EXPLOSIVE White House Press Briefing (July 18, 2018) HISTORIC President Trump Putin Summit
good afternoon couple of announcements the president will be traveling to
Kansas City Missouri next Tuesday July 24th he will address the Veterans of
Foreign Wars 119th annual convention President Trump is committed to our
veterans and his work to reform the VA and to ensure veterans are given the
care and support they deserve the president looks forward to being with
the more than 4,000 veterans in attendance yesterday the US Senate
confirmed Randy Quarles as the vice chair for
supervision at the Federal Reserve but it is unfortunate that his nomination
was continually delayed there are still three more nominees to the Fed who have
yet to receive a vote it is inexcusable that Senate Democrats have delayed
confirming the president's nominees an even worse example of a necessary delay
is the nomination of Don stump to be a commissioner on the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission there's no opposition to her but yet she has been waiting for
400 days for a vote we urge Senate Democrats to stop these
unnecessary delays and confirm these qualified nominees lastly on behalf of
the president and the White House we offer prayers for United States Secret
Service Special Agent Noll Edward remain and his family including his wife and
two young children The Secret Service announced this
morning that agent R Omega n-- suffered a stroke while on duty in Scotland last
week and has tragically passed away he was a 5 year veteran of the United
States Marines and spent 19 years with the Secret Service the President and the
First Lady are deeply grateful for his lifetime of devotion to his country and
the men and women of the Secret Service make enormous sacrifices for our safety
and security and we are forever in their debt and with that I will take your
questions major earlier she asked the president
is Russia still targeting the US she said no is that what the president
actually believes do you understand the question and is his position that no
Russia is not doing anything to interfere or medal of the 2018 election
a chance to speak with the president after his comments and the president was
said thank you very much and was saying no to answering questions the president
and his administration are working very hard to make sure that right Russia is
unable to meddle in our elections as they have done in the past as if we have
stated leave is going off well since there's currently not an election today
not specifically but we certainly believe that we are taking steps to make
sure they can't do it again unlike previous administrations this
president is actually taking bold action and reform to make sure it doesn't
happen again but he does believe that they would target certainly u.s.
elections again when the president and the DNI coach who said the red lights
are blinking on this top said that's why we're taking steps to ensure that these
things don't happen again we wouldn't actually spend as much time and effort
as we are if we didn't believe that they were still looking at us from the
beginning of his administration president Trump has actually taken
action to defend our election system for meddling and interference I'm going to
read through a few of the things that we're doing in May of 2017 president
Trump signed an executive order to strengthen and review the cyber security
of our nation in its critical infrastructure the Department of
Homeland Security has taken the lead in working with all 50 states local
governments and private companies to improve election security DHS has
increased coordination among all election partners 34 States 52 county
and local governments and five election companies receive cyber security scans
regularly from DHS DHS plans to provide on-site risk and vulnerability
assessments to all states that request it so far 18 states have requested this
assessment a new pilot program was launched to increase Rapid Response
capabilities on election day and in 2017 on-site cyber security support was
provided in March of 2018 Congress the election assistance Commission with
380 million dollars in funding for election assistance grants to States
these are steps that we've taken to prevent it from happening these are
steps that we've taken because we see that there's a threat there
Cecilia clarifying what you just said dan coates said point blank the threat
is still ongoing from Russia does this White House believe that currently this
threat is still ongoing certainly like I just said we believe that their threat
still exists which is why are we are taking steps to prevent it again you
wouldn't go through that lengthy process if you weren't clarify these comments
from this presentation does the president stand by all of his
other public comments on the trip including his eating an interview
criticizing Teresa maids handling of the Rights Association since comments that
rush over better than they've ever uttered control Germany over pipeline
and other comments in that press conference Monday where he continued to
doubt throwing a cast doubt on the intelligence of these assessment of
Russian Bentley 2016 16 by all of those again the president saw need to clarify
the position he saw how his comments were being interpreted he looked at the
transcript and clarified those comments as have any response to the arrest and
indictment of a Russian national who's accused of tried to infiltrate
American civil organizations purely on fright into Chinese influence American
politics certainly we're looking at that but just to clarify I know that there
was a massive media hysteria yesterday over a confusion between that individual
and a White House staffer which I think shows frankly the outrageousness and the
just desire to find the negative and everything that this president does just
because somebody was simply redheaded they were accused of being some sort of
spy for Russia I think that this has gotten totally out of control
you guys need to take a little bit of a step back slow down and quit going after
the Trump administration on every single response to me you have no responsibly
nobody ever says where I said we're looking at it
but this is a lengthy process we're going through it however I do have a
response to the fact that simply because somebody had the same hair color they
were accused of being a Russian spy by a large number of people frankly in this
room Roberto the president
and Secretary of State both spoke about progress being made in talks trade talks
with Mexico and I'm wondering whether trilateral talks with Mexico and Canada
and also the bilateral talks with Canada are effectively off the table for now
is the administration choosing to go with Mexico when they see this progress
and forget about the trial court we're continuing both of those tracks we
see a lot of progress on the conversations with Mexico and if we
could make a bilateral deal with them we're certainly very happy to do that
but again we're continuing both conversations both tracks Maggie thank
you Sarah Russian authorities yesterday named several Americans who they want a
question they claim were involved in Hill brothers quote-unquote crimes and
in their charms including a former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul this
president Trump's support that idea is he opening US officials question the
president's gonna meet with his team and we'll let you know when we have an
announcement on that for a second is that a topic that came up in their
conversation hasn't raised this with president Truong uh there was some
conversation about it but there wasn't a commitment made on behalf of the United
States and the president will work with his team and will let you know if
there's an announcement on that front Blake the president earlier today said
that there could be quote tremendous retribution for the European Union if
there's not a deal struck on auto imports in the past he has talked about
potentially putting a tariff of 20 percent is that what he meant today by
tremendous retribution or is it possible he does even
certainly that's an option on the table that the president is considering but we
are in the investigation process right now and we'll let you know we have an
announcement you makes you brought up the Fed the the beige book just came out
which is anecdotes from across the country what's happening with the
economy here's some of the headlines manufacturers are concerned about
Terrace they're dealing with higher prices because trade tariffs are
increasing metal prices and egg prices have fallen because of Chinese Terence
it's not necessarily a rosy picture with the terrorist situation your response to
those headlines would be flatly yeah the president has focused on long-term
economic principles we have one of the strongest economies that we've had in
decades he continues to look for ways to help protect American workers and he's
going to continue to do that on a number of different fronts in a number of
different ways again this is short-term and the president hopes to open up a
number of different markets and to create a more playing trade field across
the globe two questions the first one in Finland
President Trump talked about the stances of the US intelligence community in
Russia he said both it's both hard I have confidence in both parties after a
young woman was killed in Charlottesville not in Choctaw Virginia
after protesting neo-nazis he said I think there's blame on both sides some
people see the president continuously making false equivalencies and
equivalences what do you say that I criticism I would not compare the two
situations the president I think said exactly what he thought yesterday in his
remarks and I would refer you back to this job quit and also does the
presidency that interference in the 2015 election and possibly in the midterms as
an attack on democracy American democracy u.s. the secretary for
homeland security that is an attack on American democracy
but the president said that the Democrats were weak that Republicans
basically had better systems and he didn't see it as an issue of American
democracy or just his opponents being attacked again the president thinks that
we have to focus on securing our election integrity in our election
systems which is why he has spent so much time with his administration making
sure that this doesn't happen again let's not forget that this didn't happen
under president Trump's watch this happened under the Obama administration
we're taking steps we're making bold reforms to try to fix this and make sure
it never happens again because we take it seriously and because we recognize
that our election system are incredibly important and is certainly a cornerstone
of our democracy Josh the president spent two hours of 10:00 that was by the
Futenma deal we made on Syria was their domain on anything to give us any sense
of what came out of that meeting certainly as the president said a number
of issues were raised including Syrian humanitarian aid Iran's nuclear ambition
Israeli security North Korea and denuclearization Ukraine and the
occupation of Crimea reducing Russian and US nuclear arsenals and of course
your favorite topic Russia's interference in our elections all of
these issues were talked about this is the beginning of the dialogue with
Russia and our administration and theirs and we're going to continue working
through those things but those were all of the topics and certainly probably
others that were covered follow up on a number of issues from the indexing of
Crimea to the election meddling the president's seem suspect more time
criticizing his predecessor Barack Obama for letting it happen under his telling
man Planeteer Putin do you have any sense
why the president has not been more critical for some of these events
the entire world stages has really gone after about look I think the president
as he has said many times before has been tougher on Russia than anybody I
think you can see that in all of the actions that he's taken whether it was a
plant that was closed due to aluminum and steel tariffs that were put in place
by this president the Treasury Department has issued new sanctions on
numerous individuals and entities in Russia the president's continued
sanctions on Russia's malicious cyber activity in response to election hacking
we've expelled 60 Russian operatives from the United States and closed two
consulates president trump issued four statements condemning Russia's poisoning
EXPLOSIVE White House Press Briefing (July 18, 2018) HISTORIC President Trump Putin Summit
of UK citizens on UK soil authorized the sale of lethal aid to Ukraine authorized
military strikes against the Assad regime in Syria and has repeatedly
called out Russia's actions exporting energy to our allies in Eastern Europe
look the president has been extremely tough on Russia and to say anything
different just not true leaders by name far more often I'm glad i'm a boudreaux
I want you criticized by that I think he has I think he has called them out for
interfering our election he's been tough on Russia repeatedly and he's taken
action against Russia on a number of fronts that I just listed off why wasn't
he critical for further contractions what they had a number of conversations
the president discussed some of these things directly face-to-face with
Vladimir Putin he addressed him again yesterday the president also sees this
as an opportunity as he said many times to be able to work with Russia he
recognizes the fact that 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons are under
the direction of the United States and Russia he thinks it's a good thing to
get along with the other person that controls that much of the nuclear
arsenal across the globe he wants to create a more stable world a more
peaceful world and we can't do that if we can't get along with Russia in some
capacity and so certainly we've called him out we've been tough we've
approached this in a totally different fashion that has been previously done
because what's been done in the past hasn't worked
so we're trying a new approach but to act like he hasn't been tough on Russia
that he hasn't called them out is simply not true and it simply completely
changes everything that this administration has done in regards to
that country Josh I'm gonna keep going Justin um I'm gonna go you described the
negative impacts of the trade conflict with China the short term but that's
only true if we're able to strike a better deal and from the outside since
the tariffs went on one two weeks ago that seems like those negotiations have
broken down so I'm wondering to be tell us the status of them are why the
Treasury secretary isn't meeting along with China when it's in Argentina for
the g20 and what it would take from the Chinese or from the US to restart those
calm look I'm not going to negotiate with you guys I'm gonna leave that to
secretary minuchin an ambassador Ally to Heiser we're continuing to have
conversations with China we're continuing to look for ways that we can
have a better trade deal with them
Maggie's question because she asked about the idea that Putin offered
essentially allowing robert muller and his investigators to go to russia to
oversee or witness the interrogations of the russian military intelligence
officers if the US would reciprocate have Russian investigators come here to
watch American citizens face questions about the crimes that they allegedly
committed in Russia the president called it an interesting
idea he said it was an incredible offer why would he say that he said it was an
interesting idea he didn't commit to anything he wants to work with his team
and determine if there's any validity that would be helpful to the process but
again we've committed to nothing and it was an idea that they threw out Sarah
some Democrats on Capitol Hill now are saying that they want to drag the
translator who is in the room with the President and Vladimir Putin before
congressional committees to find out exactly what was said in their private
meeting is that something that the White House would ever support that's
something that would go through the State Department
Mike yeah the list of subjects you went through historically for that one-on-one
game everything let's our mister with sanctions discussed it all into the
present bring an apple or the president whose string it up to
the present problem I'm not aware I'd have to ask to be sure calyx one quick
one yesterday that the president's revision it was kind of seen widely that
he was leading himself a little bit of room when he said there could have been
others to move metal was he referring to any specific intelligence on that or was
that his instinct certainly the president receives a number of briefings
and has talked about this subject pretty extensively we're aware of others that
have made attempts but I can't get into any of that here at this point having a
few questions for you and I want to just clarify somebody talked about forgetting
the briefing so despite the video that shows the president looking at Cecilia
and answering no to this question about whether Russia is still targeting the US
and despite multiple people in the room understanding that the president was
responding to that question and despite the president having never before said
the word no-no repeatedly to usher reporters out of the room yes you're
saying they're saying it to reverse you're saying the president is the first
thing that the president said after the question was asked was thank you very
much and they said no I'm not answering any
more questions and even further I think even Cecilia didn't realize what the
answer was because she asked for clarification and he didn't answer the
follow-up I talked to the president he wasn't answering that question he was
saying no he's not taking questions and I've stated what our position is which
is the president this is the second time in three days that the president of the
White House has come out and reversed what the president has said in actually
what I'm interpreting what the president said I'm not reversing an opposite way
while I was in the remedy well and I didn't take it the way you did to watch
it but why should this president have any credibility to Americans in what he
says if in fact 24 hours later or in this case three hours later the White
House comes out and says just kidding first of all that's not what I said
I was interpreting what the president is intention was and stating the
administration's policy it's not exactly what you just explained we never said
just kidding and I think and I think that you can
take the fact that the president has credibility because he saw that he had
misspoken and he wanted to clarify that yesterday which he did so when he sees
that he's misspoken he comes out and he says you told Josh the president has
been once again pally I'm moving on to Jordan Jordan go ahead sorry go ahead
thanks Jordan you said I'm gonna take a question from people and I start a wet
because I don't think any of us remember at least I don't remember a time in the
president has publicly called up Vladimir Putin I think by stating the
fact that the president said that Russia interfered with our election that's a
pretty bold call out of another world leader Jordan go ahead senators Rubio
bent Hamid introduced legislation that would impose new sanctions on Russia if
the intelligence agencies find a medal in the 2010 midterms or in the future
with the president from support proposal like that we're not gonna get into a
hypothetical situation until we until we see you know a final piece of
legislation and also a determination if there's election meddling again our goal
is to stop that from happening which is why we've spent such a significant
amount of time in the first year and a half of our administration focusing on
protecting the election integrity
steroids bonus surprise are included with that please if we could go out
people you choose not to call of me it's voter suppression part of that election
process that the president is trying to look for him are you not gonna answer
that though expire you know the couchy issues
that our community in America ongoing asked about you got the answer John go
ahead that's alright fun Thank You Sara I wanted to ask you about
immediate reaction to the president's comments that he made at that point
press conference in Elsa if it wasn't media every cable channel Fox NBC CNN
reacted immediately to the suggestion the president made that he did not
believe that Russia interfered in the u.s. presidential election I got my
inbox inundated with emails from Republican members of Congress with
their reaction immediately in 24 hours to 24 hours for president to correct the
record why did it take so long for the president to clarify the comments that
he made at that press conference look the president put out an initial tweet
after boarding Air Force One that clarified his comments on the
intelligence community wanted to make sure that was clear and at the very
first chance he had in a public setting the following day he clarified his
comments and I don't think that it was that long for that to be the very first
public appearance that he had following arriving back to the United States
actually it's a pretty long time and it was out there for it wasn't actually 24
hours before he responded at all again he put out an initial tweet from Air
Force One comment on this to clarify his remarks to change the wood to wood it
or wooden to wood and I think that you know a lot of people would argue that
there was ample time for the president he tweets all the time from air force
pond anywhere he did that to put out a statement which clarified what he meant
to say during the joint news conference and he didn't do that
what's so long as my question once he reviewed the transcript he wanted to
publicly he wanted to publicly address the clarification in which he did
Congress to impeach Deputy Attorney General rod roses scene is that
something that the White House would support for the lack of cooperation and
turning over documents to Congress the president's made clear he liked all
documents to be turned over but we're continuing to work with the art
department of justice I don't have anything further with the White House to
announce that everything do they have the did they have confidence within the
Deputy Attorney General the president would like to see the documents turned
over when the president no longer has confidence in someone his administration
will let you know general on a Friday at a press conference with Prime Minister
day I asked the president as he was leaving whether or not he would tell
Vladimir Putin to stay out of US elections as he was leaving with Prime
Minister he said yes did the president tell that Amir Putin at their summit in
Helsinki to stay out of US elections certainly the president as both he and
President Putin said discussed election meddling I think we've made very clear
what our position is on that I'm saying that they discussed election meddling
but did the president of the United States tell the President of Russia to
stay out of the u.s. election mr. president the president has made clear
to Vladimir Putin that he should stay out of US elections I'm sorry I'm
we'll go ahead reserved record it was a report last question it was a recording
made of their one-on-one meeting as I exist I'm not aware so Sarah that you
say that the president is very concerned about the election process you talk
about what he's doing you did not you did not mention voter suppression in
that voter suppression has been an issue for for decades and particularly in
these last few elections his voter suppression down the table when he was
talking about voter fraud people were talking about voter suppression as well
his voter suppression on the table is life we want to do everything within our
power to protect the integrity of our elections and we're going to look at
that on a number of fronts the reason I dress address these specific issues is
because of Russia's involvement in our elections in the past I'm going to take
one last question so I want to change a topic a minute if I may and go south
sure I think that thank you and so the incoming president of Mexico
has made two very bold suggestions number one he's looking at giving
EXPLOSIVE White House Press Briefing (July 18, 2018) HISTORIC President Trump Putin Summit
amnesty to the drug cartels operating within there today they come out and say
they're seriously looking at legalizing all drugs in Mexico now if they do that
obviously it's going to have a tremendous impact on the incoming amount
of drugs in the deep into the United States what is the president's position
on that and are they going to do anything to stop that from happening
everyone in Mexico certainly we're going to continue engaging with our Mexican
partners I don't have a specific policy announcement on that front however I can
say that we would not support the legalization of all drugs anywhere and
certainly wouldn't want to do anything that would allow more drugs to come into
this country thanks so much have a great day
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