The crown prince of abu dhabi as we speak right now. I want to take a look at the markets because so far so good right here, up nearly 100 points, a lot of 52week highs. Youve got the s p 500 up almost 12 points, nasdaq trading up about half a percent. I do want to point out cybersecurity stocks, they are also soaring because because, o, that global hack attack which we will have more coming up on, how you can prepare and secure yourself. This is the future, folks, and this is why these cybersecurity stocks are rallying right now. We need to keep our Computers Online safe. Im trish regan. Welcome, everyone, to the intelligence report. Now as we await mr. Spicer, i want to bring in the panel for discussion, american majority ceo ned ryan, ive got former Obama Campaign Foreign Policy adviser for you david that furry. Ned, lets start with you. Lets talk about fbi replacements. Short list. Ray kelly, i keep hearing from a lot of sources, is one that is very well regarded, considered independent and might, might actually have some traction here. Walk us through some of this, the most possible contenders. Well, it looks like theyre going to try and make a very quick turn around here, and probably by friday we will have at least a nomination from trump on who the new fbi director will be. They did have there is a list of about a dozen names out there. The names that are playing well down here in d. C. , trish, one of them is ray kelly. The other is michael ludig. There are a couple of names that are not playing well down here. Mike rogers, former member of the house intelligence committee, neither is acting director mccabe. So if you were to ask me to, you know, kind of scope it out, i would say ray kelly and michael ludig are look good as a short list for fbi director. My mope with this, trish, is theyre going to deal with this quickly, get ahead of the story. Schumers saying we need to have a special prosecutor. My question back to him is wheres the crime . Appoint a new fbi director. Comey had lost confidence trish you know theyre going to do that though. You know theyre going to do that, but heres the deal. If you look back, the mainstream media, Chuck Schumer, nancy pelosi can get away with utter hypocrisy because of statements they made a few months ago saying we have lost confidence in director comey, we think his behavior is appalling x now theyre defending him trish sure. But unfortunately, it is what it is. Its predictable, and you can see this scenario playing out, of course pelosi and schumer are going to play that card. Unfortunately, in some ways donald trump kind of ran right into that one, and hes stuck now having to pick up the pieces. Ive got to say, if he actually had anything to do with the russians at all, if there actually was any collusion, then i can bet he never would have fired comey, because it would have looked so suspicious. Go ahead. Thats the thing that mccabe said under oath that i think people need to be reminded of. There has been no impediment to the russian investigation, they had adequate funding, and they are going to take it to its ultimate conclusion. Trish, you and i both know there was no evidence, there is no evidence, there will never be evidence of collusion. Trish it doesnt matter though, as far as Chuck Schumer and nancy employeesly is concerned its all politics. Trish yes. Let me go to david, what do you thinks going to happen now . Are they really going to impede the ability to get someone new in at the fbi until they get a special prosecutor . And if so, what does that mean . The most important thing is we need an fbi director who is neutral and infect and is going to Carry Forward every investigation of the fbi in a fair, impartial manner x. That includes the very serious, important investigation into ties between russia and the Trump Campaign and why and how russia interfered in our u. S. Election. Lets start with one basic point. Everyone agrees that russia interfered in our election, and the question now is whether there was collusion or collaboration between the Trump Campaign trish right now theres no evidence of that. Right now theres absolutely no evidence of that. And by the way thats true trish david, when you say that they interfered in the election, just by saying it, it makes it sound as though they actually rigged the system and affected things so much that Hillary Clinton lost. I didnt want say that trish is that actually what you think . I didnt say that. You and your guest is saying theres no evidence, but you dont know what the evidence is. I dont know what the evidence is. Theres evidence that the fbi is studying and looking at as well as trish so why to you need a special prosecutor then, david . Do you not trust the fbi to do it right . Let me just finish, and ill answer that question too. Theres evidence that the fbi and congressional committees are looking at. We havent seen that evidence, and they havent completed their investigation. Its good for all of america for this investigation to be completed, and no one should judge the evidence before it is all in. The reason why we need a special prosecutor or an independent commission is because those would be completely impartial, they would not be subject to interference by the administration which we saw with the dismissal of comey who was in charge of the investigation he was incompetent. Moreover if i could just finish, please. And moreover, a special counsel or independent commission would also have some of the expertise that you need to investigate a complicated case like this including lawyers and investigate ors with financial expertise to track payments between russia that may have, may or may not have trish okay. So let me ask you this and thats an important part of this. Trish hang on, david. You make some interesting points. Ned, david is saying you cant get a fair investigation by the fbi because itll somehow be influenced by donald trump and the administration. I think thats a sad, a sad statement, to think that somehow our fbi will not be able to actually conduct an investigation thats worthwhile and that youve got to bring a special prosecutor in to somehow deal with it. Right. Trish id like to believe our fbi and whoever we put there in the slot to run the fbi could actually be fair and do the right thing. Right. Trish but, you know, assuming this is all true, a potential prosecutor where thuz that take us . Be do we just once again get bogged down in politics to the extent that you cant actually move this country forward, do what you need to do policy wise because youre caught up in this massive destruction . Oh, couldnt agree more. And, again, i always im coming back to where is the crime . There is no crime. Trish, the thing that people are forgetting, there is the fbi investigation, theres the house intelligence committee, there is the Senate Intelligence committee. We have three bodies looking at this, investigating was there potential and, of course, i dont believe that there was any collusion between russia can and the Trump Campaign. Quite frankly, im in agreement with some senate democrats, joe manchin and feinstein, who have both said in the last few weeks there is no evidence of collusion. I think this is a fairy tale that the democrats and the left have spun up. They put themselves to bed with it at night hoping when they wake up, Hillary Clinton will be in the white house. You know what, trish . The only way trish or donald trump will be impeached. And dont forget, maxine waters, from the day he was elected, has been calling for this saying, well, hes going to be impeached if she can remember what day it is. [laughter] trish but, you know, this is not helping him, for sure, right now. I do want to bring in former fbi assistant director ron has coe to the panel as well. Your take on where we are with all of this and whether or not, indeed, there will be a special prosecutor brought in to uncover whatever evidence the left actually believes there might be regarding collusion with russia. Well, trish, first, i will readily admit my bias, and that bias is in favor of the fbi. Having served 30 years there, i believe that the men and women there are consummate professionals and will, over time, absolutely get to the truth of the matter. Trish okay. I want to stop you there, because thats important. David was just telling us he didnt trust the fbi to do it right, that they would be too heavily influenced by the administration no, that is not what i said. But that is not what i said. I didnt say that the administration we couldnt trust the fbi. I said we trish then why do you need a special prosecutor that we cannot trust the administration i said we cannot trust the administration to seek to interfere with the fbi given the acts of donald trump in dismissing the head of the fbi trish well, david, okay suspect circumstances. Trish youre saying the administration is going to interfere. Were making the point then that you somehow dont trust the fbi enough to do their job, and i think rons pointing out that you trust the fbi to do whats right regardless of anything that may be coming from the administration . I do, trish. I think the challenge here is because the administrations selections recently, certainly the Deputy Attorney general who is now arguably in charge of the russia investigation because the a. G. Is recused, the questions going to be, you know, for the fbi to do its work with the maximum impact, by and large you need the assistance of able and willing prosecutors. And so that comes from doj. And i think questions are being raised about whats going on within doj now. Will they move slowly, will they see things differently than the fbi. The fbi needs Legal Process in many of its investigations particularly when youre talking about complex financial transactions, overseas transactions. You really need a team of both very capable investigators as well as prosecutors. And in this environment, i am not at the point where i say we need a special prosecutor because it implies, as your guest suggested, it implies somebody needs to be prosecuted. What we need is a thorough, competent, complete and apolitical investigation that i, frankly, dont believe should be led on capitol hill because of the partisanship that weve heard trish right. For this many months. Trish guys, we dont have a ton of time, and weve got a lot of ground to cover. I actually want to ask ron specifically, get your input as well, both david and ned, i want to ask about this hack attack. Because i do think that thisll come up as well. We understand the white house had some meetings on this over the weekend. We know at least 150 nations were struck in this just horrific cyber attack, ansome attack that happened ransom attack that shut down a number of u. K. Hospitals. Ron, you know, what is your sense of where all this is going right now in that we are living very much in a brave new world where peoples devices are increasingly not secure, and they run the risk as weve seen over the last several days of being held for ransom, in this case for bitcoin of all things, 300 in bitcoin ransom. How does the Administration Confront this new kind of threat, and will we hear much on it today . Well, i dont know that well hear i do believe we need a wholeofgovernment approach with determined and capable and empowered investigative teams supported by dhs that is engaging every day with private industry, the private sector and with government to harden our defenses. And too often it seems like in the past we have pulled against each other. Theres a lot of private industry out there that gets hit by these cyber attacks. Sometimes the fbi may be the first to know because of something theyve seen, fbi is out knocking on your door to say youre a victim, you just dont know it yet trish ned, you need the government to stay on top of this cyber warfare right. Trish and a lot of people are reluctant to anticipate that the government is out in the forefront of technology. They might trust the Technology Companies a little bit more so because theres some incentive involved. Finish but, you know, this is the new reality in which we live. Right. Trish how much does this administration need to be how much does the military need to be thinking about this, the fbi need to be thinking about this, etc. , as we confront this new reality . No, i think youre right. Cyber warfare is the battleground of the 21st century, and the thing weve been experiencing, trish, is we have too many people leaving the the military, going into defense contracting who still have this old mindset of we need more planes, more boats. Granted, we need that, we need our military up to Veterans Hospital strength, but we need to start investing more money into cybersecurity as well. The encouraging thing is trump has asked for millions of dollars in next years budget. This is one of the things that private industry deals with all the time. Ask the companies how many times theyve had to deal with chinese hackers. Itsing . , again, where its something, again, where government has lagged behind. Trish a 22yearold researcher over there in the u. K. Was able to stop the bleeding, thankfully, because you had people not able to get into the hospital to get their prescriptions, their operations, they were being rerouted, ambulances being rerouted in the u. K. This is serious, significant stuff. Also on the agenda today, of course, north korea. You know, Vladimir Putin is out there saying, hey, the u. S. , david, should back off north korea. Stop intimidating north korea, Vladimir Putin says. My gosh i mean, is this some kind of perverse reality or what . We should back off intimidating north korea, says Vladimir Putin . I agree. Its ridiculous for putin to have made that statement and for him to warn the u. S. About intimidating north korea when north koreas entire playbook is to intimidate the u. S. , to intimidate south korea and to intimidate the world by, you know, hijacking the agenda just because its developing nuclear weapons. Its a big problem. But it shows how difficult it is for us to resolve these types of problems when we have such significant tensions with russia. You see that in the cyber attack issue which you just discussed where russias blaming the u. S. For this cyber attack. We see it with north korea where russia is sort of pointing the finger at the u. S. And saying dont intimidate north korea, and you see it again with the attack on the dnc email system by russia which needs to be properly investigated by the fbi. So we need to work out all of these problems. We need to punish russia so it knows it cannot, you know, escape punishment for things that it does wrong to the u. S. , and we need to get it trish okay. To take down the rhetoric, especially on north korea, where an International Resolution is necessary. Trish going you know, you brought it back to the fbi again, and that is, you know, the story du jour. You know, i think, ned ryan, that theres an element to Donald Trumps personality that is very much sort of ceolike, in that things respect going so well, he was getting arent going so well, he was getting annoyed with comey. And as opposed to you know what . Weve got mr. Spicer coming out. Lets listen in. Before we get started, i want to bring Homeland Security back up here to discuss the administrations response to the ransomware hacking, and then ill go on with the events of today and answer your questions without further ado. Tom . Thanks, sean. Thank you. Good afternoon, im the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and counterterrorism, and if i could, id like to start today by acknowledging the falling Police Officers that the president and Vice President acknowledged today. They are the front lines of our Homeland Security, and the event today was an honor for me to attend. On cybersecurity, as the president s Homeland Security adviser, part of my responsibility is to coordinate u. S. Government cybersecurity efforts. I want to give you an update on the wanna cry. We continue closely monitoring the situation around the clock at the highest levels of government. Were bringing all the capabilities of the u. S. Government to bear on this issue and are working side by side with our partners in the private sector and our international partners. I spoke moments ago with my counterpart in Great Britain and learned an update from them that they have a feeling of control over this ransomware event and that as their affected computers seem to have been tied to the fact that their Health Care System is so large a network. They are painfully aware of the fact that this is a global attack, as are we. As of this morning, it has reached approximately 150 countries and infected more than 300,000 machines. The good news is the infection rates have slowed over the weekend. We had been concerned about that when last we talked. The ransomware has disrupted telecommunications companies, hospitals and other organizations. The u. K. National Health Care Service announced 48 of its organizations were affected, and that resulted in inaccessible computers and telephone service. But an extremely minimal effect on disruption to patient care. That was something quite evident in my conversation. Computers at the Spanish Telecommunications Company Telefonica were compromised, and we had a small number of affected parties in the u. S. Including fedex. Secretary kelly at department of Homeland Security continues to lead operations and Public Private coordination. His team is issuing twicedaily reports, holding multiple calls per day among experts and Operation Centers managing our response. As of today, no federal systems are affected. Overall, the u. S. Infection rate has been lower than many parts of the world, but we may still see significant impacts on Additional Networks as these Malware Attacks morph and change. Despite appearing to be criminal activity intended to raise money, it appears less than 70,000 has been paid in ransoms, and we have not aware of any payments that have led to data recovery. The Cyber Intelligence Integration Center is also keeping us informed of the classified insights concerning the investigation into these hacks. Let me talk about, briefly, the sorry about that. Its important for our business and individuals to know that three variants of this ransomware have emerged by using similar techniques. We had talked about variance of this malware. If you follow the mitigation advice published by dhs, the fbi and microsoft and have patched your systems, you are protected against all of these variants. Its also important to know that pirated, stolen or otherwise inlicensed versions of affected software often will not receive patches, so its important not to use that unlicensed software. If you do, youll be subject to extraordinarily us susceptible infection. While it would be satisfying to hold accountable those responsible for this hack, something that we are working on quite seriously, the worm is in the wild, so to speak at this point, and patching is the most Important Message as a result. Business and government have responded with upgrades and patches, defensive mid divisions, and this has mitigations, and this has dramatically reduced the vulnerable population over the last three days. Let me finish by repeating advice that all organizations be vigilant in updating their softwares and the only computers that can be compromised are ones that do not have the latest security patches available from microsoft. [inaudible conversations] tom, so this is one episode of malware or ransom ware. Do you know from the docks unit documents any cyber hacking tools were stolen from nsa, is there potentially more out there . So theres a little bit of a double question there. Part of that has to do with the underlying vulnerability exploit here used. I think if i could, instead of directly answering that and cant speak to how we do or dont do our business as a government in that regard, id like to instead point out that this was a absolutely innocent ex vulnerability exploit as a part of a much larger tool put together by the culpable parties and not by the u. S. Government. This was not a tool developed by the nsa this was developed by potential criminals, foreign nationstates to deliver in such a way as to embed documents and cause infection, encryption and locking. So the prove nance, i think i said this morning, of the underlying absolutely innocent is a something a little bit less of a direct point. I guess a shorter way to put it would be is there more out there that you worry about could lead to more attacks in the future . I actually think the United States, more than probably any other country, is extremely careful with theirs processes about how they handle any absolutely innocents that theyre aware vulnerabilities that theyre aware of. I think thats a key distinction between us and other countries and other adversaries that dont provide any such consideration the their people, customers industry. Tom . You mentioned your british counterparts feeling essential control. Was there anytime as you monitored this here in the states where you felt there was any lack of control, that this could get out of hand here . And if not, what is it about what was here that was protected that didnt exist, for example, in europe or other parts that have, obviously, taken a much bigger hit . No comparative lack of control, but my conversation today led me to believe that he felt quite comfortable where they stood today. Not comparing but was there anytime that you felt here that things could spiral out of control . Well, as we were gaining and gathering more information, it was important for us to determine the parameters of us. Once we got our hands around the parameters of the malware, thats of course in the beginning moments what youre trying to get ahold of, examine it, determine whats happening. You dont feel entirely in control, but youre searching for information. Once we got it and realized what the situation was, we realized there were patches available and had been available since march, at that point operations and Communications Centers become key and theyre imperative. From the british perspective, i thought it was important to pass along two points. One, that we thought it was an extremely small number of patients that might have been inconvenienced. Not necessarily an interruption to their Clinical Care as opposed to their administrative processes. And, two, they felt some of those reports might have been misstated or overblown given how theyve gotten themselves into a position of patching. Well have to do the analysis and investigation later as to why certain organizations, systems or sectors were more greatly affected than others. Thats the point that id like to elaborate. One more here. For the average consumer, what are you going to do Going Forward . Bottom line for the consumer is patch your software. Provide automated patch support, if you can. Turn that automated on. Make sure your i. T. Service providers or folks within your organizations are patching your software. Thats the bottom line, and this particular malware and the three reported variants that weve seen since are all fixable with patch, and thats something that you can get from microsoft. Thats our bottom line, and i dont want to encroach too much into mr. Spicers time. But if i could, maybe one more question, sean, okay . Who did it . We dont know. Thats the attribution that were after right now. It will be very satisfying for me and for all our viewers, i think, if we find them that we bring them to justice. I think thats something that sometimes eludes us. Attribution can be difficult here. As i stand here today, i feel that the best and brightest are working on that. Thank you very much. Ill let you know. Thank you very much. Thanks, tom. Thank you. Thank you, tom. The president was pleased to see this morning the National Association of Home Builders and wells fargo announce earlier that recent reports show that u. S. Home builder confidence continues to rise with numbers now at their strongest since the housing bust. According to the nabhs chairman, quote this report shows that builders optimism in the Housing Market is solidifying. Weve already seep tremendous response in seen tremendous response in the economy in the wake of the president s progrowth agenda. The Unemployment Rate is the lowest its been in a decade. Manufacturing job openings are higher than theyve been since 2006, and by nearly every measure of economic confidence, the future of the American Economy looks very bright. The president is also glad to see businesses once again making significant investments in america from intel to General Motors to walmart to apple who specifically Just Announced earlier this month that well start a 1 billion fund to promote advanced manufacturing jobs here in the United States. And its not just the president s domestic economic policies that are generating optimism. Just last week we announced the first ten agreements as part of the 100day action plan initiated by President Trump during his meeting at maralago with president xi of china. As i noted last week, these arrangements are major wins for American Companies across many Different Industries and sectors from natural gas to beef exporters to Financial Services who will all now have access to the massive chinese market. And, of course, those negotiations continue between our representatives. We look forward to sharing future developments with you as this process continues to up fold. Unfold. This morning the president and the Vice President joined tens of thousands of officers and friends of Law Enforcement at the annual Peace Officers Memorial Service at the United States capitol. This is the 36th year that the fraternal order of police has honored the memory of the brave men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty with this service and ceremony. In the Vice President s opening remarks, he reiterated the Trump Administrations commitment to standing with the men and women of Law Enforcement, quote without apology. And the president said that these men and women are, quote the thin blue line between civilization and chaos. Words cannot express the depth of our gratitude, end quote. But he hope that is the actions of this administration will show our men and women in blue, quote how deeply we care and how strongly we feel about protecting those who protect us all. End quote. Earlier today the president had the honor of meeting with officers and guests from Police Departments that recently suffered the loss of a Police Officer from Phoenix Police department and the new jersey state troopers. He also signed a proclamation in honor of peace officers memorial day and National Police week. The president was honored to just welcome recently, in the last few minutes, the crown prince of abu dhabi to the white house for an official visit. His highness is a Strong Partner of the United States and a leader in the middle east on number of important topics including defense cooperation, Regional Security and counterterrorism. The United States and the uae recently concluded a defense Cooperation Agreement that will allow us to work more closely together to address Common Security threats. The president hopes to Work Together even more closely to resolve regional conflicts that raged across the region for too long. This is the president and his highness first meeting. They have a lot to discuss including bilateral trade and investment as well as Regional Security issues. At the conclusion of the meeting, we will make sure to have a readout. Later this afternoon the Vice President will swear in Robert Lighthizer as the United States trade representative. The ambassador has spent decades working at the highest levels of american trade policy including as deputy u. S. Trade representative under president reagan. The president is glad to finally have an unquestionably qualified individual in place as we fight for better trade deals that will put the American Worker first. And now that hes officially onboard this afternoon, ambassador lighthizer is getting straight to work. Tomorrow he will have a series of meetings on capitol hill, and on thursday he will travel to vietnam for the asiapacific Economic Cooperation meetings. With ambassador lighthizers swearing in after obstructionism by the senate democrats, the president will now finally have his entire cabinet this place, able to fully implement the president s America First agenda across the entire spectrum of the federal government. In other cabinet news, secretary chao kicked off an event with the u. S. Chamber of commerce this morning noting the newlyreopened i85 bridge in atlanta as an example of what can be better accomplished with federal, state and local governments working together. Secretary chao will be traveling to atlanta on thursday for the ceremonial rib bonn cutting. Secretary perry is in texas to announce the events project, a joint effort between the Veterans Administration and the department of energy to help data map Veterans Health records and solve healthrelated issues for veterans. This partnership, part of the Trump Administrations commitment to modernizing the systems we use to care for our nations heroes, brings together the v. A. s unpair relled health care and genetic data from its Million Veteran Program with the department of energys World Class Technology to improve health care and quality of life for our veterans. Secretary shul kin of the v. A. Will also be traveling this week to commemorate v. A. Research week, speaking at the Brain Trust Pathways event in boston on wednesday. This event brings together public and private experts in research, treatment, prosthetics, i. T. And other specialties to focus on new and innovative ways to support veterans coping with the effects of brain injury and head trauma. The state Department Also had a few briefings on the next step in addressing the assad regime and the horrors it has committed on the syrian people. The Trump Administration believes that syrias political future should be decided by syrians in a free, credible and transparent process. However, we believe that in a free process its unimaginable that the syrians will continue under assads leadership. The assad regime is up to a new level of depravity, and it has done so with seemingly unlimited support from russia and iran. For these reasons, we continue to support resolution 2254 and support the political process taking place under u. N. Oversight in geneva. The United States remains committed to working with both russia and iran to find a solution that leads to a stable and united syria. But in order to bring an end to the violence in syria, russia and iran need to acknowledge the atrocities of the assad regime and use their influence to stop them. As you can see, its going to be a busy week for the president , the cabinet and the staff leading up to the president s first foreign trip that launches this friday. We take off for saudi arabia later on friday, and i plan to have general mcmaster here, hopefully tomorrow, to walk through the trip with further detail. And with that, your questions. Thank you, sean. Just in china, the director [inaudible] say the u. S. Is forming a working group and say u. S. Company has had much to offer. So whats the prospective of u. S. Future collaboration in this [inaudible] yeah. As i mentioned with respect to the 100day plan, i think theres a lot of areas that we are going to continue to work with china to develop a way forward. I think the relationship that the president established with president xi down in maralago is continuing to pay dividends for our country x. Whether its this policy or trade or market access, were going to continue to see all of those individuals from the president s cabinet that were down in maralago continue to work with their counterparts in china to find a path forward. John. Sean, a couple of topics. First of all, back to what you said about syria. Is the official policy of this administration now regime change in syria . I think ive made it very clear what our policy is and continues to be. Over the weekend a lot of complaints from democrats about the comey replacement process. First of all, the Jeff Sessions leading the search. A lot of democrats think because he recused himself from the russia investigation, he should not be in that position. Secondly, some democrats in the senate are saying before they will consider the president s nominee, they want a special prosecutor appointed. Can you respond to both . I think this is a process thats running completely as it should. Its being headed by the Deputy Attorney general and the attorney general. As you, weve noted in the past, the fbi director reports to the Deputy Attorney general. They continue to move through a series of highly qualified candidates. And, obviously, this is a huge priority for the president , to make sure that we have someone that has the ability to administer the proper leadership to the fbi. On the special prosecutor . I think thats theres, frankly, no need for a special prosecutor. Weve discussed this before. Of you have two Senate Committees that are looking into this, the fbis conducting their own review, and i think if you even look at what acting director mccabe said last week, he made it very clear that they have the resources they need and that the work continues. But the bottom line is, again, i think part of it is theres a difference between what weve talked about in that, and its made very clear with respect to the president himself, both senator schumer, senator manchin, senator feinstein, everyone else has been clear there was no collusion with respect to the president himself and no investigate there. Blake. Thank you. Let me pick up where [inaudible] about in this ransomware attack. In the short term, is it the advice of the administration should somebody be, have their Computer System infected not to pay the ransom . As i said, i think what we have seen so far that is the most effective is if people take the necessary, proper steps in advance and use do use the patches available so it doesnt happen. Prevention is right now the key that were stressing. As it relates to the long term, at the end of day, this is extortion from likely hostile foreign actors. Right the administration might the administration set some sort of guidelines or policies as it relates to u. S. Individuals, u. S. Companies should they be approached as to what to do and maybe what not to do . Yeah. I think we can our immediate goal right now is to make sure that were protecting our both individual, commercial and government enterprises. And that work has proved to be the prudent steps that were taken have proven to be fruitful. And i think were going to continue that. Right now, obviously, thats the number one priority. Do you know what [inaudible] he mentioned fedex. Do you know if that was something specific happened to fedex . I dont. I can have tom follow up. Jim. Fred, im sorry. [inaudible] yeah. I wanted to ask about the election and commission. Is the primary goal going to be looking for recommending reforms to [inaudible] or looking at or is it going to be more of an audit of 2016 election . The executive order that the president signed and the Vice President and secretary of state coadvantage are leading is a Bipartisan Commission of state Elections Officials that are going to look at all aspects of Election Integrity including voter fraud, improper registration and Voter Suppression allegations. Theyre looking at this holistically. Okay. And one more. As far as north korea goes, with the new south korean government coming in does the administration advise against their reaching out, their outstretched hand that they have particularly after im sorry, say the the new south korean government. Is the administration advising against south korea reaching out to north korea after this weekends missile test . I think the president looks forward to having a conversation with the new president and discussing the way forward, but im not going to get ahead of that discussion at this point. John. Thanks a lot, sean. On the search for the new fbi director, the president today said that its moving rapidly. One name that was put forward over the course of the past 24 hours by the Senate Majority leader is that of merrick garland. Is that a name that the president would possibly consider in the move to name the new fbi director . The search for a new fbi director is being handled by the department of justice. My expectation would be that once theyve come, conducted that search, theyll present names for consideration to the president. But they are the ones that are leading that effort. Alexis. Sean, can i follow up on the tape question from last week . As you know, several republicans have joined democrats in seeking Additional Information from the white house in writing about the existence of any tapes, producing the tapes and any further information about the potential taping of conversations. Is the white house intending tos and furnish that information as requested in writing . I think i made it clear last week that the president has nothing further on that. Hunter. Wait, wait. Sean, does that mean i said i was very clear that the president would have nothing further on that last week. [inaudible] situation in which [inaudible] by the legislative branchs request. I understand. Alexis, i made it clear what the president s position is on that issue. Hunter. People clearly still have concerns about russias role in the election, even though the president has essentially said theres nothing to it. If there is nothing to hide, why not back a special prosecutor or independent Commission Just to settle it beyond any doubt . Well, again, its not a question of its at what point. You have a house committee, a senate committee, the fbi. I dont know what, why you need Additional Resources when you already have three entities. Well, we saw polling this weekend from nbc news i understand that. 80 of people want this, and they dont have confidence right. With all due respect, i think the bottom line is you have three entities already looking into this matter. I think the president s positions been very clear that there is two issues at hand. One is the involvement of russia potentially in, with respect to an election and then the president s involvement. The fbi director and others have made it very clear that the president s not a summit of anything. I think we have not a subject of anything. Trey. Thanks, sean. Two questions for you. On north koreas, is there a new sense of urgency for President Trump to act following the successful Ballistic Missile test over the weekend . I think theres no question that north korea continues to threaten the United States, our allies, japan, south korea and its neighbors. Including both china and russia. I think we are calling on all of those folks in the region, particularly china and russia, to do everything they can in terms of sanctions to help resolve the situation and bring stability to the peninsula. On a quick domestic issue, what characteristics is President Trump looking for in an fbi director . I think, obviously, he wants someone with High Integrity and the leadership skills to lead the entity, but i have not specifically discussed the qualities with him. Richard. Thank you, sean. First one, you told us over and over that we were waiting for robert light hauser to be confirmed, now hes going to be sworn in. Can you give us a better idea on the pace of the negotiation, renegotiation of nafta now that we have a trade representative . Well, i think, id have to check his calendar, but i think weve got an hour or two before hes actually sworn in, so you may want to give him a little bit of time. Okay. Can we i, i dont, because until hes sworn in and assumes the position, as i mentioned, hes going to immediately go up to capitol hill and then off to vietnam. So im sure well get around to it, but right now we still need to just go through the process of getting him sworn in. Jim. And just last yeah. Last week, quickly, h. R. Mcmaster touched the topic, but when the president will be with nato allies, is he going to ask for a larger, bigger involvement in afghanistan with troops on ground from the members . Im not going to get into what he will say or will not say. Hell have an opportunity to make his position very clear when he goes in. But allies with i think until he hasnt even, i dont think we havent announced the afghan strategy yet. I think hes been very clear with respect to nato theres two issues. One is hed like to see a greater effort on combating terrorism and, two, tosee more of the countries live up to their financial obligation that they agreed to. Jim. Sorry. Thank you, sean. Twopart question. Is President Trump still committed to his 15 Corporate Tax rate . Hes also under pressure to keep some existing loopholes such as the, eliminating the state income tax writeoff for highest tate taxes such as new york and california. So is he committed to the 15 Corporate Tax rate, and is he also full steam ahead on getting rid of the writeoff for high tax states . Well, as we secretary mnuchin and director cohn outlined the principles of his tax reform plan. We continue to meet with stakeholders, members of capitol hill, but that conversation continues. As i said at the outset, theyre continuing to meet with individuals, and those are part of those talks. His plan has been pretty clear from the beginning as far as what he wants to see and the framework in which its being guided. [inaudible] states subsidize low tax states because places like florida and tennessee cant write off zero income taxes. Again, im not going to get ahead of that debate. The principles that were outlined state where the president is, hes going to continue to have discussions. Eamon. In this particular climate, whoever the new fbi director is shouldnt be a current or former politician. At least two of people interviewed are current or former political figures. Does the president have a feeling on whether or not having held Elective Office is a plus or a minus to hold that job . I dont you know, as i mentioned just a minute ago, ive not talked to him about the qualities hes looking forward to seeing. But i know the department of justice continues to meet with these individuals, and so well have to see who they put forward. Hallie. Thanks, sean. I have two questions. Im just looking for some clarity. Why wont you just explain whether or not there are recordings . The president s made it clear what his position is. Thats not my question. I understand. Thats what the president s position is. How is any senior official supposed to feel comfortable having a conversation with the president privately . As i said, the president s made it clear what his position is. Even with these. Halle, ive answered the question over and over the same way. The second question then is on the arguments happening now in the ninth circuit regarding the administrations travel ban, one of the license of questions is why the president has not disavowed his muslim ban. Will he do that . The executive order is fully lawful and will be upheld, we fully believe that. There is no question, in fact, in one of the arguments in the previous cases it was made clear that if anyone else had proposed this, which just shows people are misinterpreting it. It was based on the law and authority that the president rightfully has. Thats it, plain and simple. My question is more will he disavow it. He did say he never has. But the point is that the ban, the measures that he took in that executive order are fully lawful, fully compliant and make it clear they seek to keep this country safe. Thats it. Richard. Is there any indication the president will come out and say, yes, i disavow right now the president s focused on making sure we make the appropriate arguments to get the ban in place. Thank you. Okay. Considering contrast to much of the expression during the french president ial election that has been reported in france especially, there may be a lot more in common between President Trump and the new president Emmanuel Macron of france. Both former successful businessmen, both leaders of two very powerful countries and two of the oldest allies going, basically. Would knowing this, would the president look forward to an opportunity to bring this young president closer to him, maybe meeting on the borders in, at the g7 or maybe even inviting him here to the [speaking french] in the next few months . If we have updates to share on additional member, individual leaders that he will be meeting with or meetings that hell have during his trip, well be sure to give you an update on that. But with respect to whether its the french president or any other head of government, the president looks forward to reasserting americas role in the world and reestablishing some of the relationships. And i think what youve seen so far whether its president xi or Prime Minister abe or other individuals, as you can see by week were have having this week, the uae, carom ya, the president has colombia, the president has made it clear that he is going to do everything he can to reestablish relationships around the globe to help advance and protect our special interests. This is a special one. Theyre all [inaudible] i understand. There is a lot of relationships that the president wants to strike and for the good of this country. John. Thank you, sean. Two brief questions. First, there are reports, and it may be confirmed by now that mrs. Calista gingrich will be the third woman to be u. S. Ambassador to the holy sea. Official . Nothings official until its announced. All right. Has her name been vetted with the vatican . Im not thats a nice back try, but im not going to [laughter] the answer is we have no personnel announcements. The other question is not related to personnel, but process with the fbi director. Sarah spoke last week about an interim or acting director of the fbi, but with the we are views that you describe with the interviews that you described with the department of justice, can we expect that the name who is nominated from that podium will be for permanent director and promptly submitted to the senate . Thats what i believe the president s expectation is, yes. So no interim i mean, you have an acting now until someones selected, but, i mean, the reason the president s team is going through this process is to select the next director. Mara. I have a [inaudible] front burner right now, but actually a health care question. Okay. As it goes to the senate, im wondering if the president s negotiating strategy will change . Does he want to get involved earlier . Does he want to wait until the senate kind of comes up with something . Does he have anything in particular he wants them to take from the house bill . Get rid of from the house bill . Whats his approach from the new chapter in the ahca repeal process . Well, i think he feels very strong about the product that came out of the house, but he recognizes that the senate has a duty to review it and to come up with ideas, and if it can be made stronger, then great. Hes continued to have conversations with members of the senate. His staff has had them as well. Our legislative team and others are in communication with the senate, and well continue to work with them. Obviously, theyre an independent body, they have a right to go through their own process. But, and if we can, if we can make the bill stronger in any particular way, you know, thats something that hell support. But he kind of came in at the end to kind of close the deal in the house. Does he want to get involved more in the earlier stagings in the process with the senate or just stick with the same negotiating strategy . I think that the team has been intricately involved in the process for quite some time, and the president , by several accounts, was involved in a way that people hadnt seen on capitol hill in a hong, long time. Jill. Thanks. Going back to the fbi director search, should we expect the president to begin interviewing the short, short list before he leaves for the trip . I think thats going to be driven by the department of justice, and as soon as they have a recommendation for the president , then well move on. At this time theres no update on where that is. And i go back to you started off with syria there. The state department announced the Syrian Government has apparently been killing out mass killing, burning thousands of prisoners. Im wondering if that crosses any kind of red line for the president and whether we should expect to see any kind of military response to that. Well, the president s always been clear that hes not going to telegraph actions that he takes. To thats number one. Number two is i think what is important about what the state department did today was really enumerate the atrocities and Human Rights Violations that have been committed. And then further ask the World Community to join with us to put pressure on syria. Can we expect any direct action by the president . Again, i dont think the president s made clear over and over again that he doesnt telegraph his actions. Hes going to be continuing to raise this issue, but when hes ready to act, hell let everyone know. Jen . [inaudible] when it comes to vetting for the fbi director, after the experience with michael flynn, is the white house recommending doing anything differently vetting the fbi director . Are you already doing Something Different when it comes to that vetting . Im not going to get into internal professions that exist but, obviously, you know, we will have the full resources of the fbi. So im not going to get into how that process is handled. [inaudible] im not going to get into the processes of how thats being done. Sean . Yeah. Okay. [laughter] two questions. One to follow up on halles question. How has the president made it clear what his position is . Yeah, ive answered that several times. [inaudible] right. So thats his position. He said that he has nothing further to add. Okay, but okay. I understand. Okay, i just wanted you to clarify. My second question is, has he made any inquiries of the russia investigation to other fbi officials . I dont no, i havent asked him about anything, but im not aware of anything. One small followup. Last week you said you would get back to us on who requested the dinner between him and comey. I still dont i apologize, ill have to get back to you today. I think that there was clearly bipartisan support that jim comey wasnt up to the job. The president has every right to fire a person because he believed director comey lacked the judgment and the Decision Making skills and wasnt up to the job. The president s reaction to this, to what his position has been completely misrepresented. You think about what he said to nbc news. He said, one, he didnt care that this action would make matters worse for him. That it, quote, might even lengthen out the investigation because he would take action against jim comey in firing him. He says he wants the investigation to be to gone done, quote, absolutely properly. And he said he might even confuse some people knowing it would make matters worse for him. The actions that he took he knew could be detrimental to himself, but none of those things mattered because the president had to do the right thing for the American People because he believes that jim comey was the wrong man for that position. And i think that weve got to be very clear as to the the reason that the president took the actions that he did. He knew that what he did could be detrimental to himself, it could lengthen the investigation. But he knew it was the right thing for the country, the right thing for the fbi and the right thing to get to the bottom of this. [inaudible conversations] the wrong person for the American People. Because he didnt have the leadership skills necessary to lead this, that institution. And as he said in the statement at the time, the fbi is the crown jewel of Law Enforcement, and they deserve a leader that can properly lead the institution. Thank you guys very much, ill see you tomorrow. [inaudible conversations] trish okay. That was sean spicer wrapping up the first press briefing of the week. Still with me, ned ryan, along with david tafuri. We heard a lot of different topics at hand. We learned the doj is working aggressively to find a replacement for jake comey at james comey at the fbi, spicer trying to sing the economys praises, and we heard an update on the hacking situation from the head of Homeland Security. Lets, lets start with you, ned. You know, the one thing that surprised me was that no reporter aually asked about this potential reorg if you would, at the administration. That was sort of the news cycle all weekend long was that spicer might be out, and there might be a whole new team coming in. Bannon might be out, Reince Priebus might be out and that donald trump wanted to bring in a whole new crowd because he was frustrated with this teams inability to really deliver the message that he wants delivered. No one asked it right. I mean, that is a little startling to me, youre right. Axios ran a story and was talking about, perhaps, whole scale throw the baby and the bath water out. Lets start again. One thing is clear, donald trump thrives on chaos, but at a certain point. It might work doing corporate work, but in the white house hes going to have to figure out how do we get a more cohesoff team so we can Cohesive Team so we can drive the agenda. Im afraid some of this chaos, if it doesnt turn around, its going to eventually undermine his agenda trish its a complete, total, utter distraction from what he needs to get done. Right. Trish there are very important issues at stake. Finish your thought. But it also takes away from the ability to drive a narrative. And i know that ive said this many times publicly. They have to be more proactive in driving a positive narrative instead of being so reactive. And, you know, i dont know what the shakeup would look like, i do think there will be something taking place over the next few weeks, but well just have to see. Trish i think hes been illserved, david, i really do. Granted, some of its his fault because hes making statements and perhaps not getting everybody on the same page in the same room saying, okay, heres my thought process. So hes got one team trying to defend him and then he comes out and says Something Different. Now, i became the communications i blame the Communications Team for that. I do blame him as well, though, to a certain extent. Well, you know, this administration has had a real difficulty communicating its agenda, pursuing its agenda and accomplishing its agenda. Of im not sure whos at fault for that. Clearly, the white house is not running as smoothly as it should be running. I would note that one of the main people that people have talked about may be fired is spicer, so it would have been awkward to ask him in this briefing. [laughter] trish i was waiting for that. I thought there should be some interesting fireworkings. Hes got to protect his job in some way and, david, not one of those reporters had the guts to ask him. Thats right. But maybe theyre being respectful to give him a chance one day back, and he did a pretty good job, i have to admit, on a wide range of topics. There was a lot to unpack there trish yeah. This might be the first time theyve even bothered to show any respect at all, lets face it. Ned, david, good to have you guys here with analysis. Were going to take a quick break, ill be right back. All right. You know the conversation doesnt end here; right . It continues online i want to know who do you think should replace james comey at the fbi . And do you think there should be a special prosecutor as nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer insist . Follow me on twitter at trish regan. Weve got a market still in positive territory up 73 points right now. Lets hope it continues through the final hour. Liz claman is taking you through it. Hello, liz. Liz isnt that amazing . The markets are remarkably cool. Computer chaos reigns around the world, american business, its economy, and National Security desperately trying to prevent it or pay for it. You can see the dow is up 74, it professionals around the world want to cry after the biggest global cyber attack of the same name continues at this hour. Big tech names are furious because it turns out the hackers pulled the idea out of the nsas own secret pocket. Should victims pay hackers the ransom . Which is doubling day by day . Former Homeland Security official chad suite is about to tell you what to do and whatnot to do and why even if you havent been hit yet, you need to listen
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