The embattled judge is at the white house today, trying to save his bid for the high court. Democrats are calling for the fbi to reopen kavanaughs background investigation, but earlier the president claimed the fbi does not want to do that. I dont think the fbi really should be involved because they dont want to be involved. If they wanted to be, i would certainly do that, but as you know they say this is not really their thing. But i think politicallyspeaking the senators will do a very good job. They really will. Theyre going to open it up and they will do a very good job. This is kavanaughs second day at the white house. Yesterday he was there for nine hours in a war room, personally reaching out to lawmakers. And as of now he is expected to be back on the hill on monday to answer their questions in person, a hearing thats also expected to include the woman who is accusing kavanaugh of attempted sexual assault, College Professor dr. Christine ford. Ford says kavanaugh attacked her back in the 1980s when they were both in high school. Kavanaugh unequivocally denies the allegations. And though the hearing is scheduled for monday, there are still a lot of doubts about whether or not that will happen. But if it does, our question is would anything that is said in front of the Judicial Committee change the course of kavanaughs confirmation. I would think if the incident occurred as she described it, that would be disqualifying. Thats why were having this hearing. So our big question is, what would lawmakers have to hear at mondays hearing to disqualify kavanaugh . Joining me, White House Reporter for the washington post, ashley parker. Associated press White House Reporter jonathan lemire, both msnbc political analysts. From capitol hill, senior Political Writer jake sherman. And New York Times executive editor jill abe ramson. She coauthored the book strange justice. The selling of justice thomas. Ashley, where does the president stand on this nomination . Hes been a little more muted in his response to kavanaugh and what is going on than we normally expect him to be. Youre right. The president s inclination and the white house inclination generally is to support judge kavanaugh and to fight for his nomination, and thats what were seeing. Lets keep in mind this is a president who almost reflexively defends powerful men against accusations of sexual impropriety by women on an almost kneejerk visceral level and very forcefully, and we have not seen this with judge kavanaugh. He has been supportive of him. He has always been supportive of the process. He has been open to it playing out. It is notable that he has not met with him personally yet, as you mentioned. Kavanaugh was at the white house for hours yesterday, wanting to fight this, wanting to be forceful, seeking reassurances and our understanding is some of the president s aides worked to keep the president separate from him. I think at the end of the day, again, he wants this to go through, he wants this appointment but he feels no particular affinity for kavanaugh. It is not like their longteam personal friends, and if for some reason it makes sense to cut him, i think the president would be willing to do that. Youre right he is gun shy in defending kavanaugh because of what happened with roy moore. Roy moore ended up losing to doug jones in the alabama contest for the senate. Is he gun shy because he doesnt want to back somebody who might lose a confirmation process or is he gun shy because of the allegations against kavanaugh . I think it is a combination of both. If you talk to people in the white house, they sort of say they dont quite know how the hearing, the testimony on monday will go. They say it is a question of credibility. Do you believe his version or do you believe her version . I think the president right now is fairly reticent to tie his own clout and his own credibility to that of judge kavanaugh. It is not that he doesnt want to support him, but he doesnt want to get too intertwined. Again, it is a man he likes, it is a man he nominated, but theres not a deep, personal affinity. So he is not going to go to the mat for someone who he thinks could lose or who he thinks the public sentiment might turn against or new information might emerge against. What is going on with the white house, john . You have Kellyanne Conway yesterday saying there should be a hearing. Mercedes schlapp saying the same thing, she is confident kavanaugh will be confirmed but at the same time there should be a hearing to hear this accuser out. Is this a maneuver by the white house in order to tread carefully because of the allegations in the moment were living in, or is this genuine desire to hear from a victim . I think i ask about that because weve seen the president has been accused a number of times in the past, and those women that have accused him have been completely disqualified or brushed over from these same sorts of supporters like Kellyanne Conway, et cetera, and also the president s support of doug jones despite all of the accusers that came out against him. Im sorry, roy more right, doug jones, opponent. The accusers were categorically called liars by this white house and the president , saying theres no chance those things were true, even at some point saying the women werent attractive enough for him to hit on. We are seeing a different approach here, and i think it is a reflection of the bind the white house finds itself in. Theres interest in the building to support kavanaugh and make sure it gets through, partially because if they have to withdraw the nomination or kavanaugh bows out and they have to renominate someone, it is not going to go through before the mid terms. The mid terms will go poorly for the republicans and then the democrats will have a problem with Merrick Garland. If they push too hard for kavanaugh, theres a sense that women voters, particularly suburban women voters this party desperately needs in the mid terms and the president has lost a lot of their support already and theyre fearful of going too far out there. His instinct, as ashley said, wants to go out there and support kavanaugh, and he was talked off the ledge a little bit and said let it play out. He did, he has given support to his nominee but in a more measured way than were used to. Lets get to the big question. What would lawmakers have the hear at mondays hearing, if mondays hearing happens at all, for them to disqualify kavanaugh, in order for kavanaughs confirmation not to go through . It is tough to say. I mean kavanaugh is unusually a lot of people on the hill were talking about this this morning, unusually dug in, saying theres no way that the situation that she is describing ever happened. So you have two people claiming completely die metrically Different Things and it is unlikely based on what we know about human nature for one of them to buckle and say, actually, i was wrong. I want to make one point here on the white house angle of this. This nomination is on President Trump. Mitch mcconnell, according to an abundance of reporting from almost every outlet, did not want Brett Kavanaugh to be the nominee to the supreme court, but the white house pushed him and donald trump nominated him. Again, a white house that has had trouble in the past understanding capitol hill and listening to people like Mitch Mcconnell who have been in this game for 30 and 40 years. So this whole mess, if the president had listened to Mitch Mcconnell, could have been avoided. Im not saying im not intimating Mitch Mcconnell knew about this. Im saying he didnt want Brett Kavanaugh for a number of reasons. He had a long record that could be picked apart quite easily. Just because if Brett Kavanaugh gets through, it is not going to save donald trump. I mean donald trump is the person who selected Brett Kavanaugh against the wishes of others. Yeah. Jill, lets talk about the similarities between today and 1991. What was going on with anita hill and Clarence Thomas. Three of the same republican lawmakers im sorry, lawmakers that were on the committee back then are on the Judicial Committee again. Senator patrick leahy, who did not vote for vote to confirm Clarence Thomas, but then oren hatch and chuck grassley, who did. I want to play for you just go back in time for a moment and listen to the way oren hatch was talking about anita hill while she was alleging Inappropriate Conduct by Clarence Thomas and what he is now saying about Brett Kavanaughs accuser. Senator, her testimony, she seems very credible, highly intelligent. It didnt plant any seed of doubt in your mind . Yes, there were lots of seed of doubt in my mind from her testimony. About Clarence Thomas . No, i know Clarence Thomas. I have known him for 11 years. Do you think that this in any way is going to derail his nomination . No. Hes a straightshooting, honest guy. I think when people listen to him, theyll know that hes all right. And im not opposed to anita hill. I think it is apparent that she believes what she is saying. Reporter do you think that any of these claims are legitimate . No, i dont. I think that i think this woman, whoever she is, is mixed up. Sounds pretty similar back then to today, jill. It does. It sounds woefully similar. And oren hatch was part of a very determined backthen republican minority of senators who just from the moment anita hill began to testify what is judge kavanaughs and i was sitting in that hearing room in 1991, and i mean they hurled everything they could at her to destroy her credibility. Oren hatch sent lawyers who work for him on the Judiciary Committee into the bowels of the d. C. Libraries to come up with passages from the exorcist that he claimed anita hill had blame ris plagiarized from. It was really a disgusting display of the lowest political tactics. Just hearing senator hatch say that woman almost sent chills down my spine, and it makes you have to think, yes, were now in the socalled me too moment. We have 23 women senators now there were only two back in 1991 during the hill thomas hearings. But these hearings, if they happen on monday, you know, a huge test for the senate Judiciary Committee and whether, you know, they can have a fair process. Anita hill herself has called for a fair process and a thorough investigation, but the Judiciary Committee is not an investigative body. It is a political body. And while the president may be somewhat restrained in his approach so far, there are conservative republicans who are determined to do whatever it takes to muscle through this judicial confirmation for Brett Kavanaugh, and i really i worry about what dr. Ford is going to face when she walks into the hearing room. Lets talk about the makeup of congress. You said that there were only two women senators in 1991, none of whom were on the Judicial Committee back when anita hill was testifying. No, it was all white men. It was all white men. And on the republican side in today in 2018, it is all white men. Again, there are no women in the senate on the Judiciary Committee. But look at this. As of today, there are only 19. 6 of women in the house of representatives. 23. 2 in the senate are women. According to the Interparliamentary Union that ranks the u. S. Well below nearly all of our close allies as well as countries like the sudan i mean, listen, we are we dont have equal representation as in women. I am a woman, so we dont have equal representation in congress. How do you think that that is going to affect things, jill, going through with these if these hearings go through or the hearing goes through on monday . Well, the pressure is most intense i think for monday on dianne feinstein. She was elected, after all, in 1992 to the senate on a wave of anger among women who were disgusted by how anita hill had been treated in those hearings. It was the socalled year of the woman in 1992, and, of course, senator feinstein is who dr. Ford, along with her house representative who she sent her letter to. And, you know, feinstein is under a lot of scrutiny right now for whether she should have been more proactive once she saw this letter. She said she was preserving dr. Fords confidentiality. But, you know, she is the ranking democrat on that committee, and if the republicans begin to use low tactics and attack dr. Fords character as part of an attempt to undermine her credibility, the democrats must go into that hearing with a strategy of what theyre going to do. Because even when they were in the majority during the Anita Hill Clarence thomas hearings, they had no strategy at all. The republicans went in, oren hatch among them, determined to save Clarence Thomass nomination and they did. We should also add this. We got a note from the spokesman for the judiciary chairman, chuck grassley, saying that he and his staff have already begun conducting interviews of witnesses ahead of mondays scheduled hearing. According to grassleys staff, feinstein senator feinstein has and her staff have declined to participate in the interviewing of witnesses. Well surely hear more about that soon. Guys, we are still waiting for the president to come out and have that bilateral press conference where reporters will hopefully ask him not just about kavanaugh but about the declassification of those documents related to the russia investigation. So wait with us as we wait for this. In the meantime though lets take a very short break. Stay with us. This isnt just any moving day. This is moving day with the best inhome wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. Again, were still waiting on that News Conference with the president , but meanwhile a move that could further intensify divisions between the president and the nations Law Enforcement apparatus, donald trump has ordered intelligence officials to declassify documents related to the russia investigation. The white house has called for the release of portions of the fisa warrant that authorized surveillance of former Campaign Adviser carter page, and theyve instructed the Justice Department to make unredacted Text Messages of several highlevel officials public. Among those on that list, former fbi director james comey and former Deputy Director andrew mccabe. The president s attorney, jay sekulow, claims the declassified documents even though he hasnt seen them will be eyeopening. I suspect what theyre going to find, that this was a not only is it a rigged investigation as some people have called it, but that it may be much, much worse than that. This would raise not only serious legal issues, but the illegality of what was going on here, and if thats the basis for the entire inquiry i think it raises a new host of serious issues that have to be addressed at the forefront of why we have an enkwiry going on. Between that and the fisa declassification, i suspect the American People will see soon, are going to be in for a real awakening as to what was going on. Hold on to this discussion for a moment. We want to go to Mitch Mcconnell real fast, talking live right now. And im sure hell be here as well. So far dr. Fords lawyer has refused to respond to invitations to participate in a bipartisan process, which is traditional in judicial nominations, either responding to the staff for an interview or even the invitation to come testify on monday. But we certainly hope that she takes advantage of this opportunity if she still would like to. If she would prefer to do this in a lossclosed setting, thats choice, but weve offered her basically an open or closed setting. But, again, to reiterate waleeder mcconnell, the point he made, we wouldnt find ourselves, nor would dr. Ford find herself in this situation if senator feinstein hadnt sat on this letter she has had since july, said nothing about it during the course of the hearing for judge kavanaugh, and now raising it at this late date. But we believe that the process of confirming judges should continue to be bipartisan. Were hopeful that our democratic colleagues will join us in making sure that we can restore some dignity and civility and decorum to the process rather than just have another repetition of what we saw during judge kavanaughs earlier hearing, which is basically having a judiciary hearing by mob rule. We only got the end of what senator Mitch Mcconnell said but i can reiterate it for you. He said the democrats not participating, i guess, in the witness interviews or trying to delay the process of this hearing is all just a political tactic, and he wants to have a fair hearing for judge kavanaugh. We will come back to this conversation, but lets go back to the one we were having before that, and that was about the declassification of documents related to the russia probe. Joining me, reporter deny delaney and the Vice President of National Security at third way, mika oyang. Let me put up what sort of things the president is declassifying. 21 pages of fisa warrant documents to surveilled carter page. We know thats been a big talking point among republicans. And almost this, another big talking point, Text Messages related to all of these individuals in the russia investigation, andrew mccabe, bruce ohr, lisa page, peter strzok and james comey, unredacted Text Messages. What is the intention here, ken . Look, clearly the intention is political. It is an outrage, katie, because donald trump is the subject of this investigation and yet he has Oversight Authority and is able to order around the people investigating him. But there is some good news today, katie. As i have been reporting on this and talking to intelligence officials, intelligence officials are perceiving this order to allowing them to conduct a declassification review. Even though the president has the ultimate Declassification Authority and he could make it public tomorrow, they are hoping at least that they will be allowed the review all of these materials and essentially get one last crack at saying, hey, some of this stuff is too sensitive, sir, we cant release it. So theyre acting as if thats going to happen. Weve seen this kind of resistance elsewhere in the government, like for example when the pentagon took Donald Trumps order banning transgender soldiers and said we will take it under advisement, we will work on our own process. That looks like what is happening in the intelligence community. Look, the people i talked to inside the intelligence agencies are deeply disturbed by the idea that, first, a president would overrule their idea of what is sensitive and require them to make it public, and, second, he has a conflict of interest. Devin nunes who has been driving the process has openly stated it is about politics, the fall election and arguing to his base that the democrats have corrupted the fbi. Jay sekulow openly saying a moment ago, we just played a bit of it, that what these documents will show is that this is a rigged witch hunt according to sekulow. But hes openly saying this is politically motivated, politically motivated, not motivated in the interest of any sort of National Security concerns or in the interests of being transparent with the american public. They are using this, mika, to try to undermine the entire investigation. Thats right. And what you saw on capitol hill was a very Strong Defense by pete strzok about the unbiassed nature of the fbi investigation. Look, they cant argue the facts in this case. They cant argue that the russians were trying very hard to get as close to the Trump Campaign as possible. So theyre coming up with these allegations of bias by looking at peoples personal, political views and their concern that was shared widely in a bipartisan fashion about donald trump becoming president before the election to claim that it was somehow biassed against him, when weve seen in the reviews of the Inspector General and the testimony of fbi agents that wasnt the case. When you look at the record of convictions that mueller has put together, it is very hard to argue that this is a rigged witch hunt when were coming up with so many people who have admitted so much wrong doing. You told us a little bit earlier by making arguments about bias at the source, the president and his republican allies are basically conceding that the russians were trying to get close to the campaign. Guys, for give me, but were going to have to put this conversation on hold one more time because Mitch Mcconnell is taking questions. Reporter meetings with members of the Judiciary Committee on this topic and how well forge ahead here. That said, that would indicate in your mind the fact that youre having big meetings this nomination is in trouble. We know you only have a 5149 majority here. Are you concerned that this could tank this nomination regardless of whats true or not in this case . No, im not concerned about tanking the nomination. Weve been meeting with the committee to agree to a process that is fair to the woman who is accusing here, that everybody can agree is a fair process. And the committee has agreed to do it the way i just outlined. I think that gives her ample opportunity to express her point of view, and judge kavanaugh, of course, has been anxious for days to discuss the matter as well. Thank you. Well, that certainly was quick. Mitch mcconnell taking questions from reporters. The Brett Kavanaugh hearings and what will or will not happen with the accuser, christine ford, at the top of conversations among republicans, among democrats, at the white house as well. Again, we should remind you that Brett Kavanaugh is at the white house right now. It is the second day hes been at the white house, in something of a war room, trying to strategize on how to save his nomination. Presumably he is with don mcgahn, the white house counsel, the man who has ushered him through this process. And also, guys, we have this other bit of news, the president having a bilateral News Conference with the president of poland, andrzej duda. We are waiting for the president to come out there. We believe that a reporter or two will ask some questions about kavanaugh or potentially about the declassification of those documents. Jill abramson and jake sherman are still with us. Jake, i want to go to you. What do you make of the republicans saying the democrats are not playing fairly here . A lot of folks might bring up Merrick Garland in that regard. I think it is a fair thing to bring up. It is the last Big Supreme Court situation that mcconnell had to deal with. I just want to comment on what mcconnell just said here, which is very important. Mcconnell is oftentimes falls back on process, so he cant guarantee what hes saying if you read between the lines. It is, were going to set up this hearing, here are the outlines and the parameters and the chips are going to fall where they may. He cannot engineer an outcome. He can only engineer a process, which is important to think about because it is almost a takes tacit acknowledgement he doesnt know where the whole situation could go. I think it is important as we get closer to monday. Presumably there will be an open hearing. And we just saw Vice President pence walk into the east room along with Sarah Huckabee sanders, secretary of state mike pompeo, and i believe that is National Security adviser bolton sitting there as well. Lets bring in the executive editor of share blue jess mackintosh. She was formerly an add visor for Hillary Clintons campaign, and an msnbc contributor josh. Jess, you think that both sides are underestimating the anger of women right now . Yeah, i think both both parties need to know it is incandescent out there. We are almost to the week 27 years after the anita hill hearings, and we have the opportunity to go back and treat a woman with respect, by designation treating women with respect. Obviously theres an admitted sexual predator in the white house, we have a man accused of Sexual Harassment sitting on the court as a lifetime appointment to the nations highest court that makes some of the most intimate decisions about a woman that could possibly be made. So you cannot put too much weight on how closely we are watching this. We are getting close because First Lady Melania Trump has walked in along with the first lady of poland. John, ill give the last word to you. The word is allegation. There is an allegation. It is not a fact, it is not proved. It is unsubstantiated, and we do not rule people guilty until they are proved guilty. So what do you want to see at the hearing on monday . I think they both need to testify and we need to then adjudicate which one is more credible. What do you think she would need to say or he would need to say in order to change the course of Brett Kavanaughs nomination . It is impossible to say. I think i really think that there has to be more people to come forward to say that he did something similar to what she says he the to her for him to back down. So could he not i mean are you arguing that he could it cant be true if it only happened to one woman . No, im not saying that. Im saying in the case of a he said she said situation, this is a political process, not a legal process, but in the courtroom the prepond rans of preponderan but this is not a courtroom. Well get back to this discussion. Here is the president of poland and President Trump. Today im very honored to host the president of poland, a friend of mine, president duda, and mrs. Duda. Thank you very much for being here. A great honor. It is lovely to have you at the white house. We spent some time in the oval office and we accomplished a lot. Melania and i are deeply grateful for the incredible welcome the president and mrs. Duda gave us in warsaw, poland last year. It was a very exceptional day. Extraordinary. It is wonderful to have them both with us in washington today. Thank you very much, mr. President. During my visit last summer i had the privilege to stand before the monument to the warsaw uprising and address the people of poland about our shared commitment to defending our heritage and our civilization. It was an experience i will always treasure and i will never, ever forget. Not far from where we stand today another monument in another square, the statue of general kosiyusko in Lafayette Park reminds us that the bonds between our people go all the way back to americas revolutionary war. This year the United States and poland are celebrating 100 years of poland regaining its independence and nearly 100 years of u. S. polish diplomatic ties. It is a long time. Im thrilled to say that the alliance between our nations has never been stronger with you and i at the helm. Do you agree with that . Thank you, mr. President. Im glad he said yes. In our discussions yes. This afternoon, president duda and i agreed to bolster our robust defense ties. We will enhance cooperation in military relations, intelligence, missile defense, technology and training. Im proud to report that poland has recently purchased a stateoftheart Patriot Missile system which is a great system. We make the greatest military equipment by far anywhere in the world. It is made right here in the usa. We are grateful for polands leadership on defense spending and burden sharing in nato. I want to commend poland for meeting its nato defense spending obligations, and i am glad that it plans to increase spending beyond the 2 minimum obligation. Thank you very much for that. I would like to share my gratitude to the people of poland for their contributions to natos Resolute Support mission in afghanistan and the coalition to defeat isis. Weve made tremendous progress with respect to the defeat of isis, as you have seen. We also understand that you cant have National Security without border security, both poland and the United States understand that strong nations must have very strong borders. The president and i likewise are exploring opportunities to advance Energy Security. The United States and poland are deeply committed to Energy Diversity all across europe. No nation should be dependent upon a single foreign supplier of energy. Poland has worked tirelessly to increase Energy Independence nationally and across central europe. It is constructing a new pipeline, the highest technology, from norway to poland, and it recently built a Liquified Natural Gas import facility. Last year the United States was proud to send its first export of lng to poland, and soon our nations will launch a highlevel Diplomatic Exchange on Energy Security. Mr. President , we are now as of a few months ago the largest producer of energy in the world. So that was thats a big statement. President duda, i also just want to talk to you about the three summit where leaders were working hard to increase market access, reduce energy trade barriers, which is something we have to get done with respect to the european union, the trade barriers. They make it very difficult for the United States. And to strengthen Energy Independence. The United States firmly supports these goals and we are eager to expand commercial ties all across the region of europe. In our meeting today the president and i discussed our bilateral economic relationship at length. Poland has experienced more than a quarter of a century of uninterrupted economic growth, which is a very big statement. Very few can say that. We look forward to further enhancing trade, investment and commerce between our two great nations. My administration is committed to realizing a future of prosperity and opportunity for all americans. This month we celebrated the highest Employment Level in u. S. History. We are right now employing more people. We have more workers in the United States than at any time ever in u. S. History. I look forward to partnering with president duda as we grow our economies together. Mr. President , thank you for joining me today. Poland has chosen its place among the free and independent nations of the world and is a loyal ally and Strategic Partner of the United States, and we greatly appreciate that. We welcome the next 100 years of friendship between our two nations. Mr. President , thank you very much. Thank you. It is your kplrns, distinguished mr. President and distinguished ladies and gentlemen, i am delighted that in this year it is so important to poland, the year of poland regaining its independence. We celebrate our 100th anniversary of it. I am able to be hosted here, that i am at the state of the president of the United States at white house at washington. And also from this perspective, from the perspective of the centennial of poland regaining its independence, this fact is of huge importance for poles, those live in poland and those living abroad, especially the ten million poles living in the United States, this is of huge symbolic importance. One reason for that is that the matter of polish independence was one of the important points of the policy of the u. S. President wilson. It was precisely president wilson before 1918, he was the one who put polish independence on his agenda, on the agenda of his policy. That happened among others thanks to a great polish composer and musician, but it is a fact that poles experienced back then a lot of good from the United States and from the president of the United States because there are no other words to describe the fact that that great state indicated to poland and defined poland as a country who should be reinstated back on the map of europe and the map of the world, and it was reinstated on that map 100 years ago in 1918. I am absolutely delighted that today as polish president i can be here at washington, sit at the same table with the president of the United States and sign an agreement which is deepening our Strategic Partnership and renewing that Strategic Partnership. Im talking here about the agreement on the strategy partnership. Such agreement was signed in 2008 by our countries. Back then it was signed by the ministers of foreign affairs, and take this renewed version, the version which has been updated because a lot has changed over the ten years, this renewed version of the Strategic Partnership was signed personally by myself and president donald trump, and i would like to express my deep gratitude to you, mr. President , for that fact. This agreement indicates the most important aspect of our cooperation and our friendship. It also sets new paths for the future. The paths of tightening our defense cooperation, military cooperation, tightening our cooperation in the area of security and energy business, tightening our cooperation in the broadlyunderstood sphere of business, also in the aspect of the alreadymentioned cooperation as part of the three Cs Initiative to which mr. President has just alluded. I came here to washington right from the summit of the three Cs Initiative, the First Business forum organized as part of the three Cs Initiative. The United States was present there as the partner of the three cs, and thank you, mr. President , for that. Thank you for posting your representatives to that meeting. And all of the leaders who held their speeches there said in a very clear way about the need and hope for cooperation with the United States of america regarding the renewal and building of a new infrastructure, road infrastructure, railway infrastructure, energy infrastructure, both concerning electricity and the transmission of gas in central europe, along the north south axes, referring to the area between the Baltic States through poland, the czech republic, slovakia, hungary, bulgaria, romania, all the way down to the black sea. And then croatia and slovenia to the adriatic sea. This is the space in which we want to cooperate. This is the space in which we want to develop cooperation with the United States, also as far as providing Energy Security is concerned. Today we talked at length about this with mr. President. We also discussed threats to Energy Security in europe, to the possible diversification of supplies. Without any doubt, such a huge biggest threat right now is posed by the construction of nord stream two gas pipeline. We discussed at length about this with mr. President. I presented him the situation as it is. Unfortunately, we have to be clear and say both from the german side and the russian side this construction has already been started. There is still some formalities going on connected with that laying of the pipes at the bottom of the baltic sea. However, this investment without any doubt threatens Energy Stability of europe and without any doubt it also threatens polish Energy Security because it is a threat, there is a threat of rationed energy domination, especially when russia mentions it is going to build more pipelines, nord stream three, nord stream four. This threat of absolute russian domination in europe in terms of gas deliveries is obvious. What are the result of such . We were able to see it ourselves a couple of years ago in ukraine, sudden interruption of supplies. Of course, it had nothing to do with economic factors. It was connected only and exclusively with political blackmail. It was a fact. And it is obvious that today we are making efforts and we are going to go to any lengths to protect ourselves from that. That is why we decided to construct an lng terminal. That is also why we decided to receive the lng gas from the United States. Im really glad that we have concluded such contracts. I am glad that American Companies are right now delivering lng to poland, and this precisely is a very important element of diversification of gas supplies to our country, and i firmly believe that thanks to the lng gas terminal, thanks to expanding its capacities as far as the annual quantities of gas are concerned, we are not only going to realize and safeguard our own energy needs, but i also hope we will be able to transmit gas further to our neighbors through the development of the three Cs Initiative area through construction of interconnectors. These issues were raised by us during our talks today with mr. President. Last but not least, opening up to business. We would like to invite American Business to poland. There are better and better investment possibilities. Pole wrand is experiencing a very dynamic growth. Of course, there are companies from the United States which have been present in the polish market for many, many years like General Electric which right now is implementing a Huge Investment concerning Energy Sector in poland, conventional energy such as construction of the owslo cut two, a plan that s a big contract, a plan of almost a billion dollars. We want to invite to poland all businesspeople, those who have huge economic projects here and who have got huge possibilities of investment, but we would also like to invite smaller ones. Poland is a big european country. I believe it is an interesting partner where the United States and the u. S. Business is very much welcome, and i want to assure you, ladies and gentlemen, of that. There is also a perspective of developing your activity through poland to include the three cs countries, and this is something that we have been working on as pa part of the three seas initiative. We want to ensure also the communication possibilities and we also want to increase the opportunities for economic cooperation. We want also Business Partners from the u. S. To join our project. There are going to be a lot of communication, trafficrelated investments in our part of europe. We would like to invite American Businesses to come because i believe that this opens up an opportunity for making joint business. Ladies and gentlemen, all of that is connected, of course, with the issue of military security. Im hugely delighted with the presence of u. S. Armed forces in the polish territory. I am deeply satisfied with the decisions that were taken by warsaw native summit in 2016 where the presence of the military forces of nato in poland was guaranteed. Im also happy we have in poland american soldiers as part of our bilateral agreements, but i would like to invite you, mr. President , to post more american troops to poland. We believe that the presence of the United States is a guarantor of security in our part of europe. We ourselves want to invest further. We want to modernize polish armed forces. Mr. President trump mentioned the socalled air Defense System that includes the purchase of Patriot Missiles. We are implementing the Largest Military investment so far as far as the polish armed forces are concerned over the last 30 years. We want to implement more projects. We want to buy more equipment. We also want to cooperate in the area of development as regards military technology. Im convinced that this cooperation between poland and the United States will go on smoothly. I hope that mr. President will make a decision to deploy to poland more u. S. Units together with equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, i was smiling when talking to mr. President. I said that i would very much like for us to set up a permanent american bases in poland, which we would call fort trump, and i firmly believe that this is possible. I am convinced that such a decision lies both in the polish interests as well as in the interests of the United States. Poland is an attractive country and first and foremost it has a very important strategic location in europe, and im convinced that further interests of the United States, also pertaining to the security of the United States itself, the presence of the u. S. Armed forces in our country is important also to protect american interests. Mr. President , once again, thank you very much for this meeting. Thank you, once again, for this joint declaration that we are able to sign today. Thank you for also adding this new splendor to the centennial of poland gaining its independence and to the tenth anniversary of our Strategic Partnership. Thank you. A tremendous amount of lng will be exported to poland. Were giving them a pretty good price, but theyre buying a lot of it and thats going to be great. I do want to say that while were together, tremendous effort and bravery is being shown in north carolina, south carolina, virginia and the area that was so horribly hit by hurricane florence. I just got some clips of some of the things that the coast guard is doing in getting people to safety, and horrible, horrible conditions. I want to just salute all of the people that are working so hard, first responders, Law Enforcement, the military, fema. The job theyre doing is incredible. It is incredible. So i just want to thank them very much. And i think what well do is well take our first question from emerald robinson of one america news. Emerald. Reporter thank you, mr. President. So news today of a plane, a russian plane shot down over syria. Russia is assigning the blame to israel, even though it was accidentally shot down by syrian forces. Clearly things are heating up. Theres concerns by many americans, most americans that we might be involved in a war in syria soon. You had hoped to bring troops home, but clearly things are changing. What do you tell clearly things changing. What do you tell people today about a possible war in syria . Well, i just heard about the incident you have mentioned, emerald, and it sound to me and it seems to me, just like based on a review of the facts that syria shot down a russian plane and i understand about 14 people were killed at least and thats a very sad thing. But to thats what happens, but syria, according to early reports, thats subject to change, but that syria shot down a russian plane. So thats not a good situation. We have done a tremendous job in syria and in that region, eradicating isis, which is why were there, and we were very close to being finished with that job and then were going to make a determination as to what were going to do. But we have eradicated isis at a very large area of the middle east. These are people that will not be coming here. Because theyre not around any longer. So weve done in a very short period of time, our Vice President is here, mike pence, our great secretary of state, who really, thank you very much for the great job you are do, mike pompeo, and we have been working very hard on this and kweef do weve done an incredible job over there, well be looking at that. Do you have a question for the president . Certainly, you asked President Trump if he would consider a base the poland. Also that relates to russia. What would you say or how did the president respond to your position to have a Permanent Base from america in poland and then also do you currently have concerns over the u. S. Russia relationshi relationship . Well, of course, of course, i told mr. President about all the aspects connected with the permanent prisons of the u. S. Armed force, but first and foremost, i assured mr. President of one thing, first and foremost, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot say that if there are Permanent Bases of the u. S. Armed forces in poland, we will see a duration of security because that will lead to an increased russian activity and an increased militarization of this part of europe by russia. I want to say it clearly, ladies and gentlemen, very strong militarization of, for instance, it has taken place more than ten years now. It is the reality we live in right now today. As far as russian aggressive behavior is concerned as far as recent military activities serving, including increasing of the militarization, russia has been conducting such activities in a systematic way and for the first time we are able see that in a materialized what i if georgia, if 2008, when the president of poland took out our european leaders and they when to the tblisi to stop russian tanks about to attack the exam of georgia. From that moment the military expansion has been developing. Its another leg was an attack on ukraine and today we can see an illegal annexation of crimea. Today we are witnessing constant violation of International Law in dopblesk and the possibility to defend because let me reiterate again it is only about security and defense of the part of europe that is the free world. This is the most critical issue right now from our perspective. From the perspective of central and Eastern European countries and we are spring our voice on this one generally. That that is why we wanted to reinstate the presence of the United States force and our nato presence as well, of course, mr. President , his staff, advisers and the pittsburghs staff have to consider all these issues but there is a whole range of argument which are if favor of the fact that a persons of the u. S. Armed forces in this area is absolutely justified today, that is due to the protection of the interests of the United States as well. So i am absolutely convinced of this one because today, unfortunately, we are seeing International Law being violated. Today we are seeing aggressive behaviors and i am convinced na there is no and more effective method of preventing a war than a decisive stance demonstrating that we are ready at any moment to repel a possible attack. And at presence also means deterrence at the same time. I am convince thad when we have a Strong Military pregnancy in this part of europe, whether its a potential threat and there will be no war happening ever. That the president said, he said it publicly, he would pay the United States, poland would be paying billions of dollars for a base. We are looking at that more and more from the standpoint of defending really wealthy countries and not being reimbursed, paid, its one thing when we defend countries that cant defend themselves and theyre great people and we should help them, we dont expect anything for. That but when we are defending immensely wealthy countries and theyre not paying for the defense to the United States, theyre only taking advantage of us and we are in discussions with numerous countries all of whom you know about payment, payment and we get along with them very well, but its not fair. That includes nato. As you know i got 44 become additional last year, where they paid additional. Can you speak to secretary general staltenburg, who is the head of nato and he said hes never seen anything like it. This year we did even better. But when a country is the very wealthy and when the United States has been protecting them for many years at tremendous cost, costs like nobody in this room would believe, its time that they help with we call it burden sharing and they will do that. But the president offered us much more than 2 billion to do this and so were looking at it. Were looking at it from the standpoint of, number one, military protection, for both countries and also cost. A term you dont hear too often and you havent heard too often over the last 25 years. But thats the way it has to be. Thank you very much. Would you like to have a question, please . Polish press agency. I got a president to President Trump. Do you share the conviction which we have just heard a minute ago expressed by president duda concerning that threat which is posed to the region but not only to the region by russia and do you also share the view that permanent american bases in poland are justified not only due to the security of the countries in our region but also due to the security of the United States . I actually think its a very aggressive situation. I think russia has acted aggressively. They respect force. They respect strength as anyone does, and we have the greatest strength in the world, especially now. We were being depleted under the last administration. We had planes that were old and tired and didnt fly in some cases. They were getting used parts. This is the United States, it doesnt happen. We make the greatest planes in the world and missiles in the world and we have enhanced, to put it mildly, our military. Its literally being rebuilt as we speak with literally hundreds and hundreds of planes and missiles and everything that you can imagine. They never had it so good. Because i got in congress 700 billion this year, 716 billion last year. Thats far more than they ever anticipated. I viewed it two ways. Number one military, because its always more important than anything else, including jobs. But number two is jobs. We make everything here, so its hundreds of thousands of jobs, to make for us the best military in the world. Russia respects that. They respect that. So i am, i am with the president. I feel that hes right. And i feel that, look, you look at the history of poland and russia, thats a long and very complicated history, so certainly has a right to feel that way. Oka okay. Mr. President. I have a question to president duda. After the meeting that you have had today at the white house, do you have the feeling that the probably of polish expectations concerning permanent american prisons in our country are closer to being implementare they going to be a fact . Ladies and gentlemen, today myself and mr. President had a tetatet meeting, a private meeting. Then we met with also our staff. We had long conversations, very honest discussions and a very strong at certain points as well in terms of diagnosis of the situation in the area of military security and Energy Security alike. And i am convinced that all of us are going to draw appropriate conclusions from these discussions because, as i said, both sides presented their positions in many, absolutely many elements. They are concurrent as far as the assessment of the situation currently is. What kind of steps need to be taken in order to protect about the issue of security and the issue of interests. These are business related issues. I am