Hello everybody, thank you for being here. I fell and broke my arm, so excuse my appearance. We are eager to talk with kellyanne conway. We are going to start by talking about the state of the union tomorrow night. A big speech, and one year ago, the president gave his spur speech in a joint address to congress. He got pretty good reviews, it went pretty well, and it lasted a short while. In the days that followed there were some controversies that created a more polarized environment on the hill. What can the president due to set that bipartisan tone . Kellyanne first of all, thanks for having me. Ae president is working on bipartisan, forwardlooking speech that is positive in tone and content. The speech is a reflection on the past years accomplishments. Notccomplishment is checking off a box, a to do list, but what is the next accomplishment to happen in your own life. How is that a framework for working together in 2018 . I would point out a few things that are pretty recent. 23 weeks ago, the undeterredeld forth with a bipartisan group. It was unexpected. By all accounts, very pleased to have that kind of transparency, that kind of exchange. That is good for transparency, accountability, democracy really. It is that conversation that we need to keep having. That particular meeting was about immigration and you see an openness and a flexibility by this president on the daca recipients. He will address that to mark and his speech. Immigration will be one of the major points covered. 1,ill go back to october when the president came out with his afghani policy speech. A little bit of a diversion. I know you wrote about it at the time and were criticized for aying, new President Trump, the strategy. It will be bipartisan and tone tone andnt in content, because that is the only way to function in this town as a democracy. You saw an example of that during the government shot down shutdown. We were very happy that Many Democrats came around and voted to reopen the government. You talked about immigration, which is going to come up in the speech tomorrow. The white house has a framework that includes something for the dreamers. Is that a redline for the president . As he committed to sink some kind of is he committed to seeing some kind of legal status . It would include those who never availed president obama to action. It includes those who never took the action in addition to those who did. There is 25 billion for enhanced security at the border. The president will talk about how it subornation a sovereign nation must have strong borders. We have helped other countries secure their borders and protect their sovereignty. He is governing on enhancing security at the border. That includes the wall and other security measures. That is his redline, he has always made that very clear. I think it is a great symbol of how cooperation and discussion can be had on the same issue with 2 very diversion to priorities the emergence divergent priorities. This president put out a plan a few months ago where he talks to themmigration, an end visa lottery system and in out daca recipients. How do you help him manage and navigate the currents in the Republican Base right now . How does he manage being compassionate with the dreamers and coming up with some sort of legal status for them while satisfying his base, that is very hardline on immigration . He is the president of all americans, including the millions that did not vote for him. He added that were up. He said it will your at the hilton he said it when we were at the hilton. You have to take that very seriously as president , because it is just like that tax cut and job act. People now see it is helping of 3 millionards people already. Employers and companies have taken action. You are talking about a direct investment in your workforces, workplaces, raises, obviously bonuses, but also capital investments. The Broader Community is being invested in and even some benefits that have long been seen as the province of the other party. I think that is ridiculous. Everybody thinks about childcare and the wellness of their employees. You got Many Employers now taking action because of this tax cut, and they are saying that. They are saying, because of the tax cut we are doing xy, z. The president s base is the entire country. I have many good examples, because in addition to working on the issues of the day, i tend to have some things in my portfolio that i can legitimately refer to as nonpartisan issues in search of bipartisan solutions. , in i go around the country do not ask them, how did you vote, are you registered . You just cannot care when youre serving the country. I think people that feel that way are the ones who should serve in government. Today is a busy newsday. The Deputy Director of the fbi has stepped down. Hey is going to be formally retiring in a couple of months, but he stepped down immediately from his position. As the president celebrating is the president celebrating . Say over theuch to last few months, i am curious to know how the white house is responding . Kellyanne i have not seen any reaction. The white house had nothing to do with that decision and you have to refer your questions to mr. Mccabe and the fbi. But the president had criticized his leadership personally. I had also read that he planned on retiring it at some point. It is not a surprise move. We have seen it before. In any event, that is what Sarah Sanders has said, and that is what is occurring right now as the news is breaking. Putommittee has together a report, a memos adjusting that the fbi may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources to justify one of those requests. In the rest of the investigation in the rush investigation, this is something house has to decide in the next couple of hours. Should that memo be released . And should that necessitate any further changers changes . Kellyanne the president went to quantico in december, he has Great Respect for the rank and file. You are talking about the few people who are in charge of investigation and what we see. I dont have any special knowledge, obviously. Some very disturbing statements about the president , we expect people to have political points of view, they support to the support. At least one attended the president s political opponents victory party. Nine victory party, i suppose. Aside, we believe in transparency and accountability. The legion of people, including in the media, who have been covering russia and the investigation for over a year now, and the president has made clear that there is no collusion , he calls it hoax and an excuse for losing an election. More portly, it is transparency, those who are in charge of this feel that it is ready to be released to the public, they should make that decision. To pick up on that point, does the president think that the messages that you are talking about, is that evidence that the Law Enforcement community was working against his campaign . Kellyanne the Law Enforcement community is very large group of people, we should never generalize. Now,what is being revealed ronically two help guide the campaign. It is foolish. I dont know why anyone would think otherwise. You would have to do that otherwise. , discreterticular matter. Let the committees decide what they think is best. This is the president who has talked about prosperity, security, strand, and security being his priorities. He will talk about a safe, strong, proud america in his state of the union address. Trying to dignify all career types. Donating millions dollars to the department of labor. We are not a nation telling everybody that they must go to a Fouryear College and get a degree. What we hear from employers and governors all the time is that there is a labor shortage. I grew up so i grew up outside of new jersey, most people want through a skilled trade and were able to support themselves. This is somebody who is trying to tell america to be proud regardless of their choice of career or job. We want to find things that bind us together as a nation. He will talk about that in tomorrows state of the union. He probably is not going to talk about the russia investigation. That is the shadow that hangs over the work he is doing as president. Sarah sanders said at the press briefing that it is about time, everybody watch wash russia fever out of the system. The president said she was looking forward to testifying under oath with robert mueller. , considering his businessman, exaggerating details and saying things that are not to not , in 2007 he had 30 misstatements, do you worry at all that he could be putting himself in position where he could perjure himself . Kellyanne the question of whether or not he testifies is really for his attorneys. I am not his attorney. Attorneyst one of his did say that he has not decided whether or not the president will testify, he will let everyone know when the decision is made. I know another attorney also said that that decision will be made at another time. We have also said from the beginning that the president has said that everyone is cooperating. We have turned overloads of documents, people have testified for many hours, everybody is complying and cooperating. But when my colleague Sarah Sanders says is a time it is to wash russia fever, you will find collusion, the election will be nullified, we were promised that we are going to see the 70,000 votes in three states that donald trump one as president fair and square. Somehow, youre going to see some nefarious activity and those photo be turned around. Whatyou go back to everybody was saying a year ago, a little bit crazed. None of that has come to pass. We do have an investigation, everybody sees it, Everybody Knows it is happening. That may, the details be should not get public. The fact is that we are fully cooperating at the white house and the president s attorneys said that he is fully cooperating. He has also said that he looks forward to it coming to an end. In the meantime, we are cooperating. There is inherent risk for anybody talking to the fbi, especially if youre the president of the United States where a lot has happened. What otherknow people have been telling mauler in their interviews with him, is there no concern at all about whether he can be caught up unintentionally . Kellyanne while you are asking questions that are really for his counselor. Well, youre asking questions that are really for his counselor. To be frankly to be frank, i think in the span of one month, i dont understand why someone can ask why the democrats voted against tax cuts. I dont know why they voted to shut the government down. These are the kinds of things i work on. I dont understand it. I dont know what this tragedy is the strategy is. I want to work with you on infrastructure. With you on the state of union where he will talk about rebuilding the nation. But you do that in a bipartisan fashion. Roads, bridges, the infrastructure, technology, the fact that we dont make anything or build anything as a country, that is bipartisan. System Traffic Control was designed for a time when we had roughly 100,000 passengers per year. We now have closely one billion. I dont know what is partisan about that. The president will commit to at least 1 trillion infrastructure and bring the process down from. Ight to 10 years to about two you get to criticize the proposal, but you dont have 10 or 20 years to do it. We will get to the democrats in a second, i want to pin up one thing about russia. Reports over the weekend, confirmed by the post, are that President Trump ordered the white House Counsel to firing mueller as the special counsel back in june. A number of white house officials said that he had never contemplated that, including you. Im wondering how we should make sense of that, when the president talks about firing mueller, is that in order, directive, is that him talking, what do we make of that and how do we square everything . Kellyanne that has never been discussed with me. It has not been discussed with mr. Cap has said publicly that it has never been discussed he had just gotten the job, i think he and general kelly had arrived pretty much the same week. Event, that has never been, i am not aware of this discussion. I would like to point out that when interviews like that are played when you show the president saying that he is not doing that. , it is never used to review the allegations in the news. While,nly used to show look at that demise not have been true. It was a bit different than the you nor New York Times reporting. People have to assess which one they think is more the main point is mr. Mueller is there, he is investigating. We are now practically in february, the white house is fully cooperating, we respect the process. Want to talk about the midterms coming up. The role he plays in helping the president through the political strategy. We are going to hear next from nancy pelosi, who i think would like to take back the house. My question for you is what are the odds that democrats can take back the house and what does your party need to do 10 months to prevent that from happening . I think the Campaign Strategy that failed in 2016 is not necessarily the best strategy for an election. At the same time, we are well aware of historical trends. Does suffer power grievous losses in off year elections. 1994. Linton did in historic gains in the house and senate at that time. The same thing happened to president obama in 2010. But then, they were excess successfully reelected. Things are different this time. As our wideopen about historical trends. 2010, atok at 1994 and that point, people were trying to run and justify their vote for the Affordable Care act. There was a time when people were getting nervous about it. They were worried about keeping their health care. About being able to keep their doctor. They were worried about the loss of benefits, loss of jobs, loss of hours. Of course, the reduction of quality. It took a lot longer to pass the Affordable Care act than was originally planned. So you had democratic members in the house who voted for it, then tried to defend the vote. This is different of this year because the centerpiece was the tax cut. The republicans who voted for it will be out there saying i voted for a tax cut that now means apple is bringing 20,000 jobs to the u. S. , repatriating billions of dollars of wealth. The 274 companies and counting that have made direct investments, because of the tax that i voted for, and that is benefiting members in my particular state. So i thought the ballot has been cut in half, that will go backandforth over time. I think that, knowing what the headwinds are, when you think about how these members will run , defending something, or crowing about something, their constituents and plus the Regulatory Framework having been improved, you see everybody from the franchises to larger employers, jobseekers feeling very bullish. The confidence numbers are up and employment is down. That matters to people. Manufacturing jobs are up. Those are all big numbers. People know their 401 k s are fatter. The 529 Education Investment has been next expanded. There are Different Things people will see over time that will be helpful. The other thing that is a wildcard is the the continued retirement. We had retirement of another , hee republican chairman retired. No one knows where these retirements will end. Everyone knows about the october therese, it seems to me could be election day surprises for people focused on being called out right left and center. For their behavior, allegations of their behavior, and worse. I think that is in both parties. I think that is a wildcard that no one can part that no one can anticipate. What is your assessment of the me too movement and how and what sort of impact do you think this will have 10 months from now politically . The democrats seem to think of the work in their favor and result in more women voters turn against this president and against their party. I assume you might have a different view of that. What do you make of that movement and its political power . Kellyanne anytime people who feel like they are powerless or inferior to someone treating them poorly, that is a very positive thing. I have been treated that way myself. I tried to talk about it on live tv in 2016 but nobody really cared because of who my candidate was. I have been treated that way. And time someone can speak up, male or female, about the way they have been treated i think that is very positive. I believe in due process. I believe in people feeling like they have a voice. Is ito movement started after you had this slew of applications allegations. Harvey weinstein for instance, that was the centerpiece for the beginning. I dont want to bring 550 things into one question and one answer. At the same time, we have to have a larger conversation about the workplace environment. It does seem to me that the me too movement cannot be based on a womans political beliefs or where she works or who she is or whether she is in media or hollywood or professional sports or she is a conservative. It simply cannot happen. I dont feel comfortable explains my daughters, and my son that it all depends on who the victim is and where she works or what she wears or what her politics are. That would be a terrible message to send. I hope we have a larger conversation about respect in the workplace. So far, i dont see that. If the women in this room were to tell me that they want their daughters i am listening, but i highly doubt it. We are out of time kellyanne i am 51 years old, i have definitely been on the receiving end. When i was younger and prettier, it happened to me. I want to tell you on a serious note, ladies if youre listening, every time that happened to me i was afraid, i was ashamed like it was my fault , but i never looked at those men, i dont want to look i dont want you to look at those men as powerful and intimidating. See them for who they are, weak and pathetic. To prey upon someone who is in a position where that person feels the cant speak up, that is the message i like to use the i like to send. Thanks for having me. I want to get one thing on the record which is the super bowl is this sunday, your Philadelphia Eagles are up against the new england patriots. President trump is a big patriots fan. Are you going to watch the game with them . Kel