i love the studio. >> melissa: almost like the studio you are in later. almost the position. >> dagen: i'm on "the five" first time tomorrow. look out. >> i'm jealous. harris? >> harris: we will begin with the fox news alert awaiting the start of the white house press briefing amid questions looming about robert mueller's russia investigation and whether we are closer to a potential sit down between the special counsel and president trump. it's being talked about. we are covering it as we go "outnumbered overtime." i'm harris faulkner. moments from now, press secretary sarah sanders will step up to the lectern to the left of the screen inside the white house briefing room. the mueller probe expected to be a hot topic. sources telling fox news that they responded to a letter from the legal team about the scope of a potential interview. are they pulling parameters he has with the level of corruption we have seen from james comey, peter strozk, andrew mccabe. >> harris: the chief white house correspondent john roberts are more. you are there. we are getting ready for this. >> john: we are not sure when sarah huckabee sanders will show up. probably in the next half hour or so. we haven't got word of a delay. but here is where we are in terms of the mueller probe and whether or not the president might sit down and do an interview with robert mueller. sources tell fox news that the president's legal team may respond monday to the letter earlier this week from robert mueller outlining what he believes are the parameters for an interview with the president. the president's legal team want to limit questioning to russia, election and whether or not there was collusion between the trump campaign and the russian officials to throw the election in 2016. they did not want mueller asking any questions about potential obstruction of justice. in his response, mueller indicated yes, in fact he did want to ask some of the questions. mueller did compromise a little bit, though. you will remember in march, the president legal team was given that list of the 49 questions from the mueller team. he's agreed to narrow it down somewhat. we don't know what questions he plans to eliminate. he also said he would be willing to accept some answers in writing but other answers he wants oral answers to. he wants to sit down with the president in person. now whether or not a compromise is possible is unknown at this point. because the president's attorneys are still of a mind they have not gotten the point they are comfortable. let the president sit down with mueller. a potential compromise could be if mueller were to agree to written answers for all of the questions about obstruction of justice and then oral answers to the questions about whether or not there was collusion between the trump campaign and wrong. the white house getting out in front of this in ways maybe like we have never seen before. sarah sanders again taking questions in the next while. >> look, this is a dramatic issue for the white house. you have a president who believes in his heart he is innocent. so he lashes out. as president trump does. i can understand that. if you are on the receiving end of an investigation which you know you have done no wrong, you will lash out. that is how innocent people behave. but the problem is when you also run the government and the prosecutors are underneath you and you try to fall for the firing this is what makes lawyers nervous. so that the -- that is the spot they are in. trump is going for the p.r. high stakes. high stakes. >> harris: the stakes are high, too, because the p.r. is tightly tied to what he promised candidates up for re-election and election in the midterm elections coming up and promised to be in the campaign trail for them six and seven days a week. it's a p.r. that is loaded with delivering promise for political backing. >> it is bigger than that. this is like election day 2016 all over again. when bob mueller comes out with the report, if he said there was no collusion, that there is no evidence of anything donald trump or anybody on the campaign did illegal, trump is home free. if he won again on election day and mueller comes outs and says trump is lying and we have the goods on trump, then trump would be in a world of hurt and it would go to congress. we are all waiting to see what mueller has and it's profound importance of what trump is doing in line with the tradition of what bill clinton did to ken starr trying to make a case that mueller and his team cannot be trusted prior to the report coming Interviews with newsmakers and roundtable discussions cover the top news stories of the day. on the bone if you are trying to show a look of fairness there. not a lot of republicans on the team. why would it matter? politics are talked about because of the f.b.i. and the potential bias. >> that is all what congress will have to consider. the credibility of what he comes out with. if mueller and his democrat largely investigators say no problem, trump didn't do anything wrong. it's over when the democrats on his team conclude that. if they say there is something wrong, if it's arguable issue, many republicans in congress will discount it because they will say and trump will say this is the democrat on bob mueller. biased. unless he has incontrovertible proof he did something wrong or lied, that is the only thing i see that could get trump in trouble but i have seen no evidence that trump and his team colluded the hack or steal democrat e-mails or podesta's e-mails and that is what this is about. hacking and the stealing. an attack on one party is an attack on all parties. take it seriously. >> harris: those are the stakes. quickly before i have to let you go. i want to remind the audience if you're tuning in we are awaiting the president secretary sarah sanders. it would be two days in a row now she would hold a news conference early start to an august and seeing her twice at that lectern. when it happens we will take you there live. is there a risk, ari -- we can talk legally when i bring on an attorney but is there a risk for what trump tweeting calling an end to the witch hunt and end of what he calls the russia investigation of his attorney general? >> politically i don't think so because i think trump crossed that bridge a long time ago where you have a president weighing in publicly. what is fascinating about the trump presidency he still sees himself as the outsider. i'm uneasy when it is aimed at the department of justice. i'm traditional about it. i believe the presidents should stay out of the department of justice affairs. justice must be blind and never subject to political influence. it puts people at justice in a difficult spot when their boss the president is saying these things. i don't think it's illegal. this is trump lashing out. there are two sides to this. if you are innocent and the subject of an investigation, you will lash out. it's human nature and how the innocent people behave despite what lawyers want them to do. but the president it presents issues how he oversees the department of justice. a controversy. you have to wait for mueller. >> harris: intra-party. this is in the same republican party. it leaves some people scratching their head. it gives the critics, the democrats an opportunity to say the party is divided in some way, shape or form. last word quickly. >> the party is divided team. maybe room for question. what do you make of the changes and the deal making? >> i think they have learned a lot about the investigation. since the first time they asked for a president. things are not static. >> harris: alex little. we didn't get a full sentence. we will bring you back. sarah sanders, pes secretary secretary -- press secretary at the white house. let's watch. >> sarah: since the beginning of his administration, president trump implemented a whole of government apletch to safeguard our nation's elections. the president made it clear his administration will not tolerate foreign interference in the elections from any nation, state or other dangerous actor. last year he signed order to strengthen and secure the cyber infrastructure. last year he chaired a meeting to address the ongoing threats and he asked officials standing next to me to brief the american people on the work being done to protect integry till of the elections. efforts are underway to provide cyber security assistance to state and local authorities and the actions to investigate, prosecute and hold accountable those who illegally attempt to interfere in the political and the electoral process. to edress the matters furthers i want the welcome national intelligence daniel coats, christopher wray, secretary of state of the homeland security kirstjen nielsen. director of the national security agency, and the national security adviser ambassador john bolton to make comments and take questions on the topic. as you know we have addressed what occurred in the 2016 election numerous times and extensively. the purpose of today's briefing is what we are doing now and the future to protect the integry till of the elections -- integrity of the elections moving forward. to help it run smoothly we ask that you direct questions to the specific person. i will turn it over to bolton to open up and make comments. >> well, thank you. what we'd like to address today is election security and the 2018 election in the future. the president has made it clear i think what his priority is. we have had obviously a number of inquiries from congress on this. including a letter to me in the past couple of days from five senators. signed by senator schumer and four others. i have responded to the letter today. we have made copies available to you. i forms fakework for the briefing that the four heads of the operating department and the agencies will give you here today. they are the ones implementing and operationallizing the policy we developed. there are other agencies involved. these are the primary ones. it is important to address the president's involvement in this, the leadership and the determination to prevent russia and the other foreign influence in elections. we meet on this constantly. the senior staff here at the white house. we meet with the heads of the agencies involve and we discuss it regularly. my tenure of national security adviser less than two months, we have already had two full national security council meetings chaired by the president and countless other discussions as well. since january 2017, the president has taken decisive action to defend our election system from meddling and interference. this includes the measure to heighten the security and the resilience of the election system 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 so the federal role is to assist them. we will address that through comments of the heads of the operating agencies. i might also say by way of introduction that many federal government actions to protect the elections in the united states such as those implemented by the intelligence community or the law enforcement agency are necessarily sensitive. and highly classified. we do not wish to make the efforts of thed a vertaries easier -- efforts of the adversaries any easier. we have offered to do before and continue to offer briefing to members of congress in secure facilities. what i'd like to do is turn the briefing over to the people whose agencies have the responsibility. we start off with the director of national intelligence daniel coats followed by the secretary of homeland security kirstjen nielsen. she will be followed by the director of the federal bureau of investigation christopher wray. finally the director of the national security agency. dan? >> i would like the american people to know the intelligence community and the agencies are postured to identify threats of all time against the united states. the president asked us to make election meddling and securing our election process a top priority. we have done that and are doing that and we 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 government and the public and the private sector. the intelligence community continues to be concerned about the threats of the upcoming u.s. elections. both the midterms and the presidential election of 2020. in regard to russian involvement in the mid-term elections we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by russia to try to weaken and divide the united states. these efforts are not exclusive to this election. or future elections. but they certainly cover issues relevant to the election. we also know the russians try to hack in to and steal information from candidates and the government officials alike. we are aware that russia is not the only country that has been interest in trying to influence our domestic political environment. we know there are others who have the capability and may be considering influence activities. as such we will continue to monitor and warn of any such efforts. i am committed to making sure that the intelligence community is working together in integrating it across organizations and missions and seeking greater transparency with the public. the odni instituted a broad spectrum of actions covering collection, analysis, reporting, education and partnership. designed to provide threat assessment to federal, state, local officials and to the private sector when necessary. for example, my office leads the interagency working group now meeting weekly as a push toward november. with department of justice, f.b.i., department of the homeland security, and the c.i.a. and the n.s.a. inclusive of the regional cyber and the counterintelligence experts all focused to ensure election security and the integration of the efforts. the intelligence community focus now is persistent support to the f.b.i., to the department of homeland security and the other agencies in the election responsibilities. my office is ensuring the organizations receive timely and proactive intelligence community support. >> good afternoon. thank you all for joining us. i want to start by briefly mentioning that on tuesday, d.h.s. hosted the first national cyber security summit. this brought together government, industry leaders and academia to discuss opportunities to join forces to counter threats to the nation's critical infrastructure. i want to thank those who joined us from academia, government and private sector, those who participated and those who signed up for the concrete actions to confront the cyber security challenges. across every 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 nation's leading mind and digital realm. but this is not just a risk for private. free and fair elections are the cornerstone of the democracy. it's clear that they are the target of the adversaries who speak to discord and underway the way of life. i share the community of the assessment, the past efforts and those today to interfere with the elections and of the current threat. adversaries shown they have willingness and the capability . we are helping to identify the threat. and they are looking to share best practices for the securing on loan voter data. our department stands ready to provide tailored support on each jurisdiction unique needs. this is another example where one size does not fit all. i'm pleased to inform you to date all 50 states, the district of columbia and over 900 local governments have partnered with d.h.s. to bolster the resilience of the nation's election infrastructure. various states also have organic capabilities and are engaging with the private sector and academia to improve the security of elections. election infrastructure is not a destination. i requires aggressive and ongoing vigilance. everyone must play the role to ensure every vote is counted and counted correctly. all of us up here today, congress, state and local officials and public, as all of us up here today gain insight for the potentialedededa adversaries and campaigns are committed to provide the best intelligence the information available. the progress we made is real and the nation election are more resilient today because of the work we are doing. but we must continue to ensure that the democracy is protected. thank you for being here. i'll turn it over to director wray. >> good afternoon, everybody. >> afternoon. >> last fall, shortly after i became director i stood up a new foreign influence task force at the f.b.i. designed to identify and counter act the full range of the malign foreign influence operations targeting the democratic institutions and the values. the task force now brings together across the waterfront of the expertise, the cyber, and the counterterrorism designed to root out and respond to the foreign influence operations. for their part, our adversaries influence operations have encompassed a wide range of activities. like we have a multidisciplinary response, that is because the threat is multidisciplinary. examples in the past, targeting the u.s. officials and u.s. persons through traditional intelligence trade craft. criminal effort to suppress voting and provide illegal campaign financing. cyber attack against voting infrastructure with the computer intrusion targeting elected officials and others. a slew of other influences like overtly and covertly influencing the news stories, leveraging economic resources and escalating divisive issues. but it is important to understand this is not just an election cycle threat. our adversaries are trying to undermine our country on a persistent and a regular basis, whether it's election season or not. there is a clear distinction between on the one hand activities that threaten the security and integrity of the election systems. and on the other hand the broader threat of influencer operations designed to manipulate and influence our voters and their opinions. with our partners we are trying to counteract both threats. we have three pillars to the operational strategy. the first is the investigation and the operations. and for a variety of reasons which i hope are obvious, and including operational sensitivities i'm not able to describe the full extent of those efforts but i will tell you that the foreign influence task force works with the f.b.i. personnel in all 56 f.b.i. field offices. even as we speak, we have got open investigations with a foreign influence nexus spanning field offices, the f.b.i. field offices across the country. so make no mistake. the scope of this foreign influence threat is both broad and deep. the second pillar. i said there were three pillars. the second is focused on the information-sharing and intelligence-sharing. we are working closely with the partners in the intelligence community and in the federal government as well as with the 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 lockout for. malicious cyber activity, social abnormality and foreign propaganda activities. to marshal additional eyes and ears in the fight. we are also working with the international partners to exchange intelligence and strategies for combating the threat. this is after all a shared threat with our allies. the third pillar of our approach is based on the strong relationships with the private sector. technology companies have a front line responsibility to secure their own networks, products and the platforms. but we are doing our part by providing actionable intelligence to better enable them to address abuse of the platforms by the foreign actors. this year we have met with the top social media companies and the technology companies several times. we have given them classified briefings. we have shared specific threat indicators and account information. and a variety of other pieces of information so they can better monitor their own platforms. the reality is it's going to take all of us working together holding the field because this threat is not going away. as i have said consistently, russia attempted to interview with the last elections 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. together, with our partners, both those here and other partners we talked about i'm confident we can protect integrity of the democratic institutions and maintain public confidence in the electoral process. thank you. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. thank you for joining us this afternoon. i appreciate the leadership and the support from the president, the secretary of defense, the director of national intelligence and i believe our mandate is clear. 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 the elections. this draws on our deep experience and the expertise and continuing work in this area. our support has been ongoing. and will continue through midterm elections. we are providing intelligence and information leads to the federal bureau of investigation on foreign adversaries attempting to sow discord and division in the american public. this information is shared with appropriate entities alert them of malicious cyber actors. u.s. cyber command are tracking a wide range of foreign cyber adversaries and prepared to conduct operation against the actors attempting to undermine the nation's mid-term elections. these type of operations are sensitive and they require confidentiality for success. i won't discuss the specifics, except to state that our forces are well trained, ready and very capable. i have excellent confidence -- i have complete confidence with the forces under any command and we will work with other elements to bring the full power of our nation to bear on any foreign power that attempts to interfere in the democratic processes. turn it back over to the moderator. >> sarah: thank you. as i said at the beginning if we would stay on topic and also if you could asking a question direct it to a specific person. as always, after we finish this part of the briefing i'll be back to answer other questions on news of the day. >> director coats, if i could direct a question to you. >> sure. >> reporter: let me take you back to helsinki and the president seemed to indicate that he may believe vladimir putin when he said he didn't have any influence in the 2016 election. what is your brief about the russian government involvement in meddling in 2016? and if as you say russia continues to try to influence our electoral process, does that mean that nothing much came of the meeting with putin or other than government actors involved? >> in relationship to the 2016 election, of course, none of us were in office at that particular time. but the president, the vice president, i think everyone on the stage acknowledged the fact that the i.c.a. was a correct assessment of what happened in 2016. we have subsequently made determination to make this is a top priority that it doesn't happen again. we are throwing everything at it. we will discuss it here today. relative to my discussions with the president on whatever issue it is, i don't go public with that. i don't think it's the right, the proper thing to do. so our focus today is simply to tell the american people we acknowledge the threat. it's real. it is continuing. and we are doing everything we can to have a legitimate election that the american people can have trust in. in addition to that, that goes beyond the elections, it goes to the russia intent to undermine the democratic values, drive a wedge between the allies and do a number of nefarious things. we are looking at that also. today we are here to talk about the elections coming up and what we are doing to ensure the american people -- >> reporter: let me clarify this. you and director wray said russia continues to try to medle in their election -- meddle in our election and influence voters. are we talking about the rogue russian individuals or talking about the kremlin? >> i'm thinking both and you can add to that. russia used numerous ways to influence through social media, through bots and actors and proxies. all of the both and potentially more. i can't go in deep details of what is classified but it's pervasive and ongoing with the intent to achieve their intent; that is, drive a wedge and undermine the democratic values. >> reporter: thank you. i have a question for director wray. thank you. special counsel robert mueller has indicted more than 20 russian officials based on work by the f.b.i. for meddling in the 2016 election. the president tweeted that that investigation is a hoax and should be shut down. i know you said you don't believe it is a hoax. why would the american people believe what you are saying about the f.b.i. when the president says the investigation by the special counsel is a hoax and when the press secretary yesterday said there was a lot of corruption in the f.b.i.? do you have a response to those things from the white house? >> i can assure the american people the men and the women of the f.b.i. starting from the director on down will follow our oath and do our jobs. >> i have a question for director coats. director coats, how would you characterize the current russian efforts to medle in the 2018 election relative to 2016? is it more intense? do you see the efforts focused on a particular party? in general is the pace of the operations in any way relative to 2014, 2012? or more intense? >> relative to what we have seen for the mid-term elections it's not the robust campaign we assess in 2016 election. we know that through decades russia has tried to use the propaganda to sow discord in america. but they stepped up the game big-time in 2016. we haven't seen that robust effort from them so far. i mentioned publicly we are only one keyboard click away to find something we haven't seen up to this particular point in time. but right now we have not seen that. >> do you see it directed to any particular party? the current 2018 effort. is there a particular party benefiting from the current 2018 russian efforts? >> we see 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 undermined the fundamental values. >> also for director coats. in the runup to the -- >> i'll try to get off. >> perhaps ambassador bolton could weigh in on this as well. in the run-up to the helsinki summit the u.s. officials, the nato ambassador said the president would raise issue of malign activity with president putin. he didn't discuss that or at least at the press conference. you are saying today that the president has directed you to make the issue of election meddling a priority. how do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers and what the president has said about the, i? >> -- about the issue? >> i'm not in a position to understand fully or talk about what happened in helsinki. i will send it over to the national security director here. to address that question. yeah. 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 the 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 didn't highlight any of the maligned activities that you have and his advisers have. so, should americans believe that he is listening to your advice? or that he is going his own way when he is having meetings like he did with the president of russia? >> i think the president made it abundantly clear to everybody who has responsibility in this area he cares deeply about it and he expects them to do their job to their fullest ability he supports them fully. >> director coats or nielsen. there is a report facebook shut down 32 accounts that were believed to be from russia. can you give us an idea. is that a large amount? is that a tip of the iceberg? generally speaking with the social media companies, facebook, twitter, instagram, how much have they progressed or have they not processed in what you want to see with the progression from the 2016 and identifying the threat? >> i won't discuss specific on going investigation but the activity that you are describing is a good reflection of the fact we have to have a public-private partnership in this threat. that is why i talk about the three pillars of the f.b.i. foreign influence of the foreign task force we are spending so much effort to engage with the social media technology companies. there is a very important role for them to play in terms of monitoring and in effect policing their own platform. we have to have happen started happening in a way that is much more robust, much more robust than before the 2016 election, we are sharing with them actionable intelligence in a way that wasn't happening before. we understand better what they need. they are sharing information back with us and based on what they can find. there are things they can do voluntarily with the terms of use and things like that that the government doesn't have a role in. but in turn we learn things from them and we can use it to have our investigation be more effective. so i think the progress is being made. keep getting better and stay on the balls of our feet. that is what we are seeing. >> ambassador bolton, in your letter you talk about the order closure of the consulate in san francisco and seattle. to tech hubs. what happened there that led you to that? >> i'm not going to discuss background of the decision that occurred before i came to the job. the purpose of expelling those that were expelled to send a message to russia that the conduct of conducting a tem call weapons attack in great britain was unacceptable. this was mode of retaliation designed to show we will not tolerate the activity on the territory of the united states or any of the allies. we expel a lot of the people we think had knowledge or activity we considered unacceptable. >> this is for maybe secretary nielsen or mr. wray. the meddling campaign fall in two broad categories. information campaign that challenged the information on which americans used to make determinations and the more physical interferences in the machinery of voting. tabulation of the voting. the voter rolls. the machinery that the state run. can you describe what you are 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 any -- are there specific threats you can't talk about but you can say there have been specific threats in both of those categories? and how should americans process that where we go to the polls in a few months? should people be confident when they pull the lever they are secure? >> i think we have said this fairly consistently in the context of 2018, we are not yet seeing the same kind of efforts to specifically target election infrastructure, you know, voter registration data bases in particular. we are seeing malign information, the information warfare we talked about. that is a 24/7, 365 days a year phenomenon that doesn't turn necessarily on whether or not we are in the middle of an election season or not. but as director coats said, any moment is a moment before the dial can be turned up one much as we saw in 2016. not affecting the vote count but in terms of the potential penetration of the voter registration data bases or something like that. that in turn can be a vehicle for them to try to sow discord or undermined confidence. we have to make sure we are pushing back on it which is what we are doing. >> so just to add, the way we are splitting it, we are all partnering together. but the question shows division of labor. if the adjustment focused on the election infrastructure with the state and local with primary responsibility and we support the f.b.i. effort to counter for the influence. with the infrastructure piece we have seen willingness and capability on part of the russians so we are working closely with the state and the local to ensure we are prepared this time around. part of that is encourage states to have audibility. whatever happens we want to assure americans the day after that the vote was counted and counted correctly. regardless of what might have happened we will be prepared but want that audibility. -- audittability. >> will the government shutdown on the 1? >> in 2017, designated infrastructure critical, the critical sub sector. we priority efforts. any state with a vulnerability assessment, scans, et cetera, we'll prioritize in the budget. >> one last question. >> for the director and the general. can you unpack what you said. there was a question for the director and for the general. do you give us a better sense of who specifically is targeted? we know two senators said they were targeted by hacks. or people impersonating members. is it member of the house or the senate? >> we follow a procedure that is agreed upon some time ago in terms of when we see this type of information it's processed through the leadership of the respective house chamber. senate chamber. then disseminated down to the individual member who is targeted. so we have taken that action in place but i'm not in a position now to release names. >> harris: will you support the legislation imposing sanctions on russia now that you say they interfered? >> we already had a lot of sanctions in place and i support any efforts that we can collectively put together to send a signal to russia there is a cost, price to pay for what they are doing. and if we want to have any relationship whatsoever in dealing with things of mutual interest, russians have to stop doing what they are doing or it's not going to happen. >> general, have you been ordered at all to or authorized to conduct any offensive cyber operations with this? >> the guidance and the directives clear. we won't accept meddling of the elections. unambiguous. >> are there sanctions for the 13 russians indicted? >> sarah: thank you. we appreciate you being here today. >> harris: we will take a couple more questions on other topics. >> reporter: i want to ask about the president's tweet on north korea. addressing kim jong un. "i look forward to seeing you, too." there are plans in place or a discussion about a second meeting? he said received a letter from kim. what does the letter say? does it address any of the reports that appear to show that kim is not looking forward to organization? >> sarah: a lot of question rolled in one. if i miss one i'm sure you will point it out. he did receive a letter. i believe on august 1. there is not a second meeting that is currently locked in or finalized. certainly open to that discussion. there isn't a meeting planned. we have responded to chairman kim letter. the president has. the letter will be delivered shortly. i can't get into any more but i can say the letter address the commitment from the joint statement and that was made at the singapore summit and they continue to work together thwart complete and total denukization. >> ivanka trump said the media are not the enemy of people and said a statement on the families separated at the border. what was the president think of statement? >> sarah: the president doesn't like the idea of the family separation. i don't think anybody does. but ealso don't like open borders or allowing people in the country if we don't know who they are, where they are going or why they are coming. the president wants to secure the borders borders which is whe asked congress to fix the law. we haven't been unclear about what our position is here. we want to secure the borders. we want to change the law. congress' job to do that. we would like them particularly democrats to stop playing political games to step up and do their jobs. >> is the press the enemy of the people or not? >> sarah: the president is frustrated. 90% of the coverage on him is negative despite the economy is booming, isis on the run and the american leadership reasserted around the world. this week the media refused to cover his remarks in florida to highlight effort on the workforce 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 across the state of florida to announce thousands of new jobs. it may not be news in washington, d.c., but it is news in the state of florida that people who didn't have a job before the president took office have better opportunity and the opportunity to have a job moving forward. that is actually real news. and it's something that people in the state of florida and across the country appreciate. it was totally ignored. not only that a journalist on cnn claimed the president hadn't taken questions in a week despite the fact that the same journalist did 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 misinformation and the look of interest, that so pervasive in the media it's completely understandable for the president to be frustrated. john decker, go ahead. >> reporter: thank you. i want to ask about the conference yesterday that involved u.s.-china trade relations. is there a timeline when or if president may pull the trigger and impose harsher sanctions on china? harsher tariffs on china? >> sarah: we are monitoring the process. when we have an announcement we will let you know. >> is the goal at the end of the day -- really quickly. is the goal at the end of the day to get china to the negotiating table the way they were at the negotiating table with the american trade officials a few months ago? arizona the -- >> sarah: the goal is to end unfair trade practices for decades and what administrations before this president ignored. >> the president said that other people may have been involved in the effort to interfere with the 2016 election. has there been evidence there were others besides russia involved in the election meddling? >> sarah: we know there are others and we know there are others considering making attempts in 2018, which is what our focus is moving forward. none of us were here in 2016 but we are here now. individuals standing up here moments ago the focus and the full weight of the government asked and directed by the president protect the election infrastructure in 2018 moving forward. that is what we will do. >> the others involved -- >> sarah: i can't get in to the specific details but our intelligence to shows that there are a number of others that are looking at and considering engaging particularly in 2018. >> you said they were trying to help democrats, that the democrats would try to help the democrats in the midterm election. any evidence whatsoever that the democrats are, or that russians are trying to help the democrats? >> sarah: you can see what took place in the facebook. director wray can't speak of specifics and i can't get into a lot of them but a number were anti-president trump. that is not helping the republicans. sorry. go ahead. >> i wanted you to respond if you could for the cafe standards rule imposed today. 20 state attorneys general that put a civil suit. the administration, part of their complaint. they say weakening the standards but the health of the children, the communities at risk and it increases rising cost of the climated change fur our state. the administration response is what? >> that the reporting that we were reversing the obama era fuel efficiency standard and preemptiving and what the e.p.a. released yesterday was a notice of the proposed rule making. not a final rule. it lays out a series of options for how to go forward with the cafe standards and asking for comments on the range of options. we opening this up for a comment period and make a final decision at the end of that. >> on the move on tariffs potentially from 10 to 25%, what was the thing that made the president say this is why i want to do it? >> sarah: again, the president has been clear. he will hold china's feet to the fire and he wants to stop the unfair trade practices. >> can i get a question? >> sarah: i'll come to you next. >> going back to the security. going forward with the security, is the administration looking to impose voter i.d. law? or pushing voter i.d. law? >> sarah: what is the question? >> the administration, part of the election security push also looking to do a voter i.d. law? something like that through congress? >> sarah: we are looking to do everything we can to protect the 2018 elections. the integrity of the elections and moving onioned 2018 -- moving beyond 2018 and after. we haven't made a final decision but we are looking at every option available to us. it's not unreasonable. if i return something to a department store, if i have to cash a check i have to show my i.d. to do those things. it's not outrageous if you are going to vote to decide on the who the leaders are of the government will be, you are asked to show an i.d. jim? >> i want to follow up on the question from n.p.r. she asked about ivanka trump statement from the press is not the enemy of the people. 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 what 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. >> sarah: the president has made his position known. it's ironic -- >> you have been telling us -- >> sarah: i am trying to answer your question. and you interrupted us when responding to your colleague. >> if you wouldn't mind letting me a followup, that would be fine. >> sarah: ironic that you and the media attack the president for his rhetoric when they lower the level of the conversation in the country. repeatedly the media resorts to the 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 choked. i.c.e. officials are not welcome in place of worship and personal information shared on the internet. i was hosted by the correspondents dinner you brought up a comedian to make fun of my appearance. i'm the first press secretary in the history of the united states that required secret service protection. the media continues to ratchet up the verbal assault against the president and every one in this administration and certainly we have a role to play. but the media has a role to play for discourse as well. >> if you don't mind, if i may follow-up. excuse me. you did not say in the course of those remarks you 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 and in the meat grinder in this town and you are no exception. i'm sorry that happened to you. i wish it had not happened. but for the sake of this room and the people in this room, this democracy and this country, all the people around the world are watch bag you are say -- watching what you are saying. the white house, the president of the united states should not refer to us as the enemy of the people. his own daughter acknowledges that. all i'm asking you to do is acknowledge that right now and right here. >> sarah: i appreciate your passion. i share it. i have addressed this question. i've addressed my personal feelings. i'm here to speak on behalf of the president. he has made his comments clear. >> reporter: the national archives told the senate judiciary committee chairman they probably aren't going to finish up the document collection regarding brett kavanaugh until october. that is later than the timetable i know you and the senate republicans are hoping for. any comment on that? any potential assistants that the white house can give archives to accelerate this? >> sarah: we want to to be as helpful as possible to turn over as many documents. several senators stated there will be up to and over 1 million pages of the documents to review. including over 300 judicial opinions. his documents of the staff secretary tell us the least about his judicial thinking than the million pages from the other work including his judicial opinions. we want a thorough evaluation.