Balanced and responsible Immigration Reform plan to congress. Our plan fully secures the border, provides a permanent solution to daca, which were really working on. Dana Claudia Cowan is live in sacramento. What do you know, claudia . Reporter well, good afternoon, dana. This morning the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, really went on the offense here in sacramento, laying out in very plain detail, various ways california, with its sanctuary policies, is breaking the law. The governor of california, jerry brown, having none of it, calling the Justice Departments lawsuit against the state quote, a political stunt and even taking aim at this network. Brown saying the attorney generals speech here this morning was, quote, more like fox news than a Law Enforcement officer. Speaking at a breakfast with a number of California Police officers, sessions said the Justice Department is suing the state because three newly enacted laws prevent federal immigration authorities from doing their job and violate the laws of the u. S. Constitution. He also blasted oaklands mayor for alerting the public last month that massive ice raids were imminent and possibly helping some 800 illegal aliens wanted for crimes and immigration violations if captured. So heres my message to the mayor. How dare you, how dare you needlessly endanger the lives of our Law Enforcement officers to promote a radical open borders agenda . Reporter but oaklands mayor and californias top politicians remain defiant, saying they are within their legal right to defend Illegal Immigrants in their communities. Here is jerry brown blasting the lawsuit. This is completely unprecedented for the chief Law Enforcement of the United States to come out here and engage in a political stunt, make wild accusations, many of which are based on outright lies. Thats unusual. And particularly coming from alabama talking to us about protecting the human civil rights. I do think this is pure red meat for the base. Reporter the governors anger was echoed by hundreds of Immigration Rights advocates who gathered outside the hotel where sessions spoke, chanting and blocking traffic. It was a loud, but peaceful protest. Both sides are now digging in for a long fight, but regardless of how the district judge ruled in this lawsuit, dana, the lawsuit will appeal. Its likely we should see this case settled at the u. S. Supreme court. Dana thank you, claudia. The white house defending trade tariffs one day after President Trumps top economic adviser gary cohn resigned over the decision. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin saying tariffs will move forward despite any push back. We are definitely going to end up with these tariffs and were gonna roll this out very, very quickly. But again, there will be a mechanism where, to the extent that the president wants to give waivers, the president can do that. But again, we are moving forward with these tariffs and thats the plan. Dana South Carolina congressman mark sanford joining us. Sir, what do you think about this decision . Its going to go forward. With the secretary of the treasury says, its going to move forward quickly. I think its a mistake. At times you ought to listen to your allies. In this case, a long list of allies have said, respectfully, this is not a good idea. History said it is not a good idea. Economic theory says its not a good idea. Our allies said, if you do it to us, well do it to you. The markets, which are the collecti collective wisdom went down 600 points as a consequence of this idea. At many different level, even to the point of the president s own top economic guy resigning his post. Lots of folks said this is not a good idea. I think the administration would be well advised to listen to what others have said on that. Reporter tell me about South Carolina and what you think that the move by the administration could mean for your state . It means probably both ends of the spectrum. Worst end its tariffs time two. A second movie of what we tried before and what didnt work in protecting jobs and the industry. In that case, world trade declined by twothirds in the wake of the tariffs, which is to say that out of every three boats that go in or out of the boats in charleston, wed be looking at one. You could either be looking at catastrophic damage, or i was at a lunch with a person deeply involved well say, with one of the big plants coming up and around charleston said if this goes through, we may not be looking at a second line. We have a Global Supply chain. Oftentimes a widget is necessary for a component in something thats manufactured in essence made in america, but some part of it, aluminum or steel, may come from someplace el. If you disrupt this, youre disrupting more than just aluminum steel. Youre disrupting volvo, boeing, bmw in South Carolina. Dana this could be some regional concerns. I wanted you to take a listen to the senator from West Virginia, mr. Manchin, who thinks this is a good idea. Hes a democrat. Listen to this. Were talking about fair frayed. People from West Virginia know if a country is charging us 20 , shouldnt we do the same . Dont shoot the hostage. If weve got a problem which china may or may not be dumping to our shores, dont shoot the canadians. The bulk of all steel and aluminum coming into the United States comes from canada. 50 of our exports of steel go to canada. And were shooting for the wrong person here with whats being proposed. I would also say this. This is interesting. Charlie dent from pennsylvania, steel county, stood up yesterday in the conference and said, look, those though i come from steel country, this is a bad idea. Every one of those hershey kisses wrapped in aluminum foil, it would impact us, in steel country. I could give you a lot of perspectives from steel countries that say it is also a bad idea. Dana my last question to you, sir, would be that i feel like the push back, and there is a lot of it, it might not be successful. The president looks like hes not going to be changing his mind. I would imagine it comes from a place of not wanting the hurt the american economy. Thats not your goal. I have heard it suggested that republicans arent being loyal. How do you respond to that . Were being loyal to the ideas on which we were elected. And, you know, conservatives share a prescription for improving jobs, capital and way of life in america. Other folks might have a different viewpoint, see a different way of getting there. The president has been on the right track in terms of improving the jobs market in the United States with things like the tax cut or regulatory reform. This is an idea thats being advanced by, mind you, an economist in the white house who ran a couple times as a democrat for congress, lost, but hes in essence the biggest proponent of this idea ands what the president s ear. So, what i say is, there are two different ways to skin a cat. I think the track weve been on has been the right one. What we might do with tariffs might erase some of the progress thats been made. Dana congressman mark sanford, thank for joining us. My pleasure. Dana Top Republicans in the house are ramping up pressure on attorney general Jeff Sessions. Trey gowdy demanding a Second Special counsel to investigate alleged bias at the fbi and Justice Department regarding fisa. Mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. Mike, whats the latest today on calls for a special counsel to look at these supposed fisa abuses . Reporter dana, those republican chairmen are asking if the fisa process was used lawfully and properly in the 2016 campaign and 2017. Theyre saying some of this is outside the authority of the department of justice Inspector General chairman trey gowdy offered this explanation. The fbi cannot investigate itself. Michael horowitz can do some of it, but not all of it. I think we need a woman or man with an apolitical Law Enforcement background to get to the bottom of this so your viewers can then go back to having confidence in institutions of government. Reporter the top democrat on house intelligence adam schiff saying, quote, this may help serve the president s interest but does nothing to serve the national interest. We await reaction from attorney general Jeff Sessions and deputy ag rod rosenstein. Dana whats the latest to roll back dodds frank in the senate . We have republicans saying this would provide commonsense deregulation for 5700 Community Banks across the country. Dodd franks once size fits all frame work, drop the small institutions into the regulatory maze that was intended for wall street. For eight years theyve faced a staggering compliance burden and now consumes on average 24 of their net income. Reporter massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren said she is opposed to the deregulation saying, quote, the people in congress may have forgotten the crash ten years ago, but i guarantee people across this country have not forgotten the pain these giant banks caused. They pass a preliminary vote in the senate. So pretty good bipartisan support. So it appears on the path to final passage. Dana. Dana all right, mike. Thank you. Midterm madness as texas holds the nations first primaries. My campaign is not ab money or political connections. Its about heart, about service to the American People. Dana thats from one of the underdogs of the election who is now heading to a runoff after overcoming incredible odds. Plus the Lone Star State senate race. 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On a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Dana mania under way as texas wraps the first primaries of the season. One race taking center stage between ted cruz and his challenger democratic congressman. With both candidates scoring easy wins. Despite early voting totals that indicated a big day for democrats, cruz scored more votes than all the Democratic Candidates combined. A politics editor for national journal. There have been a lot of coverage of orourke. I think we have a picture here of him when he was just 2 years old. Little controversy thats come up that orourke changed his name to be more appealing. Even as a 2yearold there he is wearing the shirt. Ted cruz obviously the favorite to win here. But do the democrats have something to be happy about after yesterday . Look, democrats always have dreams of turning texas blue. Theyve been talking about it. Beto orourke may have their best chance of winning the senate race. Results last night were not good for texas democrats. They had a high turnover. They turned out in pretty record numbers. But republicans also turned out in pretty solid numbers. They improved on their turn around from the last Midterm Election in 2015. Ted cruz is worried he may not have the whole base behind him because he didnt endorse donald trump initially. He got 85 of the republican vote. It shows hes in Pretty Healthy shape. Dana a week ago we had dan crenshaw running against eight other republicans and texas. If you dont get 50 youre forced into a runoff with the top vote getter and the one just behind. Crenshaw makes it into the runoff. What does that tell you . Unbelievable sorry. Hes a navy seal who served the country and has a compelling story that he was able to overcome millions of dollars by the candidate that the governor republican Governor Greg Abbott supported and a candidate who just was sort of an empty suit, if you will. She spends a lot of money but couldnt really make it in the top two spots. So crenshaw has a great chance. Hes going to a runoff. He has a really good chance of becoming the next congressman. Dana what does that tell you about money in these primary races . Obviously, its good to have resources. He was outspent. Biggest under dog of the primaries yesterday. Just like the 2016 president ial race. The fact that jeb bush, who has the most money of all the republican candidates finished behind donald trump who President Trump did spend the least. Dana it looks like no matter what happens, you have two latina women who are likely to be added to the rolls in congress this year. Thats the big story on the democratic side not just in texas. You have historic number of women running for office in winning seats. You have a pretty good circumstance. Its unlikely to who ever wins the house in 2018, youll see the most women represented in the United States house. Dana that would be interesting to watch. We appreciate you coming on today. Thanks, dana. Dana the White House Briefing set soon and we will have it for you as soon as it starts. Plus, take a look at the philadelphia area as a major storm is pummelling the northeast. We have your latest in our forecast. And British Police now saying they believe a former russian spy and his daughter were, in fact, poisoned. A live report from london next. Having established a nerve agent as the cause of the symptoms, leading us to think it was attempted murder. Our role is to establish who was behind this and why they carried out these deaths. People would stare. Psoriasis does that. 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Then we found out how many years that money would last them. How long do you think well keep oooooohhh you stopped youre gonna leave me back here at year 9 . How did this happen . It turned out, a lot of people fell short, of even the average length of retirement. We have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. Lets plan for income that lasts all our years in retirement. Prudential. Bring your challenges. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Dana British Police now calling the case of a former russian spy and his daughter found unconscious on a park bench attempted murder. Officers say they believe the man and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent. Ryan chilcote is live in our london bureau. Reporter when the police initially announced they were investigating how that russian double agent and his daughter fell ill and lost consciousness on that park bench here in the u. K. , they simply said they believed, they suspected, that they had been exposed to an unknown substance. Well, today they said that the unknown substance was, in fact, a poison and that the two had been deliberately targeted with that poison in an attempt to kill them. Have a listen. This is a Major Incident involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agent. Reporter the police also said that a third individual, a policeman who attended the scene and responded to the call, was also hospitalized. Hes in serious condition. Now, the police have been treating the entire crime scene. Its a sprawling crime scene, with extreme care. Not just the bench that the two were sitting on, but the park, the restaurant and the pub that they dined in before that. Those have all been cordoned off. Even the ambulance that they were taken to the hospital in has been decontaminated. This is not britains first brush with an unusual poison. In 2006, another former russian intelligence agent died after drinking a cup of laced tea with a radio active agent in a london hotel. That prompted a lot of speculation that there are a lot of similarities between the two. Russians say it is all a Smear Campaign to complicate relations between the two country, but the British Foreign secretary said he sees the similarities. If russia is proven to be behind this, britain will take action. Dana all right, ryan. Thank you. A massive storm hitting the east coast at this hour. A foot or more of snow is expected. The storm causing major disruptions with thousands of flights already cancelled across the country. Chief meteorologist rick righty is here. You only come when theres bad news. Youre right. Really bad news. Temperatures not that bad interior sections. Thats where its all snow along the coast especially around boston. Just a little bit too warm. You see the storm getting its act together. It has really strengthened. The snowfall rates are increasing. Weve been seeing heavy snowfall at times. Right now weve got light snow around the new york city area. But dont expect that to stay that way. Well see another band moving here shortly. Within the last hour we had thunder snow a dynamic strengthening system. Winter storm warnings all the way up towards maine. Maine you will be done with it by tomorrow afternoon. Heres the forecast here as this plays out over time. Were done in new york city. By this evening, boston, youll transition into some snow. By the time this is done, were going to be looking at areas over a foot of snow. Right along the coast is where theres confidence in our forecast. This is one of those. I think well probably be seeing especially grassy areas maybe 6 to 10 inches of snow. Dana youre saying i should not have put my snow boots up on the highest shelf. Before you make those decisions, you should ask me. Dana is there another storm comeing . Sunday monday were watching the potential for another one. The good news about march snow is the sun angle is high enough that the snow cant hang around all that long. So thats the bright side. Dana youre all welcome here. Thank you very much. Dana good news or bad. A live look at the white house as we await the daily briefing. Well bring that to you as soon as it starts. Plus, all eyes on the midterms. When the balance of power could change in congress. And with so much at stake, both parties are reaching out to a critical voting block. 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Trying to do the right thing. Theyre in mourning. They feel badly for everybody. Dana police say cruz has confessed to killing 17 people at Marjory StonemanDouglas High School on valentines day. Now to the runup to the all important midterms where control of congress is up for grabs. Both parties are targeting a key voting block. Peter doocy is live on capitol hill. Reporter republicans trying to protect their huge House Majority are doing so by thinking small. They are now starting to host house parties in places that they think they can bring new constituencies into the tent, particularly hispanic voter. The rnc chair making house calls to try and make the gops case, particularly to people who may be living in florida for the first time and for a long time because they are displaced from storm damage puerto rico. Since the republican party, we are going to continue to outreach to communities that dont know our message and tell them about the good things that are happening in this country. But the only way we can share our message is if we show up. Reporter very interesting. At that house party, with potential hispanic voters and activists, immigration never came up. The issues of concern were more economic, especially stressing problems in puerto rico, that again, still persist. Immigration is shaping up to be the top Tier Campaign issue. Dncs website says this. As democrats we know action has to be taken to permanently protect American Dreamers. Democrats believe diversity and kphags compassion are our night greatest strengths and we will continue to fight for the immigrant families who contribute to our country every day. Making college more affordable, improving schools and job students and much much more. Speaking to democratic operative, they think that hispanic voters are going to be a tough sell for republican candidates in these midterms because they dont think the Trump Administration has been very accommodating to hispanic voters and hispanic activists. So both parties are coming at hispanic voters ahead of the midterms from two totally different directions. No middle ground. Dana all right, peter. Thank you. More on this now with the Founding Partner of calvary llc and former chief of staff to Mitch Mcconnell and chief Strategy Officer for senator harry reid. Penny, last time there was a big snowstorm in new york, you and i were stuck in a hotel and ate three days worth of meals together. I remember that fondly. Let me start with you. I want to play two sound bites. What peter doocy just set up was very interesting. Then you had this today from the attorney general of the United States and then the president. Listen. Open borders is a radical irrational idea that cannot be accepted. American people will not accept it. It cannot be the policy of a great nation to up and reward those who unlawfully come into this country with legal status, social security, welfare, food stamps, work permits and so fort forth. Democrats are nowhere to be found. Theyre nowhere to be found. Really terrible. Were ready. You know the expression, ready, willing and able . Were ready, willing and able. They are nowhere to be found. Reporter what do you think about the strategy basically trying to drive home a lot of different messages on a day like today. This is one of the reasons i think republicans have a strong case to make to Hispanic Community this fall and going forward. Youve got two separate issues here. Democrats find themselves blocked in to a point where they cant do anything positive on the issue of immigration. President trump made an incredible outreach across what i think and what most of us thought was far more than he ever would when he promised 1. 8 million Daca Recipients a path way to citizenship. That is far and above where most republicans have been over the years. In exchange, he wanted the wall, some Border Security and some reforms to family based migration system. Both of those things are imminently reasonable. Democrats, because of where they find themselves in things like california, theyre in an amnesty condition, cant deal on it. Most hispanics see through that. Dana how do you respond to that . California seems to be pulling farther left and the need for democrats to try to refocus and win back some of the middle of the country. How do you think theyre doing . If texas was any indication, they have record amounts and real momentum behind the democratic party. You saw an overwhelming turnout in many places in which trump had won. You saw this unbelievable energy. You see that in special elections throughout this past year. You also see that in pennsylvania. Another tight race with trump having won the district in pennsylvania over 20 points. Now it is a neck and neck race with the republican there. So i would say the enthusiasm is definitely there. Youre starting to see them pull from moderate republicans, especially in the swing suburban districts. I think actually the momentum is on the democratic side versus republican. Dana everybody is making their arguments. This really caught my eye today. Senator schumer gave an update on their infrastructure plan. He said that now that republicans are realizing that the president s plan is a nonstarter and some of them have voiced that, we hope this will make them move in our direction. They need something big, significant to get done this year. They may move in our direction or propose a real plan with real dollars on their own. Theyre planning to basically roll back, repeal and replace the president s tax plan. To me, i think if youre a republican going into a tough Midterm Election, this just gave you a good thing to talk about. No kidding. I mean, senator schumer and Senate Democrats had the ability to take over the senate and run the agenda, we all ought to be investing in silver. This is as bad as it could get. Theres over 4 million workers who received 1,000, 2,000, 2500 bonuses. What do they think would happen if you were to reverse those tax cuts . Obviously that money gets out of the pockets of hard working men and women across the country. Jobs in a lot of places are not available. Just observing whats happened over the last eight weeks would make their plan an absolute nonstarter. Dana but penny, because you understand the messaging and study these things, are democrats hearing differently from voters that they dont think the economy is going well or they dont think the tax cuts did enough to help them . As josh knows, while we are in that season where legislation is being introduced for the message of it not necessarily the possibility of it actually getting signed into law. So this is one of those classic bills that will reach to a lot of democrat constituencies. It is labor unions because it is American Workers that would have to be able to fill the bridges and many of the infrastructure projects. It is also for those that are antithe 1 that feel like corporations and others in the wealthy 1 are too greedy so were going to take back, claw back some of the money that was given to them by the trump tax cuts. These are messaging bills. It is going to go absolutely nowhere. The sad part about it is our infrastructure does need help. Dana ill give you the last word, josh. Is infrastructure really stalled . Seems like something that washington could be able to agree on. It is. Except the problem with infrastructure from the federal side is, how do you pay for it and how do you keep it paid for . Weve done the gas tax. As emissions has fallen, gas consumptions go down, theres less money to spend on roads and bridges. Were already 20 trillion in debt. We cant just have an open hole where all of our revenue falls into. So funding that is the tricky part. I think there has to be a solution to it. Clearly theres bipartisan consens consensus. Dana josh holmes and penny lee, glad you were here. Stocks opening sharply lower amid concerns about turnover and Economic Policy in the white house. Nicole fedilites is live at the new york stock exchange. Good afternoon, dana. We knew it would move to the downside. Talk always had been when the top economic adviser would step down or resign. Everybody figured that he would particularly after the tax overhaul, that the markets would react. Hes a money man, market man. He did it right after the closing bell yesterday so it wasnt as bad as this morning. Lows today were about 350 points. Right now were down 183 points. The other part of the markets that i have been watching is all about the tariffs, steel and aluminum and concerns about an International Trade war. But whats happened here at home, the steel stocks and aluminum stocks have jumped for march on this news as anticipated. U. S. Steel for example is up. When you look at these 6 for this month. 10 . Alcoa5 . But some of the industries are coming under pressure such as industrials. Materials. Also the beverage companies, automakers. The big picture here is to grow our economy, grow jobs and have better trade deal. The market is not all bad. Traders are impressed the market has held bottom today. This might be our first down day in three. But for this year weve had a great year. The idea is that it will continue. Netflix up 65 . Amazon and twitter big gainers. You can see they have up arrows as well. We still continue to see expansion in our economy. Dana all right, nicole. Thank you. A fascinating investigation by the wall street journal revealing how russian trolls used fake Facebook Accounts to collect Sensitive Information from unsuspecting americans. Its ok that everyone ignores me while i drive. Its fine. Because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months im accident free. And i dont share it with mom right, mom . Righttt. Safe driving bonus checks. Only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. The White House Briefing as you can see is just minutes away. Were expecting a big focus on gary cohn, President Trumps former economic adviser. Officials are downplaying the resignation. Ill speak to amy stoddard about the breakdown. She says its become undesirable for lots of people to work there. Thats coming up when i fill in on Shepard Smith reporting. Dana remember this post by Bernie Sanders bashing Hillary Clinton . For this facebook ad for south united, maybe you recall this protest promoted by black matters u. S. Dana the wall street journal digging into russian meddling and finding that moscow did more than just try to swing the vote. The kremlin backed Internet Research agency reportedly used Facebook Accounts in an effort to collect the personal information of americans. And hold that thought. I have shelby holiday here. First were going to sarah sanders. The American Dream is back and stronger than ever under President Trumps leadership. As the president noted, last year hispanic unemployment reached the lowest level in history. It has remained below 5 for the longest period ever reported. Latino owned businesses are contributing nearly half trillion dollars to our economy last year. With the president s pro growth policies, this is only the beginning. The last couple of weeks we have been highlighting Senate Democrat historic efforts to obstruct the ability of the government to function. A stunning 43 of the president s highly qualified nominees are still waiting for confirmation in the senate. Senator schumers tactics have led to 102 fewer confirmations than the next closest administration. As i noted before, blocking rick ranell from serving as National Ambassador to germany is putting our National Security in jeopardy. It has been 160 days as forearms control verification and compliance. She worked to verify compliance of arms control including disarmament agreements and Missile Defense cooperation. We need her in place so shes able to fully represent the United States at Upcoming International meetings to discuss syrias use of chemical weapons and to participate in aprils Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty prep toeur committee meetings. Say that really fast. And yet senator schumer is holding her up, putting the safety and security of the American People and frankly the entire world in danger. Senator schumer is blocking nominees. He forces time wasting procedural votes on tphopl niece and then votes in support of them. Just yesterday the senate had to waste precious floor time on a universally respected nominee. Terry gotti who was confirmed 980. Even senator schumer voted in favor of the nominee, yet still demanded the senate go through Senate Procedure that delays votes and wastes the American Peoples time. Its a disgrace. Its dangerous and it must come to an end. And with that, i will take your questions. Sarah, on the tariffs. Does the president expect to sign the tariffs tomorrow . And can countries like mexico and canada and allies in the European Union expect to have a path way to gain an extension from the tariffs . We expect the president will sign something by the end of the week. There are potential carveouts for mexico and canada based on National Security, and possibly other countries as well based on that process. Specifically what would that be . Again, that would be a case by case and country by country basis. It would be determined whether or not there is a National Security exemption. So far this year six Top White House staffers have resigned. The president says there are warnings to come. Why are so many people leaving this administration . This administration has had a historic first year. Were gonna continue to do great things. This is an intense place, as is every white house. And its not abnormal that you would have people come and go. But were continuing to do great work. Were continuing to focus on the president s agenda. Thats what were all here to do. It is actually abnormal. No administration has had this much turnover. I said its not abnormal to have turnover. This is not the definition of chaotic, how would you describe whats happening in these recent week stphrs. If it was, then i dont think we would be able to accomplish everything that weve done. The economy is stronger than its been in ages. Isis is on the run. The remaking of the judiciary. Jobs are coming in at record numbers. There are historic things that have taken place in the first year. Sounds like a very functioning place of business to me. Potential carveouts. Are you also talking about nato allies possibly getting this exemption . Again, it will be a country by country and it will be based on National Security. Let me followup. Today the president tweeted china has been asked to develop a plan for a 1 billion reduction in the trade deficit. Whats he talking about . Did he make this recently or has he been talking to the chinese . Conversations with officials last week and were going to continue those conversations with them. The president s been very clear that he wants to address the trade imbalance that the United States has with a number of countries. He feels like the United States has been taken advantage of for far too long, and hes not gonna allow that to continue under his watch. Have they responded . Were continuing conversations with them. You said repeatedly that weve addressed our feelings on that situation in regards to the Stormy Daniels statements. Did the president approve of the payment that was made in october of 2016 by his long time lawyer and adviser Michael Cohen . Look, the president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true. This case has already been won in arbitration and anything beyond that i would refer you to the president s outside counsel. When did the president address specifically the cash payment that was made in october of 2016 . The president denied the allegations against him and again this case has already been won in arbitration. Anything beyond that i would refer you to outside counsel. Did he know about the payment at the time though . I have addressed this as far as i can go. That payment, did he know about the payment at the time . Not that im aware of. Yearn anything beyond what i have already given you i will refer you to the outside counsel. Has he spoken with Michael Cohen about it . Im sorry . Has he talked to Michael Cohen about that this week . I dont know. Im not sure. This administration imposed additional santions on north korea after concluding kim jonguns government assassinated his half brother using vx nerve agent in malaysia. Now authorities in britain have announced a nerve agent was used to try to kill a former russian double agent and his wife. Obviously, moscow is a prime suspect. What does this administration have to say about this attempted assassination in the u. K. And are sanctions against russia likely as they were in the case of the north koreans . This is currently under review. Ill keep you posted as we have further information and developments on that front. Margret . Thank you. I have a quick question on the china tweet and then another question. Is there any chance that if china did respond on that 1 billion Reduction Plan that that could shake the tariffs before it is announced at the end of the week . Is chinas piece of the tariffs negotiable or are we only talking about canada, phebgs cork e. U. Countrys . The president s been clear that he wants to address the trade imbalances and the unfair practices. And certainly, we would take anything into consideration but as of right now were moving fully ahead and anything that would change would be done so on a National Security basis. Obviously, youre gonna take your time making any decisions, but, can you give us a short list, two names in player wanted to bounce off with you. Friends here. Larry and andy. Can you confirm those are among the names under consideration . And how much say is gary cohn going to help with that pick . Im not going to get into any naming or a list, but the president has many people under consideration. Hes going to take his time making that decision. Senator cornen said today im concerned the president will turn to for advice. Should he be concerned . No. The president s got a number of very accomplished, smart, capable people around him. And he is gonna continue to lean on a lot of those people. At the end of the day, the American People voted overwhelmingly for president donald j. Trump. They voted for his policy, for his agenda and for him to be the ultimate decision maker. I think that everyone can rest assured in the American Peoples choice on that front, and that theyve made the right one. Earlier today, were continuing to bring in new people every day. Could you Tell White House has come in this week . We made several personnel announcements. I would refer you back to the press releases of nominations and personnel atphoupbmentes that have gone out. I think there have been three that have gone out. Id be happy to forward those to you if youre not receiving the White House Press releases. John . European union is being very shrewd in threats of retaliation against these tariffs, saying that they would slap tariffs on bed linens. Chewing tobacco, which includes north carolina. Cranberries, leading producer in wisconsin. Orange juice, again, florida. Is the president concerned that he could hurt his political fortunes in some of these swing states if he goes ahead with these tariffs . Look, the president has been talking about this for a long time. It shouldnt come as a surprise to anybody. Other countries have created unfair trade policies for decades that have harmed our national and economic security. The president wants a Strong Economy and a strong National Security. And a strong u. S. Economy benefits all americans, particularly by helping us maintain a Strong Military and defend u. S. National security interests. Hes going to continue every day to fight for making sure that we have strong both national and economic security. Gonna hit them where it hurts. Is he prepared to take the hit . The president is prepared to protect our country. That is the number one priority he has as president , is to protect our economic and National Security interests. Thats exactly what hes doing. Can i ask just this about gary cohn. Will the president seek another globalist, another free tradeer . Im not going to get ahead of the president s announcement on who will replace gary. Follow up on gary cohn. The president often touts the strength of the markets. The u. S. Markets opened down, asian markets. Is he concerned about the volatility of the markets . The president is focused on long Term Economic goals. The economy is still stronger today than it was when the president took office. Were going to continue to fight for strong Economic Policy, job growth, wage growth and certainly an increased number of people that are working in this country again specifically some of the actions that youre going to see through the announcement later this week. Isnt the message from the markets though that theyre concerned about gary cohns departure and what it might mean for the stability of this white house and the u. S. Economy . If you look at the overall message of the markets is that were doing much better under President Trump than before he took office. President trump called gary cohn a rare talent. Is he open to have him come back in another capacity . They have a strong relationship and will continue that relationship and gary will continue to be an advocate for the president in a number im not closing the door. One more quickly. [ talking at the same time ] can you confirm the comment on the abc news report that a number of ill be happy to pick up where you left off. I have a question to something you said earlier. You said theres arbitration thats already been won by whom and when . By the president s personal attorneys. For details on that i would refer them to them. Youre aware of them. What can you share with us . I can share that arbitration was won in the president s favor and i would refer you to the president s outside counsel on any details beyond that. Tomorrow the president will be meeting with video game executives. What does he hope to accomplish and why is he bringing them . The president wants to continue the conversation on every different area that we can to help promote School Safety and im not gonna get ahead of the discussion that theyre going to have tomorrow, but we think its an important discussion to have and one that the president will looks forward to. Does he think video games are too violent . Its certainly something that should be looked at. Something we want to have a conversation about. I was wondering, the president tweeted earlier saying that the u. S. Acting with intellectual properties. Should we understand that to mean that this report is imminent . And can you give us some details about whether it might lead to tariffs or damages for intellectual property . Something certainly that we have considered and talked about extensively. Im not going to get ahead of any potential announcement. Sarah, can you given the president s criticism of the attorney general in the past, referring matters to the ig, does he concur with several congress men calling for a Second Special counsel to look into fisa abuse in the department of justice . The president s made clear that he has significant concerns about the current fisa process. Nothing makes the problem of fisa more clear than the democrats and the republican memo tphas outline that the fbi used Political Campaign material to get a warrant to spy on american citizens. They failed to disclose to the judge that the dossier was funded by the Clinton Campaign and the dnc, even as it was being used to spy on peoples ss associated with the trump campaign. Those details alone show the process needs to be looked at closely and reformed to make sure were doing everything we can to protect the privacy of americans. I want to ask you about the va but follow up on something you said twice now. When asked about that payment to the president you said not that im aware of. Have you asked the president this question . Im sorry, can you be more specific . Sure. Today and monday you were asked about whether the president knew about this payment his long time lawyer made to facilitated to Stormy Daniels. You said then and today not that you are aware of. Have you asked the president this question . I have had conversations with the president about this. And as i outlined earlier, this case had already been won in arbitration and that there was no knowledge of any payments from the president. Hes denied all of these allegations. Is there a reason why youre not answering the substance of the questions on the payment itself . I believe ive addressed this question pretty extensively. And ongoing litigation, im not going to comment further than i have. Theres a new i. D. Report coming out. An