Nation. People who as the president says believe in the beautiful words, made in the usa. In addition to the 14 workers the president hosted in the oval office during todays proclamation signing, more than half a Million People around the country are participating in thousands of events related to manufacturing day. Among them will be numerous members of the president s cabinet and other senior officials. Our tax plan would lead to a Great American manufacturing boom. We will cut taxes on american manufacturers and businesses of all sizes and restore their Competitive Edge so they can create more jobs and higher wages for our workers. Our plan will encourage them to bring back trillions of dollars parked overseas. The president will be back out on the road next week Building Support for this plan which is really a jobs bill. Hell be visiting hamburg, pennsylvania wednesday and well have more details on that trip coming soon. And with that, well kick off friday with questions and well start now. [laughter] this is kind of fun. We should do this more often, not just save it for fridays. John decker. Reporter thank you, sarah, the body of another u. S. Soldier has just been discovered by local forces which brings to four the total number of green berets that were killed on wednesday in niger. So far no response by the president. No tweet by the president. No statement from the president. Can we expect some sort of reprisal by the u. S. Military in niger as it relates to what happened wednesday . I made a statement on behalf of the administration yesterday in the opening. Obviously, any time one of the members of our great military are injured, wounded or killed in action, that is certainly something we take very seriously. Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals. Were continuing to review and look into this and as we have more details, well certainly let you guys no. Cecilia . Reporter clarify the president s comments, was he referring to military action when he said calm before the storm . As we said many times before, president has, as i have, from the podium, were never going to say in advance what the president is going to do. And as he said last night in addition to the comments, well have to wait and see. Reporter how seriously should the American Public or american adversaries take these comments . I think you can take the president protecting the American People always extremely serious, hes been very clear, thats his number one priority. And if he feels that action is necessary, hell take it. Steve . Reporter sarah, when the president said he wants his military leaders to give him military options faster, does he feel they are intentionally slow walking these options to him . No, not at all, but this is, as you know, hes a person who likes to take action and take it quickly, and i dont think you should read into anything beyond that if he wants options on the table, so he can make quick decisions. Reporter is that a general comment or mean a specific country . I believe thats a general comment, im not aware of anything specific that was in reference to. Reporter two questions, one on the soldier killed in niger and the other on daca. When was the president made aware there was action and when was he aware that four soldiers were killed discovered by local sources . I believe the notification was yesterday, but id have to get clarification on the specific timing when that took place. Reporter when was the president made aware that that soldiers body was found . Again, i know that it was pretty soon after that had been discovered, but as far as an exact time, i couldnt give you that. Chief kelly kept him updated constantly on the situation as it evolved. And to a question on daca. Today the president welcomed hispanicamerican leaders to the white house. He did not mention his decision to end daca during remarks there. He did not runew his call for congress to protect those who were going to be vulnerable for deportation starting in match. Why did he not bring that up . Hes been clear, theres no reason to continue, to reiterate the same position hes held. Hes called on congress to act on it. You can expect in the coming days, hell lay out his responsible immigration reform. I think you can count on that to happen very soon, and thats all part of the process moving forward, but he hasnt been unclear about what his position is on that front. April . Reporter sarah, going back to the calm before the storm. When the president deals with world matters like, this all options are on the table. Have you has this white house exhausted diplomacy . Because for him to say the calm before the storm and listening to what she had to say. Were continuing to put maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on countries like north korea. Were going to continue to do that, but at the same time, the president s going to keep all of his options on the table. Our position has not changed, very consistent. We asked that the storm im using that as an example. Bad actors in the world, north korea, iran, there are several examples there, blake . Reporter ask you about the hhs decision to the waiver, the aclu has filed a lawsuit or at least an intention sdposhgs this was their response. They said the Trump Administration is forcing women to pay for their boss religious beliefs. Were filing the lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name religion or otherwise. Your response to that would be what . I dont think its been a secret that i would probably never use the aclu to get talking points. The president believes the freedom to practice ones faith is a fundamental right in this country, and all of us do, and thats all that today was about. Our federal government should always protect that right, and as long as donald trump is president , he will. Reporter not responding to the aclu, what would you say to the women through the or to the families out there who now have to pay more out of their pockets to get coverage they choose and desire . This is the president who supports the First Amendment, supports the freedom of religion, i dont understand why that should be an issue. Supreme court has validated this decision. Certainly many times over, and the president is somebody who believes in the constitution, if people dont like what the constitution says, they should talk to congress about changing it. Reporter given the lawsuits that the aclu has already filed, or claiming to file, is the administration prepared to defend this contraceptive mandate roll back to the Supreme Court . The Supreme Court made clear what the position is, and it supports what this administration has done. Reporter the legal fight that escalates on the Supreme Court . I think if it does, it will show that the administration is on the right side of the law. Reporter the calm before the storm issue again, because the president wants to ask the same question. It is friday, thought we would change it up. Reporter you said the president wants to preserve an element of surprise. So if he wants to preserve an element of surprise, why would he dangle hints about actions in the first place . I dont believe he did. He didnt talk about any specific actions at all. Matthew . Reporter two questions, first following up on the hhs change, does the white house have any estimate of how many people that would change . Im not aware, refer to you hhs for specific funds. Reporter quick followup. President tweeted the highest tax nation in the world. Thats not true. Why does he keep making that statement . Why does he stick to the talking point . I believe there are certain sectors within the country that are among the highest tax in the world and well be happy to provide that data. John . Reporter thank you, sarah. I have two questions. First, there has been rumors that Prime Minister tsipras of greece will come here on the 17th and meet with the president and the Vice President on the 18th and no confirmation. Is the Prime Minister invited and coming to meet the president and Vice President . He is, and i believe that date is correct. The 17th, i believe, that hell be here on that date. The other thing, the administration has had a vacancy without a permanent secretary of Homeland Security for two months which is a record nar position, not operating with a permanent secretary. Are we going to have an announcement on a choice for secretary within days, rumors are consistent he will make elaine duke the permanent secretary and send her appointment out. True or false . Im not going to get ahead of announcement the president may make about a permanent person. Acting secretary duke is very competent and has managed the department of Homeland Security very well, in a very tough and trying time, given the Hurricane Season that weve had and certainly have not wanted to make big shifts in leadership during this time, and while there is so much going on there, in terms of a time table, well keep you posted when we have announcement on the front. Reporter thats what you just said about secretary duke. Testimony you gave is the president s opinion of her as well . Yes, hes happy with the job shes done as acting secretary. Jordan . Reporter immigration principles that are floated out there would be harmful to the daca negotiation, he believes daca should be kept separate from issues of Legal Immigration. What is the white house response to that . Are you guys committed to attaching Legal Immigration to the daca debate . We want to be sure whatever we put forward is a responsible immigration reform. Its not one piece of this process dealt with separately. We need to make sure were addressing all the problems were not dealing with this in two, four, five, six years, but putting forward a thorough and full plan, and thats what youre going to see coming from the administration in short order. Fred . Reporter thank you, sarah. Two questions. First, does the white house [inaudible] not that im aware of, id have to check and circle back to you. Reporter follow up on the topic. There have been House Republicans who believe that theres already cause for firing Richard Corker in the wells fargo case. Why hasnt the president taken action . Does he approve of the job corker has done . When we have personnel announcements, well certainly keep you guys posted. Thats two. I have to move on. Margaret . Reporter two quick questions for you. One, rumors about the future of secretary of state Rex Tillerson today. You can continue to say the president remains confident in the secretary of state . He does, as he said yesterday or two days ago, as i said yesterday, nothing has changed despite what you may read in the media or watch on tv. I would certainly trust the president in my comments far above those above the reporters. Reporter and i want to ask you, the president move markets, he can cause miscalculation when it comes to adversaries in the context of the questions asked of you today, when youve been asked what he meant by calm before the storm, you mentioned north korea, you mentioned iran, theres implication that there is some kind of military action. There is some sort of forecasting there. Can you clarify if we are interpreting things correctly . I havent been specific about anything. Ive also talked about the fact that were continuing to put maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on countries like north korea. All options are on the table as they have been, and not going to announce what actions well be taking until that moment comes. Reporter why did he say that . Reporter can you be more specific about the position on bump stocks . Clear on legislation banning them . We want to be part of that information, were going to continue to do that over the coming days, and thats the current position, hasnt changed since yesterday. Reporter thank you, sarah. Two questions if i can. Why not . Reporter i asked you about senator corker. Just not three. Two. Reporter just two. Asked you about senator corker and the comments he made a few weeks back. Earlier this week he said secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and general kelly are whats keeping the country free from chaos and other people in the white house that arent putting forth policies in a coherent fashion. Do you have any response to senator corkers statement . I think that the president is the one thats keeping the world from chaos. He has an Incredible Team around him thats helping him lead that effort, and hes had tremendous accomplishments on the International Stage by working with allies and confronting enemies. Were going to continue doing that as a team with the president leading that effort. Reporter is kelly helping to lead the effort . Ill get back to you. Reporter getting back to the calm before the storm comments. Want to ask in a different way. Theres a theory in washington, and forgive me if youve been asked about it before that the president subscribes to this mad man theory. That he makes a lot of unsettling offputting comments that throw people off. That he likes to keep adversaries guessing. Thats why making comments about calm before the storm and so forth. What is the sense of that . Anything to that . I think the president addressed this himself. He certainly doesnt want to lay out his game plan for our enemies. So if youre asking is the president trying to do that . Absolutely. I dont think reporter trying to throw people off. I dont think thats a secret. I wouldnt say hes trying to throw people off but not trying to broadcast or broadcast his exact actions. I think weve seen what a failure it is when an administration does that, and this is a president whos going to do it differently and better. Reporter so people, when they catch their breath in this town, when they hold their breath in this town, when he says Something Like that, you have a smile on your face, is it some satisfying . People in this town actually holding their breath, might be a welcome surprise for most of america. Go ahead. Reporter one more thing i want to pick up what margaret was trying to get at. Can you let me put it this way, you can exclude the possibility that the president was being mischievous, messing with the press when he made the comment . I wouldnt say hes messing with the press. We have serious world issues here, i think that north korea, iran, both continuing to be bad actors and the president is somebody whos going to look for ways to protect americans and not going to dictate what the actions may look like. I dont think theres anything beyond that that i can add on that front. Reporter the question on iran, couple days ago senator tom cotton gave a speech sch he said he believes the best outcome is refer to Congress Rather than have congress reimpose sanctions, which he called a backward looking step. We would use the period of 190 days to renegotiate several terms of the deal. Does the white house think that that sounds like a plausible, a good way to deal with the Iran Nuclear Deal . Im not going to get ahead of the president s announcement on the decision that he has. What i can tell you is the president isnt looking at one piece of this. Hes looking at all of the bad behavior of iran, not just the nuclear deal as bad behavior but the Ballistic Missile testing, destabilizing of the region, number one state sponsor of terrorism, cyberattack, Illicit Nuclear program. A broad strategy that addresses all of the problems, not just one offing those. Thats what hell be rolling tout address, that is a hole in the coming days. Reporter congress reimposed sanctions for the bad actors . Im not going to get into the details of what the president says until he makes that decision. Reporter sarah, our cbs news reporting today has taken the story to a new level. There are americans who do not work for the government saying they are subject to the state department telling us there are a handful of americans reporting the symptoms. How is the white house viewing this . Get to the bottom . Something we take extremely seriously. Were continuing to investigate the state department is taking the lead on this effort, and were going to continue to look into this until we get real answers. Ill come back. Reporter just to talk about yesterday, i dont think anybody disagrees we should be accurate, but do you and the president believe the president has a responsibility to be as truthful and honest about this, has he done it, and for the surrogates who used your terms, alternative facts would they then not do that . Absolutely. I think we all come here every day and do our very best to give you the best and most Accurate Information we possibly can. April . Reporter going back to the answer about leadership the president s leading. Is general kelly part of that Leadership Team with the president as hes leading in this white house . Absolutely. Reporter the president have confidence in general kelly . Absolutely. Reporter today is friday, are we expecting a resignation . I dont think so. Reporter since we last heard you from, Harvey Weinstein the subject of very serious Sexual Harassment allegations and theres building pressure among democrats who received Campaign Donations from him to send the money back, and i know that this particular producer was critical of the president during the campaign, suggested that latinos in hollywood would be deported. Does the president support the idea that donations should send the money back . Thats a decision for the individuals to make. Whether or not thats money they want to take, thats up to them, thats certainly not a decision for us to make. Reporter one more, im sorry. Why hasnt the president fired John Koskinen from the irs, in all the controversy during the scandal