Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. We havent seen that in a while. So unlike this white house really. Any chance well get answers to any of these big russiagate stories making headlines today . Well, we got plenty of questions on those topics. Its likely Sarah Sanders, particularly as it relates to the personal opinions on the mueller investigation, whether he will do an interview that she will kick that over to his outside counsel, Rudy Giuliani who has spoken to nbc news in the last several hours. Giving us a sense of where things stand. Effectively saying there was a letter from muellers team to the legal team representing the president. And there will be some narrows of the course of the topics, but they will still focus on collusion and obstruction of justice. I think it was last in may when he said it, walking on the south lawn that hes open to talking about all of this with robert mueller. That new reporting for the new york times, insisting that the president really wants that
public why is it that if he did nothing wrong he does not feel comfortable answering questions about it. Well, we can already hear that answer. His answer would be in that case you cant trust these people. Yes, i guess i guess the counter to that would be the president has allowed and encouraged all of his white house officials, the folks closest to him, nearly all them, to go in and speak with mueller. He has encouraged that. He has told them to do that. He could have stopped it. He could have created impediments there. Why is it he allowed them but didnt do it himself . Jonathan, you also reported on negotiations today. Trump appeared to believe he is the guy who can sway bob mueller. Is this all about what you say is this rage he has over what he sees as both the government and the media trying to undermine him . Yes, i want to piggy back on michaels very good point there. The president believes that he can go in there and clear his
name. To lift this cloud that has been hovering over the west wing since he took office, since before he took office. What we saw, its all happening sort of at once here. His Tweet Storm Yesterday morning was remains rather striking here, 24 hours or so later. In which he called for Jeff Sessions to end this probe. Now, of course, we heard Sarah Sanders in yesterdays White House Briefing say that was just hemorrhagesterring an opinion. It wasnt an order. And of Course Sessions himself cant do it because he recused himself from this probe. But the timing of these negotiations come amid a backdrop of the president Growing Angrier and angrier with whats happening. I was struck by one of the things that you wrote that a confidant of his told you, hes in a dark place over all of this. Thats exactly right. Twofold. That hes watching the Manafort Trial develop live on tv. It is not just something it is something in his face. Hes seeing it on cable news. Hes upset by it. He believes those charges are trumped up. He believes technically theyre not about russia, he believes it is a means to try to get to him. Hes not that unselfconscious. He knows the distinction between a con and what happened. Do you think on air force one, he didnt know he was not telling the truth . Does anyone believe that . Is he that much in his own head. I dont believe that. Theres a certain infantalizing of trump okay, im going to interrupt you for just a second because we actually have breaking news on that meeting. I want to go to ken dilanian. With more on who he wants to speak to, meaning robert mueller, and why. What can you tell us . Hey, chris, well, the russian american pop star, russian pop star, sorry who helped set up this Trump Tower Meeting, and his lawyers telling our colleague that he is in talks to be interviewed by Special Counsel robert mueller. Thats fairly significant because the agalarov family, his father is a Russian Oligarch with close ties to vladimir
putin and they were partners with donald trump in the 2013 miss america pageant. He recently made a rather bizarre video that seemed to suggest he sort of had it with donald trump. The video portrayed, you know, Scantily Clad Women in a hotel room with that trump impersonator. If hes willing to talk about what he knows about how that Trump Tower Meeting was set up, thats significant. Just to recall, he sent a message to this music promoter Rob Goldstone to donald trump jr. Saying this russian lawyer wanted to meet and had incriminating information about hillary clinton. Thats according to emails and according to goldstone. Elizabeth, so you have somebody who was crucial in setting up this meeting thats at the center of a lot of these questions. Ayman agalarov. He puts out this video that seems to suggest hes had it
with donald trump and now hes in negotiations to talking with robert mueller. What do you make of it . Well, think what it shows is mueller is tightening thes into, slowly, slowly, brick by brick, building a very potentially devastating case against donald trump. I have to agree with bill. I happen to think donald trump has no intention whatsoever of going before the Special Prosecutor because donald trump happens to be be a coward. You saw him right next to putin. This is the great tough man . This is america . No, he was a wimp. Hes not going in there. He doesnt want to be prosecuted. Hes very concerned that he might not tell the truth because he hasnt and we know he falsified a statement about the Trump Tower Meeting. So i think that aga however you pronounce his name. Agalarov or others are likely to come forward here. Muellers not finished with this investigation. I think one of the really
control of the message, to get it where they want it to be . Well, i think thats really been what Rudy Giuliani has accomplished. They brought him in to be the president s advocate. The president felt like there were not enough folks out there who were pushing his agenda on the mueller investigation. He thought he was the only voice. And what they have done is adopted a strategy where they do not think the president has any legal exposure. They do not think that mueller will indict him. So what theyre focused on is Public Opinion. The only thing they think is a threat is the House Of Representatives holding impeachment trials. The only way to impact that is to move the public sentiment. And thats what giuliani has tried to do. He has confused people. Hes pushed different theories not backed up by the facts in many instances. And it has helped muddy the waters on the investigation. And erode some of bob muellers standing. If you look at some of the polls
that have come out in the past few weeks or months, there has been, you know, some impact on mueller and on the way that the public purchase sieves this. And the longer the investigation goes on, the president believes, the more that giuliani can beat this, beat the drum on this, the more successful they will be at influencing peoples views. Rudy is a fascinating part of this, bill krystal. The president is going to be going to pennsylvania tonight. The last time he was in wilkesbarre was october of 2016. There you see Jeff Sessions. Rudy giuliani was there. Both of them adamant trump is this rule of law guy. And not, to quote rudy then, a serial liar like hillary clinton. Fast forward to today and trump says session needs to end the russia probe. Here is how rudy defended that tweet. We said immediately its an opinion. He used the media he uses for
opinions, twitter. Hes established a clear sort of practice now that he expresses his opinions on twitter. He used the word should. He didnt use the word must. There was no president ial directive. Didnt direct him to do it. Hes not going to direct him to do it. Bill, is Rudy Giuliani doing great with the president s base . Here we go. Are we going to the briefing . Not yet. Okay. She sometimes make these long statements at the top so well wait. Is he helpful just with the base . Is that offset by what he could potentially doing . I think serious lawyers are look, hes not going to be indicted. Trump personally, its a fight about Public Opinion im sorry, we have to interrupt. Sarah sanders is now taking questions. Critical infrastructure. Last week, the president chaired a meeting of his National Security counsel to address ongoing threats. He asked the officials standing
next to brief the American People on the work being done to protect the integrity of our elections. Efforts are under way to provide Cybersecurity Assistance to state and local authorities and actions to investigate, prosecute and hold accountable those who illegally attempt to interfere in the process. I want to welcome director of National Intelligence dan coats, fbi director christopher wray, secretary of Homeland Security kirstjen nielsen, director of the National Security agency, and National Security adviser ambassador john bolton, to make some comments and take questions on this topic. As you all know, weve addressed what occurred during the 2016 election numerous times and rather extensively. The purpose of todays briefing is about what were doing now and in the future to protect the integrity of elections, moving forward. We ask you stay on that topic. In order to help this run smoothly, we ask you direct the question a specific person. Ill turn it over to ambassador bolton to open up and make some comments. Well, thank you very much, sarah. What wed like to address today is Election Security and the 2018 election, and the future. The president has made it very clear what that is. Weve had a number of inquiries, including a letter to me the past couple of days from five senator, signed by Senator Schumer and others. Weve made Copies Available to you. It forms a kind of framework of the briefing the heads of age y agencies are going to give you today. There are other agencies involved. These are the four primary ones. I think its important that we address the question of the
president s involvement in there. His leadership, his determination, to prevent foreign influence in elections. We meet on this constantly. The senior staff and the white house. We meet with the heads of the different agencies. Weve already had two full National SecurityCouncil Meetings chaired by the president. As i say, countless other discussions as well. Since january 2017, the president has taken Decisive Action to defend our Elections Systems from meddling and interference. This includes measures to systems and processes, to confront russian and other foreign maligned influence in the United States. To confront such aggression through international action. And to reinforce a strong sanctions regime. As you know, elections are
administered by state and local governments. Well be addressing that through the comments, the heads of the operating agencies. Also to say by way of introduction that many federal government actions to protect elections in the United States such as those implemented by the Intelligence Community or Law Enforcement agencies are sensitive and highly classified. We do not witch to make efforts of our adversaries any easier through injudicious public disclosure. We have offered to do before and continue to offer briefings to members of congress in security facilities. Id like to turn this over to people whose agencies have the responsibility. Well start off with director of National Intelligence dan coats. Followed by kirstjen nielsen. Shell be followed by the
director of the federal bureau of investigation christopher wray. And the director of the National Security agency general paul nokosani. Dan. As director of National Intelligence, i would like the American People to know that the Intelligence Community and all agencies are postered to identify threats. The president has directed us to make the matter of the Election Meddling and securing our Election Process A top priority and we have done that and are doing that and will continue to do so. We have incorporated the Lessons Learned from the 2016 election and implemented a Broad Spectrum of actions to share more information across the federal government as well as with state and local governments and also with the public and the private
sector. The Intelligence Community continues to be concerned about the threats of upcoming elections. Both the midterms and the president ial elections of 2020. In records to russian involvement, we continue to see a progressive messaging campaign to try to weaken and divide the United States. These efforts are not exclusive to these elections but certainly cover issues relevant to the election. We are aware that russia is not the only country that has influenced our domestic political environment. As such, we will continue to
monitor and warn of any such efforts. I will make sure the Intelligence Community is working together and integrating across organizations and missions and seeking Greater Transparency with the public. Instituted a Broad Spectrum of actions covering election, analysis, reporting, education and partnerships. All designed to provide the best threat assessments to federal, state and local officials as well as to the public and private sector when necessary. For example, my office leads the Interagency Working Group now meeting weekly as a push towards november. With the department of justice, fbi, department of Homeland Security, cia and nsa, includive of regional cyber and counter lejs experts, all focused on
integration of our efforts. The Intelligence Communitys focus right now is persistent support to the fbi, to the department of Homeland Security and other agencies in their election responsibilities and my office is ensuring these organizations receive timely and proactive Intelligence Community support. Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us. I want to start by briefly mentioning on tuesday dhs hosted the First National cybersecurity summit. This brought together Industry Leaders and academia to discuss opportunities to join forces to counter threats. I want to thank all of those who joined us. All who participated. And those who signed up to concrete actions to confront cybersecurity challenges. Across every Critical Infrastructure sector from
energy to Financial Services to transportation to communication and so many others, a single attack can have widespread and cascading consequences. I look forward to working with the nations leading minds in the digital realm as we stand up the National Risk management center. Its zblounot just risk we have worry about. Our democracy itself is in the cross hairs. Free and Fair Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and it has become clear that theyre the target of our adversaries who seek as the dni just said to sew discord and undermine our way of life. I share the Intelligence Communitys assessments, past efforts, and those today to interfere with our election. Our adversaries have shown they have the willingness and capability to interfere in our elections. Dhs has and continues to work closely with state and local
election officials throughout the country by offering a range of services to help identify weaknesses in their Election Systems. Whether its offering no cost, voluntary technical assistance, or providing Technical Advice on ransom ware and destructive m malware, our department stands ready to provide tailored support. This is yet another example where one size does not fit all. Im pleased to inform you that to date all 50 states, the District Of Columbia and over 900 local governments have partnered with dhs in order to bolster the resilience of the nations Election Infrastructure. Various states also have organic capabilities and are engaging with the private sector and academia to improve the elections. It requires aggressive and ongoing vigilance. Everyone must play their role to ensure every vote is counted
correctly. As all of us here today gain new insight, we are committed to providing the best information available. The progress weve made is real and the nations elections are more resilient today because of the work were doing. We must continue to ensure that our democracy is protected. Ill turn it over to Director Wray. Good afternoon, everybody. Afternoon. Last fall, after i shortly after i became director, i stood up a new Foreign Influence Task force which was designed to counteract the full range of malign foreign Influence Operations targeting our Democratic Institutions and our values. The task force now brings together across the waterfront
of fbi expertise who were talking counterintelligence, cyber, criminal and even counter terrorism, designed to root out and respond to foreign Influence Operations. For their part, our adversaries influence operation have encompassed a wide range of activities. Just like we have a multidisciplinary response, thats because the threat is multidisciplinary. Just a few examples of some of the things weve seen over the past, targeting u. S. Officials and other u. S. Persons through traditional intelligence trade craft, criminal efforts to suppress voting, provide Illegal Campaign financing. Cyber a tacks against voting infrastructure along with Computer Intrusions targeting elected officials and others and a whole slew of other kinds of influence, like both overtly and covertly manipulating news story, spreading disinformation, leveraging Economic Resources and escalating divisive issues. But its important to understand this is not just an election cycle threat. Our adversaries are trying to undermine on a regular basis whether its election season or not. Theres a clear distinction between on the one hand, activities that threaten security and integrity of our Election Systems and on the other hand the broader threat of Influence Operations designed to influence voters in their opinions. With our partners, were trying to counter act both threats. We have three pillars to our operational strategy. The first piller is our investigations and operations. And for a variety of reasons, which i hope are obvious, including operational sensitivities. Im not going to be able to describe the full extent of those efforts. But i will tell you that our Foreign Influence Task force works with personnel in all 56 fbi field offices. Even as we speak, weve got open
investigations with a foreign influence nexus spanning field offices, fbi field offices, across the country. So make no mistake. The scope of this foreign influence threat is both broad and deep. Second pillar, i said there were three pillars. The second is focused on Information Sharing and intelligence sharing. Were working closingly with partners in the Intelligence Community and in the federal government as well as with our state and local partners to establish a common operating picture. Just last week, as an example, we disseminated a list to our state and local Law Enforcement partners of various foreign influence indicators for them to be on the lookout for. Things like malicious cyber activity. Social abnormalities and foreign propaganda activities. The idea is to marshal additional eyes and ears in the fight. Were also working with our international partners. To Exchange Intelligence for
combating the threat. This is a shared threat with allies. The third pillar of our approach is based on our strong relationships with the private sector. Technology companies have a Fro Frontline Responsibility to secure their own products and platforms. But were doing our part by providing actionable intelligence to better enable them to address abuse of their platforms by foreign actors. So this year weve met with top social Media Companies and Technology Companies several times. Weve given them classified briefings. Weve shared specific threat indicators and account information and a variety of other pieces of information so they can better monitor their own platforms. Its going to take all of us working together to hold the field because this threat is not going away. As i have said consistently, russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to engage in malign
Influence Operations to this day. This is a threat we need to take extremely seriously and to tackle and respond to with fierce determination and focus. And together with our partners, both those here and some of the other partners weve talked about, im confident we can protect the integrity of our Democratic Institutions and maintain Public Confidence in our electoral process. Thank you. Good afternoon, thank you for joining us. I appreciate the leadership and support from the president , the secretary of defense, the director of National Intelligence. I believe our mandate is clear. As part of its mission to defend the nation, the Department Of Defense is providing intelligence, Information Support and Technical Expertise to the department of Homeland Security for use by state and local officials to prevent foreign interference in our
elections. This is a Vital Mission for us and the nation. It draws on our deep experience and expertise in continuing work in this area. Our support has been ongoing and will continue through the midterm elections. We are also providing intelligence and information leads to the federal bureau of investigation on foreign adversaries who are attempting to sew discord and Division Within the american public. This information is shared with appropriate entities to alert them of malicious cyber actors. U. S. Cyber command and the National Security agency are tracking a wide range of foreigncyber adversaries are prepared against those actors attempting to undermine our midterm elections. These are sensitive and require confidentiality for success. I wont discuss the specifics except to state that our forces
are well trained, ready and very capable. I have complete confidence in the forces under my command. We will work to ensure we bring the full power of the nation to bear on any foreign power that attempts to interfere in our processes. Thank you. As i said at the beginning, if we could stay on topic and also if you could when asking a question direct it to a specific person. And as always after we finish this part of the briefing ill be back to answer other questions on news of the day. John, go ahead. Sir, Director Coats, if i could direct a question to you. Let me take you back, if i could, to helsinki, the president seemed to indicate that he may believe Vladimir Putin when he says he doesnt didnt have any influence in the 2016 election. But what is your belief about the russian government involvement in meddling in 2016 . And if, as you say, russia continues to try to influence our electioral process, does tht mean nothing much came of the meeting . The relationship to the 2016 election, of course, none of us were in office at that particular time. But both the president , the Vice President , think everyone on this stage has acknowledged the fact the ica was a correct assessment of what happened in 2016. We have subsequently made the determination to make this a top priority. That that doesnt happen again. Were Throw Everything at it. Well be discussing that here today. Relative to my discussions with the president on whatever issue it is, those i do not go
public with that. So our focus here today is simply to tell the American People we acknowledge the threat. It is real. It is continuing. And were doing everything we can to have a legitimate election, that the American People can have trust in. In addition to that, it goes beyond the elections. It goes to russians intend. To undermine our values. Drive a wedge between our allies and do other nefarious things. And we are looking at that also. We are talking about elections, ensuring the American People clarify, so because both you and Director Wray said that russia continues to try to meddle in our elections they do. And influence voters. Are we talking about rogue russian individuals . Are we talking about the kremlin . I think you can both and even add to that, russia has used numerous ways in which they want to influence through media,
social media, through bots, through actors that they hire, through proxies, all of it is a bov and potentially more. I cant go into any deep details. Its pervasive. It is ongoing. With the intent to achieve their intent and that is drive a wedge and undermine our values. I have question for Director Wray. The Special Counsel mueller has indicted more than 20 russian officials based on work by the fbi. The president has tweeted that that investigation by the Special Counsel is a hoax and should be shut down. I know youve said you dont believe it is a hoax. Why would the American People believe what youre saying about the fbi when the president says that the investigation by the Special Counsel is a hoax and when the Press Secretary yesterday said there was a lot of corruption within the fbi, do
you have any response to those things coming from the white house . I can ensure the American People the menned an women of the fbi starting from the director all the way on down are going to follow our oaths and do our jobs. Thanks, sarah. I have a question for Director Coats. How would you characterize the efforts to meddle in the 2018 Election Readtive to 2016 . In general, is the pace of those operations in any way operative to 2014, 2012, or is it more intense . Relative to what weve seen for the midterm elections, it is not the type of Robust Campaign we assessed in the 2014 election. We know through decades theyve
tried to use propaganda to sew discord in america. They stepped up their game big time in 2016. Weve not seen that kind of robust effort from them so far. As i mentioned publicly, just a few weeks ago, were only one keyboard click away from finding out something that we dont havent seen up to this particular point in time. Right now, we have not seen that. Do you see it directed to any particular party . Is there any particular party benefiting from 2018 russian efforts . What we see are the russians are looking for every opportunity, regardless of party, regardless of whether or not it applies to the election, to continue their pervasive efforts to undermine our fundamental values. In the runup to ill try perhaps ambassador bolton can
weigh in as well. In the runup to the helsinki summit, officials, ambassadors to nato, to russia, said that the president would raise the issue of malign activity with President Putin. He didnt discuss that, at least at the press conference. Youre saying today the president has directed you to make the issue of election meddle ago priority. How do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers, and what the president has said about this issue . Im not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened in helsinki. Ill turn it over to the National Security director here to address that question. Yes, the issue was discussed and, in fact, President Putin said i thought at the press conference but certainly in the expanded bilateral meeting when the two leaders got together with their senior advisers, President Putin said the first issue that President Trump raised was Election Meddling. I guess the question is at the press conference, the president didnt highlight any of the malign activities you have and his advisers have. And so should americans believe that he is listening to you, your advice, or that he is going his own way when hes having meetings like he did with the president of russia . I think the president has made it abundantly clear to everybody who has responsibility in this area that he cares deeply about it and he expects them to do their jobs to their fullest ability and he supports them fully. I believe this is either for Director Coats or ill let either of you choose. Since social media was brought up, theres a recent facebook having just shut down some 32 accounts believed potentially to be from russia. Can you give us an idea . Is that a large amount . Is that a just kind of the tip of the iceberg . And then generally speaking with these social Media Companies,
facebook, twitter, instagram, how much have they progressed or have they not progressed in what you would like to see in terms of progress from 2016 and identifying the threat . So first, im not going to discuss any specific ongoing investigation. But what i will tell you is that activity of the sort youre describing is a good reflection of the fact we have to have a Public Private partnership in this particular threat. Thats why when i talked about our three pillers of the fbis Foreign Influence Task force, were spending so much of our effort trying to engage with the social media and Technology Companies because theres a very Important Role for them to play in materials of monitoring and, in effect, policing their own platforms. What we have to have happen, which started happening in a way thats more robust, more robust than before the 2016 election, were sharing with them actionable intelligence in a way that wasnt happening before. We understand better what they need. Theyre Sharing Information back
with us based on what they find. There are things they can do on their platforms voluntarily in terms of terms of use and things like that that the government doesnt have a role in. We learn things from them and we can use that to have our investigations be more effective. Weve got to keep Getting Better at it. I think thats what were seeing. Ambassador bolton, in your letter, you talk about ordering the closure of the dance lates in San Francisco and seattle. These are two tech hubs. What happened there that led you to do that . The purpose of expelling the russian individuals that were expelled was to send the signal to russia that their conduct in conducting a chemical weapons attack in Great Britain was unacceptable and this was the mode of retaliation designed to show we will not tolerate that
kind of activity on the territory of the United States or any of our allies. And we expel a lot of the people who we think had knowledge of it or had other activities in the United States that we considered unacceptable. This i guess would be for me, Secretary Nielsen or mr. Wray. The Meddling Campaigns seem to fall into two broad categories. The sort of Information Campaigns which challenge the information upon which americans use to make their determinations. And then the more physical interferences into the machinery of voting, tabulation of voting, voter rolls, the machinery that the states run. Can you guys describe what youre seeing specifically in the runup to this coming election, in both of those areas, do you worry more about one than the other . Do you have are there specific threats that maybe you cant even talk about, that you can say there have been specific threats in both of those
categories so that and how should americans process that, where were going to go to the polls in a few months . Should people be confident that when they pull the lever, theyre secure . Well, i think weve said this fairly consistently, that in the context of 2018, were not yet seeing the same kind of efforts to specifically target Election Infrastructure, you know, Voter Registration databases in particular. What we are seeing are the maligned Influence Operations, in effect, Information Warfare that weve talked about, and that didnt really thats a 24 7, 365 days a year phenomenon that doesnt turn necessarily on whether or not were in the middle of an election season or not. As Director Coats said, any moment is just a moment before, you know, the dial can be turned up one, much as we saw in 2016. Again, not in terms of affecting the vote count, but in terms of penetration of voter
registration databases or Something Like that. That, in turn, can be a vehicle for them to try to sow discord or undermine confidence. We have to make sure were pushing back on it, which is what were doing. Sarah. The way were splitting it, were all partnering together, but your question just shows a little bit of the division of labor so dhs is focused on the Election Infrastructure and support of state and locals that have the primary responsibility, and then we support the fbis efforts in countering for an influence. But with respect to the infrastructure piece, we have seen a willingness and capability on the part of the russians, and so were working very closely with state and locals to ensure were prepared this time around. Part of that is encouraging states to have this ability. Whatever happens, we want to assure americans the day after that their vote was counted and it was counted correctly. Regardless of what might happen, we will be prepared but we also want to make sure we have that auto ability. Secretary, will the government shut down october 1st affecting any of these efforts . What we have done, as you know, is in 2017, dhs designated Election Infrastructure a Critical Infrastructure sub sector so we prioritize efforts so any state that requests a as, et cetera, we will continue to prioritize in our budget, thank you. For the director, for the general, can you unpack a little more about what you said there . You said there was a question for the director and a question for the general. Can you give us a better sense of who specifically has been targeted . We know at least two senators have said theyve been targeted by hacking, by people impersonating government officials. Is it members of the senate, members of the house, is it democratic and republican campaigns . And then a separate question for the general. We follow procedure thats been agreed on some time ago. In terms of when we we see this type of information, it is processed through the leadership of the House Senate Chamber and then decimated to the member who was targeted. So we have taken that action and im not in a position to release those names. Would you support legislation imposing sanctions on russia now that youre saying they have, in fact, interfered . Or attempted to . We already had some of those a lot of sanctionings in place. I would support any efforts that we can collectively put together to send the signal to russia that there is a cost a price to pay for what theyre doing. If we want to have any kind of relationship whatsoever in dealing with things of mutual interest, the russianings have to stop doing what theyre doing or its simply not going to happen. General have you been ordered
at all to authorize or conduct any offensive Cyber Operations . My guidance and the directate is very clear. Were not going to accept meddling in the elections. Its very ambiguous. For the 13 russians that were indicted thank you all very much. We really appreciate you being here today. Well take a couple more questions on other topics today. Jill, go ahead. Thank you. I want to ask about the president s tweet on north korea. He is addressing kim jongun. He said, quote, i look forward to seeing you soon. Are there plans in place about a second meeting . Also, he said he received a letter from kim. What did the letter say . Did it address any of the reports that appeared to show that kim is not actually looking towards denuclearization . Thats a lot of questions rolled into one. Ill try to address each one. He did receive a letter. I believe he received it on august 1st. There is not a second meeting that is currently locked in. To chairman kims letter, the president has, and that letter will be delivered, and i cant get into further detail. The letters addressed i can say the letters addressed their commitment from their joint statement and that was made at the sing poor summit and theyre going to continue to work together. Can you address again, i cant go any further. Ivanka trump made two statements this morning at odds with position, of her father. She said the media are not the enemy of the people and called Family Separation at the border a low point. Certainly the president himself has stated that he doesnt like the idea of Family Separation. I dont think anybody does. We also dont like the idea of
open borders. We dont like the idea of allowing people into our country if we dont know who they are. The president wants to secure our borders which is why he has asked congress to fix fix the l. We havent been unclear about what our position is here. We want to secure the borders. We want to change the law. Its congress job to do that. Wed like them particularly democrats to stop playing political games and step up and do their jobs the president is frustrated. 90 of the coverage on him is negative despite the fact that the economy is booming, isis on the run and American Leadership is being reasserted Around The World. This week the media refused to recover his remarks in florida highlighting efforts on work force development. The pooler for the press said there was no news made despite the fact that the governor of the state joined with dozens of businesses to announce thousands of new jobs. That may not be news in washington, d. C. , but its news
in the state of florida that people that didnt have a job before this president took office have better opportunity and the opportunity to have a job moving forward. Thats actually real news and something that people in the state of florida and across this country appreciate and that was totally ignored. Not only that. Before a journalist on cnn claimed that the president hadnt taken questions in over a week despite the fact that same journalist in a live shot from the two and two press conference that the president had with the Prime Minister of italy moments after making that accusation. With this sort of misinformation and lack of interest that is so pervasive in the media, its completely understandable for the president to be frustrated. John decker, go ahead. Reporter sarah, i wanted to ask you about the Conference Call that took place yesterday involving u. S. china trade relations. Is there a timeline as to when or if the president may pull the trigger and impose harbor sanctions on china . Harsher tariffs on china . We are tocontinuing to monit that process. Reporter is the goal at the quickly, is the goal at the end of the day to get china back to the Negotiating Table the way they were at the Negotiating Table with American Trade officials just a few months ago . The goal at the end of the day is to end the unfair Trade Practice that china has engaged in for decades and that the administrations before this president have ignored. Reporter returning to the question of Election Security, the president has said other people also may have been involved in the efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. Do any of the people that we saw up here, has there been any evidence from the intelligence commute there were others besides russia involved in Election Meddling . There are others and we know that there are others that are considering Making Attempts in 2018 which is what our focus is
moving forward. As you know, none of us were here in 2016, but were here now and the individuals that were standing up here moments ago, the focus and the full weight of the government asked by the president directed by the president is to protect the election strzok in 2018 and moving forward, and thats exactly what we are going to do. Reporter who were the others that were involved i cant get into specific details, but our intelligence shows there are a number of others that are looking at and considering engaging particularly in 2018. Reporter you said that they are trying to help democrats. You suggested that the russians would be trying to help dpems n democrats in the midterm elections. Is there any evidence that the democrats are the russians are trying to help democrats in 2018 . I think you can see just from what took place over in the facebook. I know Director Wray wasnt at liberty to speak about the specifics and i cant get into a lot of them. I can tell you that a number of them were antipresintand that g
reasons. John. Reporter sarah sorry. I called you before. Go ahead. Reporter i wanted you to respond to the standard rule proposed by the administration today. The 20 states Attorney General who said they will sue this administration. This is part of their kmancompl. They say the health of our children, seniors, and community are at risk. It increases the rising cost of Climate Change for our states. The administrations response is what . That the reporting that were reversing obama era Fuel Efficiency Standards and presefr preempting the california standards is false. What the epa released was a notice of proposed rulemaking. Not a final rule. It lays out options for how to go forward with standards and the notice asked for comments on the range of options. We are opening it up for a Comment Period and will make a final decision the end of that. Reporter from 10 to 20 on the move of tariffs, what made the president say this is why i want to do it . Again the president s been clear he is holding chinas feet to the fire and he wants to stop the unfair Trade Practices. Reporter can i get a question . Sorry, ill come to you next. Reporter going back to Election Security, the other night in tampa the president mentioned voter independen. D. S. Issed administration looking at proposing a voter i. D. Law or pushing a voter i. D. Law . I am sorry. What was the last part of your question . There is a lot of feedback. Reporter the administration, as part of this Election Security, also looking to do a voter i. D. Law to push Something Like that through congress . We are doing everything we can to protect the 2018 elections. The integrity of those elections. Moving beyond 2018 to 2020 and after, we havent made a final decision, but certainly looking at every option available. Its not unreasonable. If i return something to a department store, if i have to cash a check, i have to show my i. D. In order to do those things. Its not outrageous that if you are going to vote to decide who the leaders of the local communities, state, and federal government are going to be, that you would be asked to show an i. D. Jim. Reporter i wanted to follow up on sarahs question from npr. She asked you about ivanka trumps statement that the press is not the enemy of the people, and she asked you whether or not the press is the enemy of the people. You read off a laundry list of your concerns about the press and things that you feel like are misreported, but you did not say that the press is not the enemy of the people. I think it would be a good thing if you were to say right here at this briefing that the press, the people who are gathered in this room right now, doing their jobs every day, asking questions of officials like the ones you brought forward earlier, are not the enemy of the people. I think we deserve that. If the president has made his position known, i also think its ironic reporter would you mind telling us im trying to answer your question. I politely waited. I said its ironic reporter which is why i interrupted. If you finish if you would not mind letting me have a followup, its fine. Its ironic, jim, not only you and the media attack the president for his rhetoric when they frequently lower the level of conversation in this country repeatedly. Repeatedly the media resorts to personal attacks without any content other than to incite anger. The media has attacked me personally on a number of occasions, including your own network. Said i should be harassed as a life sentence, that i should be schoeked. I. C. E. Officials are not welcomed and personal information is shared on the internet. When i was hosted by the correspondents association, you brought a comedian up to attack my appearance and called me a
traitor to my own gender. In fact, as i know as far as i know, i am the first Press Secretary in the history of the United States that required Secret Service protection. The media ratchets up the verbal assault against the president and everyone in this administration and certainly we have a role to play, but the media has a role to play for the discourse in this country as well. Reporter if i may follow up, excuse me, you did not say in the course of those remarks that you just made that the press is not the enemy of the people. Are we to take it from what you just said, we all get put through the ringer, we all get put in the meat grinder in this town, and you are no exception. I am sorry that happened to you. I wish that had not happened. But for the sake of this room, the people who are in this room, this democracy, this country, all of the people Around The World are watching what you are saying, sarah, and the white house for the United States of america, the president of the United States should not refer to us as the enemy of the people. His own daughter acknowledges that and all im asking you to do, sarah, is to acknowledge that right now and right here. I appreciate your passion. I share it. I have addressed this question. I have addressed my personal feelings. I am here to speak on behalf of the president. He has made his comments clear. Reporter the National Archives told the Senate Judiciary chairman today they probably arent going to be able to finish up the Document Direction regarding Brett Kavanaugh until october. Thats obviously later than the timetable i know you guys and Senate Republicans are hoping for. Any comment on that or any potential assistance the white house can give the archives . We want to be as helpful as possible. Several senators have stated there will be up to and over a million pages of documents to review, including over 300 judicial opinions. His documents, a Staff Secretary tell us the least about his judicial thinking than the million pages from his other