By the way, as i get started i know that josh earnest was voted the most popular press secretary by the press corps. So after reading and checking my twitter feed i shot him an email last night letting her know that he can rest easy. He is secure for the next few days. Let me begin by saying that the president has been closely monitoring the Severe Weather in the southeast. He spoke with the governor of georgia yesterday by phone and expressed his support. He pledges to keep policies keeping america first. And had breakfast with key us Business Leaders with a focus of the discussion on job creation and growing our manufacturing base. Business leaders who attended included michael athe founder of dell, the ceo of whirlpool, mark feels the ceo afford, alex gorski is ceo of johnson and johnson. Marilyn houston the ceo of lockheed martin, class plainfield the ceo of aand andrew the ceo of doubt, the ceo of us steel, elon musk mark simon of international paper, weeks, the city of corning. Chief of staff Reince Priebus and stephen miller. The breakfast was an opportunity for the president to hear directly from americas top Business Leaders about the challenges they are facing and take some suggestions about what policies and actions could be taken to help them create jobs and grow our manufacturing base. The meeting included a really Great Exchange of ideas and the president of ahas decided to meet on a quarterly basis. As you know he wants to create fair deals with jobs created and reduce american trade deficit. He has appointed a top and smart number of trade experts who will fight on behalf of of American Workers. With that vision in mind, the president has already taken several steps today. First he issued a president ial memorandum withdrawing the United States for the transpacific partnership. This is a multilateral agreement including the United States and 11 other countries. As he has said many times, this type of multinational agreement is not in our best interest. He is moving quickly to advanced trade policies that increase the competitiveness of the American Worker and manufacturer. This executive action ushers in a new us trade policy which the Trump Administration will pursue bilateral trade opportunities with allies around the globe. This is a strong signal that the Trump Administration was free and fair trade throughout the world. Additionally the president issued a memorandum reestablishing mexico city policy. Stating that the United States will and the use of taxpayer dollars to Fund Abortions overseas along with coercive abortion and sterilization practices. Finally the president issued a memorandum outlining executive branch hiring. This memorandum counters dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years. In particular it prevents filling vacant positions and creating new positions except when necessary to meet national or public security. Responsibilities. It does not apply to military personnel, it ensures the american taxpayers get effective and efficient government. Earlier in the day the president spoke with the egyptian president to discuss ways to keep the bilateral relationship and to help their economical foreign program. He has the president committed to working continuing with military assistance to egypt and working with egypt to ensure assistance most effectively supports egyptian militarys fight against terrorism. The president also commended the president for his courageous steps to address egypts economic challenges and opportunities because with the us can support egypts economic reform program. Finally the two leaders discussed the visit to the United States in the future. The president and had lunch with the Vice President with a recap this mornings meeting and discuss next steps. They also discussed plans to advance the president s legislative agenda to make america safer and more prosperous. Also today the president signed designations for acting heads of executive departments and agencies to remain continuity in those positions. At 3 oclock Union Leaders and frontline workers will meet with the president to discuss his proworker agenda and that includes tom flynn, of the united brotherhood of carpenters, sean garvey president of the North American Building and construction trades department, terry osullivan, general president of the Laborers International union of north america. Mark mcmanus, general president of the United Association. Donald mullins, Steamfitters United Association with local 6 or two. Frank spencer, united brotherhood carpenters. Mccarran, president of the brotherhood of carpenters. Joseph sellars junior Sheet Metal Workers Union marketing. Thelma aheat and frost United Association of local five, the Sheet Metal Workers Union smart union, and gary messina with the Sheet Metal Workers Union smart union. The president has been honored to receives support from these men and women on election day and is dedicated to growing and deepening their support. He made it a priority to meet with the Union Workers on our working day one here in the white house. The emergent jobs and lack of growth has hit American Workers particularly hard. The president s top priority is to retain and attract american jobs which have already seen happening through his actions on carrier, sprint, General Motors and more. At 5 oclock the president will hosting bipartisan meeting with leaders here at the white house. That will include the Vice President , Senate Majority leader, Senate Minority leader, the House Speaker, House Majority leader, House Democratic leader, helps democratic rep, the white house chief of staff, chief strategist, chief of staff, Vice President and chiefs of staff from those respective offices. The purpose of the meeting is dated the president s agenda moving through congress. The American People are frustrated with lack of progress in washington. The president was no delay in addressing the most pressing issues. He is taking every opportunity to forge strong bonds with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. One of the other subjects to come up is the status of his nominees. It is important to note that at this point in 2009 president obama had seven of his nominees confirmed on day one. Five more in the first week. As it stands today, we have two. Democrats even held that the confirmation of cia director mike pompeo needlessly leaving one of our most Important National security agencies without his top leader on day one. It is time for Senate Democrats to stop playing political games with the Core Functions of government and allow President Trumps unquestionably qualified and talented group of nominees to get to work on behalf of the American People. Rounding out todays schedule, after the reception i mentioned he will have dinner with, we have a meeting with the House Speaker paul ryan. They will discuss the republican legislative agenda strategy going forward. Earlier in the day the president nominated formative mexico congresswoman Heather Wilson as the next secretary of the air force. She grew up in New Hampshire and made history as part of the third Us Air Force Academy class that included women. She had her masters degree and doctoral degrees at the worldalearn as aat oxford england. And in europe in the cold war and on the National Security office under president george hw bush. As you know we are about big dealerships and large audiences here. I want to tell you about an effort we undertaking here in the breathing room to offer up more access to a group of analysts from around the country. Beginning later this week im excited to announce will have four skype seats. Life here in the briefing room. This will open up the briefing to journalists who live beyond 50 miles from the washington d. C. Area. And to organizations that do not currently have a past. As always you are invited to apply for a past is any organization. aand any other who may not have the convenience or funding to travel to washington. I think this can benefit us all getting platform to voice is not necessarily based here. Looking ahead, the present will have a breakfast tomorrow with the Auto Industry including hazard gm, chrysler and ford. He looks forward to hearing their ideas of how we can Work Together to bring more jobs back to the industry in particular. On wednesday the president will host a ceremony swearing in from incoming new secretary of homeland security, general james ajohn kelly and on friday he will do the same for secretary mattis at the department of defense. On thursday he will travel to philadelphia to attend the Republican House and senate retreat. Friday he will welcome his first foreign head of state, british Prime Minister may. With that i look forward to taking two questions. Daniel helfer new york post. Thank you. [inaudible] i think the president has noted this was a serious priority of his throughout the campaign. He has already started to work with congress on the appropriations avenue of that. So he is doing everything he can to direct agencies and congress to commence with the work as soon as possible. With obamacare are you enforcing the mandate or not . Enforcing a mandate . The obamacare mandate. The president has made it clear he will work with congress to impart with the discussion hes going to have tonight with some of these leaders and again with paul ryan. How we can work to implement both the repeal and replace of this. Jennifer. [inaudible] i think the president is no secret, he is made very clear he is prolife. He wants to stand up for all americans including the unborn. I think the reinstatement of this policy is not just something that echoes that value but respects taxpayer funding as well. And insurers were standing and not just for life, life of the unborn, but also for taxpayer funding that is being spent overseas to perform an action that is contrary to the values of the president. I think continue to further illustrate not just in this country but around the world, what value we put on life. Jennifer rodriguez. Jenna i am sorry. [inaudible] what did he mean when he said he would work to congress to get a special, something, we dont know what it is. And welcome we expect that to happen . Also went to expect the white house site to be back up . Okay two questions. Let me start with the latter. As you know we hit the ground running on day one. There was a lot to do and we had done a lot of work on the west side to make sure that we were prepared to get as much information as fast as possible. We are continuing to build out the website, open issue areas and then aweve got it folks working overtime right now to continue to get that up to speed. Trust me, it will take a little bit more time but we are working piece by piece to get done. I think the president has been clear that he is going to prioritize the areas of dealing with immigration system. Both building the wall and making sure that we address people in the country illegally. First and foremost, the president has been very clear. We need to direct agencies to focus on those who are in this country illegally and have a record that, a criminal record or pose a threat to the American People. Thats where the priority will be and that we will continue to work through the entire number of folks here illegally. Right now, the clear focus is on that. . I want to ask two questions. The president campaigned on the Corporate Tax of 15 percent. Today we met with Business Leaders he mentioned that tax rate would drop somewhere between 15 to 20 percent. Is he moving this goalpost there in any way . And the second question is government spending. Every reports that we might be looking at 10 trillion over the course of 10 years. Is that accurate . And would you be willing to wrap up i think first, i will take the other one first on entitlement or funding. Look, you saw this. There has been frankly to some degree a lack of respect for taxpayer dollars in this town for a long time. I think with the hiring freeze person fault athere is a ton of money. Some people are working two or three jobs just to get by. To see money wasted in washington on a job that is insulting to the hard work they do to pay taxes. I think that comes into your question and overall spending as well. We have got to look at how we are spending the American Peoples tax money. So what they have been doing is going into these agencies and departments and talking about ways we can create better efficiency, eliminate duplicity and maximize the tax dollar. It is more questions that, not just cutting but had to be respect the taxpayer dollars more than that going forward. April ryan. Im sorry alove, the president is a very successful businessman and negotiator. He will sit down work with congress to get the best deal possible for american businesses so they can hire more people and we can expand and grow the economy. So he will work with congress on that. He understands better than anybody how to negotiate a great deal. Right now he will negotiate the best deal on behalf of the American Worker and on behalf of the american businesses that are hiring them. Questions if youll allow me to take them one at a time. I will. They have confirmed that President Donald Trump talk to him at the luncheon about the high price of prescription drugs. When is this meeting going to be set or is it coming up soon and will the president be meeting with the full body of the Congressional Black Caucus as well as the hispanic caucus on issues related to those community. Okay, lets take one at a time. Im not aware of the conversation. Im sure you have heard the president talk about the price of pharmaceutical drugs and the need to get those prices down and bring manufacturing of the pharmaceutical industry back to benefit the country. Its an issue he will continue to work on. He understands as we refine healthcare, to get more people access to them and also allow greater access and plans in healthcare. That will be a key part. That will happen. I think, with respect to the other meetings, its day one here. He will start with the leadership and have a great conversation with them, but then i think youll see a variety of meeting p the Congressional Black Caucus, the hispanic caucus, small group spread he is someone who really enjoys that kind of conversation. I think you will see a lot of meetings occur like the one you did today. The Business Leaders coming in, these Union Workers, and its interesting, the president was asking these folks today, how many, many of you have been to the oval office. Three of them raise their hands. We talked to some these Union Leaders and we hear we didnt get a lot of attention. Here we are on working day one and you of the president reaching out to some of americas best Business Leaders and some of the Union Workers and line workers and bringing them in and saying i want to listen to whats going on in your life. What can we be doing to help you. I think youll see a lot more of that. A listening president who is engaged in trying to figure out what policies and actions he can take and that he can work with congress and make peoples lives better to make their security better. You are going to see a lot of that. Thats who he is. Thats what he did during the transition and i think thats what he will do going forward. He appreciates the ideas and opinions that come through the oval office, or small groups where he gets to share their perspective and their ideas and opinions. I think thats what he will continue to do later this afternoon. I want to go back to what the gentleman said about the mandate. He said something about the mandate. With the numbers that you talked about in the news from the Inauguration Day and the number saturday, do you believe you have the mandate to be able to force through what you had talked about, replacing pieces of obamacare that subsidize the whole piece of it to help low income people with their healthcare. I think what we have is a mandate to make healthcare more accessible and lower cost. Thats what American People were promised under obamacare. Its not a question about a mandate and is not about forcing anything. Its about doing the right thing. Its about providing people what they been promised. You go around this country and you look market aftermarket there down to one plant. Thats not what the American People were promised. In many times you are seeing the rates go up ten, 20, 15, 30 . I think what the president is doing, he has gotten bipartisan support for this to work with congress and take executive action where necessary to implement a Healthcare System that provides more people healthcare, truly allows them to keep the plan that theyre signing up for, lowers costs, creates competition. I think think he has a mandate . Sure, but its not on this issue. I think all leaders have a mandate from the American People to fix the system and make it better. There is some discrepancy between what the russians are saying what the pentagon is saying in terms of some joint action. Can you clarify that and generally is the president open to joint action in syria with the russian. On that instance, i know its still developing and i would refer you back to the department of defense. I know they are currently monitoring this and i would refer you back to them or the president has been very clear that he will work with any country that shares our interest in defeating ices, not just on the National Security front but on the economic front. If we can work to create greater Market Access and allow u. S. Businesses and companies. Does he want joint military effort with russia and syria. I think if we have a shared National Interest in that, sure we will take it. When he was at the cia on saturday, he was talking about the u. S. Not fracking oil and that there could be another chance for that, what does he mean by that. Too often the United States is going in with a lot of money, a a lot of manpower and in many cases losing loss of life and we want to make sure our interest are protected. If were going a country for a cause, he wants to make sure americans are getting something out of it for the commitment and sacrifice that we are making. He has been very clear throughout the campaign that he is committed to making sure america, the American People and the american taxpayer see some benefit to ensure that our interest overseas are not ascending by checks. That were doing something that protects america or his mr economic interest. Does he plan to take action to greenlight the dakota pipeline, and on tpp, john mccain said there was a serious mistake to do what the president did for americas economy and the strategic position in the asiapacific. Why was tpp the right thing to do, to repeal tpp. Because i said it, when you enter into these multiple national agreements, youre allowing any country no matter the size, any one of those 12 including us to have the same stature as United States in the agreement. We are basically on par with some very small countries were getting access to an amazing market, the United States, and in return we are negotiating at the lowest common denominator. I think when you look at big multilateral and multinational agreement theyre not always in the best interest of the United States for the beautiful thing about a Bilateral Agreement is that if any one of the two parties decide that anytime they want to get out of the agreement whether not being treated fairly they can renegotiate much easier. In a multinational agreement thats not the case. In many cases all of the other countries have to agree to an action or to let some of the elves out. Thats not putting the u. S. Interest first. A question about keystone and dakota access. Im not doing to get in front of his executive action but areas like dakota and the keystone pipeline, areas that we can increase jobs and Economic Growth and tap into Americas Energy supply more of a that is something he has been very clear about. I think he talks about it not only on the campaign but around the thanksgiving time that was a big priority. Thats one where i think the Energy Sector and our National Resources are an area where the president is very keen on making sure that we maximize our use of Natural Resources to americas benefit. Its good for Economic Growth, its good for jobs and its good for american energy. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Before i get to a policy question, just a question about the nature of your job. Is it your intention to always tell the truth from that podium, and when you pledge never to knowingly Say Something that is not factual. It is. Its an honor to do this and yes, i believe we have to be honest with you megan people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may miss, that we might not fully and understand when we come out but our intention is never to lie to you. You are in the same vote. There are times where you tweet something out or write a story and you publish a correction. That doesnt mean that you are intentionally trying to deceive readers or the american public, doesnt it. I think we should be afforded the same opportunity. There are times when we believe something to be true or we get something from an agency where we act in haste because the Information Available wasnt complete but our desire to communicate with the American People to make sure you had the most complete story at the time so we do it, but i think when you look net net, we are going to do our best every time we can. Im in a come out here and tell you the facts as i know them. If we make a mistake i will do our best to correct it, but as i mention the other day, it is a twoway street. There are many mistakes the media makes all the time. They miss report something, they dont report something they get a fact wrong. I dont think thats always to turn around and said you are intentionally lying. I think we try to do our best job and do it with a degree of integrity in our respective industry. You have any corrections that you would like to make her clarifications. Sure, ask away jonathan. I want to relitigate the whole issue but the issue of metro ridership and you made a statement about that. We did. At the time the information i was provided by the inaugural committee came from an outside agency that we reported on. I think knowing what we know now we can tell that the numbers are different, but we were trying to provide numbers that we had been provided. That wasnt like we made them up out of thin air. Do you stand by your statement that was the most watched inaugural. Sure was the most watched on our girl. When you look at one Network Alone got 16. 9 Million People online, another network, there were tens of millions of people who watched online, nevermind the audience here, 31 Million People watched on television. Combine that with the tens of millions who watched it online on a device, its unquestionable i dont see any numbers that dispute that when you add up attendance, viewership, total audience and terms of tablet, phone, television, i would love to see any information that proves otherwise. Do you dispute that . I dont want to get into numbers. I do, im just saying if youre asking me a question about my integrity, i have a a right to say if you add up the Network Streaming numbers, facebook, youtube, all of the various Live Streaming that we have information on so far, i dont think theres any question that was the largest watched a neck ration ever. More than Ronald Reagans in 1981. Im pretty sure reagan didnt have youtube, facebook or or the internet. 41 Million People watched it. Lets just take the nielsen ratings which are 31 million added to cnn, 16. 9 million. Thats a little higher. Im just saying, youre asking me for numbers. There are just two entities together. The approach that you took on saturday, any second thoughts. Jonathan, look, i came out to read a statement and i did it. We are here today and im going to stay as long as you want. [laughter] i think you guys might want to leave before i do. I want to make sure we have a healthy relationship and we saw the other day, and im not trying to rehash history but youre asking the question so i will answer it. We had a tweet go out about Martin Luther king. Think about how racially charged that is. Someone rushes out and says to the entire press corps that the president of the United States has removed the bust from his office. Think about what the signal. That report got treated out around, and to report where was the apology of the president of the United States, where was the apology to millions of people who thought how racially insensitive that was. Where was that apology. You accepted his apology though. Im asking where was that apology. Im just saying when things like that happen, when john lewis says that he never missed an inauguration and we find out actually he skipped george w. Bush, there are points that we have the right to make sure we correct the record. When youre talking about integrity and telling the truth and facts, i dont know that it wasnt malicious, but theres a point at which we have a right to go out there and correct the record. I think over and over again there is this attempt to go after this president and say what i can be true and thats not right and the numbers were there and those will be rush to judgment every time and its a twoway street. We want to have a healthy and open dialogue with the press corps and the American People about what hes doing and keep the Company Country united but at a time where hes talking about bringing people together, uniting the nation and then it tweet goes out to a few thousand people saying he removed the bust of Martin Luther king, how do you think that goes over. Did the media invent the feud between the president and the media. You saw from the response of the day pretty walked into the cia. People were were hooting and hollering, they gave him a fiveminute standing of asian. Were excited but that doesnt look like a feuding relationship and i think theres a difference between having a meeting with Intelligence Leaders and the people who had strong differences with and the men and women who toil every single day in our Intelligence Community. It was reflected at the cia. They came there. They were so excited. There were a thousand people that applied for 300 seats. We ended up taking in 400 people. People. That doesnt sound like a huge feud. They were excited and clapping and cheering when he walked in. The reports made it sound like there was some venting that needed to happen but it didnt seem that way when he walked in. Sean can i ask why are they moving the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem and was the Muslim Brotherhood discussed. I just gave you the readout on the call with the president anything that speaks for itself. As for what was discussed. Im sorry, the first part. What is the strategic interest in moving the u. S. Embassy. As i noted yesterday, there is no decision. We are at the very early stages of that decisionmaking process. Will that be a detailed discussed when Prime Minister theresa may comes on friday of what a trade deal might look like. Is there going to be a joint news conference. We are here on working day one. We are excited that Prime Minister mae is coming on friday. We look forward to it but im sure there will be discussion of trade. The degree to which, i dont know yet and im sure we will have an opportunity to brief you. We dont have any plans for a press conference but thats something our team will be working out with Prime Minister mae and we will be keeping you updated. After the executive order was drawn in the u. S. From the tpp, what specific steps will President Trump take to expand u. S. Trade opportunities abroad. When he speaks with Prime Minister may, he will have a great conversation about the potential for greater trade with the uk. I mentioned earlier when he met with the manufacturers this morning, that was right up there at the top the list. How can we get greater Market Access. What are the specific challenges that these manufacturers are facing getting Market Access in the countries around the globe. Thats an important issue. Its not just other countries but within existing trade deals. We can figure out, is there a trade dispute that can be settled, is there are revision to one of the existing trade treaties that we have now. There is a lot that can be done and they are things that congress can update to make sure that we are importing and exporting more to benefit american businesses. Thank you. Has the president or will the president have a chat, even an informal chat with the Prime Minister before she comes here. There are no plans for that now. Its always possible. Hes been having a tremendous number of calls. I think the number is over 80 of people who have talked to him, congratulated him him prior to being elected, we went read that he met with canada and mexico and hes broken with Prime Minister netanyahu yesterday and others today. There will be tremendous excitement in the diplomatic corps and at the world leader level of people who are excited that President Trump and this Administration Want to engage. There is a lot of times when hes talking to these folks and hes saying i have not heard from anyone in years. I think theres a genuine excitement to reengage the United States in the area of trade and other interest, but also in the area of National Security. Needless to say, this was the big one and its the first. Why is this executive order anything more than symbolic. When will President Trump start negotiating those bilateral deals with the 11 other countries pretty its going to take some time and that could be, giving china room. First i would argue that bilateral deals are what most of china has been engaging in and thats something that i just said that the president will look to engage with. Most of them we have an existing trade agreements with to begin with. This was an expansion of that in in some areas it allowed, whether was the Service Industry or financial markets, it allowed additional access. This was not a deal in our countrys best interest interest. The president could have come into office and renegotiated it and send people back to the drawing board. It hadnt gone to congress yet because it wasnt finalized. I think this president , pulling out of the agreement is not just about this one agreement. I think its symbolic both here in america and around the world of a new era of trade policy, 11 that will put American Workers first and foremost and one that assures the rest of the world that the way that we negotiate Bilateral Agreements is going to ensure that we get something out of these deals. As i mentioned to john a minute ago, the problem with multilateral agreements is that often it becomes the lowest common denominator on so many things. For the u. S. Already has low tariffs and other Service Industry benefits for countries, weve got to be able to make sure were going out and fighting for the American Worker. So theyre not going to renegotiate. We pulled out of tpp. So of all the existing. We will have further issues on trade agreements later this week. [inaudible] i believe theres an action that has to be taken under the provision of nafta where you send notice to the other countries. The exact nature of how thats described, there is a trigger within nafta, one of the sections allows the president of the United States to notify them that we intend to do that. Will there still be a north american trade bloc or something different. Again, i think part of it is he has already spoken to the president of mexico and Prime Minister of canada about his desire to renegotiate. I think as he meets with both of these individuals over the next 30 days, that will be a topic. Now if they in and express a willingness to do that, you could negotiate it within the current parameters and updated through the existing structure. If they dont and he decides to pull out we would have to go back to the drawing table. Just to follow up on the china question, china actually has a regional agreement and now japan and australia, 22 of our great allies are talking about joining that. Does President Trump see a National Security component to these trade deals and is he concerned that china will write the rules for asia pacific trade. I think has been very, very clear about chinas place in the geopolitical landscape both economically and National Security widespread he understands the need, thats part of the reason trade is important. It provides a check but again, hes always going to be fighting for the interest of the country in the the American Worker. How we engage and with whom is going to be decided on whether or not we can get a deal that benefits our country economically and in terms of National Security. There are things we can do economically that actually end up also benefiting us from a National Security standpoint because of the economic relationship that exists between the two countries. Really simple, what is the average National Unemployment rate. I talk about whether or not we include. The bureau of labor statistics. No its not a question of what i expect, there are ways you can put out on employment. Theres a reason put out several versions of that. One is the nature of how you count the unemployed, whether or not they are longterm or whether or not theyre still seeking a job, but theres a reason you put out several of these statistics so that economists can view them and decide, look at different landscapes on how to make economic policy. During the campaign at one time he said it was 42 . I just want to know where were starting. But part of it as his Economic Team is going to look at a multiple multitude of specific spread he wants to get as Many Americans working. That is his ultimate goal. When he sees people who are hurting that havent had wages lifted up that cant save for the kids future, that are having trouble with their healthcare cost, thats what he really cares about. Its not just a number to him. Its about is someone getting by, are there wages going up and they find a better job, do they have access to education, whether tire education, unchecked college or a Votech School so they can train for the skills of the next century . Those are the kinds of things, hes not focused on statistics as much is whether or not the American People are doing better as a whole. It was interesting. I know when we talked about carrier someone said that the thousand jobs. You talk about those thousand jobs and the families, during the Holiday Season i would beg to differ that those people were unbelievably ecstatic that the president and Vice President intervened. Everyone of these meetings that you saw happened in trump tower, and now its all about whether its 2000 jobs are 20000 jobs, thats the focus. Its making sure that Small Businesses have greater opportunity to be successful and American Workers can have their wages lifted up in the meta fits they receive in terms of healthcare and education is something that provides them the support they need. Thats what this is all about. For too often we get our heads wrapped around the number. We forget the faces and the families and the businesses that are behind those numbers. Thats what hes trying to look at. Its the people who are struggling and say mr. Trump im working as hard as i can. Im working two jobs, im doing everything by the rules and i keep getting screwed. Thats what he is fighting for, that man or woman who is doing everything they can write but cant catch a break. I think he address that in his inaugural speech when he talked about shifting power outside of washington d. C. Back to the American People. For too long, it has been about what number are we looking at as opposed to what phase are we looking at. Have a . Doctor and the message from the white house to young people who might qualify and not yet have their citizenship. Should they reenroll and those who are in the program now. What those people should know is that the president has laid out a list of priorities. The priorities are focused on making sure that people who can do harm or have done harm and have a criminal record are the focus. As he said throughout the campaign, we have a series of individuals we have to figure out, people who have overstayed their visas, people have committed crimes and we had to go through that in a systematic methodical way. So for now the focus will be on people who have done harm to our country. 2016 was the hottest year on record. Scientists are saying that we are getting dangerously close to the point where human civilization is being threatened. How does President Trump intend to address the. I think he is going to meet with his team and figure out what policies are best for the environment. I think one of the things he talked about during the campaign is that there is a balance and he is trying to make sure that we use our resources appropriately and not at the detriment of Economic Growth and job creation. I dont think its an either or situation paid we have to do things that are smart for the environment and mark for longevity but also things that create Economic Growth and job creation. What is his message to the millions of people here and around the country who are protesting on saturday . And i have a followup after that. Okay, that is very polite of you. I think he has a healthy respect for the First Amendment and this is what makes our country so pitiful that one day you can inaugurate a president and the next day people can occupy the same space to protest something. He is also cognizant to the fact that a lot of people were there to protest an issue of concern of them and not against anything. This morning woman was on television talking about, i dont want to inaccurately quote her. She said, different women were there for Different Reasons but they were all there to make sure their core American Values will be protected and i think many people like me were there for positive reasons. I think the president shares her views that there were people who came to the mall, as they do all the time, sometimes in smaller numbers. I think he reaches out to them in the way that he started on the night that he won the election, on the way that he did on Inauguration Day, by sending a message that talks about fighting for them, but more importantly the president will show through action and through success that he is fighting for them and fighting for every american. One of the things we have seen so often in this town is a lot of soaring rhetoric about how much people care. I think the president is going to show some deed and action and success that he wants to fight for Peoples Health care. He wants to have a better education system. He wants a stronger america. He wants to go in and fix our inner city spread he wants to make sure our infrastructure, roads and bridges. What than anything, showing people through action and deed and success is where he is going to prove to the American People how much he cares to unite us and how much he cares to make america better and safer. On the other side of this, another group is coming. I forgot you did ask. Thank you. Just a followup on the question, a moment ago when we had them march for life in washington, what concrete promises is he making . We havent heard a lot about what that policy is going to look like. Its day one. Yeah but youve had a lot of time to make those promises. I know, but whats their expectation be. He is going to stand up and value life, born or unborn, the same as he said throughout the year end half that he will stand up and protect life and promote it and instill policies that promote life, promote adoption and help support young women and funding of agencies and clinics that support Womens Health tax reform, regulatory reform, three and four. Not a overhaul though finish. I think youve got to work with congress to get the appropriations process going. But its not just building the wall, its how do we enact policies to make sure that what we have now doesnt happen again. And so it is working with them, its a comprehensive look at at how were keeping people out of this country, that people who are coming to visit are leaving when theyre supposed to, tailoring immigration policies that make sure or were not an open tour for anyone to just walk in. I think we have to do immigration smartly, and thats what we have to look at. I have a second one. Im sorry, youre right. I havent heard that you all have said or someone else has said specifically, has the president spoken to any of the intelligence agencies about the investigation into the russian connections, and will he allow that to go on . I dont believe he has spoken to anyone specifically about that, and i dont know that we he has not made any indication that he would stop an investigation of any sort. Yes, sir. Clarification, you said youre willing to work with anybody to defeat the islamic state. Does that include bashar assad . I think we are going to smartly do this, lets be clear. Part of it is to headache sure that they have make sure they have americas interests in what theyre doing. If thats not truly their guise or if theyre not so lets, lets not take that too far. Thank you. Yeah. Sean, will the president release documents showing that he has left his businesses . I believe we have. [inaudible conversations] he has resigned from the company as he said he would before he took office. Don and eric are fully in charge of the company. Hes taken extraordinary steps to insure thats happened. Yeah. [inaudible] the political priorities. What would be the message for the Hispanic Community in the u. S. Taking into consideration one of the priorities has been the war . What would be the relation between this administration and the community in the u. S. . Well, i think his relationship with the Hispanic Community is going to be great. As i said, i think that whether its jobs or education or health care, the president s committed to uniting all americans and working towards a better, safer, more secure, more prosperous america that benefits everybody. And i think, you know, whether regardless of your background, thats something that hes committed to. Yeah. Sean [inaudible] does mr. Trump agree with Rex Tillerson that the u. S. Should try and prevent china from accessing the islands of the South China Sea where its building runways and other kinds of facilities . Right. I think areas in the South China Sea that are part of International Waters, i think the u. S. Is going to make sure we protect our interests there. So its a question of if those islands are, in fact, in International Waters and not part of china proper then, yeah, were going to make sure that we defend International Territories from being taken over by one country. Does that would you prevent china im not going to i think i answered the question. I think as we develop further, well have more information on that. John [inaudible] thank you, sean. Hold on to. Well get to you, i promise. Welcome to your first today on the job. Thank you. Very simply, there was an earlier question about jerusalem and the u. S. Embassy there. And a lot of talk about executive orders. Is this something the president can accomplish by executive order . It is, but i think as i noted, john, its very early in this process. Were at the beginning stages of this Decision Making process, and his teams going to continue to son consult consult with stakeholders [inaudible] thank you, sean, and welcome here. Thank you. I have a followup on the question about nafta. Are we not to expect then an executive order today to renegotiate nafta, or will he wait until he meets with the mexican president next week . And the other question i had is he didnt mention latin america at all in his, you know, his inauguration speech. Does he plan to visit latin america this year . So on the first part, i think well have further announcements on trade throughout the week. Not going to happen today. I think were done with executive orders for the day. But as i always say, stand by. [laughter] but we do not have any intention to have additional executive orders today, but i believe there could be some additional ones throughout the week on trade, and well have further updates for you on there. And then the second part does he plan to travel to latin america given that he left them out of the inauguration speech . Right. Well, i dont think he left them out, i think he was focused on this country, our American Workers. I dont think he got into detail on any countries that im aware of or that i can recall. But i also think that were here on the work, first working day, were announcing theresa may coming this friday. Were excited to have the Prime Minister here. As i said, weve already talked about setting up a meeting with canada and mexico. Hes talked to Prime Minister netanyahu about having him come over. And then as i mentioned, president alsisi. Well get there. Weve got a lot of calls to return, theres a lot of excitement throughout the world and a lot of people who are really excited both tom here and have the president to come here and have the president visit them. Yes. Sir, the Gay Republican Group delivered a white paper to the trump team urging the president to maintain an executive order from president obama barring antilgbt Workplace Discrimination among federal contractors. The president has said hes going to rescind the executive orders that are unconstitutional, but will he maintain this executive order . I dont know on that one. Ill have to get back to you. I dont know weve gotten that far on the list of executive orders, but ill be glad to get back to you. [inaudible] again, i just dont know the answer. Ill try to get back to you on that one. Yes, sir. On immigration, the chief of staff, i think, had said over the weekend, seemed to suggest that an executive order shutting down the daca program had been ruled occupant. Is that officially ruled out as you guys go forward . And does the president support action in congress that would essentially permanently establish those protections i think, i dont have anything further on the executive action front, but i think ive asked and answered the daca piece of this in terms of his [inaudible] i think that well have to, we dont have anything in front of us right now to sign on that, so give us a little bit of time. Well see what Congress Moves forward with, and then im sure well have a further readout on the executive order piece and on the legislation. Yes, sir. Whats the status of the Refugee Resettlement program . I dont know. Ill have to get back to you on that. I think the best thing would be to contact the department of state. Regarding access to American Companies [inaudible] does the president try to improve the access to the [inaudible] the european one by taking negotiations or by any other means . Look, i think hes going to increase Market Access wherever he can. Hes in the process of reviewing all of our current trade agreements and looking at potential bilateral options going forward. Whether its in the e. U. Or in the asiapacific arena or in the middle east, hes going to figure out where we can expand u. S. Market access. And thats, i think, what todays decision really starts to show is that its not about multilateral agreements under a Trump Administration. Its about Bilateral Agreements where we can figure out country to country how can we fight for the American Worker, gain them access to another market thats going to benefit our large and Small Businesses who want to sell additional goods and services. Yes. [inaudible] why did the president choose the british Prime Minister as the first foreign leader for him to meet . And can we take from that that he intends to make the relationship even closer . I think weve always had that special relationship with britain. And hes going to and that reflects in his first visit, in the Prime Ministers first visit here. Hes had a great conversation with her, and he looks forward to having her here. But we can always be closer. Yes, maam. Jane [inaudible] what kind of relationship is trump looking for to build with china [inaudible] and on taiwans issue, what kind of [inaudible] [inaudible] taiwan relations. Well, i think on china he understands what a big market that is for u. S. Goods and services. When he met with the head of alibaba a couple weeks ago, that was part of the point. Theres a huge market issue there. But in many cases its not a twoway street. Theres so many chinese businesses and individuals, frankly, who can have ease of access in the United States to sell their goods, their services. And i think whether or not youre talking about the Financial Services or the banking, you know, the other Service Industries or our manufacturing goods and services or some of the ip problems we have with china, its really not a twoway street. He understands the market china has and our desire to further penetrate that market, but he also recognizes theres a lot of concerns on how we are treated entering into chinas market, and we need to review that. Were going to have further be updates on that. Yes, maam. Welcome. Thank you. Question following on what she was asking about tpp. Part of the thinking of tpp was to encircle china economically, and i wondered if the president has thought a little bit about what kind of bilateral relationships in the region, the trade relationships would accomplish a similar goal. And secondly, i heard you talk about nafta and the trigger, but i didnt hear you say youve triggered the trigger. We have not triggered the trigger. Hasnt happened. But again, we have existing relationships with many of the countries that were part of the 12nation makeup of tpp, and were going to continue to explore Bilateral Agreements with nations that we didnt have through tpp. Yes, sir. Yeah. Sean, con watch thelations thank you. [inaudible] radio network. Social security and infrastructure, on Social Security the president will be meeting tonight with congressional leaders. Whats he going to do given his Campaign Promise on not touching Social Security when paul ryan and Mitch Mcconnell send him a bill that includes in a funding package various cuts in Social Security . And on infrastructure, has it fallen off the radar screen, or is it going to stay a priority for the president . On Social Security, hes going to talk to them. I think hes been very clear with his priorities in terms of preserving and protecting this really important benefit to our seniors. He understands mr. Trumps employed so many people over the years, he understands the struggle that people have later in life to continue to make ends meet, and i think that he is keenly aware of how important in the program is to so many people in their later years. And so hes going to continue to fight to make sure that thats a program that is preserved and protected. And then on the [inaudible] infrastructure, of course. That definitely, hes continued to bring that up. He talked with the Business Executives today about how so many of our airports that are so important to our commerce system, getting planes to land in and out, roads and their ability to truck things across the country, even our freight system, that if our infrastructures not strong, it inhibits our ability to have free commerce, it inhibits, it drives up the cost of goods and services when someones got to take a different route or is limited in the opportunities they have because a runway might be closed or cant be expanded or a rail line breaks down or, you know, a highways just not the wear and tear it puts on trucks. So infrastructure continues to be a huge priority for him. Yes, sir. Yeah, two questions. The National Security council [inaudible] yeah. When do you expect to have that, those positions filled . Weve got many of them filled. How many of ill have to get back to you on the number, but its actually fairly row to bust right now. There were a lot of hold orrs, but general holdovers, but general flynn has been working with kt mcfarlane to make sure thats filled out and ready to go. Hes had countless meetings with counterparts and had several folks detailed over. But its a very, very robust effort from day one. And a followup to [inaudible] are you retracting your claim on saturday that it was the largest crowd in person . Thats not what i said. Well, you said this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe. Right. Both in person and around the globe, yes. The total audience, it was. Total audience but not simply in person. But thats right. But, again, i didnt say in person. Both in person and around the globe to witness it. Youre saying those together. No, thats actually what i said. [laughter] its not what i dont know how you can interpret it differently. Thats literally what i said. To witness it in person and around the globe. Total audience, yes. But not in person hold on but not saying, here just to clarify, you werent saying it was the largest inaugural crowd i am not. I am saying it was the total largest audience to witness in person and around the globe. Yes, sir. Go back to [inaudible] yeah. Sources are telling cbs news those with knowledge of who was in the room in the lobby at cia that Senior Leadership were not among those hooting and hollering and there were some 40 people who were in the first front rows who were brought in by trump and pence and pompeo. Id like to give you a chance to respond to that reporting. I dont think thats accurate at all. If you listen to the audio of it, you can hear the excitement that exists there. There were some people that had to be off camera for obvious reasons, but when you looked at the number of people that were there, the audio alone speaks volumes to what happened. I dont think theres any question about that. So the people in the front who were seen on camera, those were cia employees . Honestly, i dont have a seating chart. We had a very small footprint going over there, i dont know exactly who went over. I dont know, maybe ten people at most. Sarah was there. Ten were in the travel going over. So ten of 40 to 0. 400. But the people in the front rows, those were cia employees . [inaudible] some. Some. Some were not . Im sure we i cant say. Im not really sure why this matters. I mean, ten people didnt yell that loud. But, you know [inaudible] hooting and hollering. Yeah, they were. Theres not this rift between the Intelligence Community and the president . Because senior authorities within the Intelligence Community are telling cbs news that theyre uncomfortable with that portrayal and the notion that people within the cia all i can tell you is listen to the tape alone. I think you can hear a lot of that. Yes. Thanks, sean. A couple questions, if i could, i know youve been here for a while. Pentagon advice about how he could change the campaign against the islamic state. I think he has ordered it. As i mentioned, hell be at the department of defense on friday to swear in general mattis as the next secretary well, you know, go through ther is moan n of that ceremony. He is, obviously, the secretary of defense. So, you know, at that time he will continue to have conversations about what he wants from them and the joint chiefs. Jim. Follow up . Yes. I dont i dont mean to beat d horse on the u. S. Embassy in israel right. Can you, at the end of the president s first four years, will the United States embassy be in jerusalem . Well, i think ive answered it twice now. We are at the early stages in this Decision Making process. [inaudible] its when and how. I, this is a reason you go through a Decision Making process, and thats what were in the process of starting right now. So i just dont want to get ahead of if it was already a decision, we wouldnt be going through a process. Okay, i just answered the thanks, julie. Jim . First of all, congratulations and thanks for taking the questions. Getting back to saturday at the cia and your statement here at the podium, why make this could size issue something to talk about at all, and why get into it . Did it bother the president that much that he felt that you needed to come out here and straighten that out for us . And why did he choose the cia as the venue to talk about that . So two things. One, all of the people were not no one in the front row was trump. They were all cia. [inaudible] thats what you asked. I said the first three rows. [laughter] okay. Ill find out who the other two were. Im sorry, i just got you the front row. Ill get you the second and third. Are we going to get to the fourth and fifth . Okay, let me see what i can do. Look, i think one of the things that happened, jim, was he kept hearing about this rift that existed. He talked about it a couple weeks ago after his briefing how proud he is and how much he respects the Intelligence Community. And i think when he walked into that and he saw it, he wanted to make sure the people knew what youre hearing on television or in reports about this rift, i have the utmost respect for you, i honor your service, im proud of what youre doing and the sacrifices that youre making. And i think he wanted them to know that you see and hear all this stuff on tv about this rift that socalled exists, and clearly it doesnt matter. Dont believe what youre hearing. Know that i have a tremendous amount of respect for you, i appreciate everything that youre doing, and i think thats why he wanted to do it, is to make sure they understand, they heard firsthand how much he respects them, how much he wanted to dispel the myth that there was a, quoteunquote, rift. But why bring the crowd size issue up at the cia . Did he tell you, sean, im upset about this no, im not going to get into conversations i have with the president , but i will tell you its not just about a crowd size. Its about this constant, you know, hes not going to run, then if he runs, hes going to drop out, theres no way he can win pennsylvania, theres no way he can win michigan, then if he won there is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he has. And i think its just unbelievably frustrating when youre continually told its not big enough, its not good enough, you cant win. [inaudible] hold on, i think its important. Hes defied the odds over and over and over again, and he keeps getting told what he cant do by this narrative thats out there, and he exceeds it every single time. And i think theres an overall frustration when you turn on the television over and over again and get told that theres this narrative that you didnt win, you werent going to run, you cant pick up this state, thats not, you know, thats a fools errand, to go to pennsylvania. Why is he in michigan . How silly. Theyll never vote for a republican, and then he goes and does it, and then whats the next narrative . Well, it must have been because of this, he didnt win that. And then people arent attending or john lewis is the first person to skip an inauguration. Not true. And over and over again, the mlk bust. Over and over again theres this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and the movement that he represents, and its the frustrating for not just him, but i think so many of us that are trying to work to get this message out. And so, and i mentioned this to jonathan, part of this is a twoway street. We want to, we want to have a healthy dialogue not just with you, but with the American People because hes fighting for jobs, hes fighting to make this country safer. But when youre constantly getting told that cant be true, we doubt that you can do this, this wont happen, and thats the narrative when you turn on television every single today . Its a little frustrating. And i think that for those people around him, his senior team especially but so many of the other folks that are either here in the administration, that gave up their time during the transition, they left a job to work for three or four weekses because theyre so committed to having his nominees get through, its a little demoralizing to turn on the tv day after day and say cant do this, this guys not going to get confirmed, no way theyve going to isnt that just part of the conversation that happens in washington . No, or its not. Isnt that part of what comes with being president of the United States . No. Ive been doing this a long time, youve been doing this too. Ive never seen it like this, jim. And again, im not looking to go back and forth, but youre asking for an explanation. And i think that its important to understand that whether its the president himself, the Vice President , the senior team, the volunteers or the people who are out there just, you know, in america that voted for him or walked the streets or put up a sign that to constantly be told no, no, no and to watch him go yes, yes, yes every time and to come up to the next hurdle and see someone put a block up gets a little us from tating frustrating. And i think we are, and so you see this historic thing, and he stands there at the capitol. I was not that close but on the platform, and you look out, and its an amazing view. And its just so many people who got in long lines, who had to go around all this different stuff to get in, and that was for the first time that we did have to go through fencing that far out, and then to hear, well, look at this shot, and its not it wasnt that big, its a little demoralizing. Because when youre sitting there and youre looking out, youre in awe of just how awesome that view is and how many people are there, and you go back and you turn on the television, and you see shots of comparing this and that. You know, and then you look at the stuff thats happening, the nominees that get put out, the democrats stopping there are two cabinet officials, ladies and gentlemen, that are taking their office today. He visited the cia and a director that was considered a consensus candidate wasnt approved. Wheres the story . And i think so fair criticism that youve got bigger fish to fry. Why worry about a couple of tweets about crowd size . Because this what im saying, you minimizing youre minimizing the point here, jim. Its not about one tweet, its not about one picture, its about a constant theme. Its about sitting here every time and being told, no, we dont think he can do that. Hell never accomplish that. He cant win that. It wont be the biggest, its not going to be that good, the crowds arent that big, hes not that successful. The narrative and the default narrative is always negative. And its demoralizing. And i think that when you sit here and you realize the sacrifices the guy made of leaving a very, very successful business because he really cares about this country and he wants to despite your partisan differences, he cares about making this country better for everybody. He wants to make it safer for everybody. So when you wake up every day and thats what youre seeing over and over again and youre not seeing stories about cabinet folks that hes putting or the success that hes having trying to keep american jobs here, yeah, it is a little disappointing. So i just, its finish. Its not always going to be positive. No, its not. And sometimes well make mistakes, i promise you that. But its not always got to be negative, jim. Some days we do do the right thing. Some days we are successful. So its not, part of this is saying when were right, say were wright. When were were right. When were wrong, say were wrong. But its not always wrong and negative. There are things, theres a hot of things that hes done already, a lot of amazing people hes appointed, a lot of success that hes having, and it would be nice once in a while for someone just to say, report it straight up. He appointed this person, heres their background. Not why theyre not going to get nominated. Not why its not going to happen. Thanks, sean. [inaudible conversations] hold on. One last thing. Hold on. [inaudible] i cant. I know were getting really into, like, facts, so just to be clear, there were no trump or white house folks sitting down. They were all in the cia. So not in rows one through anything from what im told. [inaudible conversations] i appreciate julies effort, but i wanted [inaudible] john, you got one. Give me a second. A couple of questions if you dont mind. First on russia, the administration was asked about multiple interactions between the National Security adviser and a russian ambassador. I believe you at the time said the calls were related to setting up a discussion right. Between President Trump and vladimir putin. Thats right. Were those conversations about anything else other than setting up that discussion, and why has that discussion not yet happened between the president and president putin . So theres been one call. I talked to general flynn about this again last night. One call talked about four subjects. One was the loss of life that occurred in the plane crash that took their military choir. Two was christmas and holiday greetings. Three was to facilitate or to talk about a conference in syria on isis. And four was to set up a to talk about after the inauguration setting up a call between president putin and President Trump. That, i dont believe that that has been set up yet because the call was to say after they did follow up, im sorry, two days ago about how to facilitate that call. So there have been a total of two calls with the ambassador and general flynn, and the second call came i think its now three days ago that was to say once he gets into office, can we set up that call. It hasnt, to my knowledge, has not occurred yet. Any other conversations between general flynn and russian members of government . Not that im aware of. And what im saying is during the transition i asked general flynn whether or not there were any other conversations beyond the body, and he said, no the ambassador, and he said, no. One more followup on a statement the president made saturday. And i just want to clarify. Can you unequivocally state this administration not send more troops into iraq to, as the president has put it, take the oil . Im not going to talk about what we may or may not do. I think the president s very clear that he doesnt telegraph forward what taking options off the table. Thats not a good negotiating skill, thats not how he works. Theres been a reason hes been successful at negotiating because he doesnt telegraph to people what hes going to take on around off the table. Jeff mason. Wheres the president s thinking now on the Supreme Court . Is he closer to naming some nominees . And in a followup you get two . [laughter] [inaudible] okay. At the end of the obama administration, the number of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay was reduced to about 40. Right. What are the president s plans for that prison . So on the first, i think that in the next week or so we should have an update on a nominee for the Supreme Court. [inaudible] it does. I think well have a nomination within the next couple weeks. He continues to make that a priority of his. On gitmo, i think youre going to see further action. I dont want to get ahead of president , but this is something that has been discussed x it is in and it is in his current Decision Making process how he wants to handle handle that. If i could just ask one more. You said that the president disagreed with the characterization of a rift with the Intelligence Community. Thats right. Do you, did you view his tweet about comparing the Intelligence Community to nazi germany . No, i think what he was talking about was the process, not the people, and thats a very different thing. Shane. Three months ago thencandidate trump was [inaudible] he made a whole list of day one promises. He called it a contract with the American People. A bunch of them are not going to get done today because you said hes done with making executive orders. Labeling china a currency manipulator, imposing congressional term limits or proposing that. I wanted to ask you why not pursue all those on day one as he promised in a contract with the voters . Were going to continue to sequence those out. I think part of it is to make sure we dont spend our entire day signing executive orders. This is a way to make sure we will leave this briefing at this point. It continues online at cspan. Org. Were going live now as the u. S. Senates about to gavel in on this first full legislative week of the new congress. Lawmakers expected to consider the nomination of congressman mike pompeo of kansas to be cia director. A confirmation vote is expected on that later today. This is live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black , will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Our father in heaven, we sing of your steadfast love and proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. Today, strengthen our senators to walk in the light of your countenance