feels that its the best one for the military. Okay. On health care then, if i could follow really quickly. Could you repeal and replace the Affordable Care act and still protect medicaid funding . Were talking about the most dependent among us and the need for medicaid is great and that seems to be a major concern among some lawmakers including alaska senator murkowski. So im wondering from the president s perspective, if congressional lawmakers do send him a repeal that does not protect medicaid funding, is that something he would still support . And what is he doing to try to protect medicaid as it is now . The president s been clear he wants to protect those that are a part of that program, but also very focused on repealing and replacing. Were working through that process, excited about the progress that was made yesterday. Were going to continue pushing forward until we get a new and Better Health care plan. Fr francesca. Thank you, sarah. Can you provide us a copy of the letter, hold it up sure. I would be happy to. About attorney general Jeff Sessions, you said he didnt meet with the president when he was at the white house this week. Has he spoken to the president this week . Do you know when the last time the two of them spoke was . I dont believe theyve spoken this week. Im not sure on the timeframe. And then another followup on Jeff Sessions. Always. You said that the president has been very clear about his position on Jeff Sessions. And yesterday the president said that he wasnt leaving him to, quote, twist in the wind. But he continued to tweet about him this morning. If he is so frustrated and so disappointed in him, why doesnt he just ask him to resign or fire him . Why does he continue to tweet about him instead . Look, you can be disappointed in someone but still want them to continue to do their job. And thats where they are. I think i made clear last week if there comes a point he doesnt, hell make that decision. Blake. Thank you. Let me have you please clarify if you can some comments that the president made in the wall street journal interview yesterday about tax reform. He said, and i quote here, the truth is the people i care most about are the middle income people in this country who have gotten, as he says, screwed, and if theres upward revision, its going to be on high income people. On that upward revision part, what exactly was the president talking about . Is it a revision from his plan on the personal side of 35 . Or is it revising it up from the current tax code . You know, when we get ready to walk through the full details of the plan, im happy to do that at that time, but right now were focused on the three big priorities of the tax reform, a simple, fairer tax code, middle class relief and creating jobs. Thats where we are right now. Were continuing to work through that process and well make announcements as we have specifics. Let me ask you more general question on that. Does the president believe that the wealthiest americans deserve a tax cut . I think the president is looking and prioritizing middle class tax relief. Hes made no secret about that. Thats one of the biggest priorities of the three things that hes focused on when it comes to tax reform. Jordan. Thanks, sarah. Two questions for you. First, the president has had almost 24 hours to review the russia sanctions legislation. Has he decided if hes going to sign that . Well, its a little bit more complicated than that. Senator corker actually came out earlier today and said that hes not fully supportive of where the bill stands. We expect that theres a possibility that more changes take place. And so were going to see what that looks like before we make a final decision. Butky tell you that the white house, the president and the entire administration as weve said many times before, strongly supports sanctions against russia, iran, and north korea. My second question is the president considering looking any kind of policy about transgender people serving in the white house now that hes tried to make a decision on transgender people serving in the military . Once again this was a decision based on what was best for the military. And military cohesion and on the council of his National Security team. Major . So the impression they were a little bit caught a little flatfooted by the president s tweets. As i understand it this was has been for the last couple of weeks, a conversation here specifically about tricare coverage for transgender procedures. And it suddenly evolved for the president to then go on twitter to announce this ban. And as you already told us, the white house and the pentagon are going to have to lawfully implement that. Typically when you have announcement of this magnitude, all of that work has been done at the procedural level. Between the bureaucracy of the pentagon and the white house, why wasnt any of that work done . Why was the pentagon caught so surprised . This morning by the president s tweets . As i said before, the president s National Security team was part of this consultation, mentioned yourself that theres been ongoing conversations when the president made the decision yesterday, the secretary of defense was immediately informed. As were the rest of the National Security team. That had been part of this ongoing conversation. But you cant answer the question of whats going to happen who are in the military now. Shouldnt you have been able to answer a basic question on a decision of this mall tud . Sometimes you make a decision and once he made the decision, he didnt feel it was necessary to hold that decision. And theyre going to Work Together with the department of defense to lawfully implement it. Just because this is the baseline question. You you said earlier the president was frustrated. Is that frustration in the past and does he have confidence in the attorney general to carry out his duties. The president wants the attorney general to focus on his duties as attorney general and i think we have both spoken about that pretty extensively and i dont have anything to add. Announced the president is donating his Second Quarter salary to the department of education. Why is he calling for 9. 2 billion in spending cuts to the department of education in the next budget . I think that oftentimes you have a lot of duplicate efforts and they want to streamline the process. And we simply have a government thats completely out of control when it comes to spending. We have an outrageous deficit. Were looking to make things we have a balanced budget in the next ten years. The president campaigned on it and hes committed to seeing it through. And hes also committed to education, by his own personal commitment and looking at ways we can save and continue on making education better. Passing on the decisionmaking down to more local and state control and something were certainly supportive of. In june of 2016, in the heat of the campaign he wrote thank you to the lgbt community, i will fight for you. Did the president today just betray his commitment to the Transgender Community . No as i answered before, this was a decision about military readiness and i answered even to that specific tweet. Would you say to the Transgender Community that he is still committed to fight for them . I think the president made it clear hes committed to fighting for all americans. Thank you very much, sarah. Was this decision on transgender in the military made to put pressure on democrats running in the 2018, particularly democrats running in socially conservative districts like ohio, michigan and wisconsin . Not that im aware of. To follow up. What is the timeline for how guide haynes will be delivered to the pentagon . Well let you know when we have an announcement. The president tweeted this morning asking why the attorney general has not fired Andrew Mccabe as acting fbi director. Why hasnt the president fired Andrew Mccabe as acting director . The president has made an incredible announcement in chris wray. The president has made a choice to lead that agency and were looking forward to getting him confirmed soon. Two question, one following up on tricare and the Transgender Community. Theres been a concern from the Transgender Community before President Trump became President Trump that if obamacare changed to trumpcare, they were wondering if they would get procedures to help them complete their phases of becoming the other sex or the other gender. What do you say to those people who are seeing this now. With this ban in the military . What do you say to transgender america who wants to continue with the change . Maybe some who already had part of the change and want to do the change and are scared because of whats happening now, not for certain what do you say to transgender america . As ive said before and ill try to make this clear this was a military decision this was about military readiness. This was about unit cohesion this was about resources within the military and nothing more. Guys, i dont have anything else to add on that topic. As i do. Ill keep you posted. But if those are the only questions we have, im going to call it a day. But if we have questions on other topics. Sarah, i im sorry, i want to finish. Everyone had said on the morale of the cabinet. Anthony scar muchi this morning on new day, said the secretary has tough skin. How is the president working with the cabinet secretaries right now. How is the president working with the morale. He empowers us to do our jobs. I dont think it matters whether youre a cabinet secretary or a lowlevel staffer. Were here to do a job and he asked to us do it and he expects us to get it done. Ive spent a good bit of time with quite a few cabinet secretaries over the last couple of days and morale is high. Service members not here in this country, but overseas. There are 18 countries where Transgender Service members are allowed to serve openly. The uk is one. Australia is another. Israel is a third. The president in his tweet this morning referred to disruptions. What does he mean . And is he concerned that there are disruptions in our allies militaries in australia, uk and israel . And should we worry about that from a military standpoint . This decision was made after extensive discussions with his National Security team and the president decided it was in the best interests of the military to end this obama policy. I cant speak to anything about another country. Pretty focused on making sure we get good things happening here. Zeke . Sarah you were talking earlier about attorney general sessions [ inaudible ] why hasnt the president picked up the phone or invited him over into the oval office . Does the president have any intention of speaking with the attorney general this week . Ill keep you posted if he does. John . Second question on the Transgender Service member issue. You mentioned the president reached this decision to improve or maintain unit cohesion. How does it maintain or improve unit cohesion to leave thousands of service members, some who may be overseas serving in units overseas in the dark about their status within the military . It was a decision made after the consultation with his National Security advisers. Would argue is that hamas is hamas and we should have nothing to do with them and our all lies shouldnt either. The question is what does the flexible approach get us and dr. Shanzer. If, if qatar acted to move all of