President can do for the families of those killed in action. Point the president was making is there is a different process. Sometimes they call, sometimes they write letters, sometimes they engage directly. The comments were certainly, i think, taken very far out of context by the media and any frustration, thats where it should be focused. Blake . Let me ask but something Steve Mnuchin said since you talked about the stock market a lot, and the president does as well. He said, and i quote here, theres no question in my mind if we dont get it done, meaning tax reform, youre going to see a reversal of significant amount of gains. Essentially saying if tax reform doesnt happen, there could be a major correction on the corner of wall and broad. How concerned is the president of that possibility . Were confident that were going to get tax cuts done, and so thats what were focused on and going to continue pushing forward until we get there. Reporter on the health care bill, if you dont mind. Im sorry, one question. Reporter the california wildfire situation. Does he have plans at this point to visit california to survey the damage in person, and if he doesnt does, that speak to or lack of interest in helping the state recover from the wildfires . Not at all, again, the administration has been very engaged throughout this process. Were going to continue to be there, were continuing to talk with state and local officials on the ground and work with those individuals to make sure that whatever aid is needed, that we can help provide that process. Reporter is he going to go to the state, though . There isnt a trip planned, but certainly hasnt been ruled out. Philip . Reporter can you clarify the president s position on kurdistan [inaudible] and the president of kurdistan as an ally in general . The position hasnt changed. We urge all sides to avoid escalating this further. We oppose the violence from any party and wed like for them to be focused on helping continue in the fights against isis, and thats and iran, and thats where wed like to see their energy focused on it. Reporter the status quo sorry, one question. Reporter more than two months that the president said he declared the Opioid Epidemic a national emergency. A lot of work had to be done and called it time consuming work, you can explain why its taking so long to detail what the time consuming work is, and what players are involved in the process . Very indepth Legal Process that goes with declaring national emergency. Well make further announcements next week, but there have been multiple people. Its an interagency process, stakeholders have been involved and well have further announcements next week, like the president said. Reporter can you tell sorry. One question. Reporter can you talk about the strategy from the white house Going Forward on this . I know that you told us before that democrats were a must have on this bill on tax reform, is that still where things are . Its simple, the strategy is to get enough votes to pass tax cuts. Reporter can you elaborate on getting democrats on board . Look, wed love to see democrats on board. We dont know why any democrat would be against providing tax relief and tax cuts specifically to middleclass america. I dont know why anybody wouldnt want to get on board with that. Hunter . Reporter thank you, almost a month since Hurricane Maria hit puerto rico. Almost 80 of the island is without power and about a million americans, a third of the population dont have reliable drinking water. Does the administration consider the current state of affairs in puerto rico acceptable . And when it comes to puerto rico, does the buck stop with President Trump . Look, were continuing to do everything we can to help the people of puerto rico. Its one of the reasons that the governor will be here at the white house tomorrow to continue those conversations, to talk about how best the federal government can help aid state and local governments and help in the building and recovery efforts. Reporter the president once said he considers himself to be a low Interest Rate guy does. He still consider himself to be a low Interest Rate guy . And will that have bearing who he selects . The president said hes interviewed a number of very qualified individuals, and hell make the announcement in the coming days and deliberate all the details once that happens. Im sorry. Reporter [ inaudible ] days . Days add up to weeks. [laughter] the phone call real quick, what is the president denying . Is he denying he spoke these words to the widow, that he must have known what he signed up for, or she took it the wrong way and took it out of context. The president s call as accounted by multiple people in the room believe that the president was completely respectful, very sympathetic, and expressed the condolences of himself and the rest of the country and thanked the family for their service. Commended them for having an American Hero in their family, and i dont know how you could take that any other way. Reporter it was the context, he felt he put it in the wrong context . Im not going to get into the back and forth. The sentiment of the president was very clear. He took the time to make a call to express his condolences to thank the family for this individuals service, and i think it frankly is a disgrace of the media to try to portray an act of kindness like that and that gesture and try to make it into something that it isnt. Peter . Reporter does the president before he invoked the argument . He has spoken to general kelly multiple times. Reporter does he know he would be raising the sons memory without talking about im not sure if he knew about the specific comment. They had spoken about it and hes aware and they had spoken several times. Reporter is he comfortable with the way it has been hes disgust by the way it has been politicized. The focus is on the process and not the fact the american lives were lost. Hes disgusted and frustrated by. That if he has any anger, its towards that. Fred . Fred . Reporter the house, the ban on paying for abortions, [inaudible] the president would sign this legislation, is the white house putting pressure on the senate to pass the Lindsey Graham bill that was banned . Im sorry, what was the last part of the question. Reporter is the white house putting pressure on the senate to pass the Lindsey Graham 20 week ban. There have been conversations about that, and the administration supports that policy, but beyond, that i dont know if there have been further conversations or pressure applied, but certainly support that effort. Reporter sarah . April . Reporter congresswoman wilson, i talked to her a couple of hours ago, she says since benghazi, that jackson was in niger trying to find out information during the mission about boko haram. And she said that his transmitter was still emitting for two days. His signal when he was located. She said that makes no sense why he wasnt located. What say you about that . And also, what do you say about her comment that he did not know as a wife, the widow, that the president did not know his name. He kept saying your guy, your guy . Just because the president said your guy doesnt mean that he doesnt know his name. As the president stated, the hardest job he has is making calls like that. I think it is appalling what the congresswoman has done and the way shes politicized this issue, and the way that she is trying to make this about something that it isnt. This was a president who loves our country very much, who has the greatest level of respect for men and women in the uniform and wanted to call and offer condolence to the family, and i think to try to create something from that that the congresswoman is doing is appalling and disgusting. Reporter what do you say about what she said about the mission . As i said before, im not going to get into the details of that action. Reporter was she right . As i said before, im not going to get into the details of that action at this time, and when we have further information, ill be happy to discuss it for you. Reporter thank you, i just want to setting aside the congresswoman, setting aside the discussion about the politization of this. The woman who raised Sergeant Johnson spoke to the Washington Post and said she felt her son had been disrespected. Im not asking what congresswoman wilson had to say or any of that. Given that somebody is making the phone calls is somebody the commander in chief has to do. Given that, is the president at all reconsidering the way he communicates to these families . Has general kelly counseled him on perhaps how he may want to choose or change his words in the future . General kelly was present for the call and thought it was completely appropriate. He thought the call was respectful and thought that the president did the best job he could under those circumstances to offer condolences on behalf of the country. Phillip . Reporter can you talk about the negotiators rejected the u. S. Proposals were described as unconventional and troubling. Is nafta dead . Not yet, but as the president said, its a bad deal and wants to make sure bee have a deal that benefits american workers. Thats what the administration is focused on. Were going to continue to push forward. If we cant get, there well let you know what the changes are. Francesca . Reporter in a tweet, President Trump said fbi director james comey lied, cheated as did hillary clinton. What exactly does the president want the Justice Department to do . Is he calling for a prosecution of james comey. Whats he asking for here . The white house hasnt and wont offer a legal opinion on comeys conduct, but, in fact to the contrary, the white house is actually deferred, as it should, any and all legal questions regarding director comey to the department of justice. Thats the appropriate venue for the things to be dealt with. Reporter in the tweet this morning, thats what im asking . Refer any legal action to the department of justice, anything on that front will be handled by them. Sarah . Reporter normally when the president said something, we hear from him quickly about it, whether its an issue with an senator or the nfl. Why did it take nearly two weeks for him to say anything about this isis ambush, but even to offer public condolences or to explain to the American Public what happened and how the deadly combat mission involving american troops went so wrong . As i said before, there is protocol for that, but also we did make public remarks from the administration. I know i did in short order after that happened from the podium at direction of the president , and i speak on his behalf. And i did that on behalf of the president and the administration. Reporter sarah, you brought up politicizing a couple of times in regards to congresswoman wilson. Did the president politicize general kellys sons death . He was responding to a question and stating a fact. Reporter just to clarify your earlier answer, youre not denying that in some point in the conversation, the president used the words, its what he signed up for. I spoke specifically to the sentiment offered by the president. I didnt get into the details of a personal call because i dont find that to be appropriate. Trey . Reporter thank you, sarah, you opened up at the top discussing the liberation of raqaa. How does the president envision future u. S. Involvement in both syria and iraq postisis . We want to continue to work with Coalition Forces to completely destroy and defeat isis. Right now thats the priority and the focus and thats where were going to be continuing to focus on at this time. Thank you so much for today. See you tomorrow. Thank you, sarah. There you have it, Sarah Sanders wrapping up the White House Press briefing, as always, covering a wide range of issues. Sanders saying that President Trump is not in favor of any legislation, that as he puts it, enriches the Health Insurance companies. He is against the Alexander Murray bill that would extend subsidies to obamacare Insurance Companies, unless they can come up with other solution. President of course focusing on tax reform that benefits the middle class, getting into the controversy of what the president said to the widow of a fallen soldier, saying the president was completely respectful in that exchange. All right, here to weigh in what weve been hearing about, two former governors, governor jim hodges and governor george allen. Governor allen, let me begin with you. Okay. What are your thoughts on the president with regard to the health care . There are so many issues, hard to know where to begin. The focus ought to be on tax reform. Thank you. Obviously important as well. You run the show. Im going to get to tax reform, believe me. But Health Reform because i started talking about the subsidies and the president calling them a huge bailout for the Insurance Companies. The Alexander Murray bill kind of keeps those going for a while. That is unacceptable, i would imagine, to republicans, correct . Yeah, probably so. It depends on what else is in it. Theres aspects that are good as far as letting the states have more discretion and having Health Insurance plans and may have a high deductible, but cover Major Medical expenditures which is one of the big concerns in cost shifting, but continuing to subsidize a system that is too costly and doesnt have enough competition really is not a solution. That is just really just continuing on for another month, year or two. Action is needed. All these members of congress, particularly the republicans in the senate and the house have been talking about repealing and replacing obamacare. Right. There are ideas, the president s doing what he can as far as markets or risk pools, where businesses band together and have the leverage with Insurance Companies, thats important. But theres so many other important aspects that need to be done, and this is kind of a bandaid on a failed system and more needs to be done. Governor hodges, one of the original ideas was to replace the money with block grants to allow the states more power where the money is spent. Would you like block grants as a former governor . Not under these circumstances. Let me say i dont think theres a lot to dislike about the Murray Alexander plan. Frankly the people that will lose if this isnt done is the people paying full freight on the insurance exchange. Theyre the ones who are going to pay probably 20 more. The Insurance Companies themselves need these subsidies because the subsidease are provided to individuals who buy insurance. So the people that are suffering are individuals paying full freight right now. Theyll see their rates go up. George made a very good point, that is more flexibility to the states is important, that is a part of this deal is providing more flexibility to states, another band of insurance to be available to consumers. I dont see much to dislike about this. I think it gives the policymakers a couple of years to come up with a final solution. I mean, id like to see a little more bipartisanship in washington, and heres a chance to finally do it. Bipartisanship is good, i really do think the solution is the states. Governor hodges and i were governors. Governors ought to welcome controlling their own destiny. Some states will do it right, some wont. But what the problem is now all of this is dictated by washington, theyre proscribing what the insurance policies are. I know speaking from my own family, my household, its going to go from a little over a thousand a month to over 1800 a month, and we dont use it. Were a healthy family. I know, i know. What needs to be done is get more competition, more choice. Have policies that dont have to cover everything, but the key thing is Major Medical significant injuries. Governors, were already out of time. We didnt even get to the tax reform we need to cut taxes, we have the highest taxes in the world and they ought to be less. Leave it right there. We need tax reform by christmas, were told. Governor george allen, governor jim hodges. Thank you very much. Lets get out to blake burman, we saw blake in the press briefing room, getting in a question on Steve Mnuchin and a valiant effort, we dont get the tax reforms, the markets are going to go out the window. Sarah sanders, not really answering the item, though. There were two items, a podcast that was published this day. One of those mnuchin issued a warning to members of congress and folks all across washington and really across the country with it being this, if a tax reform doesnt get done, he warned a reversal in the stock market, as you know, ashley, a runup before President Trump and certainly since. A lot of it built on the thinking or some of it that tax reform is coming down the line. I asked the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, if President Trump is concerned that if there is not tax reform legislation, whether or not the treasury secretary might be right. Sanders didnt really comment on it other than to say that the president is more focused on getting this tax reform legislation passed. The second item that mnuchin made news with in that podcast was saying that indeed, the wealthy, ashley, might end up getting a tax break there. Has been back and forth whether or not the wealthiest of americans would benefit from the tax plan, and mnuchin said, and i quote here, when youre cutting taxes across the board, its very hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy with tax cuts to the middle class. Math, given how much you are collecting, is just hard to do. Sanders was asked about that mnuchin comment. That there may be some people that receive tax cuts that are also in the wealthy bracket, yes, but the fact is the priority again remains that middle class americans are ones that are most impacted and thats