Islands, puerto rico, and florida. This morning, Jennifer Gonzalez onred several photos twitter. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. ,oming up saturday morning discussing the fiscal 2018 budget deal and what it means for tax reform. Then a discussion on the continuing stock market rally in is the Business Community reacting to the Trump Administration economic agenda. He sure to tune into washington journal live sunday morning at 7 00 a. M. Join the discussion. This weekend, President Trump awarded a medal of honor. Captain rose is credited with saving the lives of over 60 american soldiers over a period when his battalion came under attack. This ceremony is 20 minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, accompanied by medal of honor recipient captain gary m. Rose, captain of the United States army, retired. We recall the words of sacred scripture, no one has greater love than this than to lay down ones life for ones friends. Let us pray. Almighty god, source of our love,and our hope and our be present with us here now on this important occasion for our we recognize the extraordinary, Selfless Service of captain mike rose. His heroic acts of sacrifice reveal to us the true dignity of each and every one of us of all our brothers and sisters. May these few moments here today and this example of captain service for the world the way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. May his heroic acts stir within us all the sacred desire to serve our nation, to serve with honor and to serve with these with these selfless acts that lead to peace. Amen. President trump please, thank you. Thank you very much, chaplain hurley. Vice president pence, secretary shulkin, members of congress, members of the armed forces and distinguished guests, please join me in welcoming captain Gary Michael Rose to the white house. [applause] pres. Trump for many years, the story of mikes heroism have gone untold but today we proudly present him with our nations highest military honor. Joining mike today is his wife, margaret, their three children, sarah, claire and michael, and their two grandchildren, kaitlyn and christian. Kaitlyn and christian, i want you to know that the medal that we will present today will forever enshrine your grandfather and is he a good man. We just spoke to him for a long time. And you are great, great young people. But this will enshrine him into the history of our nation. Were also grateful to be joined by nine previous congressional medal of honor recipients. Their courage, character and conviction is beyond measure. Please stand. [applause] pres. Trump we are honored to be in their presence. This afternoon i want to take a few moments to share the incredible story of mikes heroic deeds. Raised in watertown, new york, mikes father was a metal worker and a world war ii veteran. He taught his son that we live in the greatest country in the world and that we must love it, cherish it and always defend it. Mike took that very much to heart. After his first year in college he enlisted in the army and by the time he was 22 mike was a medic for the fifth special forces group in the vietnam war. On september 11, 1970, mike was called on his second combat mission. He was the only medic for 136 men who embarked on one of the groups biggest missions of the war, operation tailwind. Their goal was to prevent the north vietnamese from funneling weapons along the ho chi minh trail to use against our american troops. Helicopters dropped the unit into laos. Before they even touched the ground, enemy fire struck three men. Once they landed in the clearing, they rushed to the jungle for muchneeded cover. Soon another man was shot outside their defensive perimeter. Mike immediately rushed to his injured comrade, firing at the enemy as he ran. In the middle of the clearing, under the machinegun fire, mike treated the wounded soldier. He shielded the man with his own body and carried him back to safety. But this was just the beginning of mikes harrowing fourday mission. Mike and his unit slashed through the dense jungle, dodged bullets, dodged explosives, dodged everything that you can dodge because they threw it all at them and continuously returned fire as they moved deeper and deeper and deeper into enemy territory. Throughout the engagement, mike rescued those in distress without any thought for his own safety. I will tell you the people with him could not believe what they were witnessing. He crawled from one soldier to the next offering words of encouragement as he tended to their wounds. On the second day, one of the allied soldiers were shot outside their company perimeter. Again, mike raced to the side of the soldier, exposing himself to constant fire as bullets flew in every direction, mike fired at the enemy with one arm while dragging the injured soldier back to the perimeter with the other. Soon after they returned to their unit, a rocket propelled grenade exploded nearby and shot smoldering metal into mikes back and into his leg. He was seriously, seriously wounded. The shrapnel left a gaping hole in mikes foot. For the next 48 excruciating hours, he used a branch as a crutch and went on rescuing the wounded. Mike did not stop to eat, to sleep or even to care for his own serious injury as he saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. On the second and final night of the mission, the enemy surrounded the company. All night long mike treated the wound and dug trenches to protect them from blazing rockets and grenades. After four days of constant engagement with the enemy and after successfully destroying an enemy base camp, mikes unit prepared to evacuate. When the helicopters arrived, mike fought back the enemy as his fellow soldiers boarded the aircraft. Chopper,d the last aircraft. To the as mike puts it, if you dont believe in god, then you should have been with us that day. And i can tell you, it will make a believer out of you. Because we should not ever have survived. Mike, today, we have a room full of people and a nation who thank god that you lived. [applause] pres. Trump mikes story doesnt end there. Soon after the helicopter lifted off the ground, the chopper was hit by enemy fire. Mike, this is serious stuff. [laughter] pres. Trump this was not a good four days. The bullets tragically struck a young marine gunner in the throat. Again, mike rushed to help as he wrapped a cloth around the marines neck. The engine of the helicopter failed. And the aircraft crashed less than a mile from where it had taken off. Mike was thrown off the aircraft before it hit the ground but he raced back to the crash site and pulled one man after another out of the smoking and smoldering helicopter as it spewed jet fuel from its tanks. Finally, another helicopter rescued them and by the time they reached the base, mike was covered in blood. He refused treatment until all of his men had been cared for first. In every action during those four days, mike valiantly fought for the life of his comrades even if it meant the end of his own life. Mike, you will i mean, i have to say, you really your will to endure, your love for your fellow soldier, your devotion to your country inspires us all. I have to tell you that is something. Nations are formed out of the strength and patriotism that lives in the hearts of our great heroes. Mike never knew for certain whether or not that marine gunner who was shot on the helicopter survived until earlier this year when mike learned that the marine had endured a painful and difficult recovery. But that he had made it and lived a long and very full life before passing away in 2012. As mike said, that in itself made it all worth it. That marine was one of many men mike saved throughout those four days mike treated an astounding 60 to 70 men. Their company disrupted the enemys continual resupply of weapons, saving countless of additional american lives. Today we are joined by many of mikes brothers in arms who fought alongside him in operation tailwind. Along with brave airmen and marines who provided critical support throughout the mission. As mike put it, if it wasnt for those aircrews, all of us would still be in laos. Among those here today are 10 members of mikes unit. Please stand up as i call your name. Sergeant major morris adair. Sergeant don boudreau. First sergeant bernie bright. Captain pete landon. Sergeant jim lucas. Lieutenant colonel gene mccarley. First Sergeant Denver minton. Sergeant keith plancich. Specialist five craig schmidt. And Staff Sergeant dave young. Thank you very much. [applause] pres. Trump to all those who served in the battle, you all deserve the eternal gratitude of the entire nation. You faced down communism. You defended our flag and you showed the world the unbreakable resolve of the American Armed forces. Thank you very much. After serving in operation tailwind, mike went on to become an officer in the army and served for over 20 years. Now mike and his wife, margaret margaret, stand up, margaret. I met margaret. Margarets lovely. [applause] pres. Trump reside in a fantastic place where i just left, huntsville, alabama, where he lives by a core conviction. You serve your country by fixing your block. Or fixing your neighborhood. Mike volunteers with the american legion, the knights of columbus and many other organizations. He volunteers at a local soup kitchen, fixes broken appliances for elderly and disabled neighbors. Donates his hair to those suffering cancer. Makes lunches for children in need and Organizations Community gatherings to bring people closer together, which is something we need all over the world and certainly in our country. Hes a loyal friend to his fellow Service Members. Many of whom are in addition here today. And every wednesday, kaitlyn and christian come over for homework night with grandma and grandpa. I just met them, you have to stand up. Come on, christian. Come on. Kaitlyn. [applause] i think kaitlyn and christian will agree this field trip is their best homework assignment yet. Right . What do you think, christian . He said yes. Im told recently christian asked his grandfather what exactly is the congressional medal of honor . That is a wonderful question, christian. Its the award given to americas bravest heroes who earn our freedom with their sacrifice. Those who receive the medal of honor went above and beyond the call of duty to protect their fellow Service Members and defend our nation. Caitlyn and christian, you are about to witness your grandpa receive our nations highest military honor and americas about to witness captain Gary Michael Rose recognized as the true American Hero that he is. A patriot who never gives up, never gives in and always stands strong for god, for family and for country. Mike, we honor you. We thank you. We salute you. And with hearts full of admiration and pride, we present you with the congressional medal of honor. And now i would like the military aide to come forward and read the citation. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] the president of the United States of america, authorized by act of congress, march 3rd, 1863, has awarded, in the name of congress, the medal of honor, to Sergeant Gary m. Rose, United States army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sergeant gary m. Rose distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a special forces medic with a companysized exploitation force, special operations augmentation, command and control central, fifth special forces group, airborne, First Special forces, republic of vietnam. Between 11 and 14 september 1970, Sergeant Roses company was continuously engaged by a wellarmed and numerically superior Hostile Force deep in enemycontrolled territory. Enemy b40 rockets and mortar rounds rained down while the adversary sprayed the area with small arms and machine gun fire, wounding many and forcing everyone to seek cover. Sergeant rose, braving the hail of bullets, sprinted fifty meters to a Wounded Soldiers side. He then used his own body to protect the casualty from further injury while treating his wounds. After stabilizing the casualty, Sergeant Rose carried him through the bulletridden combat zone to protective cover. As the enemy accelerated the attack, Sergeant Rose continuously exposed himself to intense fire as he fearlessly moved from casualty to casualty, administering lifesaving aid. A b40 rocket impacted just meters from Sergeant Rose, knocking him from his feet and injuring his head, hand, and foot. Ignoring his wounds, Sergeant Rose struggled to his feet and continued to render aid to the other injured soldiers. During an attempted medevac, Sergeant Rose again exposed himself to enemy fire as he attempted to hoist wounded personnel up to the hovering helicopter, which was unable to land due to unsuitable terrain. The Medevac Mission was aborted due to intense enemy fire and the helicopter crashed a few miles away due to the enemy fire sustained during the attempted extraction. Over the next two days, Sergeant Rose continued to expose himself to enemy fire in order to treat the wounded, estimated to be half of the companys personnel. On september 14, during the companys eventual helicopter extraction, the enemy launched a fullscale offensive. Sergeant rose, after loading wounded personnel on the first set of extraction helicopters, returned to the outer perimeter under enemy fire, carrying friendly casualties and moving wounded personnel to more secure positions until they could be evacuated. He then returned to the perimeter to help repel the enemy under the final extraction helicopter arrived. As the final helicopter was loaded, the enemy began to overrun the companys position, and the helicopters marine door gunner was shot in the neck. Sergeant rose instantly administered critical medical treatment onboard the helicopter, saving the marines life. The helicopter carrying Sergeant Rose crashed several hundred meters from the extraction point, further injuring Sergeant Rose and the personnel on board. Despite his numerous wounds from the past three days, Sergeant Rose continued to pull and carry unconscious and wounded personnel out of the burning wreckage and continued to administer aid to the wounded until another extraction helicopter arrived. Sergeant roses extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty were critical to saving numerous lives over that fourday time period. His actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the First Special forces, and the United States army. [applause] eternal god, we ask for your blessings, the blessings of this day to remain with us as we go forward. May we go forth in peace empowered to serve with greater courage and strengthened to overcome the challenges of our service of our call. Given to serve all in need. And we ask all this in your holy name. Amen. [applause] on monday, we will hear from former president will clinton, who is speaking at a summit on opioid addiction. Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings will also be there as well as people from the Outlook Health sector. That is happening at the Johns HopkinsBloomberg School of Public Health at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan. In our 22nd year of the texas book festival. It was founded in 1995 i been first lady laura bush, and a Pretty Amazing group of dedicated volunteers who decided that we needed to have a book festival in austin, texas, to celebrate Texas Authors and literacy. And to support our texas libraries. Years, the early book festival has exploded. It very quickly became a national, premier destination for the biggest books of the year. Join book tv for the texas book festival live from austin saturday and sunday, november 4 and fifth on cspan2. Next, a look at the Trump Administrations middle east strategy, and ongoing efforts to combat isis with formers former chief strategist steve bannon, who is currently chair of breitbart news. This is part of a conference on countering violent extremism hosted by the Hudson Institute. It is 35 minutes. Hello. Beginning on your political persuasion, you can interpret the absence of light in many ways. We had several speakers, many voices. We have heard from republicans, democrats, senior retired officials, generals, two x cia directors, and the last thing you needed, we thought, was in exile talking to an insurgent. [laughter] i dont think i need to introduce mr. Steve bannon, he is the former white house strategist and executive chairman of breitbart news. He has interesting things to say n for those who did not who do not agree with him and it is important to hear his perspective. Any attempt at trying to introduce them would only get me into greater trouble than is necessary. Everybody knows who he is and i welcome him on behalf of the Hudson Institute to this conference. I would just begin by saying that mr. Bannon has identified with the idea of America First, and there are those who would say that America First would be more of an isolationist idea. His agreement to join us today gives us an opening to ask him to share with us some of the ideas that he would say he has about the topic today, which we all know is conquering violent extremism, qatar, iran and the muslim bug brotherhood Muslim Brotherhood. Steve, why dont you start with an opening statement, and set the pace for us having this conversation. Thank you very much. I would like to give a quote to start off. We wont reinforce old alliances onesorming and form new and unite the world against islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth. That was donald j. Trump a few minutes after high noon on onerate 20th, 2017, january 20, 2017, his inauguration. There is a lot of confusion or misinformation, fake news about who wrote that inaugural address. President trump wrote it. Stephen miller and myself were honored to help them out, as was jared kushner, kellyanne call me conway in some other folks. Specifically, he wrote that sentence. I think he wrote that line and that part of the speech back in november, december. Maralago. That was the first time we talked about it. Talked that it was a pretty big check right check to write, because somebodys going to have to cash it. He said, this is my obligation to the American People as commanderinchief. If you go back in time, President Trump strongly believes the reason he was on the podium on january 20 and Hillary Clinton wasnt was it came time came down to the decision of the American People of who would be the best commanderinchief and a time of war. I think one thing that President Trump remembered, this is the longest war in the nations history. I think it is longer than the revolution, civil war, world war i and or two. I think if you add them all up and combat, this is the longest sustained military conflict we have ever had. In his wholemp candidacy, from the very beginning, when he came down the escalator in trump tower, was a repudiation of the elites. A repudiation of the foreignpolicy establishment, a repudiation of the party of davos, the concept of this rules based quarter which the elites underwrite which the American People underwrite with her taxes. I had some skin in this game youd i was a naval officer in the persian gulf during the original hostage crisis. West point is a graduate and served in iraq after she graduated. She stays in the army, she is an army captain, may eventually deploy back. I have had many nephews and cousins and folks like that, my extended family have served in. He middle east my kid brother was in libya and 83 and 1984. These were seven going on a long time. President trump in the campaign, particularly when i was able to step in with Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, it was during the end of the crisis around the gold star family and the death of the hero, captain khan. One of the things we talk about is how you compare and contrast. Imself with Hillary Clinton one of the strongest thing she had going for her was her foreignpolicy experience, her foreignpolicy committee, as secretary of state, her vast knowledge of all the ins and outs and nomination minutia. New chefs we were seeing a rise of isis that really had caught the world by surprise. I had done more they have done more to have a physical caliphate. The ability to have slick markets and recruit all over the world. You also had, for the Obama Administration, because of their focus on the nuclear deal, you a resurgence persia. The continual specter of a radical islamic terrorism. President trump could not have orn more blunt or direct been more plainspoken about what he wanted to accomplish. The date that he won, i remember general fund of the time, what he wanted was to devolve the car the cia,he commanders, he would set overall strategy, but they would take a more active and aggressive role in the description destruction of isis. Whenever he said it during the campaign, he would try to make the iran deal better, and if we can, i will to certify it, terminated. Connectg i will do is your aggressive there aggression throughout the middle east in their paper their behavior. Accountingfigure we have to figure out how to take care of radical islamic terrorism that is not isis related. One of the things we wanted to work on was a summit. He wanted to bring the arab world together and put, i think he did not want to be actively engaged, did not want to be engaged in that. Anybody who thinks we are isolationist, i dont know how summit thatthe arab took place in may 2017. By the way, the three Component Parts that were worked on from day one, was to take the take care of the financing and support of radical groups throughout the world. Number two was to work with the arab and muslim world, particularly people like general sisi and to work with the arab and muslim world about the engagement of islam with modernity, and the ability of islam to reform itself internally by muslims doing it, not imposition of western values on the muslim world, but they muslim and islamic world reforming certain aspects of its religion and its state that led to certain parts of this radicalization. The third was to start to have a serious conversation about what type of military alliance, what had to happen to stop irans expansion, persian expansion in this arc from iran to the sea, through the capitals of baghdad and damascus and beirut and what , was happening on yemen with this kind of cancer move through this kind of pincer move through the arab world. Last 7, happened in the 8, nine months . President trump has accomplished something that people would have mocked and laughed at during the campaign. Raqqa fell. The physical destruction of the isis caliphate would shock the world on its rapid rise. And i think that the world back on its heels, about how can this group of young people with a couple of spiritual leaders and a call to arms they had from the 900yearold mosque in mosul, how could they have an economic capital in mosul and spiritual capital in raqqa. How could they have a Million People who could be taxed . It was breathtaking, the whole world backed off. In eight months of President Trumps strategy, executed by general mattis, and that was not a war of attrition. It was specific from day one, this will be a war of annihilation. We will physically annihilate the caliphate. That is what has been accomplished. If you look at the summit, the second part of it, they went into the summit, we went into the summit with uae and saudi arabia and others and the number one thing was, we must take care of the financing of radical islam. And this and be no more games. You cant have it both ways. You cant on one side say you are a friend and ally and on the sidede b financing be financing the brotherhood or hamas. You cant say you are on our side and be on the other side and open to irans aggressive, warlike posture to the United States and to the west and other islamic countries. You can no longer have it both ways. I think that is not the summit came. I think President Trumps speech at the summit is one of the great speeches any political leader has ever given. It should have put to bed that President Trump was an islamophobe. Particularly, the deplorables and the people who voted for him , did not want active engagement with the islamic world. Understanding as partners, we would have to go through this time together and come out on the other side and the world would be a safer and more robust place. I dont think it is just by happenstance that two weeks after that summit, that you saw the blockade by the United Arab Emirates and bahrain, egypt and the kingdom of saudi arabia on qatar. I said from day one, even with the situation in the northwest pacific with korea, i think the single most important thing that is happening right now in the world is this situation in qatar. Interviewer there are two things you said that need more elaboration. The first, which i think is a positive, you made it clear the Trump Administration and those who were instrumental in bringing President Trump to the white house are not islamic phobic and do want to engage with the islamic world, but in a different way. That needs elaboration because that is contrary to the way things are perceived. The second thing that needs more clarification is, you make it seem like the last 10 months have represented a major, clearly thought out, stepbystep approach to the problem, and you give credit to the Trump Administration for this success of the Iraqi Military and the kurdish militias in relation to the islamic state. There are people who would criticize that or say that is not true. I would like you to make the next point, which is why do you think that what has happened is actually the result of policy and not the result of developments within the region . The third is, the qatar question. It seems american policy has been two steps forward and two steps backward again. Is it really the change you said it was, or is there Something Else happening in the administration that you decided not to share with us in that initial statement . Mr. Bannon lets take the first. I think if you, number one, this whole thing of America First being isolationist for us against the world, i think it is total nonsense. He looks at the world in a different way. It is very, Walter Russell mead would say jacksonian. I think President Trump looks at things in a jacksonian in that, it is what is in the Vital National security interest of the United States is what you should commit to. In those areas of the world where it is in the vital interest of the United States, you will have partners that will be in their Vital National security interest also, and you work, whether the northwest pacific, japan and south korea, and the gulf with people like the uae and saudi arabia and egypt and bahrain. I think there is a tremendous thing of engagement. I dont think there is anything President Trump has done in this administration that makes us look isolationist at all. I think he doesnt want us to get in tpp and arrangements where we are just another person that the table, another entity at the table and not something we know is in our Vital National security interests. As far as being islamophobic, i would talk to our allies in the region. I would talk to egypt, the uae and saudi arabia. I dont think anyone has given the now crown prince more , which is vision 2030 just reordering, but a restructuring of their economy and society. A lot of people say it is an imperfect plan, but you have to understand they are trying to do something in 10 or 20 years, it has been centuries building up. I dont think anybody has been more supportive and i take that from the quotes when we had the summit, of what the king said, the deputy crown prince said, the crown prince said and many leaders of saudi arabia said. Also, the uae. If you talk to these individuals, and they talk to the media all the time, for many years of the Obama Administration being disengaged, President Trump has leaned into this and leaned into it in every aspect. About the development or the destruction of isis, that is another thing. Certainly there was done with allies. It was done with most of the troops in iraq that eventually took mosul, raqqa. Kurdish troops. I think that is once again to what President Trump is trying to get across. It is not going to be america that has to lead here. It is going to be in the Vital National security interests of other people. You have to show support. You have to show you are not just in financial support, military support, political support. It shouldnt be lost on people that the extreme vetting, what is called the travel ban, the fundamental difference between the first and second is that iraq came off. And stateher analysis department, it was determined that iraq should go back on there. One was the fight against isis, the other was what they had done to make sure people were fully vetted. That is the second question. You are third question was . Mr. Haqqani the third was about qatar and is it two steps forward, two steps backward approach . There seems to have been a step backward after riyadh. Bannon President Trump, one of the reasons he is president of the United States and Hillary Clinton is not, is i do believe there was a fundamental rejection by the American People of what much of the foreignpolicy establishment of both Political Parties we talked before the consensus of parties, the consensus of what American Foreign policy of how it evolved we are in the middle east and the treasure we have lost in the situation is why we have not focused on the rise of china, the opportunity cost of our engagement in the middle east. Working class and middle class people in this country are looking at the taxes we pay, the trillions of dollars spent, the veterans that have come home that have ptsd, that are wounded , looking at section 60 all right arlington cemetery, the young the men and women that have died that are buried over there. With President Trump, it was less try to bring these wars to some sort of culmination and victory matters. President trump is not a quitter. He certainly not a loser and the American People arent either. Its not just the cost of being there. We understand these things have to be done. I do believe there are aspects of the Foreign Policy community that are inextricably linked. Others dont share those points you. I fundamentally believe that qatar and after the summit, the muslim summit, it was looked at as an opportunity to be seized instead of a crisis to be managed. Ter that qatar had to be qatar had to be called on their iran andmas, turkey in the gulf. At the time, in sitting at the summit i am not a foreignpolicy expert by far, but i took a hard line on that. The uae and the egyptians and the king of saudi arabia had a well thought through plan. They were going to stop the islamic terrorism, that it had to be cut off 100 . If you cut off funding and support, we have a chance to eradicated from the face of the earth, which is president cap laid out to the American People. But it is not being fully implemented. There are two things on engagement. Secretaryis tillerson, i have a great respect. I want to make sure that everybody people came down on two sides on the original to plans that to plans that were put out. These are frankly pretty straightforward. The uae and saudi arabia did not say that the planes had to be met. They said these are what the framework have to be for discussions. Number one, qatar will curb diplomatic ties with iran and closed at dramatic missions there. She, it will sever all ties to terrorist organizations, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, islamic state, has been law, al qaeda. They would designate these entities as terror groups. It will shut down qatar funds, jihad, middle east, it will eliminate the Turkish Military presence in qatar, stop means of funding for individualist organizations designated as terrorists by saudi arabia, the u. S. It will hand over terrorist figures, it will and interference of sovereign countrys internal affairs, stop global opposition, pay reparations for the loss of life, accept monthly audits and align itself with other gulf and arab countries along the 24 team memorandum of understanding. I realize some people think that is over the top and qatar would give up its form policy if it foreignpolicy if it did that. I wont say i agree with all of those, but i do agree i thought that was a pretty good construct of for which to sit down. I think it was a constructive day. I think it is well within the rights of people that we agreed at that summit, it was an agreement, that there was going to be an effort to have a 100 cutoff of the funding of radical islamic terrorism. I believe our allies in the region, uae, egypt, saudi arabia not only agreed to that, they were the drivers of that. Mr. Haqqani you think they are, as drivers, implementing it firmly . Implementing the mechanisms that will stop Terror Financing . Mr. Bannon what do you mean, in their own countries . Mr. Haqqani saudi arabia, uae, you believe they are no longer doing anything that can be construed as supporting radical islamic groups . We know the uae runs a major antiextremism effort, but there have been people who say other countries in the region have not firmly lets talk about the kingdom of saudi arabia. Look at the tectonic plate shifts we had from the summit and this is not fair to President Trump and i am not here as an apologist, i am here is a guy who is a veteran mr. Haqqani maybe his advocate. Mr. Bannon i am his advocate, but also a parent, a veteran and a taxpaying citizen. What has been accomplished in a short period of time is amazing to me. I dont think he has gotten credit for the summit because i think the summit was incredibly important in the muslim world, the arab world, important to show the United States was engaged and action would take place. If you look at saudi arabia, they have had a pretty big fundamental change since that summit. Deputy crown prince is now the crown prince. I think two weeks ago, there were 1000 clerics rounded up and somehow put under house arrest. I realize the opposition party, the New York Times refer to themselves as liberal scholars, i would respect fully submit i would have to stand up for the New York Times because they are not the opposition party. They disagree with you like they disagree with them. Mr. Bannon i could not disagree more, that is another debate for another time. I think saudi arabia, people realize there are issues with other countries. The effort is nowhere near what qatar is actively involved with. I would also say that qatar has run and influence operation. They sent millions of dollars to try to change the opinion of congressmen and thinkers, think tanks and the elites in the city. Mr. Haqqani a story today said you are being paid by one of the other countries to influence something in the same way. Mr. Bannon that is a company i have nothing to do with. It is a good point, there are companies that take have some financial relationship. I understand how qataris are throwing that up. That is fair play in this thing. However, i think they are both missing the point. There are other influence operations. The American People cant be full about this. One of the powers of President Trump is that he can connect to the american working class and american middle class in a very plainspoken vernacular. I am a huge believer in the common sense and decency and judgment of what we call the common man. That is why i am a populist. I would rather depend on their judgment. We were in alabama a few weeks ago for judge moore in an old barn with sawdust floor. I said i would take the first 100 people who came to that rally to govern the country over the top 100 partners at goldman sachs. I would want to reiterate i would take the 100 to operate our Foreign Policy. Those people are not going to be convinced that qatar continues to fund the be in bed with a run and run iran is a good thing. Mr. Haqqani general petraeus this morning said that you cant just use Delta Force Operations and drones to get rid of the problem of radical islamist extremism and terrorism. This may actually end up being a multi generational issue and in the containment of iran. How would you describe your views on the comprehensive approach that is needed to both sunni extremism represented by groups like al qaeda and isis, etc. , and the Muslim Brotherhood and shia extremism in iran . What would be your multi generational approach and how would it differ from the establishment . Mr. Bannon number one, in afghanistan, we say multi generational approach there is no one in the United States who want to be in multi generational special operation operations. It is not the way our country was founded are formed. I think the summit, this was so important about how President Trump structured the summit and what he wanted to accomplish, we are prepared to be allies. What we dont want is these countries to be protectorates. We are prepared to be allies. That is why the action against qatar was so important. What is happening in qatar is every bit as what is happening important as what is happening in north korea. In qatar, all the seams come out. Our allies in egypt, the uae, saudi arabia understand we are there for them, but it is not our fight. It is your fight. If you are going to reform islam and bring it into modernity, that is a huge civilizational and cultural aspect and it is yours. We are there to be an ally. We are there to be a partner if needed. We dont look at it as multi generational combat troops. That is why we are so opposed to what happened in afghanistan. President trump measures this. It took six months to make the decision in afghanistan. He measured every alternative because he believes every American Life is important, every tax dollar is important. In afghanistan, i dont think the gulf is totally different. I think we tried to impose our values. Trying to impose a democratic system on a society that doesnt seem to want it, which i think is fine. This is America First, we are not looking to transform the world into our values. I think the world has got to come to its own conclusions, on how to govern themselves. Hopefully, they see in the example in our own country that maybe the things in the american system, the American People, democracy, they will take. I do agree with general petraeus that you have to have a more total approach. I disagree with the fact, particularly with general petraeus and others that look at this as nationbuilding. We have to build a nation called the United States of america. If being a Strong Partner and having the robust nature to partner with people like uae and the kingdom of saudi arabia, bahrain and egypt as they go through this massive transformation of economies and cultures, we will be their partner. The way you can do that is if we are a Robust Society ourselves. Not trying to impose our way of life and beliefs on other people. Mr. Haqqani you would not have any role or any actions whatsoever that would imply trying to remake the world in americas image . You want to accept the world as it is and yet try to interact with the rest of the world with American Values and let them pick their own . Mr. Bannon American Values are from america and i know we have certain universal beliefs. I think you have to show the world how you implement those beliefs and how you execute upon them. If they want to emulate them, you can. We cannot enforce them. These societies are thousands of years old. We have missed the plot here. What the geniuses left on President Trump is essentially, the bay of pigs in venezuela, the cuban missile crisis in korea and the vietnam war in afghanistan all at one time. President trump didnt do this. The deplorables who voted for President Trump didnt do this. This is the geniuses of both Political Parties. Both Political Parties delivered this upon us. In addition, besides what they allowed to occur in the middle east, of which now President Trump is trying to work with partners to pick up the pieces and bring some stability and safety to the region. We see the rise of china president xi the other day said will be a hegemonic power. That will have massive implications for the United States and its place in the world. President trump didnt do that. That is the geniuses that in the span of 24 hours last week, we had the speech of president xi, president bush and senator mccain and i would respectfully submit that president xis speech was an adult speech would else and the bush and mccain speeches were more and the reality of what President Trump has done at the summit and promised at the inaugural day is that he goes out and works with his tremendous team to try and implement this. The foreignpolicy elites of washington, d. C. Who asked me to interview you today told me when you Start Talking about other issues that dont relate to this conference, i should bring it to an end. So i will bring it to an end now. [laughter] thank you for doing this and it has been a pleasure. Mr. Bannon thank you, ambassador. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] newsmakers, Derek Johnson talks about the naacp future and other movements like black lives matter. Watch the interview today at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Ll this week on q a. They were shoving and jostling. Their target was charles murray. I was a little bit behind him. A kind of intensified. It looks like he was going to fall to the ground. It was a 74yearold man. I did what any decent human being where do i grabbed him by the arm, 12 to make sure he i was fall, but also fearful of being separated from them and being left behind. Site of his arm and then it all turned on me. Someone from my hair and somebody body slammed me from the other direction. Discussing a violent protest on campus last much following a scheduled lecture by charles murray. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. White House Press SecretarySarah Sanders sat down earlier this week with several members of the White House Press or to discuss the Trump Administrations at relationship with the media in the amount of access journalists receive. Among the participants were john roberts, when thrush, and april ryan from the American Urban Radio Networks. Posted by George Washington university, this is one hour and refund minutes. Good evening, everybody. [applause] quite a crowd. And there is the overflow room. The school of media and Public Affairs at George Washington university. Whether you are in the room or joining us on cspan or Facebook Live or with streaming live streaming, it is a pleasure to have you. Connecta place where we complex, controversial, fascinating issues of the day with those who are shaping them. Our students, faculty and researchers. I am positively delighted to be partnering with margaret and the White House Correspondents Association for this event. Thank you for turning out tonight. I am president of the White House Correspondents Association. I do analysis for bloomberg and cnn. Its an incredible pleasure to get to spend time with you guys tonight. We represent the White House Press corps, 100 journalists. Whether they are print or tv or radio them online, photographers the cover the white house, and our job is to be a liaison between the press corps in the white house, to educate the public, to raise issues about access and make sure we can get as much of the information as possible to you, the public. We do scholarships. We do awards to honor great work in we champion the first amendment. This is an important time for the first amendment. We look forward to be able to bring you the voices of some of the people on the front lines to do this day in and day out. We will take your questions on issues and concerns you care about. Year awe have every student who has one of these White House Correspondent association scholarships. We support that student through their four years here. Dinner withtend the the president , assuming the president goes to the dinner, and spending time with the correspondence. Correspondents. This is timely and remarkable and fascinating. I was a White House Correspondent myself some years ago. I was very young correspondent. A kindergarten correspondent. I covered the Reagan White House and the bush white house, George Herbert walker bush white house. I have interviewed several president s. This presidency changes what we have seen in many ways. Trump was a disruptive candidate and is a disruptive president. And some of the challenges to covering the white house, criticisms on the fake news. I have also in news and shaped things of well. We will touch on that as well. Marget our work every day is about doing our job day in and day out. There are moments in a presidency, and tonight is one of those moments when it is about assessing where we have been, where we are going, and whether anything has changed and how. Frank our panel will join us in a moment. We will ask a question on a different topic of each member of the panel. Then we will open it up for a broader conversation. We will open it up for your questions later in the evening as well. This is a real discussion. Marget when that point in the night comes there will be microphones. You can spend the next hour thinking about what questions you would like to ask and we will give you some instructions later on. We do want to mention thanks to some of the folks that are former president s of the correspondent association. Thank you for being here tonight. We like to welcome all students, media, academic scholars and members of the public. Frank we look forward to it. It is ok to look at your phones as long as you dont do it too much. If you want to engage social oftrump on twitter and instagram. It in a fully respectful way. One of the things we have seen that is most under siege is the notion of civil discourse. We here at gw are very much wanting to stand for that. Serious, honest, direct engagement, but always civil and respectful. Marget tweet or snap away. Please keep enough of your attention focused to you can hear what is actually going on. Frank we are really looking forward to this conversation. We had a couple of drinks, nonalcoholic, yesterday. Where do we begin . A good place to begin with the with introductions. Shall we do that . It is my great pleasure to start our introductions with someone you know, even if you dont know him. You have probably seen him or someone playing him on saturday night live. Please welcome glenn thrush from the New York Times. [applause] frank thank you. Our nextou also know guest from fox news and because President Trump feels safe and comfortable with him. He likes to engage with him. Please welcome john roberts from fox news. [applause] john just because i am trump bait. Frank you know our next guest because we are privileged to have her as one of our turgor fellows. She spends time with faculty and others. She is wellknown to millions of americans for her many years at the white house. April ryan is a White House Correspondent with American Urban Radio Networks and an analyst with cnn. April ryan. [applause] frank do i get one . [laughter] panelist willxt succeed me next summer and also the chief washington and White House Correspondent for yahoo , olivier knox. [applause] frank how many students in the room . Any Political Science majors in the room . Anybody taking a course in Political Science . This person needs no introduction but we will do it anyway. She has a professor of Political Science. She has written about the presidency, congress, legislative gridlock. For next focus on the federal reserve. Her next book is on the federal reserve. [applause] last but not least it is a little intimidating to look at the room like this and a panel like this and think you are the representative of the Trump Administration. We know she is more than capable of doing a great job tonight. We want to thank her very much for her participation. Sarah huckabee sanders, white House Press Secretary. [applause] frank before you sit down that did not take long. Fascinated about why you came here and what it is you want to be a will to talk about. Maybe you should ask that question in about an hour and a half after this is over. Forums like this are important. The ability for the administration to be open, transparent, answer questions is very important part of my job. I tried to do that everyday. I am hoping maybe this crowd is a little nicer than the one i sometimes speak with. A few of my friends are back here. This is a great opportunity to talk about some of the things we have done over the last year and hopefully have a friendly and fun backandforth conversation. Frank we want to understand how you go about your job, cap give you your job and how your boss is doing his job. Im looking forward to hear in your response. Sarah good, i have time to think on those. Marget we got as close as we could do about a year since the historic election last november. November 8, President Trump and you will be somewhere in the middle of a 12date trip across trip across asia. The political landscape, to the way journalists and president s interact. And perhaps some comparisons between the campaign and the way President Trump has governed. I am very interested for gearin inherent about that. I am very interested in gearing about that. Hearing about that. [applause] to getwe will take turns the conversation going and then we will open it up. The audience will join us in the questioning of it later. Sarah, lets start with you. We are taking stock of things. The president made big and disruptive promises as a candidate. Heot of the promises he made said would be quick or easy. Obamacare,epealing tax reform, infrastructure. He has had a lot of trouble with each. In thinking about that and where he goes, this is the question. It revolves around priorities. Secretary mnuchin said last week the tax reform was the top reality. Corey lewandowski was on campus and set of donald trump does not build a wall, he will not get reelected. That should be top priority. Republicansl of shows their top priority was repealing and replacing the Affordable Care act. 53 said that was extremely important. What does the president vicki couldve done there from the to get any of these things done, and what is his top priority now . Sarah i think one of the reasons donald trump is president is because there is such a frustration with the way washington functions. I think we have seen a lot of that over these first nine months in office. You have so many things get lost in the process. It is very hard to push things through, regardless of whether or not you have a republican majority. Particularly when it is a narrow majority. Bigakes it tough to enforce and bold change like donald trump and like to do. We are making a lot of progress. Maybe not as fast as certainly i think the president wants and not as much as america once. I think america wants. That is the Reason Congressional polling numbers are so low. There is such a frustration that they dont have the ability to get a lot done. The biggest priority is tax reform. We are in the heart of that. I think we will get that done by the end of this year and i think a historic tax cut the president has proposed and is pushing through will be a massive change to our economic system. I think it will empower the economy in a new way through these historic tax cuts, help middleclass families, and something i think we will see happen in that couple of months. Frank i just want to ask one mini followup. He said is the Reason Congress numbers are so low. Is that why his numbers are so low . Sarah i will take the president s numbers over congress any day. One of the reasons you have President Trump as is because he is not your typical politician. They were looking for someone to come in and change washington, change the status quo and he has done that. I dont think anyone could argue he hasnt been somebody who has been disruptive to the way the system normally operates. Does that mean we are getting everything done on day one . No, but we have gotten a lot of things done in short order. Isis is on the run. The economy is stronger than it has been in decades. Unemployment at a 16year low. A lot of these things he has been able to do more in those eight months, particularly what it comes to things like strengthening the economy, like the defeat of isis and the position we are in far more than obama did in eight years. Those are big steps in the right direction. Frank we will come back to all of that, im sure. Marget mr. Thrush what she said. Year has trumps first been marked by a lot of wellknown internal competitions. Everyone from michael flynn, jim comey, the hhs secretary, sean spicer, steve bannon. I feel like i might be forgetting a couple of people. There are a couple of remaining cabinet advisors or top advisers who have been under threat of will hewont he. How, other than the kind of political reportage, how has that affected the management of the executive branch and the process of governance in the early months of this white house . Glen the first thing i would like to do this thing sarah for coming. I know it is difficult to be outnumbered. Sarah kind of outnumbered . Glen incredibly cool she would come here and submit herself to this sort of thing. Frank it is just a conversation. Think part of the thatem has been the fact they are learning on the job. A lot of disruption we refer to, and there is no question the mood in the country are restive. Nt is i dont think people wanted it shaken up this way. You see that reflected in a lot of numbers that shows the president lost a significant amount of support from om heendents, without wh would not have been elected president. [laughter] check your phone. My phone is dead. It makes you even more questionable. [laughter] glenn i will just let that one go. I think in general part of the issue is this guy is learning on the job. He had no experience in this. I think part of the problem is his brand precludes him from you cant necessarily do what a lot of president s in this say ion due which is to am ramping up. That reflects itself in the way that, with all the respect, some of the communication comes through. With general kelly a couple of days ago what was noteworthy was not that he made what appears to be a significant error in facts about this congresswomans characterization, the conversation and the characterization of the gaveesswomans speech she at the opening of the fbi office a couple of years ago. The fact that there was not an immediate attempt to deal with that. Clearly the general misremembered about what occurred. That is a fairly easy matter of fact a clear up. I will not name the Senior Administration official who sent this to me, but early on during the presidency, probably february or march i dont think i made an error in a story but there was a failure to communicate. I did not yet someone to comment on deadline. They called me up to complain about it. Then i said to them, i am really sorry about this. Then that person said dont apologize. It is a sign of weakness. I dont view apologizing or admitting error or that you made a mistake is a sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength. I think in terms of the president and his Approval Ratings in his interactions with all his branches of government and the iraqi people at large he would be doing the American People at large he would do himself a favor if he admitted everyone is capable of seeing that he is learning on the job. Roberts, talk politics today. Corker, dave bob haveert, russ lightman either announce retirement or been defeated in a special primary race. Our boss and former advisor to the President Trump steve bannon spoke of a season of war against the gop establishment. What impact from your perspective, and you know this very well marget that is not a joke about your age. Just because a cover the first roosevelt presidency. [laughter] does the ofimpact people have on the Republican Party and conservativism . John i think the ultimate effect remains to be seen. Steve bannon does really push a lot of alternate candidates. Going into the midterm elections, i think they could have a dramatic effect on the Republican Party. Mitch mcconnell thinks it is a bad idea to float the kind of candidate steve bannon is behind. He said the other day for the president again on sunday that his goal was to get candidates that can be elected and therefore maintain a majority in congress. I think the biggest problem for the Republican Party is they have been screaming long and loud, give us the house, give us the senate, give us the white house and you will see things get done. But things in congress have not gotten done yet. The president has suffered a stinging defeat twice. There are a lot of people in this country that are thankful that did not get done, but if you are a republican and you want to get elected in 2018 or a republican president and you and to get things done, you are looking at that saying we gave the keys to the kingdom and 99 getting anything done. You have been promising for the past several years the first thing you would do when he got the majority was to repeal and replace obamacare. They have run three elections on that and did not get it done. After all those show votes they took into congress, we will vote yes. When the rubber that the road they choked. A lot of republicans are looking at that and saying we keep sending Unit Congress on the promise you will get something done and you dont do it. Then all these alternative candidates start to surface more. Many of those are people that Mitch Mcconnell said will not get elected. The Republican Party could end up shooting itself in the foot because he could not get done what it promised to get done. It is a little early to see the full effect. April covers urban communities across the United States. It is a big focus of your reporting. April among other things. Marget if you were to highlight one or two policy issues you think of have the biggest impact on urban communities, which ones would you highlight . Are those the same issues that got the most coverage . April no. What we are gearing in the news affecting the urban community this president has a major microphone to write the narrative saying things about the flag and the soldiers of this country. Areho are taking challenging the system that is been a problem for a long time when it comes to police and mass shootings. That issue still has yet to be addressed. We know the president , when he was president elect and also when he was a candidate he was supporting policing. Supports community releasing to weed out that policing. Think about then candidates from running for the oval office. He was talking about an innercity fix. I asked him about that and he talked about issues of crime. It talked about issues of health care, education. I asked him about the they did have a meeting. A lot of those issues are yet to be dealt with. When it comes to issues of crime, there is a big problem. The Congressional Black Caucus is talking about this right now. The Trump Administration now is dealing with or in the midst of working out this plan that the cbc considers hooveresque. If you are black identifying and gettingng, they are now a file. That is very hooveresque. When it comes to education, lets talk about hbcus that are flattering. Historically black colleges and universities. None of them are celebrating 105 nine of them are celebrating 150 years. 150 years ago was two years after the emancipation proclamation, when black people were told they were free. Not go me but we could to schools with white people. Betsy devos at the whole thing wrong. We could not go to schools with white people. They were built brick by brick to educate their future. That was not meant to play with this or have it floundering. Many in the Africanamerican Community are upset because that is one of the two pieces for africanamericans to go to middle income status. There are a lot of issues on the table. I am waiting and listening for some of those issues to come around. Education, crime. We have not heard about the crime yet. And the Affordable Care act. Aca. Yes, it has problems. Aca, the Affordable Care act, that the republicans gave to president obama and he embraced. The issue was trying to help with insurance. Yes, you had high deductibles and some issues. There is strong concern in the black community that with this on round of executive orders what is to be done, it will be the least of these. When it comes to issues in urban america the jury is still up but it does not look good right now. Sarah i would just like to clarify something on hbcus and education. President trump has done more in terms of elevating hbcus. He moved the office back into the white house so it has been empowered and a greater level, given a bigger platform and that of having it house at the department of education. They committed to funding. There is no flattering on that part. One of the things that is very helpful is the idea of school choice, which is very popular with an urban communities because it allows students he has been a champion for that, as is betsy devos. I think those are ways we are taking bigger steps. This was not a problem created overnight. We are not going to be able to fix it overnight. We are taking very big steps in the right direction to move that ball forward and to empower those communities and do more and open up that conversation. April if i may, the hbcu president s were told when they ofe in at the end february by steve bannon to get them a list. Pell grants, which they did get through congress. Sarah which the Trump Administration supported. April that is true. Then they also had they asked for a onetime lump sum of 25 billion. And then with a hurt the president said about the budget, and it could be unconstitutional because of race issues, the president did say that. What did he say . Frank do you have a response to that . Sarah we can come back to all of that. The broader point is that you want to launch these very generic attacks against this administration when we have done a lot of the things. Did everything get done on that list . No, but several items did. We are working to complete more of the things on that list. April i did not attack. This is civil discourse. I was laying out what i was asked to lay out. You have policy pronouncements and you have details. You have interpretations of the same. Lots to pursue. We will not get to everything tonight. We heard from sarah earlier and dead on, this president john you were talking about this. This president was elected as an expression of discontent at the way washington as the hate. If you want to burn down the house, you hire an arsonist. Donald trump said we have to bring this house down. He said i will drain the swamp. How is he doing . Swamp drained . Nearly as well as he is allowing a lot of systematic regulations. I connect these ideas. You go back to early april. The director of omb Mick Mulvaney identified one core principle which was removed the influence of lobbyists on policy. His formere seen Trump Campaign manager you to start or join major lobbying firms. Have seen a lot of policy i want to connect these two ideas. No, the swamp is not trained. You would not see one of the signal successes of the Trump Administration. It does not get as much coverage as the latest tweet, but its very important for this administration. The methodical rollback of executive regulation. Marget lets talk about what it means for President Trump to be a republican. Had a lot of tension with the republicancontrolled congress. At the same time he seems to be working towards a goal without republican congress. One, attempting to get things accomplished that fit his agenda. Two, trying to shape it Republican Party a little bit more into his vision. I wanted to ask you what you think that tension exists. Thean as a republican, but President Trump as a republican or as a thirdParty Candidate or a no Party Candidate . I definitely see him as republican. The matter what the policy issue is or the direction he wants to move the party, he runs at the end of the day on his name and the republicans are after the name regardless of the policies. Is ank the problem is fraction republican majority and ever here before the election. We did not notice them so much in the minority because they were not responsible. Maraget in a position of control they have to deal with a polarized system. Two parties disagree about the problems are, what the solutions are. It is a small majority, it is fractured, and they are looking to the president to pave the way forward. President s can play because they have the broad, public stature to do that. You done at the via policy wonk, but you have to use your bully pulpit to maintain the partys position. Fellow members of your party, even if they disagree with you on policy, they need to be convinced that because you are behind it they should get behind it. But you have to choose an issue, choose a position. Many lawmakers, republican lawmakers are not quite sure what the president stands on any given issue. That is complicated, building a majority. A majority of them have to be built. Maraget do you think any republican president had one of the other 16 emerged of the nominee, any republican president would have actually had a bit of trouble governing as a leader of this Republican Party . Sarah b. there are certain fractures that would have emerged. Repeal and replace. Tax reform. I think you would be seeing similar issue. The question is could a different president have set the agenda and stuck to the agenda and make clear with all resources behind that agenda . And did they have the public stature outside washington . Call theave what we power to persuade . Your persuasion as president to fentanyl people in washington see you. Wins are reasons to get behind you. Do you reach out . That will build public prestige and that is what president s can use. We can imagine another morelican may be making progress but still with a fractured majority. Frank a lot of you have talked about the different nature of this president , the presidency, some of the political decisions that exist, the swamp they came up against. You talked about being new at this. Obviously donald trump was not in government. We talk about things that had been done. In looking forward and thinking about what has been done over the past, what has the president learned from this year. How do you see him taking those lessons and applying them to be more effective at getting some of these things done that have not been done . Broadening his face as opposed to merely playing to his base . How would you assess some of what you have seen and what needs to play out . Thats a lot of questions. She is used to that. Sarah i get that all the time. Be onk a lot of it would the Relationship Development side. I wask he has done going to go the opposite way. Particularly on the Foreign Policy stage, i think he has done a good job of developing relationships with a lot of key partners and allies. Particularly when you look at the asia trip we are getting ready to go on. He has developed strong relationships with abe, xi, a lot of the leaders that really are helping grow the amount of pressure being put on north korea, which is one of the greatest threats our country has faced today. Frank im talking about being legislatively effective in washington. Sarah i did not know you are speaking specifically about legislative issues. A little brought on lessons learned. Legislatively to take a bigger role of engagement. In health care, he did towards the end. You are seeing that happen more with the tax reform, tax cut plan that is being enacted very much forward leaning. Far more engaged. Early on in laying out the parameters, laying the foundation of what he would like to see. And the plan working with members of congress to develop that plan. And helping drive that through to completion. I think you look at the process from healthcare, the process put in place for passage of tax cuts. I think those are pretty different approaches and certainly i think we are seeing more success to date on the momentum and forward progress on the tax cuts. I think the president discovered over the last nine months he cant rely on members of is a party to get things done. If you reaches out to the democrats, you might get a couple of things done but he has to be realistic. They will stick a knife in his back the moment they get the opportunity to on a number of different issues. Frank what about the republicans . Democrats stick it in the front. It comes down to a handful of people. It is come down to rand paul, continues to refuse or vote for anything that involves a . You know Susan Collins that stands on principle. John mccain who stands on principle, and Lisa Murkowski is flexible depending on if she can get the process she wants. It is down to just a handful of people blocking things from getting done in the senate. They are standing on their principles. Rand paul is sitting on the principle of i want to get reelected. The other ones probably could be convinced to do it if they are given the right set of parameters in order to be comfortable. Ma right or wrong . And i right or wrong . Sarah possibly. Some are principle. Some are posturing. Maraget the president tells us how great things are. I would to hear from you. There are always positives and negatives to every presidency. The defining moments in these nine months. If you can give us a look into was this week a defining moment . Sarah this week . I would not say this is the defining moment. Moment . Defining sarah i would not characterize it as that. The media was to create a narrative that i dont necessarily agree with. Wants to create a narrative. There is a desire to make this into a situation of an attack point on the president. I dont necessarily agree with that process at all. I think in terms of the negative, i think the biggest negative would be congress inability to do their job. It is their job to legislate. It is the president s job to be the executive, layout the priorities in the principles, use the bully pulpit which he has done. To johns point you have a few People Holding up a lot of progress. To me, that is the greatest negative. Congressinability to step up and do their job. Particularly members campaigning on a lot of these things over the last seven years. Some of them even longer. Now they have the opportunity to do some big things and i hope they take it. April will there be an apology . Frank how easy is it to use the bully pulpit . Not averse to beating up on congress. I think it is a fair thing to do. We are talking about a presidency in the first nine months that has not functioned as a normal presidency. We see hundreds of positions unfilled. All you have to look at to understand what is happening is the president s policy page on his campaign website. You can continue to look at and it will say 404 error. The president did not release anywhere nea the ce near the sort of policy proposals i probablyture to say any candidate in the entire risk or any recent race. There was not a policy focus at all. How reporting has shown exhaustively he was uninformed about basic facts about the Health Care System in this country. I have interviewed dozens of people who attest in good faith affect the president was not appear in a lot of these policy discussions. Conversant with the tax issue because it is something he is more familiar with. But on areas such as health care and entitlement reform and the budget, he has not been as conversant and also not as studious as previous president s. This is not an opinion. It is based on a certain volume of reporting. We were having a back and forth between april and sarah about urban america. I spent my career covering neighborhoods in new york city. I am not as familiar with the black college issue, but i can talk about the Community Development block grant program. Really the principal means by which the federal government is able to ameliorate poverty in terms of housing and Committee Services community services. Zeroed it outney this year. Congress will definitely restore it, likely to par. In terms of his commitment to urban america, i think the Community Involvement block grant, people like him scott, republican senator from South Carolina has identified that as one of the defining issues. While we talk about a tremendous amount of dysfunction in congress, and they certainly did not deliver desperately lowly paul ryan more than Mitch Mcconnell. Paul ryan set the order of battle with reince priebus, the first chief of staff. I would say a fair amount of responsibility in terms of this gridlock and dysfunction rests on the president. I would like to throw out a question about u. S. Leadership in the world and if or how the president s approach to that or take on that has changed since he first took office. We could be talking about global interest in, or his instinct for engaging with foreign leaders and allies he has made. Testing of boundaries he has done. Jumping around sarah it seems you always start with me. Maraget i want you to frame this for us. During the campaign we thought about him as a domestic focused president who had a couple of international issues, primarily security and trade and job creation. His focus would be at home. In the spring we saw with the chinese leader xi at maralago, a turn towards understanding there was real leverage and power in this kind of relationships. You are so much more on the inside. Can you talk about the evolution in terms of his thinking about what is possible with foreign relationships . Sarah ultimately there are different aspects of the foreign relationships. One that you mentioned is trade. The president is focused on making sure the trade deals we have are good deals for american workers. I think he strongly feels that in the past a lot of the deals have benefited other countries over the american worker. He is trying to put in ephesus on negotiations to make sure whatever trade deals we have in place benefit the worker. One of the other big places is putting pressure on countries like north korea. I think he has done a great job of developing relationships and strengthening existing relationships that we have with the allies and partners like south korea, like china, like japan to help put additional pressure on north korea. I think that is been a very big focal point. We have seen him step up with more comprehensive plans to address afghanistan and iran. Not just looking at one aspect. Interagency process and with a number of stakeholders to really bring about a more holistic approach to deal with places like afghanistan and iran instead of looking at individual issues. That first trip a couple of you may have been on, his first foreign trip, that was very historic in saudi arabia and the speech he gave to the 68 muslim majority countries. Bringing a lot of those individuals in to talk about working together to combat terrorism. That was a historic moment, something that had not been done before. I think a lot of that was a great transition point for the administration and certainly a big powerpoint of the first few months of him being in office was that speech in that moment and the collective countries coming together for the first time to say we will Work Together and look for ways to defeat terrorism. Hink that is probably certainly a major moment and his presidency up until this point. Maraget russia has not enough for a number of reasons. Just what toe that do with those relationships, how hard to take them and for what purpose is still something that he is testing and trying to figure out. It is a twoway street. These other leaders are trying to define them as well. Back in march i talked with folks at 12 embassies in d. C. Major allies from around the world. The most consistent thing i heard was sure, we can get people on the phone. We have a really good conversation about what to do in afghanistan. At the end, they say the president has not weighed in. That is changing a little bit now. What is happening is the president committed himself to actions that are not easily reversed. We are talking about committing troops to afghanistan. We are not talking about a tweet. We are talking about this complicated puzzle of north korea. Allies and i would guess adversaries are taking a different measure of this president. Also because this white house is not as chaotic as it used to be. It is night and day between january 20 and today on every front. Or even june 20 really. [laughter] ask you would like to to share some of your impressions with the audience. Reportedow you see and on the white house, and the relationship between the press and the white house. Contentiouso very for a period of time. It has changed immensely since sarah took over. We all get through the daisies and watch the butterflies. The white house does work a lot better than it did. Here is a big contrast between the sean spicer era and the Sarah Sanders era. Not onerah took over person has peddled me a story about sarah. That was not true under sean. I cannot describe the garbage they were paddling to a lot of us on this panel on personal stuff, trying to undermine him. That hasnt happened under sarah. A credit to you on that. It operates very differently. Frank as the relationship with the press improved . If i can put you on the spot as a bloomberg correspondent and the white house cour Correspondents Association president. Maraget part of it is sarahs approach is been to what the president let the president approach the media as he instinctively wants to. There is a difference between the president s relationship with the media and the white house staffs relationship. The press staffs relationship. You can tell me if you think that is fair or not. The temperature is certainly down. In the opening months of the administration, to show he was he during the briefings made it seem like it was completely antagonistic and on fire at all times, and burning, and smoke, and people running around. Because it was. [laughter] margaret it was certainly more chaotic than it is now. Is always since the beginning of the administration, there were briefings. People have access. People could ask questions. It was certainly more confrontational. April sarah comes to the podium. We have had our little backandforths. Sarah i think i am winning her over. April no, you are not. [laughter] [applause] you picked up the mantle and you charged in. I understand as a woman in that you, in who you work for, have to come out and show you take no prisoners. You do that. Adversarialndly, relationship. Sarah i should do that. April i have seen you give and take. I am not giving you flowers or anything whether you what did you say . Ok. What i am saying is i understand being a woman in this maledominated world. Monday, it was like come to the rose garden now. It is not as organized as we might like or they might like. I hear you. Margaret you really are the most important answer here. What is your take on what your job is . You work for the president , taxpayers. You are supposed to be facilitating conversations with journalists. How do you do your job as press secretary . Sarah the number one job i have is to come out and provide the most Accurate Information i can at that moment. To give the most full picture i andof the process, policy, position of the administration. That is what i try to do every day. Sometimes i do it better than others. Sometimes i think it is less tense than others. Some of that is based on the news that is taking place, if it is a more controversial topic. The new leave early. Thenn you leave early you leave early. Sarah people may not see that whether or not i made i may be at the podium, i am in the office for 15 hours in the day. A lot of individuals may not ask their questions in the briefing room, but i talked to them on the phone, by emailed. John sits outside my office a. Ouple hours a day is that we provide information in a number of ways. They thatat the part should be more focused on is helping, giving information to the American People directly and being able to answer questions so they can hear the answers because they do not have the option to come by my office as frequently to get some of that information. We try to be very accessible. I think that is something that quite a few outlets have reported. They are more accessible in terms of press interactions and you have seen in previous administrations. Something that we try to put a big focus on in our office. To pretend like they are not tensions would be silly. That is not new to this administration. White house, press corps, whatever administration is in power always has tensions because we have very different jobs to do. Whether or not we can Work Together better than other times , that certainly happens. I do think there is a greater hostility than i have seen in this administration than previously. Towards the administration. You see that reflected in the numbers and the coverage. Last week, there were reports that came out from independent study groups. 93 of the coverage of the administration was negative and 7 positive. The first nine months of the Obama Administration, it was 40 six 40 versus 60 . Frank olivia, do you want to address that . One of the things i would is part ofs that it a greater media ecosystem. When you are writing about the agencies and other places, the whole package does not start and stop with us. It is important to take a theder view than just narrow feuding between the press corps and the white house. I think a lot of fights in previous administrations i went nose to nose with people who had that job before. Asked one whether they were psycho or just stupid. Sarah im glad i have not gotten there yet. There is a chance. Whether thatis figure you said is the result of extremely nature different nature of the administration. I do not know how i weigh the two of those things. The use of twitter to drive the news cycle, there is a fair omg on our side of the